[pulseaudio-discuss] cannot control input devices from pavucontrol + crashes in recording tab

[Peter Hercek]

On 12/28/2010 07:10 PM, Colin Guthrie wrote:
> 'Twas brillig, and Peter Hercek at 28/12/10 16:05 did gyre and gimble:
>> Yes, 20 seconds is the time after which it stops to play. I have that
>> time in daemon.conf. I listed modules loaded in pacmd and
>> module-x11-publish is really the only one making the difference. If it
>> should not have any impact then there is still a possibility of
>> incorrect linking/building (I use only the archlinux published binaries
>> now - so hopefully they did it right) or some kind of dangling pointer
>> problem or whatever ...
>>
>> I tried not to load x11-publish and load suspend-on-idle. Suprisingly it
>> does not exit when playing line-in loopback source (if pulseaudio is not
>> interacted with otherwise).
>>
>> It almost looks like the two modules have switched names (but then they
>> would be switched in pacmd list-modules too).
>> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20K Dec 17 00:57
>> /usr/lib/pulse-0.9.22/modules/module-suspend-on-idle.so*
>> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 12K Dec 17 00:57
>> /usr/lib/pulse-0.9.22/modules/module-x11-publish.so*
>>
>> Regardless of the combination of loading of suspend-on-idle and
>> x11-publish. When I enter pacmd do list-modules and exit it, then
>> pulseaudio server exits immediately too.
>>
>> Hmm and pavucontrol and pavumemter has almost the same effect (it just
>> does not exit immeditally but after about 20 secs after I exit
>> pavucontrol or pavumeter).
>>
>> It is a mess. Or maybe it is not. May be it exits 20 secs after startup
>> or 20 secs after any apllication interacts with pulseaudio server ...
>> and pacmd is special it allows the exit to happen but does not reset the
>> counter back to 20 seconds.
>>
>> Ok, if you have any idea what I should try, let me know. I may not do it
>> immediately (especially if it is not something quick). But I'll do it
>> eventually. I'm a developer, though I do not know pulseaudio ... not
>> even at a level of a skilled user. Uff, I would prefer not to be a
>> pulseaudio developer too :)
>>
>> Hopefully some pulseaudio developer can repeat this (if it is not
>> archlinux build/link problem).
> :)
>
> At least this is now a good work around for you. I'll try and see if
> there is some kind of problem in the x11 code that could trigger this.
>
> I doubt it's a build or link problem although you never know.
>
> I'll try and reproduce here by disabling libcanberra
> (CANBERRA_DRIVER=null) as it is another likely candidate for keeping PA
> alive when it would otherwise die off and mask any issues.
>
> I wonder if it's related to module-x11-xsmp... Is it loaded at all? What
> desktop environment are you using? If xsmp is not loaded (e.g. it cannot
> connect to an x11 manager, then perhaps some kind of weird issue is
> triggered with x11-publish (as they will likely share some objects).
>
> That's my only guess for the time being.

Yes, it is quite usable for me. But the main reason is that I almost 
always run an image in virtual box which keeps one connection always 
active when it runs.

I can run it without x11-publish and if I do not mess with it will work 
fine ... till I do not start some other application using the pulseaudio 
server. I did more tests and looks like any application (excepet the 
line-in loopback itlsef) using the server will make it exit 20 seconds 
after it is finished. This is even when I do not have suspend-on-idle 
loaded.

I thought the only expection is pacmd which would cause the server to 
exit immediately. I was wrong. I used command exit as a way to quit 
pacmd but that tells the server to exit too. When I finished pacmd with 
^D it behaved as all the rest of the pulseaudo server clients.

My hypothesis would be that x11-publish somehow uses the server which 
starts the 20 sec countdown. The rest of the modules I have loaded do 
not do this. Any apllication connecting the server starts 20 sec 
countdown too (when it finishes). Loopback cannot keep the server used 
(so I think it should keep it used if it is not muted).

As for as the module-x11-xsmp. I do not use it. I also to not use any 
desktop environment. I have only the bare xserver, fluxbox, and a few of 
x11 apps installed. Minimalistic environment, nothing fancy.
Here is the list of modules loaded in my pulseaudio server:
<module-device-restore>
<module-stream-restore>
<module-card-restore>
<module-augment-properties>
<module-alsa-card>
<module-alsa-card>
<module-udev-detect>
<module-bluetooth-discover>
<module-esound-protocol-unix>
<module-native-protocol-unix>
<module-gconf>
<module-default-device-restore>
<module-rescue-streams>
<module-always-sink>
<module-intended-roles>
<module-console-kit>
<module-position-event-sounds>
<module-cork-music-on-phone>
<module-loopback>
<module-cli-protocol-unix>