[pulseaudio-discuss] PulseAudio, switch audio output on device connection

[Mark Gaiser]

On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Tanu Kaskinen
<tanu.kaskinen at linux.intel.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 2014-10-06 at 12:39 +0200, Mark Gaiser wrote:
>> On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 12:35 PM, Tanu Kaskinen
>> <tanu.kaskinen at linux.intel.com> wrote:
>> > On Thu, 2014-10-02 at 13:41 +0200, Mark Gaiser wrote:
>> >> On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 11:04 AM, Tanu Kaskinen
>> >> <tanu.kaskinen at linux.intel.com> wrote:
>> >> > On Sun, 2014-09-28 at 21:16 +0200, Mark Gaiser wrote:
>> >> >> Hi PulseAudio list,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Note: please keep me in CC, i'm not registered on this list.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I've been having this issue for as long as i use Linux (with
>> >> >> pulseaudio) but never really bothered to look into the issue and try
>> >> >> to resolve it. That's something i've been trying to tackle for a few
>> >> >> days now without any notable success.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> First to clear make my use case clear.
>> >> >> - I have a USB headset (but the same is true for jack).
>> >> >> - On windows and mac, whenever i plug in a headset (usb or jack) all
>> >> >> audio is redirected to that device.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> My linux setup:
>> >> >> - Archlinux x64 (fully up to date)
>> >> >> - KDE 4.xx
>> >> >>
>> >> >> What i want to accomplish is to have the same hassle free use case on
>> >> >> linux as it works on windows and mac. My (fairly default) default.pa
>> >> >> can be found here [1]. The only things i added (as far as i can
>> >> >> remember) is:
>> >> >> # automatically switch to newly-connected devices
>> >> >> load-module module-switch-on-connect
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Which i did because it "looked" like the thing i needed based on one
>> >> >> of the comments in [2]. It doesn't seem to do anything for me though.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> So how do i let PulseAudio redirect all audio output to (the last)
>> >> >> audio device that i connected to it? Just like it works on Windows and
>> >> >> Mac? I mean, i can change output sinks in pavucontrol, but that is
>> >> >> hardly a sane way to do every time. There must be "some" easy way out
>> >> >> there to do this, right?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Also, it would be very nice of the audio switched sink while audio is playing.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I prefer doing this using just default pulseaudio and linux commands.
>> >> >> I know of the "paswitch" git project somewhere that allows me to
>> >> >> switch output devices, but i don't believe that's the right way to do
>> >> >> something like this.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I hope this list could share the appropriate way in getting this done.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> For reference, i tried the same use case in Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Magaia
>> >> >> (plug in a headset, play music and listen where the sound comes from).
>> >> >> In all cases no sound was coming out of my headset. All sound came out
>> >> >> of the speakers (that are connected via a jack plug).
>> >> >
>> >> > I don't know why it's not working for you, but here's some information
>> >> > that may help with figuring it out.
>> >> >
>> >> > The first thing to note is that USB headsets and headphones that are
>> >> > plugged into an audio jack are handled differently.
>> >> >
>> >> > The policy of moving streams to a newly plugged-in USB headset is
>> >> > handled by module-switch-on-connect. That module changes the default
>> >> > sink to a newly plugged-in sound card, and moves streams if and only if
>> >> > the following conditions are fulfilled: the stream is currently playing
>> >> > to the sink that was the old default sink, and you have not previously
>> >> > explicitly moved the stream.
>> >> >
>> >> > The policy of switching to the headphones when you plug them to an audio
>> >> > jack is handled by module-switch-on-port-available. That module never
>> >> > moves streams. Instead, it just switches the port on the sink that has
>> >> > the headphone port. I don't know the details of your setup, but if the
>> >> > jack to which you have connected the speakers is part of a different
>> >> > sink than the one that handles the headphone jack, then audio won't
>> >> > automatically move to the headphones.
>> >> >
>> >> > The above is a description how things are, not necessarily of they
>> >> > should be.
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > Tanu
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> Hi Tanu,
>> >>
>> >> Thank you very much for your reply. For the moment, lets focus on the
>> >> case where a USB headset is plugged in.
>> >> In my current case (with live cd's/dvd's and a natively installed
>> >> archlinux) where the case is: (for clarity):
>> >> - Play some music using some pulseaudio enabled player
>> >> - Sound comes out of the speakers (jack connection)
>> >> - Plug in a USB headset
>> >> - Sound is still being send to the connected speakers (jack) and not
>> >> the newly attached headphone (usb)
>> >>
>> >> This is repeatable for me on a multitude of distributions, even with
>> >> completely different hardware (same usb headset every time).
>> >>
>> >> Therefore i doubt a fault in my configurations since i would expect
>> >> distributions like magaia, ubuntu and kubuntu to have this sorted out
>> >> of the box. Anyway, for reference, my settings again:
>> >> http://pastebin.com/NL7hbvS6
>> >>
>> >> Is there any test i can run to debug this issue and figure out where
>> >> things go wrong?
>> >
>> > I don't think there's any simple test. You could add logging to the
>> > sink_put_hook_callback() function in module-switch-on-connect.c for
>> > every case where the function decides to return without moving streams,
>> > and then see from the log why the moving is not happening.
>>
>> Just wondering, can you reproduce this issue?
>
> I tried now, and no, I couldn't reproduce. I installed PulseAudio from
> current git master, started to play music with Rhythmbox, ran "pactl
> load-module module-switch-on-connect", and plugged in a USB headset. The
> music moved to the headset automatically.

I will try those exact steps as well and report back with my findings
(as soon as i get home).