Hangs when no sound device is available

This bug might be releated to:
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/289950

Tested in KVM with no sound emulation (intrepid-desktop-i386 20081029.5). Pidgin connected to IRC OK with no hangs.

Could you get a gdb stracktrace to see if that's the pulseaudio bug?

Hi,
I've seen the same problem on Ubuntu 8.10 after upgrading. (Used to work fine in 8.04). The problem occurs with MSN, Yahoo, and in fact any network.. not just IRC.

If I go into Pidgin preferences and choose "No Sound", the problem goes away.

Running gdb over Pidgin, I identified that a deadlock was occurring in a pulseaudio function.

PS. Sorry, forgot to mention that I am running it natively.. ie. NOT in kvm.
It just happens that my soundcard still isn't supported (SB XFI). There are no sound drivers loaded at all..
(Don't get me started on the creative driver.. ugh)

I have had the same problem with Pidgin locking up in Ubuntu. Found work around without trying.

Toshiba A135 S4656
sound driver = snd-hda-intel

I didn't notice that I had done anything to fix it. My sound card wasn't working at all. I had to compile the alsa driver manually and install it. The sound card worked fine and I didn't notice this at the time, but that's also when Pidgin stopped locking up. I also noticed yesterday when I had some problems with my soundcard driver failing for some reason that a few minutes later, my Pidgin instance locked up. I thought, "Well it's time for a reboot." Of course, the sound card came up and Pidgin didn't lock again all day.

On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 01:20:57AM -0000, Toby Corkindale wrote:
> Hi,
> I've seen the same problem on Ubuntu 8.10 after upgrading. (Used to work fine in 8.04). The problem occurs with MSN, Yahoo, and in fact any network.. not just IRC.
>
> If I go into Pidgin preferences and choose "No Sound", the problem goes
> away.
>
> Running gdb over Pidgin, I identified that a deadlock was occurring in a
> pulseaudio function.

Could you post the backtrace?

--
 - mdz

Here is a backtrace produced with the following sequence:

1. Boot an Intrepid CD in KVM with no -sound option
2. Start a live session
3. Confirm that the volume icon on the panel has the red "X"
4. Start pidgin
5. Options->Preferences->Sound
6. Select "Message received" (or something else with a default sound)
7. Click "preview"

pidgin then stops responding.

Thread 1 (Thread 0xb70ad700 (LWP 6527)):
#0 0xb7fce422 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
#1 0xb76cf075 in pthread_cond_wait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 () from /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0
#2 0xb480b7ec in ?? () from /usr/lib/libpulse.so.0
#3 0xb47eac0f in pa_threaded_mainloop_wait () from /usr/lib/libpulse.so.0
#4 0xb482f989 in ?? () from /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstpulse.so
#5 0xb482fa4e in ?? () from /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstpulse.so
#6 0xb482fad2 in ?? () from /usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstpulse.so
#7 0xb51100a9 in ?? () from /usr/lib/libgstaudio-0.10.so.0
#8 0xb511f7c8 in gst_ring_buffer_close_device () from /usr/lib/libgstaudio-0.10.so.0

Here's one with more symbols and 'full'

is that still an issue in jaunty?

I set up Jaunty's beta on a new VM without sound, and did some testing.
It seems to be working fine for me, even with Pidgin sounds forced to enabled.

I notice that PulseAudio now has a "Null Output Device", and the volume control is active in the taskbar, whereas under Intrepid that volume control was inactive, due to the lack of device.

Seem to be OK with current Jaunty