Ubuntu
linux package

pulseaudio: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large

Bug #343254 reported by Matt Zimmerman
30
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Daniel T Chen
Jaunty
Fix Released
High
Daniel T Chen
pulseaudio (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Daniel T Chen
Jaunty
Fix Released
High
Daniel T Chen

Bug Description

This may be related to bug 330814 and/or bug 320875. The messages are slightly different (e.g. "report this issue to the ALSA developers" vs. "to the PulseAudio developers).

Upon resuming from suspend, I found pulseaudio and syslogd spinning, writing the following message to the log:

Mar 15 17:37:04 perseus pulseaudio[4116]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 13835058022954431868 bytes (418110252624 ms) Most likely this is a Linux bug. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Mar 15 17:37:04 perseus pulseaudio[4116]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 13835058022954417532 bytes (418110252543 ms) Most likely this is a Linux bug. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Mar 15 17:37:04 perseus pulseaudio[4116]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 13835058022954403196 bytes (418110252462 ms) Most likely this is a Linux bug. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Mar 15 17:37:04 perseus pulseaudio[4116]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 13835058022954388860 bytes (418110252380 ms) Most likely this is a Linux bug. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Mar 15 17:37:04 perseus pulseaudio[4116]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 13835058022954374524 bytes (418110252299 ms) Most likely this is a Linux bug. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.
Mar 15 17:37:04 perseus pulseaudio[4116]: alsa-util.c: snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large: 13835058022954360188 bytes (418110252218 ms) Most likely this is a Linux bug. Please report this issue to the ALSA developers.

many times per second. There were no preceding messages which seemed to be related. The complete syslog is huge, but I can send it if it's likely to be of use.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
MachineType: LENOVO 6465CTO
Package: linux-image-2.6.28-9-generic 2.6.28-9.31
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=305dde78-d20a-4248-aaf4-09447b7c5791 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LC_COLLATE=C
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/zsh
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-9.31-generic
SourcePackage: linux

Revision history for this message
Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Brian Curtis (bcurtiswx) wrote :

Thanks for your report Matt. Upon discussions in #ubuntu-bugs, this seems to be like the two bugs you mentioned, but its different enough that I'm going to triage and mark as high and talk to dtchen to see if the fixes he made on those two bugs would apply here too. I can confirm this also on my UNR on the dell mini 9. I will also leave as the linux package depending on what actions dtchen wants to take.

Changed in linux:
importance: Undecided → High
status: New → Triaged
Revision history for this message
TJ (tj) wrote :

A *temporary* workaround to help stop /var/log/syslog and /var/log/user.log (and rotated copies) from consuming all disk space on the /var/ mount.

src/modules/alsa-util.c:1160: pa_log("snd_pcm_avail_update() returned a value that is exceptionally large: %lu bytes (%lu ms) "
src/pulsecore/log.h:105:#define pa_log pa_log_error
src/pulsecore/log.h:85:#define pa_log_error(...) pa_log_level_meta(PA_LOG_ERROR

So the mesage has a syslog "err" priority.

Edit /etc/syslog.conf, find the two lines that use the "user" facility and edit them, adding ";user.!err" to the specification

So:

*.*;auth,authpriv.none;user.!err -/var/log/syslog

user.*;user.!err -/var/log/user.log

If you use this workaround remember to remove as soon as the new pulseaudio package is released that has lowered the logging priority for these messages.

Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

The DoS issue is already worked around in my PPA. I'm testing a Linux patch ATM.

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → crimsun
status: Triaged → In Progress
Changed in pulseaudio (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → crimsun
importance: Undecided → High
status: New → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Rich Johnson (nixternal) wrote :

Hrmm, thought I was a Main Sponsor, guess not...Will have to hit up the correct people when they wake up.

Anyways, I am test building and what not now, will upload if all goes well. Sorry Main Sponsors, can't unsubscribe you.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package pulseaudio - 0.9.14-0ubuntu12

---------------
pulseaudio (0.9.14-0ubuntu12) jaunty; urgency=low

  * 0091_workaround_alsa_horkage.patch:
    - Lower severity of logging level to prevent DoS on syslog
      LP: #320875, #343254
      LP #330814

 -- Daniel T Chen <email address hidden> Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:39:03 -0400

Changed in pulseaudio:
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

Test kernels for i386 and amd64 available at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~dtchen/ as per https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/2009-March/007501.html

Revision history for this message
Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote :

Daniel, what patch(es) are in those kernels?

Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

The relevant patch for this bug is http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=dtchen/ubuntu-jaunty.git;a=commitdiff;h=fbcaa0c6f18b41482caa41ceb6b7875c7dbaaeef

I have just updated a few additional changesets from upstream and will be rolling new kernels.

The source is available at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=dtchen/ubuntu-jaunty.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/pcm

Revision history for this message
Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote :

released in jaunty's -11.38

Changed in linux (Ubuntu Jaunty):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Mimue (michael-mueller12) wrote :

Today's update for Jaunty Beta solved my problem with sound. Well done Daniel!

I still got some crackling after a while playing MP3 with Totem, but sound is anyhow far better than before. See also Bug #347588.

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