[Packaging Request] Upgrade to PulseAudio 0.9.12 in Intrepid

Upstream: http://www.pulseaudio.org/
Upstream Source package: http://0pointer.de/lennart/projects/pulseaudio/pulseaudio-0.9.11.tar.gz
Debian: http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pulseaudio.html

What does "triaged" mean? I looked it up on dictionaries, but I can't find a definition that seems relevant to reporting a package upgrade.

Description of the bug statuses: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status and the meaning of the word triage: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage

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Yes, the release of 0.9.11 is known, however there are some major changes in the new release that need to be looked into carefully, before we move forward with updating the version in intrepid. At the very least, we need to get alsa updated to 1.0.17 before we update pulseaudio.

 affects ubuntu/pulseaudio
 importance wishlist
 status triaged
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I don't exactly understand the sound-architecture thing, but doesn't PulseAudio replace ALSA?

Not entirely. Pulseaudio still needs alsa to talk to the sound hardware itself. PulseAudio simply provides a deacent abstraction layer for the desktop to allow multiple apps to play audio at once, send that audio over a network, etc. Have a look at http://www.pulseaudio.org for more information.

I know that there are problems with Intel HDA and the new Pulseaudio 0.9.11 or better said Alsa 1.0.17, but hey, there is some time left before Intrepid will be released. As far as I know there are some fixes under away for this problems.

Just one thought, as I understand it, if ubuntu could ship Pulseaudio 0.9.11 we could have some nice event sounds.

Take a look at this blog and bug report.
What I read tells me that the support for this will be possible for the next ubuntu release.

http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/sixfold-announcement.html
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=542979

A short part of the release note of pulseaudio 0.9.11
* "Spatial" event sounds, i.e. sound events from UI elements are positioned in space, according to where they were triggered on the screen (click on a button on the left side of the screen and audio comes from the left speaksers, ...) To make use of these features clients need to use the libcanberra event sound library.

So as it seems right now the next gnome release will support libcanberra.

As I understand it, nothing else is needed.

If I am wrong then please enlighten me.

If you think it is to early for Glitch Free Audio then I will patiently wait ;-)

btw. the wiki has been updated and Fedora10 is investigation in pulseaudio 0.9.11. Release will be in October like ubuntu's.

http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/DownloadPulseAudio#Requirements
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/GlitchFreeAudio (Maybe ubuntu could cooperate with them to eliminate major problems.)

Regards
Achim

Lennart says that we need HZ=1000. Ubuntu's generic kernel have HZ=250.

http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.audio.pulseaudio.general/742

"Please make sure to run a kernel with HZ=1000 and
CONFIG_PREEMPT. If your kernel doesn't have that, then I kindly ask to
change distribution to something that is more useful for desktop
use."

The HZ has no value since newer Linux kernels are tickless and don't rely on timer interrupts anymore. But I think upgrading pulseaudio to version 0.9.11 is a good idea. There's still a lot of time to fix possible errors with Intel chipsets. But at the end, Intrepid will be the first distribution to have decent sound support on Linux. There are just too many benefits on upgrading to leave the system with the old version.

May be this is from interest, there is a new Alsa version available.

http://alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Changes_v1.0.17_v1.0.17a

Regards
Achim

Did you file a [needs-packaging] report about that new version of ALSA, Achim? You should! :D

Am Dienstag, den 19.08.2008, 13:02 +0000 schrieb Exsecrabilus:
> Did you file a [needs-packaging] report about that new version of ALSA,
> Achim? You should! :D
>

No, because Luke Yelavich knows that he needs a newer Alsa version if he
plans to implement pulseaudio 0.9.11.

To my mind pulseaudio 0.9.11 can only benefit from the new Alsa version
(1.0.17a)

I mean feature freeze is coming at August 28th and it seems there is no
great interest to bring pulseaudio 0.9.11 into intrepid.

If there are to big problems with it I can understand it but it would be
nice if someone could tell us what is actually planed.

Regards
Achim

The problem is that alsa has not yet been updated to 1.0.17 in the kernel, and I am not sure when that will happen. I have asked for it to be done, and need to prod the kernel team about it.

Once all of alsa 1.0.17 lands in intrepid, I will make pulse 0.9.11 available in a PPA, as I would like to get some testing before I potentially break audio even more. Only then, if the improvements are worthwhile, will I attempt to get it into intrepid proper.

Luke

Ben Collins has proposed that Intrepid's kernel be changed to 2.6.27 (and alsa-1.0.17).

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2008-August/026142.html

Maybe we are close to PulseAudio 0.9.11.....

Intrepid moves to 2.6.27!

http://blog.phunnypharm.org/2008/08/intrepid-ibex-810-moves-to-2627.html

Yay! Now we wait for PulseAudio 0.9.11!

There is a call for testing of PulseAudio 0.9.11 from Luke on the ubuntu-devel mailing list:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2008-August/026221.html

Is there a chance that it makes it in Itrepid?

I installed PulseAudio 0.9.11 from the PPA on Intrepid, and at least I haven't found any obvious regressions. But I'm no audio expert.

I've been running 0.9.11 for a while now without problems. It also seems to work fine on a 2.6.26 kernel (does this mean that glitch-free playback is automatically disabled?). More important, version 0.9.11 appears to fix random crashes related to disconnecting my USB soundcard that happened with 0.9.10.

Yes, glitch-free gets disabled automatically, if your setup doesnt support it. You need at least ALSA 1.0.17 and Linux 2.6.27 (or 2.6.26 with certain patched applied). The OSS backend doesnt support glitch-free at all.

For me not everything works Like it should with pulseaudio from your PPA Luke.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/265003
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/265010

I also noticed that I am no more able to share my sound card with "paprefs".
If these problems doesn't get solved, I am not for pushing this into Intrepid.

Regards
Achim

pavucontrol and sharing sound cards over the network work flawlessly here. Can you check the output of 'dpkg -l *pulse*' to make sure you upgraded all the pulseaudio components?

I think I have all packages updated.

How do you share your sound card Tom Jaeger? I use paprefs most of the time.
I have tested this with two computer both with intrepid and pulseaudio 0.9.11.
If one computer hast pulseaudio 0.9.10 I can stream the sound from PA 0.9.11 to PA 0.9.10 but not the other way around.
I couldn't get it working with pulseaudio 0.9.11.
The previews version (0.9.10) worked quite well!

ii gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio 0.10.10-1 GStreamer plugin for PulseAudio
un libao-pulse <keine> (keine Beschreibung vorhanden)
ii libpulse-browse0 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 PulseAudio client libraries (zeroconf support)
ii libpulse-mainloop-glib0 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 PulseAudio client libraries (glib support)
ii libpulse0 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 PulseAudio client libraries
ii libpulsecore5 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 PulseAudio sound server core
un libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio <keine> (keine Beschreibung vorhanden)
ii pulseaudio 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 PulseAudio sound server
ii pulseaudio-esound-compat 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 PulseAudio ESD compatibility layer
ii pulseaudio-module-gconf 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 GConf module for PulseAudio sound server
ii pulseaudio-module-hal 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 HAL device detection module for PulseAudio sound server
un pulseaudio-module-jack <keine> (keine Beschreibung vorhanden)
un pulseaudio-module-lirc <keine> (keine Beschreibung vorhanden)
ii pulseaudio-module-x11 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 X11 module for PulseAudio sound server
ii pulseaudio-module-zeroconf 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 Zeroconf module for PulseAudio sound server
ii pulseaudio-utils 0.9.11-0ubuntu1~ppa3 Command line tools for the PulseAudio sound server
ii vlc-plugin-pulse 0.8.6.release.h-1ubuntu1 PulseAudio audio plugins for VLC

Strange. I have the same versions of those packages installed and I can just share a sound card via paprefs (I needed to restart pulseaudio, though). I'm using the default config file, and I think I manually added my user account to the various pulse* groups.

I have added may user also to the various pulse groups like you suggested but it didn't show any affect.

If I try to use multicast pulseaudio crashes very fast on the Receiver side and I never heard a sound.
So at the moment it is not very stable and "full" of regressions for me.

Regards
Achim

New versions of pavucontrol and paprefs have been released, so I'll upload them to my PPA as well, so they can be tested alongside pulseaudio 0.9.12 which I will also upload.

Luke Yelavich,

can you tell me/us if the alsa version of intrepid is the latest (1.0.17a)?
I am not sure, because $ cat /proc/asound/version is 1.0.17.

Regards
Achim

I have updated pulseaudio from your ppa Luke.

pavumeter is working again, but the Networking stuff doesn't work.
I use paprefs to share my sound card but it doesn't work.

What works for a short time is Multicast/RTP.
Pulseaudio crashes on the receiver side after ca. 5 sec.

Does the network stuff work for you Luke?

Regards
Achim

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 03:10:09AM EST, Achim wrote:
> I have updated pulseaudio from your ppa Luke.
>
> pavumeter is working again, but the Networking stuff doesn't work.
> I use paprefs to share my sound card but it doesn't work.
>
> What works for a short time is Multicast/RTP.
> Pulseaudio crashes on the receiver side after ca. 5 sec.
>
> Does the network stuff work for you Luke?

To be honest, I am not sure how to set it up, as I have never had the need. However, I will see what I can do to test it locally.

Luke

If 0.9.12 ends up not being stable enough for the majority of users to make it into intrepid as the default, would it be possible to have a 'pulseaudio_0-9-12' package included in the repos that conflicts with/replaces the original files? That way everyone has a mostly stable default, while those 'bleeding edge' types that the newer version works for can easily replace the default.

Would this be infeasible or too much work? Or just a plain bad idea period? I don't pretend to know all the details of the packaging system and rules to get stuff in the repositories.

Has someone noticed that the sound starts crackling if you play more than one audio stream?

For example If I play a video with totem and music with Rhythmbox the sound starts to crackle.
I have noticed this on an Dell Notebook with this audio device 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller.

Yup and I filed this bug

https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/268891

Please note the command for killing pulseaudio and start in logging mode

pulseaudio -k; sleep 4; pulseaudio -vv

I also solved it after a little messing around withhelp from "psyke83" threads in U-F, unsure whats
right settings and configs. Perfect sound for the moment.

Hi Luke,

If I try to share my sound card with paprefs I get this error on the receiver side.

E: module-zeroconf-discover.c: Cannot construct valid device name from credentials of service 'tunnel.achim-laptop.local.alsa_output.pci_8086_27d8_alsa_playback_0'.
E: module-zeroconf-discover.c: Cannot construct valid device name from credentials of service 'tunnel.achim-laptop.local.alsa_input.pci_8086_27d8_alsa_capture_0'.

btw. Multicast doesn't really work at the moment. Pulseaudio crashes after some seconds with a segmentation fault.

Regards
Achim

0.9.12 seems worse to me than 0.9.11. Unplugging an USB soundcard that is currently playing something causes the stream to die. pulseaudio -vv output (alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_alsa_playback_0 is the device that the stream should be moved to):

W: alsa-util.c: Got POLLERR from ALSA
W: alsa-util.c: PCM state is DISCONNECTED
I: (alsa-lib)pcm_hw.c: SNDRV_PCM_IOCTL_DROP failed
I: (alsa-lib)pcm_hw.c: SNDRV_PCM_IOCTL_PREPARE failed
W: alsa-util.c: Could not recover from POLLERR|POLLNVAL|POLLHUP with snd_pcm_prepare(): No such device
I: module.c: Unloading "module-alsa-sink" (index: #0).
I: module-combine.c: Unconfiguring sink: alsa_output.usb_device_8bb_2900_noserial_if0_alsa_playback_0
D: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully created entry group for thomas@x61: Simultaneous output to USB Audio CODEC - USB Audio.
D: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Removing entry group for thomas@x61: USB Audio CODEC - USB Audio.
W: module-rescue-streams.c: Failed to move sink input 2 "(null)" to alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_alsa_playback_0.

I had to revert back to the version of pavucontrol in intrepid. The new version causes pulseaudio to use 100% CPU, it causes crackling and often induces crashes.

On the bright side, the ladspa plugin is finally working correctly.

The latest packages from Luke's PPA seem to work well for me. They appear to resolve the random latency and crackling issues I had with pulseaudio in hardy.
CPU usage remains at about 2 percent while audio plays although running pavucontrol boosts pulseaudio usage to 20 percent without audio playing and 30 percent with. No crackling or crashes noticed though.

I am unable to test the more advanced features like network audio or seamless switching between sinks.

Since it seems highly unlikely that this will make it into intrepid, perhaps this should eventually become a packaging request for Jaunty?

Okay, I have to edit my last statement. Suddenly I am now getting crackling and pops with two audio streams playing at once. In this case rhythmbox and pidgin playing sound at the same time. Reverting to Intrepid's current pulseaudio resolved that issue.

The only thing relevant (I think) I changed between working perfectly and the crackling was editing my asound.conf to read:
pcm.pulse {
    type pulse
}
ctl.pulse {
    type pulse
}
pcm.!default {
    type pulse
}
ctl.!default {
    type pulse
}

This was required to get audio working with flashplugin-nonfree.

If 0.9.12 is no good, how about 0.9.11?

Am Montag, den 29.09.2008, 15:51 +0000 schrieb Scott Ritchie:
> If 0.9.12 is no good, how about 0.9.11?

I don't think this is a good Idea. There are enough problems that make
both versions not suitable for a stable release.

It will be the best if we wait for pulseaudio 0.9.13-14, I think.

Regards
Achim

0.9.11 was more unstable then .12

Luke has done a great job with 0.9.10 and I have no regressions.

(Ubuntu 32 bit, Audigy2 and USB output to a sound system)

BUT....

psyke83 is running this thread , libao and pavdevchooser !?

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=866965

Luke could you update your PPA to the latest PA 0.9.13 so that I can test if some problems are solved?
My network stuff is still not working and lennart is not able to reproduce my problem.

https://tango.0pointer.de/pipermail/pulseaudio-discuss/2008-October/002444.html

Regards
Achim

Just a note about networking.... its a complete mess with a Ubuntu client.
At least for me.

"Someone" must perform a complete networking check and not just on package level.
Perhaps it is NM 0.7 which causes this....???

Am Montag, den 06.10.2008, 08:05 +0000 schrieb plun:
> Just a note about networking.... its a complete mess with a Ubuntu client.
> At least for me.
>
> "Someone" must perform a complete networking check and not just on package level.
> Perhaps it is NM 0.7 which causes this....???
>

With "networking" I meant the "RTP/SDP/SAP Transport" that has nothing
to do with NM 0.7.

Regards
Achim

Well, I think it has... its a mess with all streaming services and a network.
NM 0.7 got severe bugs for "hostname" and was just updated. Testing... ;)

I dont know the situation for Avahi and mtdaap and so on (all popular) but all them must be tested.

mt-daap is out of order nevertheless and spits out Pulseaudio errors... (package seems also old.)

It's worth noting that Fedora is going with a newer PulseAudio in their upcoming release: the main feature seems to be the "glitch-free" aspect of versions > 0.9.10. http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/pulse-glitch-free.html

So whether it's 0.9.11, 0.9.12, or 0.9.13, there's some advantage to newer Pulse.

I just happened to check and as of about an hour ago it looks like Luke has kindly added 0.9.13 to his PPA for those interested in testing.

Luke, have you tested the network stuff?

At first I thought it is a problem of the new pulseaudio version, but I am also not able to share my sound card with
"paprefs" and PA 0.9.10 in Intrepid.

It worked with no problems in Hardy, I am wondering what might go wrong there?
Is it related to the updated alsa version in some way? I don't know.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/282727

Regards
Achim

Using 0.9.13 from luke's PPA for just over a week now and it seems stable. I've not noticed any crashes of pulseaudio or any crashes of other programs that look like they could be blamed on it. Some notes:

Latency is way down in comparison to 0.9.10.
Short sounds (for example, pidgin sounds) often have clicks or pops again, like in 0.9.10. This appeared to be fixed in 0.9.11 and 0.9.12.
Mixing is working perfectly again. This was broken for me in 0.9.12.
Unable to test the network features so I can't comment on them.

Overall, I don't see any regressions in 0.9.13 when comparing to 0.9.10. If the clicking/popping issue gets fixed again, this would make linux audio perfect for me.

I'm gonna tag this Intrepid-updates, as given Colin's mail today it seems like a more reasonable target than final release as this isn't considered a critical bug.

Will alsa be updated to version 1.0.18 if you plan to ship PA 0.9.13+ as update?
Maybe an alsa update would fix some other bugs in relation to PA too.
Has the crackling problem with hda-intel been resolved with a newer version than PA 0.9.13?
Maybe it is also related to alsa.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/252335/comments/31

The problem still exists with PA 0.9.13.

Regards
Achim

The suggestion to alter two settings in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf, specifically:
default-fragments = 8
default-fragment-size-msec = 5
to fix the sporadic clicking and popping with very short sounds did not work. The way I understand it, in the "glitch-free" pulseaudio's greater than 0.9.10 these settings among others are changed on the fly. I also did not notice this problem in 0.9.12 which leads me to believe this may be some sort of regression.

It may be that some other setting could fix this, but I've not encountered one. If this is indeed the case, the particular setting should probably be set as default if/when it is known.

jaunty has a newer PA.