sound problems with latest updates in f8test FOUND

[stan]

stan wrote:
> stan wrote:
>> stan wrote:
>>> dragoran wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 8/18/07, *stan* <eiqep_eiwo_y at cox.net 
>>>> <mailto:eiqep_eiwo_y at cox.net>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>     dragoran wrote:
>>>>     >
>>>>     >
>>>>     > On 8/18/07, *stan* <eiqep_eiwo_y at cox.net
>>>>     <mailto:eiqep_eiwo_y at cox.net>
>>>>     > <mailto:eiqep_eiwo_y at cox.net <mailto:eiqep_eiwo_y at cox.net>>> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>     >
>>>>     >     Hi,
>>>>     >
>>>>     >     I have an application that opens the sound card.  With the
>>>>     latest
>>>>     >     updates it will still open it as default device but can no
>>>>     longer open
>>>>     >     it as plughw:0,0.  The error I get is
>>>>     >     cannot open audio device "plughw:0,0" (Device or resource 
>>>> busy)
>>>>     >
>>>>     >     When I run powertop, I see that the driver has a lot of
>>>>     interrupts
>>>>     >     even
>>>>     >     though there is no sound running.
>>>>     >     Top causes for wakeups:
>>>>     >       43.9% (100.6)       <interrupt> : ohci_hcd:usb2, eth0
>>>>     >       20.5% ( 46.9)       <interrupt> : ICE1724
>>>>     >        9.6% ( 22.0)       <interrupt> : libata
>>>>     >        6.4% ( 14.6)   at-spi-registry : schedule_timeout
>>>>     (process_timeout)
>>>>     >        4.6% ( 10.5)                 X : do_setitimer 
>>>> (it_real_fn)
>>>>     >        4.4% ( 10.0)   /usr/bin/sealer : schedule_timeout
>>>>     (process_timeout)
>>>>     >
>>>>     >     Perhaps this is normal, but given the device busy error
>>>>     above it makes
>>>>     >     me suspicious that there is something wrong.
>>>>     >
>>>>     >     Sound plays normally using audio player, but it uses the
>>>>     default
>>>>     >     device.  I notice that the usage drops by about half for
>>>>     ICE1724 when
>>>>     >     the sound is playing.
>>>>     >
>>>>     >     I'll probably do a debug of this at some point and post any
>>>>     findings.
>>>>     >
>>>>     >
>>>>     > that may be related to the pulse audio changes you have to use
>>>>     default
>>>>     > to play sound with alsa.
>>>>     >
>>>>     >
>>>>     That isn't good.  Default automatically runs the sound through 
>>>> dmix.
>>>>     And it has a set frame rate of
>>>>     48000.  Other rates are software resampled.  I want to avoid 
>>>> that and
>>>>     only use the hardware sample rates
>>>>     so that there is no resampling on the sound.
>>>>
>>>>     Is there a way to configure sound with pulse audio to avoid this,
>>>>     or do
>>>>     I have to remove pulse audio in order to
>>>>     get direct access to alsa?
>>>>
>>>>     Thanks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> try running pasuspend before running your app.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I don't find that app.  I find pasuspender, but it wants me to 
>>> connect to a server.  I installed everything pulseaudio related 
>>> except for the esound compatibility module.  That had a conflict 
>>> with esound which is already installed.  Haven't tried removing 
>>> pulseaudio yet, I suppose that is next.  Unless you have any other 
>>> suggestions?
>>>
>> Well, I removed everything pulseaudio related and the problem was 
>> still there.  Yesterday there was an update to both the kernel and 
>> all of the alsa packages.  Suspicion moves there.  The last 
>> production version of alsa-lib on Fedora 7 had disabled support for 
>> all floating point sound formats.  Perhaps a similar regression has 
>> happened with the new version.
>>
> The error occurs in function snd_config_search_alias_hooks in file 
> conf.c of alsa-lib.  This calls a define which is a function,
> SND_CONFIG_SEARCH_ALIAS.
> I can't trace the actual error because there is nothing to trace, but 
> the error number is -2.
>
The problem is esd is hogging the sound device.  It appears to use OSS 
(/dev/dsp, /dev/dsp2, etc.)  This won't play nice with alsa library 
requests.  For now I've set the -d option with /dev/dsp2 (I only have 
one sound device)  in /etc/esd.conf so that it is disabled.  I'll look 
into removing it.  Not sure how it got installed because I don't recall 
doing so.  Can't find it under services either.

The folks on alsa-devel resolved this for me.

NAME
       esd - The Enlightened Sound Daemon

DESCRIPTION
       Starts up EsounD, which provides a sound mixing server.

USAGE
       esd [options]

         -d DEVICE     force esd to use sound device DEVICE
         -b            run server in 8 bit sound mode
         -r RATE       run server at sample rate of RATE
         -as SECS      free audio device after SECS of inactivity (-1 to 
disable)
         -unix         use unix domain sockets instead of tcp/ip
         -tcp          use tcp/ip sockets instead of unix domain
         -public       make tcp/ip access public (other than localhost)
         -promiscuous  start unlocked and owned (disable authenticaton) 
NOT RECOMMENDED
         -terminate    terminate esd daemon after last client exits
         -noterminate  do not terminate esd daemon after last client exits
         -nobeeps      disable startup beeps
         -beeps        enable startup beeps
         -trust        start esd even if use of /tmp/.esd can be insecure
         -port PORT    listen for connections at PORT (only for tcp/ip)
         -bind ADDRESS binds to ADDRESS (only for tcp/ip)

         -v --version  print version information

       Possible devices are:  /dev/dsp, /dev/dsp2, etc.

FILES /etc/esd.conf           daemon configuration file