Fedora 11 + KDE+ Sound Problem

[Micros50]

On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 17:04 -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
> Micros50 wrote:
> > I recently installed Fedora 11 to replace fedora 6 which I had been
> > running until recently.  Thus far everything looks great. Except for a
> > few minor issues everything more or less worked fine.
> > 
> > My preferred desktop is KDE which also seemed to work well. The
> > transition from KDE 3 to KDE4 went smoothly.
> > 
> > However, I did run into a problem with regards to KDE sound apps. At
> > first they were running fine. Any apps that needed to access the KDE
> > sound system i.e. "k-notify", "juk", "Amarok", etc. were working fine
> > via the "phoneon-backend-xine" backend.
> > 
> > Then all of a sudden something changed and all kde apps that needed to
> > access the sound system started crashing and giving a Signal 6
> > (SIGABRT). I didn't recall making any changes or updates that would have
> > accounted for this problem.  Here is a copy of the backtrace that I was
> > getting each time an application crashed.
> > 
> > Application: JuK (juk), signal SIGABRT
> > [Current thread is 1 (Thread 0xb7f3b780 (LWP 3121))]
> > 
> > Thread 6 (Thread 0x9940b70 (LWP 3122)):
> > #0  0x00843416 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
> > #1  0x008162d2 in pthread_cond_timedwait@@GLIBC_2.3.2 ()
> > from /lib/libpthread.so.0
> > #2  0x05c4674d in ?? () from /usr/lib/libxine.so.1
> > #3  0x00811935 in start_thread () from /lib/libpthread.so.0
> > #4  0x0074693e in clone () from /lib/libc.so.6
> > 
> > Thread 5 (Thread 0xb66b1b70 (LWP 3123)):
> > [KCrash Handler]
> > #6  0x00843416 in __kernel_vsyscall ()
> > #7  0x006937c1 in raise () from /lib/libc.so.6
> > #8  0x00695092 in abort () from /lib/libc.so.6
> > #9  0x057fc84c in qt_message_output(QtMsgType, char const*) ()
> > from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
> > #10 0x057fc92e in qFatal(char const*, ...) ()
> > from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
> > #11 0x057fca25 in qt_assert(char const*, char const*, int) ()
> > from /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4
> > #12 0x02c5b87f in Phonon::MediaSource::type() const ()
> > from /usr/lib/kde4/plugins/phonon_backend/phonon_xine.so
> > #13 0x02c5e255 in Phonon::MediaSource::type() const ()
> > from /usr/lib/kde4/plugins/phonon_backend/phonon_xine.so
> > #14 0x02c642a0 in Phonon::MediaSource::type() const ()
> > from /usr/lib/kde4/plugins/phonon_backend/phonon_xine.so
> > #15 0x0609a884 in QApplicationPrivate::notify_helper(QObject*, QEvent*)
> > () from /usr/lib/libQtGui.so.4
> > #16 0x060a1f0e in QApplication::notify(QObject*, QEvent*) ()
> > from /usr/lib/libQtGui.so.4
> > :
> > 
> > Any ideas ?  It seems to be an issue with the "phoneon-backend-xine"
> > plugin so I switched from the xine backend to gstreamer and all of a
> > sudden everything started working again. I had to install some
> > additional gstreamer plugins but, at least now everything seems to be
> > working again with respect to the KDE sound system.
> > 
> > I guess we can say the problem is solved in as far as getting sound out
> > of my KDE apps but I am still puzzled as to what might have caused the
> > xine backend to start giving me problems. Wondering if I might need to
> > send a formal bug report. Any suggestions or insignts into this problem
> > are appreciated.
> 
> There were a number of updates to the sound system (PulseAudio, Alsa)
> and a number of the media players that caused problems recently.  I
> don't use KDE myself, so I don't recall the details very well as they
> didn't bite me (or a later update fixed them and I didn't notice).
> 
> I will say that this question is perfect fodder for and can be answered
> far more completely on the "fedora-list" than here.  I'd suggest you
> search the archives of that list for the last couple of weeks and you
> should see how to fix it.  If not, post a message on that list and
> you'll get all the help you could possibly want.  The people on that
> list are very helpful and a lot of them are heavy-duty KDE users and
> mavens.  I'm there, too, if you want to take a few swings at me!  :-)

Thanks Rick.. I think I'll sign up for that list and see what they have
to say about this.  Even though it's "working" now (more or less) it's
still doing weird things now and then. Sound apps occasionally freeze or
hang and configurations occasionally seem to change by themselves when I
restart KDE, almost like there was a poltergeist inside. Case in point,
I just got a message from KDE saying that the pulseaudio server is not
working even though it was just working a few moments ago. But now a new
"Default" device appeared and seems to work but the old "default"
doesn't work. It's all but got me banging my head on the wall at this
point.

In any event I'll drop a line of that "fedora-list" before I lose it
completely. Apparently they made a lot of changes that I'm not yet
familiar with in the way sound is handled from the old KDE to the new
KDE.

Ciao

John