No audio without pulseaudio (ALSA only) on Linux?

Lurker · Post by **Lurker** » 26 Jul 2023, 19:07

I'm using the official packages (4.3.5) provided for Ubuntu (18.04 or 20.04 doesn't matter, both work without notable difference) on Debian 11 (Bullseye). Audio unfortunately only works if pulseaudio is present. I usually don't have the "pulseaudio" package installed for various reasons, but libpulse0 is present as a dependency for wine.

Without pulseaudio:

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AL lib: (EE) ALCplaybackAlsa_reset: snd_pcm_hw_params(self->pcmHandle, hp) failed: File descriptor in bad state
error   |18:45:10: [sound_SetHRTFMode:356] Failed to reset device: Invalid Device

But openal-info runs fine:

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Available playback devices:
    ALSA Default
    SB Live! Value [CT4670], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (CARD=Live,DEV=0)
    SB Live! Value [CT4670], Multichannel Capture/PT Playback (CARD=Live,DEV=2)
    SB Live! Value [CT4670], Multichannel Playback (CARD=Live,DEV=3)
Available capture devices:
    ALSA Default
    SB Live! Value [CT4670], ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (CARD=Live,DEV=0)
    SB Live! Value [CT4670], Mic Capture (CARD=Live,DEV=1)
    SB Live! Value [CT4670], Multichannel Capture/PT Playback (CARD=Live,DEV=2)
Default playback device: ALSA Default
Default capture device: ALSA Default
ALC version: 1.1

** Info for device "ALSA Default" **
ALC version: 1.1
ALC extensions:
    ALC_ENUMERATE_ALL_EXT, ALC_ENUMERATION_EXT, ALC_EXT_CAPTURE,
    ALC_EXT_DEDICATED, ALC_EXT_disconnect, ALC_EXT_EFX,
    ALC_EXT_thread_local_context, ALC_SOFT_device_clock, ALC_SOFT_HRTF,
    ALC_SOFT_loopback, ALC_SOFT_output_limiter, ALC_SOFT_pause_device
Available HRTFs:
    default-44100
    default-48000
    Built-In 44100hz
    Built-In 48000hz
OpenAL vendor string: OpenAL Community
OpenAL renderer string: OpenAL Soft
OpenAL version string: 1.1 ALSOFT 1.19.1
OpenAL extensions:
    AL_EXT_ALAW, AL_EXT_BFORMAT, AL_EXT_DOUBLE, AL_EXT_EXPONENT_DISTANCE,
    AL_EXT_FLOAT32, AL_EXT_IMA4, AL_EXT_LINEAR_DISTANCE, AL_EXT_MCFORMATS,
    AL_EXT_MULAW, AL_EXT_MULAW_BFORMAT, AL_EXT_MULAW_MCFORMATS, AL_EXT_OFFSET,
    AL_EXT_source_distance_model, AL_EXT_SOURCE_RADIUS, AL_EXT_STEREO_ANGLES,
    AL_LOKI_quadriphonic, AL_SOFT_block_alignment, AL_SOFT_deferred_updates,
    AL_SOFT_direct_channels, AL_SOFTX_events, AL_SOFTX_filter_gain_ex,
    AL_SOFT_gain_clamp_ex, AL_SOFT_loop_points, AL_SOFTX_map_buffer,
    AL_SOFT_MSADPCM, AL_SOFT_source_latency, AL_SOFT_source_length,
    AL_SOFT_source_resampler, AL_SOFT_source_spatialize
Available resamplers:
    Nearest
    Linear *
    Cubic
    11th order Sinc
    23rd order Sinc
EFX version: 1.0
Max auxiliary sends: 2
Supported filters:
    Low-pass, High-pass, Band-pass
Supported effects:
    EAX Reverb, Reverb, Chorus, Distortion, Echo, Flanger, Frequency Shifter,
    Pitch Shifter, Ring Modulator, Autowah, Compressor, Equalizer,
    Dedicated Dialog, Dedicated LFE

The deb packages also don't claim dependencies on pulseaudio. Can those native versions get working audio with ALSA only?

(Just for reference, the Windows binary works fine on Wine without pulseaudio / ALSA only. But out-of-the-box it nags the user to use the native version instead.)