Arch Linux

bytesize

Member

Registered: 2009-10-05

Posts: 1

[SOLVED] qemu-kvm high cpu usage when using pulseaudio alsa-plugin

My Arch system is configured to use pulseaudio. When an application connects to the sound server it will use either a native pulseaudio driver, or the pulseaudio alsa-plugin if it using a alsa driver.

qemu-kvm in 'extra' is not compiled with native pulseaudio support. When running guests with sound hardware support, qemu-kvm connects to the sound server using the pulseaudio alsa-plugin.

The problem I'm seeing is high cpu usage on the Arch host even though cpu usage on the guest is low. Also, the guest is often unresponsive for a period of time when opening sound applications like the mixer or playing audio.

My solution is to recompile qemu-kvm with native pulseaudio support. This eliminates the use of the pulseaudio alsa-plugin on the Arch host and fixes the above problems.

An easy was to do this is run:

yaourt -S qemu-kvm --build

And edit the PKGBUILD changing the line:

--audio-drv-list=alsa,sdl,oss,esd \

To:

--audio-drv-list=pa,alsa,sdl,oss,esd \

Finish building and install. Don't forget to add yourself to the kvm group.

Last edited by bytesize (2010-08-16 02:34:08)