Something blocking the sound card...

onkel_keks · 2011-03-24 19:01:54

Hello,

I have a Subsonic install (Music Streaming Server, see http://www.subsonic.org/) on a headless Arch x86 server. Subsonic offers a "Jukebox" mode which allows you to play music using the server's sound card.
Now, since the last `pacman -Syu` this Jukebox mode won't produce sound any more. The Subsonic log says something to the effect of "sound device is unavailable" (if you're interested, I could post the whole Java traceback...but I don't think it's very informative). So my guess is the sound card is blocked somehow.
The interesting thing however is, if I kill the Subsonic process and restart it (it is usually started via rc.local at boot-time), everything is fine. Which tells me two things: a) it's probably not a permission/access rights issue; b) something is blocking the sound card during boot-up and releasing it later, minimizing my chances to find out what the heck is blocking here.

So. Any good ideas how I could find out what blocks the sound card on boot and then releases it?
As I said (or rather implied), before the last system update, everything worked fine. Also, Subsonic and sshd are the only explicitly-installed services running.

On a different note, is it at all possible to configure Arch in such a way that not every `pacman -Syu` destroys what worked just fine before? Sorry if I'm kind of ranting here, I know none of you guys are to blame here, but I've had this problem so often (sometimes the system wouldn't even boot anymore after an updated-related reboot) that I am probably going to switch to Debian or even Ubuntu. Is it a logical consequence of the "Arch way" (bleeding edge and all) that every system update becomes a round of Russian Roulette, requiring hours of work to get it back "the way it was", or am I doing something profoundly wrong here? I mean, you can't really run a server that way, can you?

Thanks,
onkel_keks

karol · 2011-03-24 22:43:51

With regard to stability: I've never had any problems that would render my Arch system unbootable, so I don't mind the bleeding edge at all. If you research the problem and post a bug report, maybe somebody can help you.

You can try to downgrade some packages to see if it will fix subsonic.

I have no idea what subsonic actually is, but I stumbled by chance on http://www.linuxalt.com/articles/2011/s … -port.html - I don't know if it's related to your problem or not, I'm just guessing here.

Last edited by karol (2011-03-24 22:44:52)

Mr.Elendig · 2011-03-24 22:45:52

Is the user that the app runs as a member of audio?

onkel_keks · 2011-03-25 21:46:45

Thank you very much for your suggestions,

karol: In short, Subsonic is a Java-based server that can stream your music library (so you have ubiquitous access to your music). The link you found describes some IPv4/v6 problem which unfortunately has nothing to do with mine...but thanks for looking into it anyways.
And regarding bleeding edge: I basically don't mind doing some research and looking into a problem. But it really sucks if you have to do that every time you upgrade. Especially with a server system, things should be easy to maintain. Then again, Arch probably isn't the first choice for a stable server - should've thought of that earlier.

Mr.Elendig: Yes, the user is member of audio. As I said, everything worked just fine before the update. And even as it is now, if I restart the service everything works again.
The problem seems to be that at boot-time, when the service is usually started (via rc.local), the sound device is unavailable for some reason. But once the system is up and running and I (re-)start the service, everything is fine again.

Maybe it is Java-related; I read somewhere that openjre is not so good with audio, so I switched to Sun's Java a year or so ago. I might try playing around with that a bit.

Last edited by onkel_keks (2011-03-25 21:49:08)

schivmeister · 2011-03-26 07:26:55

There is nothing I know that "uses" the soundcard during boot-up; however, the period when the soundcard initialises may differ from before. The funny thing is, rc.local is a very late script. By that time, the sound modules should load and initialise the device. By the off-chance that this is kernel-related, install the -lts kernel and see.

tomk · 2011-03-26 08:01:21

If you are truly sorry for ranting, you should edit the post and remove the rant

Seriously - IME generalised moaning like that never gets any results. Stick to discussing individual issues like your sound problem.

That said, you should already be aware that Arch is not recommended for servers, unless you know what you're doing

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-24 19:01:54

Something blocking the sound card...

#2 2011-03-24 22:43:51

Re: Something blocking the sound card...

#3 2011-03-24 22:45:52

Re: Something blocking the sound card...

#4 2011-03-25 21:46:45

Re: Something blocking the sound card...

#5 2011-03-26 07:26:55

Re: Something blocking the sound card...

#6 2011-03-26 08:01:21

Re: Something blocking the sound card...

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