Revision as of 04:07, 21 January 2010

KDE PulseAudio Integration

Summary

Fedora 13 features improved PulseAudio integration in KDE's Phonon and KMix.

Owner

KDE SIG
Email: Kevin@tigcc.ticalc.org, rdieter@math.unl.edu
IRC: #fedora-kde

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora 13
Last updated: 2010-01-21
Percentage of completion: 100%

Phonon PulseAudio integration is complete and available both in Rawhide and F12 updates. KMix PulseAudio integration is now in Rawhide and expected to be feature-complete.

Detailed Description

The following new PulseAudio integration features (developed by Colin Guthrie from Mandriva) are available in Fedora 13:

Phonon detects PulseAudio and no longer shows non-PulseAudio devices when PulseAudio is running.
PulseAudio includes a new module-device-manager which allows Phonon to manage PulseAudio devices.
Using the above, Phonon allows setting device priorities for the devices reachable through PulseAudio.
KMix now shows PulseAudio volumes, including per-application volumes, and allows moving applications between devices.
The traditional ALSA backend for KMix is still available, use export KMIX_PULSEAUDIO_DISABLE=1 to force its use even if PulseAudio is detected.

Users not using PulseAudio are not affected by any of these changes.

See the blog links in the Documentation section for more information.

Benefit to Fedora

The popular KDE desktop now integrates better with the default sound solution in Fedora, allowing full use of its capabilities.

Scope

upgrade Phonon to at least 4.3.80 (done)
upgrade kdebase-runtime to at least 4.3.80 or backport the Phonon KCM changes (done (upgraded))
upgrade PulseAudio to at least 0.9.21 and enable module-device-manager (done)
backport the KMix PulseAudio backend, which is targeted upstream for 4.5 (done)

How To Test

No special hardware is needed, though there should be at least one sound device reachable through PulseAudio. (You can test with a dummy sink, but that won't be as effective for testing as a real one.)

start the KDE Live CD
open KMix (click on the speaker icon in the panel, then on the Mixer button)
verify that you see the PulseAudio tabs
start Dragon Player (or another Phonon-based application)
play something with it
verify that the application shows up in KMix (this also tests Phonon)
verify that it doesn't say "ALSA plugin" (Phonon should use PulseAudio natively)
verify that you don't get annoying "device 'Foo' unreachable, falling back to 'Bar'" notification popups from Phonon
verify that you actually hear the sound
quit KMix (completely, i.e. File / Quit)
open a Konsole
run KMIX_PULSEAUDIO_DISABLE=1 kmix
verify that you get the traditional ALSA mixer (all the hardware controls)
quit KMix (completely, i.e. File / Quit)
run just kmix (or start it from the menu)
verify that you get the PulseAudio KMix back
open the Multimedia tab in System Settings (i.e. the Phonon KCM)
verify that you see your sound devices listed (you should see the hardware devices which are reachable through PulseAudio, there should not be a "PulseAudio" or "PulseAudio Sound Server" device)

All this should pass without crashes (obviously), error messages or annoying notification popups.

User Experience

Dependencies

Contingency Plan

Documentation

Phonon:

KMix:

Release Notes

Comments and Discussion

See Talk:Features/YourFeatureName

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 == Benefit to Fedora ==
-<!-- What is the benefit to the platform?  If this is a major capability update, what has changed?  If this is a new feature, what capabilities does it bring? Why will Fedora become a better distribution or project because of this feature?-->
+The popular KDE desktop now integrates better with the default sound solution in Fedora, allowing full use of its capabilities.
 == Scope ==
-<!-- What work do the developers have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
+* upgrade Phonon to at least 4.3.80 (done)
+* upgrade kdebase-runtime to at least 4.3.80 or backport the Phonon KCM changes (done (upgraded))
+* upgrade PulseAudio to at least 0.9.21 and enable <code>module-device-manager</code> (done)
+* backport the KMix PulseAudio backend, which is targeted upstream for 4.5 (done)
 == How To Test ==
-<!-- This does not need to be a full-fledged document.  Describe the dimensions of tests that this feature is expected to pass when it is done.  If it needs to be tested with different hardware or software configurations, indicate them.  The more specific you can be, the better the community testing can be.
+No special hardware is needed, though there should be at least one sound device reachable through PulseAudio. (You can test with a dummy sink, but that won't be as effective for testing as a real one.)
+# start the KDE Live CD
-Remember that you are writing this how to for interested testers to use to check out your feature - documenting what you do for testing is OK, but it's much better to document what *I* can do to test your feature.
+# open KMix (click on the speaker icon in the panel, then on the Mixer button)
+# verify that you see the PulseAudio tabs
-A good "how to test" should answer these four questions:
+# start Dragon Player (or another Phonon-based application)
+# play something with it
-. What special hardware / data / etc. is needed (if any)?
+# verify that the application shows up in KMix (this also tests Phonon)
-. How do I prepare my system to test this feature? What packages
+# verify that it doesn't say "ALSA plugin" (Phonon should use PulseAudio natively)
-need to be installed, config files edited, etc.?
+# verify that you don't get annoying "device 'Foo' unreachable, falling back to 'Bar'" notification popups from Phonon
-. What specific actions do I perform to check that the feature is
+# verify that you actually hear the sound
-working like it's supposed to?
+# quit KMix (completely, i.e. File / Quit)
-. What are the expected results of those actions?
+# open a Konsole
--->
+# run <code>KMIX_PULSEAUDIO_DISABLE=1 kmix</code>
+# verify that you get the traditional ALSA mixer (all the hardware controls)
+# quit KMix (completely, i.e. File / Quit)
+# run just <code>kmix</code> (or start it from the menu)
+# verify that you get the PulseAudio KMix back
+# open the Multimedia tab in System Settings (i.e. the Phonon KCM)
+# verify that you see your sound devices listed (you should see the hardware devices which are reachable through PulseAudio, there should not be a "PulseAudio" or "PulseAudio Sound Server" device)
+All this should pass without crashes (obviously), error messages or annoying notification popups.
 == User Experience ==

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