Bug#585555: Please don't set the default audio output in /etc/mplayer/mplayer.conf

[Reimar Döffinger]

On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 11:18:18AM -0400, Pascal Gervais wrote:
> > Also, I think having the sound device taken over by one program,
> > leaving other programs with no sound, is a bigger issue than waiting
> > a few seconds for mplayer to start playback.
> 
> And I think having to wait six to seven seconds before MPlayer start my
> playlist and that having to wait six to seven seconds between each
> audio files of my playlist is a bug, an unacceptable behavior, a
> regression that occurred when you decided to set pulseaudio as the
> default audio output of MPlayer.
> 
> Anyway, in case you are interested in finding what is wrong, here is
> the outpout of MPlayer when it tries to find pulseaudio:
> waitpid(): No child processes
> AO: [pulse] Init failed: Internal error
> Failed to initialize audio driver 'pulse'
> 
> 'waitpid(): No child processes' is where MPlayer takes all that time
> before starting each audio and video playback.

Please use strace or something like that to figure out what is going on.
You might also want to try MPlayer directly from SVN and them discuss
the issue directly upstream (I'm also on the MPlayer-users list).
It might be worth looking if you maybe have a broken or non-working
pulseaudio binary around, because that is probably what MPlayer
tries to start during that wait-time.
I guess you can also avoid this by setting in /etc/pulse/client.conf
autospawn = no
(maybe that should be the default? People who want pulseaudio are supposed
to have it started on login, so if it is not already started it probably
is not wanted?)