[pulseaudio-discuss] Bug#644809: pulseaudio: Confusing warning `PulseAudio configured for per-user sessions`

[Paul Menzel]

Package: pulseaudio
Version: 1.0-4
Severity: normal
X-Debbugs-CC: pulseaudio-discuss at lists.freedesktop.org


Dear PulseAudio Debian packagers and upstream PA folks,


the Debian init script `/etc/init.d/pulseaudio` [1] currently prints a
warning when PA is configured in non-system mode.

        PULSEAUDIO_SYSTEM_START=0
        DISALLOW_MODULE_LOADING=1
        test -f /etc/default/pulseaudio && . /etc/default/pulseaudio
        if [ "$PULSEAUDIO_SYSTEM_START" != "1" ]; then
        	log_warning_msg "PulseAudio configured for per-user sessions"
        	exit 0
        fi

In my opinion a warning suggests that something might be wrong and
therefore I am bringing this issues to your attention.

In `/etc/default/pulseaudio` [2] there is the following explanation.

        # Start the PulseAudio sound server in system mode.
        # (enables the pulseaudio init script - requires that users be in the
        # pulse-access group)
        # System mode is not the recommended way to run PulseAudio as it has some
        # limitations (such as no shared memory access) and could potentially allow
        # users to disconnect or redirect each others' audio streams. The
        # recommended way to run PulseAudio is as a per-session daemon. For GNOME/KDE/
        # Xfce sessions in Ubuntu Lucid/10.04, /etc/xdg/autostart/pulseaudio.desktop
        # handles this function of automatically starting PulseAudio on login, and for
        # it to work correctly your user must *not* have "autospawn = no" set in
        # ~/.pulse/client.conf (or in /etc/pulse/client.conf). By default, autospawn
        # is enabled. For other sessions, you can simply start PulseAudio with
        # "pulseaudio --daemonize".
        # 0 = don't start in system mode, 1 = start in system mode
        PULSEAUDIO_SYSTEM_START=0
        
        # Prevent users from dynamically loading modules into the PulseAudio sound
        # server. Dynamic module loading enhances the flexibility of the PulseAudio
        # system, but may pose a security risk.
        # 0 = no, 1 = yes
        DISALLOW_MODULE_LOADING=1

As far as I remember this explanation is correct and also upstream’s, i.
e. your, view/recommendation.

If this is correct I guess the init script should be changed to not log
a warning or explain the warning in a better way.


Thanks,

Paul


[1] http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-pulseaudio/pulseaudio.git;a=blob;f=debian/pulseaudio.init;h=6386510759186380abde0335d3738dd909c22ee7;hb=HEAD#l25
[2] http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-pulseaudio/pulseaudio.git;a=blob;f=debian/pulseaudio.default;h=39261987e554db65b9244f1e3861cea10339d108;hb=HEAD
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