Better Bluetooth A2DP support on Linux

[Pali Rohár]

On Thursday 10 September 2020 14:34:27 Felipe Sateler wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Sorry for the late reply. I started writing and then dropped the ball.
> 
> On Sat, Aug 8, 2020 at 12:16 PM Pali Rohár <pali.rohar at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hello!
> >
> > On Saturday 13 June 2020 17:36:14 Felipe Sateler wrote:
> > > Hello Pali,
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jun 4, 2020 at 3:17 PM Pali Rohár <pali.rohar at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello!
> > > >
> > > > For two years I have been playing with Bluetooth audio support. I
> > > > prepared patches for pulseaudio which radically improve bluetooth A2DP
> > > > situation on Linux, but now after two years I see that pulseaudio
> > > > maintainers are in interested in them and they are fine with current
> > > > bluetooth audio state on Linux.
> > > >
> > > > For last two months lot of users are asking me when my patches would be
> > > > merged into pulseaudio and when bluetooth audio situation on Linux
> > would
> > > > be better.
> > > >
> > > > To all users now I'm writing reply, that they should forgot about Linux
> > > > support as maintainers are not interested in it and users should use
> > e.g.
> > > > Apple systems where everything bluetooth audio related is working out
> > of
> > > > the box. It is just wasting time for non-power users on Linux to try to
> > > > do anything if there are already Apple and Windows systems where it is
> > > > working.
> > > >
> > > > So, I would like to ask you, Debian maintainers, are you interested in
> > > > Bluetooth A2DP patches for pulseaudio in which pulseaudio maintainers
> > > > are not interested? I have working support for aptX, aptX-HD, SBC-XQ
> > > > and FastStream codecs in A2DP profile. FastStream is also with
> > > > microphone support.
> > > >
> > >
> > > I don't want to maintain a fork of pulseaudio. So including patches that
> > > upstream *actively* doesn't want is a hard sell.
> >
> > I understand your points. If you are asking how to sell it, is not poor
> > audio support on Linux good argument compared to Windows and Apple
> > support?
> >
> > Because as I wrote, really it is better to not use Linux/Debian for
> > bluetooth audio and rather switch to Windows or Apple system.
> >
> 
> It is a very good argument. As a matter of fact, I cannot use my own
> bluetooth headset because it is not supported by pulseaudio in HFP mode.
> But I cannot commit to maintaining a forked pulseaudio. I simply don't have
> time.

It is really better to say or document truth. "It is unsupported and if
you need it then use other operating system".

> >
> > > However, I don't actually see that upstream is actively opposed. I even
> > see
> > > some activity happening right now which is awesome!
> >
> > No, upstream is really not interested in it. I thought that something is
> > happening but I was wrong.
> >
> > I'm stopping communication with upstream. It is just takes time and has
> > no result. After 2 years basically nothing happened. Seems they do not
> > want to touch anything bluetooth related and they like current state.
> > Looks like that they also lost other developers as I do not see any
> > activity on bluetooth part.
> >
> > > I would very much consider including patches that are on track to being
> > > upstreamed, provided you are willing to help with rebasing patches on new
> > > upstream versions. To be completely honest, my debian time is fairly
> > > limited, so I'm not committing to more work now.
> > >
> > > I would also be willing to consider following a patched-pulseaudio
> > > upstream, especially of other distros are including the same patches. But
> > > the important thing is that I am not an active pulseaudio developer, and
> > > thus I don't want to maintain patches. I want to follow some upstream,
> > not
> > > be one.
> >
> > So, what about contacting other Linux distributions and maintaining
> > patches collectively? I'm sure that users of other Linux distributions
> > are interested in improved bluetooth audio support based on feedbacks
> > which I got in private emails.
> >
> > Let me know what do you think.
> >
> 
> I'm sorry, but I'm very time-starved. I cannot push for anything. I'm at
> this point a passive follower. If such a fork materializes, I can take a
> look. But so far I have not even been able to try out pulseaudio with your
> patches! I simply cannot be part of a group taking the lead.
> 
> BTW, have other distributions showed interest? Perhaps such a
> forked-pulseaudio already materialized by now?

I do not know. I have not wrote to maintainers of other linux
distributions yet.

-- 
Pali Rohár
pali.rohar at gmail.com