PipeWire: Difference between revisions

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[https://pipewire.org/ PipeWire] is a multimedia processing engine that aims to improve audio and video handling on Linux. Pipewire can act as a replacement for both [[PulseAudio]] and [[ALSA]] servers.


{{Draft|The instructions below have not been thoroughly tested and may break things.}}
== Prerequisites ==
 
* PipeWire requires [[D-Bus#D-Bus session bus|D-Bus session bus]] for most of its functionality.
* If [[Elogind|elogind]] is used, no further configuration is required.
** If [[Elogind#Verify_working_of_elogind|elogind is not used]], the user [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Group_management|should be added]] to <code>audio</code> group to access audio devices.
** Add <code>video</code> group, if you need to access webcam devices. 
***{{Warning|Membership of the <code>video</code> group will also grant unrestricted access to video devices, which is often a security issue. See issue {{issue|15409}} for further details.}}
 
== Installation ==


[https://pipewire.org/ PipeWire] is a multimedia processing engine that aims to improve audio and video handling on Linux.
The following packages i.e {{Pkg|pipewire}} and {{Pkg|wireplumber}} a session manager are the minimum required packages for getting pipewire to work.{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire wireplumber}}


== Prerequisites ==
=== Pulseaudio interface ===


=== Device access ===
The package {{Pkg|pipewire-pulse}} allows pulseaudio applications and [[#GUI tools|GUI tools]] to use PipeWire as audio server in the backend.{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire-pulse}}


PipeWire needs proper permissions to access devices. If you do not use [[Elogind|elogind]], your user should be in <code>audio</code> (to access audio devices) and <code>video</code> (to access webcam devices) groups:
=== JACK compatibility ===


{{Cmd|<nowiki># addgroup <user> audio
Since Pipewire replaces JACK, Install {{Pkg|pipewire-jack}} package, so it provides ABI-compatible libraries for JACK applications.{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire-jack}}
# addgroup <user> video</nowiki>}}


{{Warning|Membership of the <code>video</code> group will also grant unrestricted access to video devices, which is often a security issue. See issue {{issue|15409}} for further details.
=== ALSA support ===
}}


See [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Users_and_groups#Pre-systemd_groups pre-systemd groups] for more info.
Install {{Pkg|pipewire-alsa}} package to provide support for Alsa applications.{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire-alsa}}
Make sure to re-login for these changes to take effect.


=== D-Bus ===
=== GUI tools ===


PipeWire optionally requires a running [[D-Bus]] system and/or session bus for some of its functionality.
[[#Pulseaudio interface|Pulseaudio Interface]] is mandatory for {{ic|pavucontrol}} to work with PipeWire.


For certain configurations (e.g. only audio playback and recording) D-Bus setup is not necessary. Edit [[#Disable_D-Bus_support|configuration files]] to disable D-Bus support.
<code>pavucontrol</code> tool from {{Pkg|pavucontrol}} provide a simple GUI app for controlling sound, outputs, etc. Consider using {{Pkg|pavucontrol-qt}} for [[KDE|Plasma]], if not installed already.  


If you start session-wide dbus instance, make sure to start PipeWire in that same session.
The XFCE Audio mixer can also be used to help control volume by installing the package {{pkg|xfce4-mixer}} which is currently in available in [[Repositories#Testing|testing]] repository.


=== Environment ===
''{{Pkg|qpwgraph}}''' is a graph manager dedicated to PipeWire with Qt GUI Interface.


Ensure that [[XDG_RUNTIME_DIR]] is configured correctly. If this is not set, pipewire will create a directory in your home folder instead, called {{Path|~/pulse}}, and on attempting to run Pavucontrol or pactl, you will get the following error:
== Launch Pipewire  ==


<pre>
Most [[Desktop_environments_and_Window_managers#Desktop_environments|desktop environments]] launch Pipewire automatically in Alpine Linux upon relogging( i.e logging out and logging in) after [[#Installation|installing the above packages]]. Proceed with section below only if Pipewire is [[#Testing|not launched]] after a relogin/reboot.
$ pactl list
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused
</pre>


Under [[Sway]], in order for <code>xdg-desktop-portal-wlr</code> to work it may also be necessary to set <code>XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP</code> and <code>XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP</code> to <code>sway</code>
[[#Pipewire user service|Pipewire user service]] is the recommended method to launch Pipewire and will replace [[#pipewire-launcher|pipewire-launcher]]. Do '''NOT''' use both methods to avoid running multiple instances of Pipewire.


== Installation ==
=== Pipewire user service ===


Install the {{Pkg|pipewire}} package.
Since [[Release_Notes_for_Alpine_3.22.0#OpenRC_User_services|V3.22]], Pipewire can be launched as a user service.


{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire}}
{{Note| Ensure the [[OpenRC#Prerequisites|Prerequisites]] are met and necessary [[OpenRC#Configure environment variables|environment variables are configured]] for using OpenRC user services before proceeding further.}}


=== Session Manager ===
Issue the command {{ic|$ rc-status -Ur}} to view and verify the current user runlevel as '''gui''' and '''default''' for Wayland and Xorg, respectively, before proceeding.


PipeWire delegates plumbing work to session manager. There is only one option: '''[https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/wireplumber WirePlumber]'''. It has modular design and supports Lua plugins. '''This is the default pipewire session manager.
To start the [[PipeWire]] user service and its '''wireplumber''' session manager:
<pre>
$ rc-service -U pipewire start
$ rc-service -U wireplumber start
</pre>
To enable the [[PipeWire]] and '''wireplumber''' user services in '''Wayland''', issue the following commands;  omit the term {{ic|gui}}/swap it for {{ic|default}} for '''Xorg''' sessions:
<pre>
$ rc-update -U add pipewire gui
$ rc-update -U add wireplumber gui
</pre>


{{Cmd|# apk add wireplumber}}
The above steps may be repeated for other user services, such as {{ic|pipewire-pulse}}, etc.


=== PulseAudio compatibility ===
Note that the {{ic|pipewire-pulse}} service would be required to enable various functions, including setting audio levels with {{ic|pactl}} when [[PulseAudio#PulseAudio_Utils|running pulseaudio with pulseaudio-utils]] and to enable associated volume user keys.


Install {{Pkg|pipewire-pulse}} package, which provides a daemon so PulseAudio applications could use PipeWire as backend.
=== pipewire-launcher ===


=== JACK compatibility ===
{{Note|The pipewire-launcher script will be removed in the future to be replaced with [[#Pipewire user service|OpenRC User service]].}}


Install {{Pkg|pipewire-jack}} package, which provides ABI-compatible libraries for JACK applications.
Launch PipeWire by using the <code>pipewire-launcher</code> script. You'll probably get quite a few errors but just ignore them for now. {{Cmd|$ /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}}


=== ALSA support ===
If .xinitrc is used, add {{Path|/usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}} to your {{Path|~/.xinitrc}}.


Install {{Pkg|pipewire-alsa}} package.
If you do not use GUI by default, add the following stanza to your shell configuration file:{{Cmd|export $(dbus-launch)
/usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}}


== Configuration ==
== Configuration ==
Line 71: Line 83:
# cp -a /usr/share/wireplumber /etc</nowiki>}}
# cp -a /usr/share/wireplumber /etc</nowiki>}}


=== Disable D-Bus support ===
=== Screen sharing on Wayland ===


Edit the following configuration parameters:
Applications which don't implement native Wayland screensharing rely on [https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal] plus the correct backend for your compositor. Screen sharing is known to work on:
 
* GNOME with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-gtk</code>
{{Cat|/etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf|<nowiki>context.properties = {
* KDE Plasma with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-kde</code> and Firefox
    ...
* Sway with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-wlr</code> and Firefox, see [[Sway]] for details
    support.dbus = false
}</nowiki>}}
 
 
{{Cat|/etc/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf|<nowiki>context.properties = {
    ...
    support.dbus = false
}</nowiki>}}
 
 
{{Cat|/etc/wireplumber/bluetooth.lua.d/50-bluez-config.lua|<nowiki>bluez_monitor.properties = {
  ...
  ["with-logind"] = false,
}</nowiki>}}
 
 
{{Cat|/etc/wireplumber/main.lua.d/50-alsa-config.lua|<nowiki>alsa_monitor.properties = {
  ...
  ["alsa.reserve"] = false,
}</nowiki>}}
 
 
{{Cat|/etc/wireplumber/main.lua.d/50-default-access-config.lua|<nowiki>default_access.properties = {
  ...
  ["enable-flatpak-portal"] = false,
}</nowiki>}}
 
=== Realtime scheduling ===
 
For realtime scheduling, it is recommended to use {{Pkg|rtkit}}. Add your user to the <code>rtkit</code> group.
 
Alternatively, ensure your user has the right ulimit permissions. Since pipewire 0.3.66, you can add yourself to the <code>pipewire</code> group. You generally need (e.g. in {{Path|/etc/security/limits.conf}}):
 
<pre>
@pipewire - memlock 4194304
@pipewire - nice -19
@pipewire - rtprio 95
</pre>
 
This allows a member of the pipewire group to have the right permissions for PipeWire to use realtime scheduling without rtkit. This same snippet comes with pipewire since 0.3.66, so if you have a [[PAM]] login session and add yourself to the pipewire group, you don't have to do anything else.
 
Note that the above limits.conf will only work if your session is using [[PAM]].
 
=== Video ===
 
Video should work out-of-the-box with v4l2 devices (e.g. a lot of webcams) and [https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ GStreamer] applications.


=== Bluetooth audio ===
=== Bluetooth audio ===
 
{{Main|Bluetooth}}
* Enable PulseAudio support as described above
* Enable PulseAudio support as described above
* Install bluetooth service packages: <code>bluez bluez-openrc pipewire-spa-bluez</code>
* Install bluetooth service packages: <code>bluez bluez-openrc pipewire-spa-bluez</code>
Line 134: Line 100:
* Use pavucontrol to adjust volume and manually select high definition bluetooth codecs.
* Use pavucontrol to adjust volume and manually select high definition bluetooth codecs.


=== Screen sharing on Wayland ===
=== Video ===


You will need the right [https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal] backend for your desktop environment. Screen sharing is known to work on:
Video should work out-of-the-box with v4l2 devices (e.g. a lot of webcams) and [https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ GStreamer] applications.
* GNOME with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-gtk</code>
* KDE Plasma with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-kde</code> and Firefox
* Sway with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-wlr</code> and Firefox, see [[Sway]] for details


== Running ==
=== Realtime scheduling ===


{{Tip|You can also use <code>superd</code> to manage <code>pipewire</code> and its related services.}}
For realtime scheduling, it is recommended to use {{Pkg|rtkit}} package. Add your user to the <code>rtkit</code> group.


{{Note|<code>pipewire-launcher</code> script is provided by Alpine Linux, not by upstream. Please report issues to Alpine Linux maintainers first.}}
Alternatively, ensure your user has the right ulimit permissions. Since pipewire 0.3.66, you can add yourself to the <code>pipewire</code> group. You generally need (e.g. in {{Path|/etc/security/limits.conf}}):


Start the PipeWire media server. You'll probably get quite a few errors but just ignore them for now.
<pre>
 
@pipewire - memlock 4194304
{{Cmd|$ /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}}
@pipewire - nice -19
 
@pipewire - rtprio 95
A D-Bus session service must be running unless dbus support is disabled.
</pre>
 
=== Auto launching ===
You can add {{Path|/usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}} to your {{Path|~/.xinitrc}}.


If you do not use GUI by default and have D-Bus enabled in configuration, add the following stanza to your shell configuration file:
This allows a member of the pipewire group to have the right permissions for PipeWire to use realtime scheduling without rtkit. This same snippet comes with pipewire since 0.3.66, so if you have a [[PAM]] login session and add yourself to the pipewire group, you don't have to do anything else. Note that the above {{Path|/etc/security/limits.conf}} will only work if your session is using [[PAM]].
{{Cmd|export $(dbus-launch)
/usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher
}}


== Testing ==
== Testing ==


In a different terminal window check the default output device. I don't yet know how this default can be changed for all applications, so you'd better hope it's right!
Use the <code>wpctl</code> utility from {{pkg|WirePlumber}} to test the working of pipewire: {{Cmd|$ wpctl status}}
 
=== WirePlumber ===
{{Cmd|$ wpctl status}}


=== pw-cat playback ===
=== pw-cat playback ===
Line 202: Line 156:
=== `wpctl status` shows no targets ===
=== `wpctl status` shows no targets ===


First, check whether ALSA knows about your sound card:
First, check whether ALSA knows about your sound card using the <code>aplay</code> utility from {{pkg|alsa-utils}} package: {{Cmd|aplay -l}}
 
{{Cmd|aplay -l}}


If sound devices are found, the issue is with your pipewire configuration.  Consider double-checking the instructions above.
If sound devices are found, the issue is with your pipewire configuration.  Consider double-checking the instructions above. Otherwise, your sound card may not be supported in the version of the Linux Kernel you're running.  You should search online for fixes relating to your current kernel version and the codec of your sound card.  You can find each of these with:
 
Otherwise, your sound card may not be supported in the version of the Linux Kernel you're running.  You should search online for fixes relating to your current kernel version and the codec of your sound card.  You can find each of these with:


{{Cmd|uname -r
{{Cmd|uname -r
cat /proc/asound/card0/codec* | grep Codec}}
cat /proc/asound/card0/codec* | grep Codec}}
Modern devices might require {{Pkg|sof-firmware}}, which is the case if you get <code>sof firmware file is missing</code> errors in dmesg.


=== Error acquiring bus address: Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY ===
=== Error acquiring bus address: Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY ===
This means D-Bus session bus is not started and GUI is not active (i.e. you are in a tty). Use <code>dbus-run-session</code> as outlined [[#Running|above]]. Alternatively, [[#D-Bus|disable D-Bus support]].
 
Check and ensure that [[D-Bus#D-Bus session bus|D-Bus session bus]] is started along with your GUI session i.e. you are in a tty.
 
=== Connection failure: Connection refused ===
 
When using [[Wayland]], ensure that [[XDG_RUNTIME_DIR]] is configured correctly. If this is not set, pipewire will create a directory in your home folder instead, called {{Path|~/pulse}}, and on attempting to run Pavucontrol or pactl, you will get the following error:
 
<pre>
$ pactl list
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused
</pre>


=== Bluetooth connect failed: br-connection-profile-unavailable ===  
=== Bluetooth connect failed: br-connection-profile-unavailable ===  


Ensure that a [[#Session_Manager|Session Manager]] is running.
Ensure that [[#WirePlumber|Session Manager]] is running.


=== Play/Pause buttons not working on bluetooth headphones ===
=== Play/Pause buttons not working on bluetooth headphones ===


Check {{Path|/var/log/messages}}. If you see something like this:
Check {{Path|/var/log/messages}}. If you see something like this:
<pre>
<pre>
bluetoothd[3463]: profiles/audio/avctp.c:uinput_create() Can't open input device: No such file or directory (2)
bluetoothd[3463]: profiles/audio/avctp.c:uinput_create() Can't open input device: No such file or directory (2)
Line 231: Line 193:
Then bluez is trying to register the headphones buttons as an input devices, but <code>uinput</code> is not loaded. Try <code>modprobe uinput</code>. If this works, see [[Architecture#Module_Loading]] for instructions on how to make sure this module is loaded automatically on each startup.
Then bluez is trying to register the headphones buttons as an input devices, but <code>uinput</code> is not loaded. Try <code>modprobe uinput</code>. If this works, see [[Architecture#Module_Loading]] for instructions on how to make sure this module is loaded automatically on each startup.


== Quick Configuration ==
=== RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown ===


You might want to use {{Pkg|pavucontrol}} or {{Pkg|pavucontrol-qt}} to have a simple GUI app for controlling sound, outputs, etc.
<pre>
 
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:330:translate_error: RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown
== PipeWire Graph Qt GUI Interface ==
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:995:do_rtkit_setup: RTKit does not give us MaxRealtimePriority, using 1
 
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:330:translate_error: RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown
'''{{Pkg|qpwgraph}}''' is a graph manager dedicated to PipeWire.
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:1000:do_rtkit_setup: RTKit does not give us MinNiceLevel, using 0
 
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:330:translate_error: RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown
== XFCE Audio Mixer Plugin  ==
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:1005:do_rtkit_setup: RTKit does not give us RTTimeUSecMax, using -1
 
</pre>
to help the XFCE audio mixer plugin find the volume to control:


doas apk add gst-plugin-pipewire
Installing the {{pkg|rtkit}} package as mentioned in [[#Realtime scheduling|Realtime scheduling]] section resolves the above error message.


== See Also ==
== See also ==


* [[Bluetooth]]
* [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire PipeWire source repository]
* [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire PipeWire source repository]
* [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/home PipeWire Wiki]
* [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/home PipeWire Wiki]
Line 252: Line 214:
* [https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Pipewire PipeWire on the Gentoo Wiki]
* [https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Pipewire PipeWire on the Gentoo Wiki]


[[Category:Desktop]]
[[Category:Multimedia]]
[[Category:Sound]]
[[Category:Sound]]

Latest revision as of 04:25, 10 October 2025

PipeWire is a multimedia processing engine that aims to improve audio and video handling on Linux. Pipewire can act as a replacement for both PulseAudio and ALSA servers.

Prerequisites

  • PipeWire requires D-Bus session bus for most of its functionality.
  • If elogind is used, no further configuration is required.
    • If elogind is not used, the user should be added to audio group to access audio devices.
    • Add video group, if you need to access webcam devices.
      • Warning: Membership of the video group will also grant unrestricted access to video devices, which is often a security issue. See issue #15409 for further details.

Installation

The following packages i.e pipewire and wireplumber a session manager are the minimum required packages for getting pipewire to work.

# apk add pipewire wireplumber

Pulseaudio interface

The package pipewire-pulse allows pulseaudio applications and GUI tools to use PipeWire as audio server in the backend.

# apk add pipewire-pulse

JACK compatibility

Since Pipewire replaces JACK, Install pipewire-jack package, so it provides ABI-compatible libraries for JACK applications.

# apk add pipewire-jack

ALSA support

Install pipewire-alsa package to provide support for Alsa applications.

# apk add pipewire-alsa

GUI tools

Pulseaudio Interface is mandatory for pavucontrol to work with PipeWire.

pavucontrol tool from pavucontrol provide a simple GUI app for controlling sound, outputs, etc. Consider using pavucontrol-qt for Plasma, if not installed already.

The XFCE Audio mixer can also be used to help control volume by installing the package xfce4-mixer which is currently in available in testing repository.

qpwgraph' is a graph manager dedicated to PipeWire with Qt GUI Interface.

Launch Pipewire

Most desktop environments launch Pipewire automatically in Alpine Linux upon relogging( i.e logging out and logging in) after installing the above packages. Proceed with section below only if Pipewire is not launched after a relogin/reboot.

Pipewire user service is the recommended method to launch Pipewire and will replace pipewire-launcher. Do NOT use both methods to avoid running multiple instances of Pipewire.

Pipewire user service

Since V3.22, Pipewire can be launched as a user service.

Note: Ensure the Prerequisites are met and necessary environment variables are configured for using OpenRC user services before proceeding further.

Issue the command $ rc-status -Ur to view and verify the current user runlevel as gui and default for Wayland and Xorg, respectively, before proceeding.

To start the PipeWire user service and its wireplumber session manager: 

$ rc-service -U pipewire start
$ rc-service -U wireplumber start

To enable the PipeWire and wireplumber user services in Wayland, issue the following commands; omit the term gui/swap it for default for Xorg sessions: 

$ rc-update -U add pipewire gui
$ rc-update -U add wireplumber gui

The above steps may be repeated for other user services, such as pipewire-pulse, etc.

Note that the pipewire-pulse service would be required to enable various functions, including setting audio levels with pactl when running pulseaudio with pulseaudio-utils and to enable associated volume user keys.

pipewire-launcher

Note: The pipewire-launcher script will be removed in the future to be replaced with OpenRC User service.

Launch PipeWire by using the pipewire-launcher script. You'll probably get quite a few errors but just ignore them for now.

$ /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher

If .xinitrc is used, add /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher to your ~/.xinitrc.

If you do not use GUI by default, add the following stanza to your shell configuration file:

export $(dbus-launch) /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher

Configuration

PipeWire and WirePlumber store their default configuration in /usr/share/pipewire and /usr/share/wireplumber respectively. If you want to edit the configuration, you need to move it to /etc:

# cp -a /usr/share/pipewire /etc # cp -a /usr/share/wireplumber /etc

Screen sharing on Wayland

Applications which don't implement native Wayland screensharing rely on xdg-desktop-portal plus the correct backend for your compositor. Screen sharing is known to work on:

  • GNOME with xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
  • KDE Plasma with xdg-desktop-portal-kde and Firefox
  • Sway with xdg-desktop-portal-wlr and Firefox, see Sway for details

Bluetooth audio

Main article: Bluetooth
  • Enable PulseAudio support as described above
  • Install bluetooth service packages: bluez bluez-openrc pipewire-spa-bluez
  • Optional: install GUI manager for bluetooth blueman
  • Enable and start bluetooth service: rc-update add bluetooth; rc-service bluetooth start
  • Restart PipeWire
  • Use commandline program bluetoothctl or GUI program blueman-manager to scan and pair bluetooth audio devices.
  • Use pavucontrol to adjust volume and manually select high definition bluetooth codecs.

Video

Video should work out-of-the-box with v4l2 devices (e.g. a lot of webcams) and GStreamer applications.

Realtime scheduling

For realtime scheduling, it is recommended to use rtkit package. Add your user to the rtkit group.

Alternatively, ensure your user has the right ulimit permissions. Since pipewire 0.3.66, you can add yourself to the pipewire group. You generally need (e.g. in /etc/security/limits.conf): 

@pipewire - memlock 4194304
@pipewire - nice -19
@pipewire - rtprio 95

This allows a member of the pipewire group to have the right permissions for PipeWire to use realtime scheduling without rtkit. This same snippet comes with pipewire since 0.3.66, so if you have a PAM login session and add yourself to the pipewire group, you don't have to do anything else. Note that the above /etc/security/limits.conf will only work if your session is using PAM.

Testing

Use the wpctl utility from WirePlumber to test the working of pipewire:

$ wpctl status

pw-cat playback

Test sound is working using an audio file in a format supported by libsndfile 🔓 (e.g. flac, opus, ogg, wav). Use pw-cat utility from pipewire-tools:

$ pw-cat -p test.flac $ pw-play /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

pw-cat recording

If you have a microphone test audio recording is working.

$ pw-cat -r --list-targets $ pw-cat -r recording.flac (Speak for a while then stop it with Ctrl+c) $ pw-cat -p recording.flac

PulseAudio

Test PulseAudio clients using a media player, as most use PulseAudio.

JACK

Use jack_simple_client from jack-simple-clients:

$ jack_simple_client

You should hear a sustained beep.

Troubleshooting

`wpctl status` shows no targets

First, check whether ALSA knows about your sound card using the aplay utility from alsa-utils package:

aplay -l

If sound devices are found, the issue is with your pipewire configuration. Consider double-checking the instructions above. Otherwise, your sound card may not be supported in the version of the Linux Kernel you're running. You should search online for fixes relating to your current kernel version and the codec of your sound card. You can find each of these with:

uname -r cat /proc/asound/card0/codec*

Modern devices might require sof-firmware, which is the case if you get sof firmware file is missing errors in dmesg.

Error acquiring bus address: Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY

Check and ensure that D-Bus session bus is started along with your GUI session i.e. you are in a tty.

Connection failure: Connection refused

When using Wayland, ensure that XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is configured correctly. If this is not set, pipewire will create a directory in your home folder instead, called ~/pulse, and on attempting to run Pavucontrol or pactl, you will get the following error: 

$ pactl list
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

Bluetooth connect failed: br-connection-profile-unavailable

Ensure that Session Manager is running.

Play/Pause buttons not working on bluetooth headphones

Check /var/log/messages. If you see something like this: 

bluetoothd[3463]: profiles/audio/avctp.c:uinput_create() Can't open input device: No such file or directory (2)
bluetoothd[3463]: profiles/audio/avctp.c:init_uinput() AVRCP: failed to init uinput for WH-1000XM5

Then bluez is trying to register the headphones buttons as an input devices, but uinput is not loaded. Try modprobe uinput. If this works, see Architecture#Module_Loading for instructions on how to make sure this module is loaded automatically on each startup.

RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown

mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:330:translate_error: RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:995:do_rtkit_setup: RTKit does not give us MaxRealtimePriority, using 1
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:330:translate_error: RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:1000:do_rtkit_setup: RTKit does not give us MinNiceLevel, using 0
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:330:translate_error: RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown
mod.rt ../src/modules/module-rt.c:1005:do_rtkit_setup: RTKit does not give us RTTimeUSecMax, using -1

Installing the rtkit package as mentioned in Realtime scheduling section resolves the above error message.

See also

Retrieved from "https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/w/index.php?title=PipeWire&oldid=31201"