PipeWire: Difference between revisions

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{{Draft|The instructions below have not been thoroughly tested and may break things.}}
{{TOC right}}
[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.


[https://pipewire.org/ PipeWire] is a multimedia processing engine that aims to improve audio and video handling on Linux.
== Prerequisites ==
 
* PipeWire requires [[D-Bus#D-Bus_session_bus|D-Bus session bus]] for most of its functionality.
* Ensure that your [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Creating_a_new_user|non-root user account]] has appropriate [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Groups_for_desktop_usage|groups for desktop usage]].
* WirePlumber requires [[eudev]] for ALSA device discovery.
 
== Installation ==
 
Install {{Pkg|pipewire}} and {{Pkg|wireplumber}} (session manager).
 
{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire wireplumber}}
 
=== Pulseaudio interface ===
 
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}}
 
=== JACK compatibility ===
 
Since PipeWire replaces JACK, Install {{Pkg|pipewire-jack}} package, so it provides ABI-compatible libraries for JACK applications.
 
{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire-jack}}
 
=== ALSA support ===
 
Install {{Pkg|pipewire-alsa}} package to provide support for ALSA applications.
 
{{Cmd|# apk add pipewire-alsa}}
 
=== GUI tools ===
 
* {{Pkg|pavucontrol}}: simple GUI app for controlling sound, outputs, etc. Consider using {{Pkg|pavucontrol-qt}} when using [[KDE|Plasma]].  


== Prerequisites ==
: [[#Pulseaudio_interface|Pulseaudio interface]] is mandatory for {{Ic|pavucontrol}} to work with PipeWire.


=== Audio Group ===
* {{Pkg|xfce4-mixer}}: XFCE Audio mixer.


When elogind is not available, the user has to be added to the <code>audio</code> group. The user must re-log-in in for this to take effect.
: Currently available in the [[Repositories#Testing|testing]] repository.


<pre>
* {{Pkg|qpwgraph}}: graph manager dedicated to PipeWire with Qt GUI Interface.
# addgroup <user> audio
</pre>


=== D-Bus ===
== Launch PipeWire ==


PipeWire requires a running [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus/ D-Bus] session. If you use a full desktop environment this will probably be started automatically, but with minimal window managers it must be done manually.
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 the section below only if PipeWire is [[#Testing|not launched]] after a relogin/reboot.


<pre>
{{Note|[[#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.}}
# apk add dbus dbus-openrc
# rc-service dbus start
# rc-update add dbus default
</pre>


Then use <code>dbus-run-session</code> whenever you start an X or Wayland session. For example:
=== PipeWire user service ===
<pre>
$ dbus-run-session -- sway
</pre>


=== XDG_RUNTIME_DIR ===
Since [[Release_Notes_for_Alpine_3.22.0#OpenRC_User_services|Alpine 3.22]], PipeWire can be launched as a user service.


If you are not using a Desktop Manager, ensure that your <code>XDG_RUNTIME_DIR</code> is set to a user-writable location. By default for pulseaudio this is {{Path|/run/user/1000/}} or {{Path|/tmp}}. If this is not set, pipewire will create a directory in your home folder instead, called <code>~/pulse</code>, and on attempting to run Pavucontrol or pactl, you will get the following error:
==== User service prerequisites ====


<pre>
* Ensure the [[OpenRC#Prerequisites|OpenRC User service Prerequisites]] are met and [[OpenRC#Configure environment variables|environment variables are configured]].
$ pactl list
* Issue the command {{ic|$ rc-status -Ur}} to view and verify the current user runlevel as '''gui''' and '''default''' for Wayland and Xorg respectively.
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused
</pre>


== Installation and configuration ==
==== User service management ====


<pre>
To start the {{Ic|pipewire}} user service and its {{Ic|wireplumber}} session manager:
# apk add pipewire wireplumber
</pre>


{{Note|Using [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/wireplumber WirePlumber] rather than the pipewire-media-session (which comes with pipewire) is [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/media-session/-/blob/master/README.md recommended] but not required.}}
{{Cmd|$ rc-service -U pipewire start
$ rc-service -U wireplumber start}}


=== Realtime scheduling ===
To enable the {{Ic|pipewire}} and {{Ic|wireplumber}} user services in [[Wayland]], in [[Xorg]] change {{Ic|gui}} to {{Ic|default}}:


For realtime scheduling, it is recommended to use rtkit,
{{Cmd|$ rc-update -U add pipewire gui
$ rc-update -U add wireplumber gui}}


<pre>
The above steps may be repeated for {{Ic|pipewire-pulse}} user service.
# apk add rtkit
</pre>


and then add your user to the `rtkit` group.
{{Note|The {{ic|pipewire-pulse}} user 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.}}


Alternatively, ensure your user has the right ulimit permissions. You generally need (limits.conf format):
=== pipewire-launcher ===


<pre>
{{Note|The {{Ic|pipewire-launcher}} script will be removed in the future to be replaced with the [[#PipeWire_user_service|PipeWire user service]].}}
@audio - memlock 256
@audio - nice -11
@audio - rtprio 88
</pre>


This allows a member of the audio group to have the right permissions for PipeWire to use realtime scheduling without rtkit.
Launch PipeWire by using the <code>pipewire-launcher</code> script. You'll probably get quite a few errors but just ignore them for now.


=== ALSA ===
{{Cmd|$ /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}}


<pre>
If xinitrc is used, add {{Path|/usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}} to your {{Path|~/.xinitrc}}.
# apk add pipewire-alsa
</pre>


ALSA support works out of the box if you have the pipewire-alsa package. You may need the <code>snd_seq</code> kernel module.
If you do not use GUI by default, add the following stanza to your shell configuration file:


=== PulseAudio ===
{{Cmd|export $(dbus-launch)
/usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher}}


PipeWire can run a [https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/ PulseAudio] daemon which should allow all existing PulseAudio applications to be used with the PipeWire backend. You need to have <code>pipewire-pulse</code> installed.
== Configuration ==


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


If you will be using PipeWire for [https://jackaudio.org/ JACK] applications install the required package (pipewire-jack). Things should work with just that.
{{Cmd|<nowiki># cp -a /usr/share/pipewire /etc
# cp -a /usr/share/wireplumber /etc</nowiki>}}


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


Video should work out-of-the-box with v4l2 devices (e.g. a lot of webcams) and [https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ GStreamer] applications.
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>
* 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


=== 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 93: Line 111:
* Enable and start bluetooth service: <code>rc-update add bluetooth; rc-service bluetooth start</code>
* Enable and start bluetooth service: <code>rc-update add bluetooth; rc-service bluetooth start</code>
* Restart PipeWire
* Restart PipeWire
* Use commandline program <code>bluetoothctl</code> or GUI program <code>blueman-manager</code> to scan and pair bluetooth audio devices.
* Use commandline program <code>bluetoothctl</code> or GUI program <code>blueman-manager</code> to scan and pair bluetooth audio devices.
* Use pavucontrol to adjust volume and manually select high definition bluetooth codecs.
* Use pavucontrol to adjust volume and manually select high definition bluetooth codecs.


=== Automatic bluetooth profile selection ===
=== Video ===


To automatically switch between HSP/HFP and A2DP profiles when an input stream is detected, set the bluez5.autoswitch-profile property to true:
Video should work out-of-the-box with v4l2 devices (e.g. a lot of webcams) and [https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ GStreamer] applications.
<pre>
 
/etc/pipewire/media-session.d/bluez-monitor.conf
=== Realtime scheduling ===


...
Realtime scheduling will increase certain threads priorities to assist with low latency audio processing. By default, PipeWire tries to enable realtime scheduling with the [https://docs.pipewire.org/page_module_rt.html rt module].
rules = [
    {
        ...
        actions = {
            update-props = {
                ...
                bluez5.autoswitch-profile = true
...
</pre>


TODO: for pipewire the config is somewhere else
Since [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/releases/0.3.66 PipeWire 0.3.66], when you have a [[PAM]] login session, you should add your user to the {{Ic|pipewire}} group.


== Screen sharing on Wayland ==
The default system wide settings are defined in {{Path|/etc/security/limits.d/25-pw-rlimits.conf}}. You may want to adjust settings for parameters like <var>rt.prio</var>, if required. Alternatively, it can be set at [https://docs.pipewire.org/page_module_rt.html  user level] within the ceiling set by the system's rlimits.


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:
{{Cat|~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/my-rt-args.conf|<nowiki>context.modules = [
* GNOME with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-gtk</code>
{  name = libpipewire-module-rt
* KDE Plasma with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-kde</code> and Firefox
    args = {
* Sway with <code>xdg-desktop-portal-wlr</code> and Firefox, see [[Sway]] for details
        #nice.level  = 20
        #rt.prio      = 88
    }
    flags = [ ifexists nofail ]
}
]</nowiki>}}


== Usage ==
If you don't have [[PAM]] but [[D-Bus]] is available, the rt module will try to use {{Pkg|rtkit}}; if this is the case, add your user to the {{Ic|rtkit}} group.


Start the PipeWire media server. You'll probably get quite a few errors but just ignore them for now.
== Testing ==


<pre>
Use the <code>wpctl</code> utility from {{Pkg|wireplumber}} to test the working of PipeWire:
$ /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher
</pre>


{{Note| PipeWire doesn't auto-start a session manager anymore.
{{Cmd|$ wpctl status}}
In 3.14 and earlier, the PipeWire default config was edited in packaging to auto-start pipewire-media-session as the default session manager. Since we now have wireplumber available as an alternative session manager, this has been changed in favor of a launch wrapper for pipewire at /usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher. When executed, this will launch pipewire, pipewire-media-session or wireplumber, and pipewire-pulse, depending on what modules are available. If you were launching /usr/bin/pipewire and the session manager manually before, please use the new launcher wrapper instead. WirePlumber can now also be used as a proper alternative for pipewire-media-session.}}


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!
=== pw-cat playback ===


wireplumber:
Test sound is working using an audio file in a format supported by [http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/ libsndfile]{{insecure url|Server refuses HTTPS connections}} (e.g. flac, opus, ogg, wav). Use <code>pw-cat</code> utility from {{Pkg|pipewire-tools}}:
<pre>
$ wpctl status
</pre>


Test sound is working using an audio file in a format supported by [http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/ libsndfile] (e.g. flac, opus, ogg, wav).
{{Cmd|$ pw-cat -p test.flac
$ pw-play /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav
}}


<pre>
=== pw-cat recording ===
# apk add pipewire-tools
$ pw-cat -p test.flac
</pre>


If you have a microphone test audio recording is working.
If you have a microphone test audio recording is working.


<pre>
{{Cmd|$ pw-cat -r --list-targets
$ pw-cat -r --list-targets
$ pw-cat -r recording.flac
$ pw-cat -r recording.flac
(Speak for a while then stop it with Ctrl+c)
(Speak for a while then stop it with Ctrl+c)
$ pw-cat -p recording.flac
$ pw-cat -p recording.flac
</pre>
}}
 
=== PulseAudio ===
 
Test PulseAudio clients using a media player, as most use PulseAudio.
 
=== JACK ===


Test PulseAudio clients using a media player (most use PulseAudio) and if you use JACK test that too:
Use <code>jack_simple_client</code> from {{Pkg|jack-simple-clients}}:


<pre>
{{Cmd|$ jack_simple_client}}
# apk add jack-example-clients
$ jack_simple_client
</pre>


You should hear a sustained beep.
You should hear a sustained beep.
If you are happy everything is working, make PipeWire start automatically when your X or Wayland session starts. For example, you could add the <code>/usr/libexec/pipewire-launcher</code> command to <code>~/.xinitrc</code> or your window manager's config file.


== Troubleshooting ==
== Troubleshooting ==
Line 171: Line 178:
=== `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}}
 
If sound devices are found, the issue is likely with your PipeWire configuration.  Ensure that [[eudev]] is installed, and consider double-checking the instructions above.
 
If no sound devices are found, 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
$ 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 ===
 
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 [[Wayland#XDG_RUNTIME_DIR|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 {{Ic|pavucontrol}} or {{Ic|pactl}}, you will get the following error:
 
{{Cmd|$ pactl list
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused}}
 
If you are running Alpine 3.22+ and continue to experience this error after verifying that [[Wayland#XDG_RUNTIME_DIR|XDG_RUNTIME_DIR]] is correctly set, ensure that the <code>pipewire-pulse</code> [[#PipeWire_user_service|user service is running]].
 
=== Bluetooth connect failed: br-connection-profile-unavailable ===
 
Ensure {{Ic|wireplumber}}, the session manager, is running.
 
=== Play/Pause buttons not working on bluetooth headphones ===


<pre>
Check {{Path|/var/log/messages}} for lines similar to:
aplay -l
</pre>


If sound devices are found, the issue is with your pipewire configuration. Consider double-checking the instructions above.
{{Cat|/var/log/messages|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}}


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:
Then {{Ic|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#Loading_of_Kernel_Modules|Loading of Kernel Modules]] for instructions on how to make sure this module is loaded automatically on each startup.


<pre>
=== RTKit error: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown ===
uname -r
cat /proc/asound/card0/codec* | grep Codec
</pre>


== Quick Configuration ==
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


You might want to use pavucontrol to have a simple GUI app for controlling sound, outputs, etc, in which case:
Follow [[#Realtime scheduling|Realtime scheduling]] section to resolve the above error message.
<pre>
# apk add pavucontrol
</pre>


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


* [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire PipeWire source repository]
* [[Bluetooth]]
* [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/home PipeWire Wiki]
* Official PipeWire links
** [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/home Wiki]
** [https://docs.pipewire.org Documentation site]
** [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire Source repository]
* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PipeWire PipeWire on the ArchWiki]
* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PipeWire PipeWire on the ArchWiki]
* [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 20:06, 18 November 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

Installation

Install pipewire and wireplumber (session manager).

# 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.
Currently available in the testing repository.
  • qpwgraph: 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 the section below only if PipeWire is not launched after a relogin/reboot.

Note: 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 Alpine 3.22, PipeWire can be launched as a user service.

User service prerequisites

User service management

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, in Xorg change gui to default:

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

The above steps may be repeated for pipewire-pulse user service.

Note: The pipewire-pulse user 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 the PipeWire 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

Realtime scheduling will increase certain threads priorities to assist with low latency audio processing. By default, PipeWire tries to enable realtime scheduling with the rt module.

Since PipeWire 0.3.66, when you have a PAM login session, you should add your user to the pipewire group.

The default system wide settings are defined in /etc/security/limits.d/25-pw-rlimits.conf. You may want to adjust settings for parameters like rt.prio, if required. Alternatively, it can be set at user level within the ceiling set by the system's rlimits.

Contents of ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/my-rt-args.conf

context.modules = [ { name = libpipewire-module-rt args = { #nice.level = 20 #rt.prio = 88 } flags = [ ifexists nofail ] } ]

If you don't have PAM but D-Bus is available, the rt module will try to use rtkit; if this is the case, add your user to the rtkit group.

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 likely with your PipeWire configuration. Ensure that eudev is installed, and consider double-checking the instructions above.

If no sound devices are found, 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* | grep 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

If you are running Alpine 3.22+ and continue to experience this error after verifying that XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is correctly set, ensure that the pipewire-pulse user service is running.

Bluetooth connect failed: br-connection-profile-unavailable

Ensure wireplumber, the session manager, is running.

Play/Pause buttons not working on bluetooth headphones

Check /var/log/messages for lines similar to:

Contents of /var/log/messages

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 Loading of Kernel Modules 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

Follow Realtime scheduling section to resolve the above error message.

See also

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