PipeWire

• the latest framework that claims to 'fix' linux audio
• existing interfaces e.g. alsa, pulse, jack are emulated
  • the idea is that existing tools/apps will 'just work' without modification
  • fair in the case of a well-known browser that refuses to talk to anything but pulse

Problems

• in practice interface emulation is incomplete, so tools in particular are less capable than before
  • this is inevitable, interfaces will only be as complete as what looks good, they will never be as powerful as the real thing
• all audio hardware is grabbed on startup denying anything else from using it directly
• something called wireplumber controls pipewire via a secret interface
  • impenetrable configuration

Parallels with PulseAudio

• deployed way before it's ready, which would be fine it that wasn't at the exclusion of legacy services
• obsession with the way things 'should' be done at the expense of use-cases of real users
  • in particular, aggressive teardown of user services after logout
• criticism from real users rudely dismissed, for example https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?t=24830
  • i cannot stress enough how icky it is to blame frustrated users for obtuse software, do better
• please do not force users to understand systemd, it is like unconsensually involving them in a kink

Can we fix it

• it is essential that users have the power to take matters into their own hands if necessary
  • this is not a support burden, power users can support each other
• ...

Use case

• fundamentally, i have the hardware and want to send audio to it without jumping through hoops such as lua
• one instance of mpd for builtin audio, another for hdmi
  • usb audio adapters each with its own mpd planned for the future
• mpd runs as a regular user, and every instance should continue to be audible after logout

Just use ALSA

• sudo systemctl --global disable everything with pipewire or wireplumber in its name
  • this includes something called filter-chain
  • check no such symlinks remain under /etc/systemd
  • reboot and verify nothing with wire in its name is running
• add self to audio group
  • aplay -L should work now
  • probably need to crank volume back up using alsamixer