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Excalibur

Member

Registered: 2019-03-07

Posts: 15  

To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

When installing multimedia software pulseaudio can be pulled in as a dependency or as a recommends. This can be blocked by using APT pinning. Place a file in /etc/apt/preferences.d containing the following: -

                              Package: pulseaudio
                              Pin: release n=beowulf
                              Pin-Priority: -10

Any software you do not want installed can be blocked in a similar way.

I use a Perl script to generate an avoid-pkgName file.

zapper

Member

Registered: 2017-05-29

Posts: 472  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

When installing multimedia software pulseaudio can be pulled in as a dependency or as a recommends. This can be blocked by using APT pinning. Place a file in /etc/apt/preferences.d containing the following: -

                              Package: pulseaudio
                              Pin: release n=beowulf
                              Pin-Priority: -10

Any software you do not want installed can be blocked in a similar way.

I use a Perl script to generate an avoid-pkgName file.

Sounds good!

---

Black Lives Matter!  I am white, but I prefer equality over hatred.
Haughtiness comes before a fall, pride before destruction.
Peace be with you!
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon!

beate

Member

Registered: 2019-03-25

Posts: 23  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

... works until the next upgrade to chimaera.

And then murphy will predict that You forget to update the release entry before doing the update.

szutt

Member

Registered: 2019-02-03

Posts: 35  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

This sounds like a good news : PipeWire 0.3.31 https://www.reddit.com/r/MXLinux/commen … chpad_ppa/

Supports on MX Linux and ubuntu 18.04 also Or All Debian based distros

thierrybo

Member

Registered: 2017-11-11

Posts: 90  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

Package: pulseaudio
Pin: release o=Devuan
Pin-Priority: -10

Yes should be better to deal with version upgrades.

delgado

Member

Registered: 2022-07-14

Posts: 29  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

I have multiarch enabled and apt wants to install pulsaudio:i386.

$ sudo apt-get -s install pulseaudio
(...)
Note, selecting 'pulseaudio:i386' instead of 'pulseaudio'
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libaudit1:i386  (...)  pulseaudio-utils:i386 rtkit:i386

Is there a variant for multiarch?

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2019-03-24

Posts: 2,737  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

Try

Package: pulseaudio:amd64
Pin: version *
Pin-Priority: -1

Package: pulseaudio:i386
Pin: version *
Pin-Priority: -1

-10 is bloat — P < 0 is all that is required

EDIT: check with this after editing the preferences file:

# apt update
$ apt policy

EDIT2: this stanza might work by itself (I can't check atm):

Package: pulseaudio:*
Pin: version *
Pin-Priority: -1

EDIT3: confirmed, the above stanza is all that is needed to block all architectures of the package:

Pinned packages:
     pulseaudio -> 14.2-2 with priority -1
     pulseaudio:i386 -> 14.2-2 with priority -1

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2022-07-18 16:09:14)

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"Who's the idiot in charge?" — ralph.ronnquist

delgado

Member

Registered: 2022-07-14

Posts: 29  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

Thanks Head_on_a_Stick!

hunter0one

Member

Registered: 2021-12-31

Posts: 21  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

This sounds like a good news : PipeWire 0.3.31 https://www.reddit.com/r/MXLinux/commen … chpad_ppa/

Pipewire is just as much of a cancer as pulseaudio, if not worse. It did not "magically solve" my popping issues, even after extensive configuration with media-session and wireplumber both.

I find ALSA to work out of the box on Devuan so long as you set the default card to the right one. And don't install from tasksel, I found out the hard way that I had that crap and it already messed everything up.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2019-03-24

Posts: 2,737  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

Pipewire is absolutely needed for video conferencing, at least in my system. Pure ALSA simply cannot do it.

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"Who's the idiot in charge?" — ralph.ronnquist

zapper

Member

Registered: 2017-05-29

Posts: 472  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

I think that might be why it works well for conferencing,  because the software using it, intentionally has more support for pipewire...

---

Black Lives Matter!  I am white, but I prefer equality over hatred.
Haughtiness comes before a fall, pride before destruction.
Peace be with you!
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon!

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2019-03-24

Posts: 2,737  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

the software using it, intentionally has more support for pipewire

But isn't it the other way around? PipeWire provides the API needed to route sound correctly but ALSA has no such functionality (AFAIK).

Here's a(n old) list of what ALSA can't do:

https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Softwa … SA/Issues/

Trigger warning: Lennart wrote it

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"Who's the idiot in charge?" — ralph.ronnquist

hunter0one

Member

Registered: 2021-12-31

Posts: 21  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

I use flatpaks so I at least need one or the other and I get unstoppable popping with both Pipewire and Pulseaudio.

kapqa

Member

Registered: 2019-01-02

Posts: 296  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

hello,
on my newer laptops the sound is very low;
used to uninstall pulseaudio and use only alsa on older laptops; the sound was better, somehow.
is it possible to get with withs "pipewire" better soundstage?
on the same newer laptops, with windows (7 or10) the sound is MUCH better!

hunter0one

Member

Registered: 2021-12-31

Posts: 21  

Re: To permanently block installation of Pulseaudio.

is it possible to get with withs "pipewire" better soundstage?
on the same newer laptops, with windows (7 or10) the sound is MUCH better!

AFAIK, its not possible in Chimaera because pipewire replacing pulseaudio uses some systemd magic, at least in the wiki page for it.

I for one notice no difference at all from either, they serve a similar purpose. If apulse worked with flatpaks I would gladly get rid of pulseaudio/pipewire.