[ISSUE] separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[ISSUE] separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[gt7-void]

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New issue by gt7-void on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576

Description:
For instance: my setup depends on `pactl` which works with `pipewire`. I couldn't find another tool which can replace some of the functionality of `pactl` (e.g. I use `pactl info`, `pactl list short sinks`, `pactl set-default-sink`, `pactl list short sink-inputs`, `pactl move sink-input`, etc. I guess some or all of those can be replaced combining `pw-dump`, `jq` and `pw-cli`, but it's a chore)

Installing pulseaudio is a pain because it's sometimes difficult to avoid having it autolaunch, etc.

As an example, debian has a `pulseaudio-utils` package (https://packages.debian.org/sid/pulseaudio-utils) which contains:
```
  paplay - Playback a WAV file via a PulseAudio sink.
  pacat - Cat raw audio data to a PulseAudio sink.
  parec - Cat raw audio data from a PulseAudio source.
  pacmd - Connect to PulseAudio's built-in command line control interface.
  pactl - Send a control command to a PulseAudio server.
  padsp - /dev/dsp wrapper to transparently support OSS applications.
  pax11publish - Store/retrieve PulseAudio default server/sink/source
                 settings in the X11 root window.
```

I would be content with `pactl`, the others (`paplay`, `pacat`, `parec`) seem to have equivalent included with pipewire (`pw-play`, `pw-cat`, `pw-record`). I don't know about `padsp` or what `pax11publish` is supposed to do. I know `pacmd` does _not_ work with `pipewire`.

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[FollieHiyuki]

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New comment by FollieHiyuki on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-802890154

Comment:
I would suggest using external tools like `pulsemixer` or `pamixer` if you intend to use `pipewire` for it pulseaudio backend.
They require some scripting to be on par with `pactl`, but I find it reasonably better than splitting `pulseaudio`. 

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[gt7-void]

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New comment by gt7-void on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-802975955

Comment:
Functionality of `pactl` I miss (not available in `pulsemixer` or `pamixer` afaict):
 - print the default sink: `pactl info  | sed -ne 's/^Default Sink: //p'`
 - print the default source: `pactl info  | sed -ne 's/^Default Source: //p'`
 - set default sink/source: `pactl set-default-{sink,source} ...`
 - list sink-sources: `pactl list short sink-inputs`
 - list source-outputs: `pactl list short source-outputs`
 - move sink-inputs/source-outputs: `pactl move-{sink-input,source-output} ...`


For example: here's a script I use a lot from a hotkey. It cycles the default sink through the available sinks, and also moves all the sink-inputs to the new default sink. Very handy to switch from speakers to headphones, etc.
```
#! /bin/sh

default_sink="$(pactl info | sed -ne 's/^Default Sink: //p')"
sinks="$(pactl list short sinks | awk '{print $2}')"

next="$(printf "%s\n%s\n" "$sinks" "$sinks" | grep -A1 -m1 "$default_sink" | tail -1)"

pactl set-default-sink "$next"

inputs="$(pactl list short sink-inputs | awk '{print $1}')"
for i in $inputs ; do
    pactl move-sink-input $i $next
done
```

In any case, the point is that some of the tools that ship with `pulseaudio` are useful with pipewire, and not obviously replaced (`some scripting` is not good enough, I guess I could replace `pactl` with "some scripting" 
just as much as I could replace this comment with smoke signals).

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[ericonr]

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New comment by ericonr on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-802986243

Comment:
I have

```
autospawn=no
```

in my `~/.config/pulse/client.conf` file, and it's always stopped pulse autospawning for me. I'd rather document this in void docs than split the package, but it's not a strong opinion. What do you think?

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[gt7-void]

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New comment by gt7-void on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-803144114

Comment:
Documenting seems always a good idea. I was just reading `pulse-client.conf(5)` and I see there's also the option `daemon-binary`, I wonder if setting `daemon-binary=/usr/bin/pipewire-pulse` would work.

Installing `pulseaudio` also brings `rtkit` to the system. I've no idea what it does, I noticed that (a) pipewire does not depend on rtkit and it works fine without it being installed (b) if rtkit is installed, then it will launch itself when running pipewire.

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[CameronNemo]

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New comment by CameronNemo on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-809749837

Comment:
rtkit is used to obtain "real-time" permissions as an unprivileged user. Pipewire can use it, although there appears to be no breakage without it. Perhaps some higher latency.

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[st3r4g]

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New comment by st3r4g on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-816780906

Comment:
Relevant info: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/Migrate-PulseAudio
Looks like `pactl` is the only useful one, and not all functionality has a native equivalent, so I think it would be good to extract it into a standalone subpackage (kinda similar to `glxinfo`). Of course `pulseaudio` would then depend on `pactl`.

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[noarchwastaken]

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New comment by noarchwastaken on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-826535802

Comment:
I prefer to just package all the `utils`, as what Debian does. Things like `paplay` could be useful for playing audio in the command line. The entire `utils` suite is ~280KB installed, which is still more lightweight than ~6MB for the `pulseaudio` package.

Re: separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[st3r4g]

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New comment by st3r4g on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576#issuecomment-826668683

Comment:
> I prefer to just package all the utils, as what Debian does.

Fair enough. Pipewire could implement more functionality in the future and make other tools useful, who knows.

Re: [ISSUE] [CLOSED] separate package for tools in pulseaudio which are useful for pipewire

[ericonr]

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Closed issue by gt7-void on void-packages repository

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues/29576

Description:
For instance: my setup depends on `pactl` which works with `pipewire`. I couldn't find another tool which can replace some of the functionality of `pactl` (e.g. I use `pactl info`, `pactl list short sinks`, `pactl set-default-sink`, `pactl list short sink-inputs`, `pactl move sink-input`, etc. I guess some or all of those can be replaced combining `pw-dump`, `jq` and `pw-cli`, but it's a chore)

Installing pulseaudio is a pain because it's sometimes difficult to avoid having it autolaunch, etc.

As an example, debian has a `pulseaudio-utils` package (https://packages.debian.org/sid/pulseaudio-utils) which contains:
```
  paplay - Playback a WAV file via a PulseAudio sink.
  pacat - Cat raw audio data to a PulseAudio sink.
  parec - Cat raw audio data from a PulseAudio source.
  pacmd - Connect to PulseAudio's built-in command line control interface.
  pactl - Send a control command to a PulseAudio server.
  padsp - /dev/dsp wrapper to transparently support OSS applications.
  pax11publish - Store/retrieve PulseAudio default server/sink/source
                 settings in the X11 root window.
```

I would be content with `pactl`, the others (`paplay`, `pacat`, `parec`) seem to have equivalent included with pipewire (`pw-play`, `pw-cat`, `pw-record`). I don't know about `padsp` or what `pax11publish` is supposed to do. I know `pacmd` does _not_ work with `pipewire`.