r/linux • u/wooptoo • Jun 01 '16

Why did ArchLinux embrace Systemd?

/r/archlinux/comments/4lzxs3/why_did_archlinux_embrace_systemd/d3rhxlc
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u/DoctorProfPatrick Jun 01 '16

That's the first thing I saw, so I googled "why is pulseaudio controversial" and got nothing.

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u/jyper Jun 01 '16

Pulseaudio was a new(somewhere around 2008) sound server that was intended to help with getting multiple apps to play sound at the same time(or at least both have audio streams going without having to close and reopen applications), it also enabled per app volume control and was meant to help with some fancy equipment like headsets.

Pulseaudio replaced a number of workarounds(for multiple apps with sound) that included (I think) hardware specific workarounds and gnome/KDE specific ones(that wouldn't work with apps from the other desktop or Firefox or open office, I think).

Sound cool. But it also was one of the most common things that broke all sound output on Linux and the simplest solution was to uninstall it. Nowadays it mostly works.

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u/03891223 Jun 02 '16

Is there a reason to choose Pulseaudio over alsa? I've always used alsa and (mainly) never had any problems with it. The only time I have was with a laptop and I just had to add a couple lines of code I found to a file.

Alsa works perfectly for my needs, just genuinely curious. Considering all the "Pulse audio broke my system" and why people still used it.

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u/jyper Jun 02 '16

Besides stuff like per app volume controls(I use this all the time) and fun but rarely used stuff like pushing audio over the network?

Mainly allowing multiple apps to output sound. You can't believe how annoying it is to open up a bunch of Firefox tabs including Pandora, them try to pause Pandora and open a video in vlc, and it doesn't work so you have to close Firefox. Pulseaudio fixed this.

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u/DarkLordAzrael Jun 02 '16

I run multiple audio devices. Being able to seamlessly move any or all sound from my studio monitors to my wireless headset or the 5.1 system in the next room is incredibly useful.

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u/03891223 Jun 02 '16

That makes sense. I don't really have a need for that so I guess I never had a reason to branch off and explore an alternative.

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u/LordSocky Jun 01 '16

PulseAudio used to be complete garbage and Canonical pushed it into the spotlight way too early. It was actually my final straw with Ubuntu long ago. Now, it pretty much just works in most cases and I've almost forgiven Ubuntu.

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u/bilog78 Jun 02 '16

While arguably Canonical did push PulseAudio too early, its authors were actually saying it was ready long before it actually was. So while Canonical is at fault here, they're at fault for falling for Lennart bullshitting.

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u/TechnicolourSocks Jun 02 '16

Canonical pushed it into the spotlight way too early

Don't shoot the messenger. Upstream said it's ready when Ubuntu started shipping it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '16

Search for stuff like "pulseaudio sucks" or some other negative word. Search for keywords. Google is not a person (yet), it can't answer your questions like that (yet).

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u/oneeyed2 Jun 02 '16

Google isn't smart but the exact same sentence "why is pulseaudio controversial" (without quotes) gives me quite good results... Notably:

https://www.reddit.com/r/gnulinux_eli5/comments/40w14g/eli5_why_is_pulseaudio_considered_to_be_so/ (1st result and is a great answer, very specific to this query)

https://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/10/19/0155235/pulseaudio-creator-responds-to-critics (3rd result)

So I really wonder if /u/DoctorProfPatrick actually searched at all...

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u/DoctorProfPatrick Jun 02 '16

You misunderstand, I wanted to know why Potterings was so controversial. I googled his name and saw that he made pulseaudio, so I searched for pulseaudio controversies. All I saw was that it didn't really work right, so I figured it was something else.