For the archive, the reason that my /dev/dsp, /dev/mixer, /dev/audio, etc
devices are missing is that, I need oss-compat.

Closing -- I'm using grml64-medium_lenny_20090315 now, and the sound is fine. 

thank you mika for the replies.

Did you update alsa-oss to the most current version in unstable?
Are you *sure* your mixer settings are ok, because "No sound, even the MPlayer 
plays the /usr/share/grml/effect.ogg fine." and the provided output look just 
fine. Does the package oss-compat help? Apps that use /dev/dsp require support 
for OSS which is provided by ALSA compatibility modules.

Sound with grml[-kernel] works just fine on tons of different boxes, so I do 
not think this is a general issue but a problem of configuration/setup on your 
system.

regards,
-mika-

On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 8:23 AM, Michael Prokop <bts@bts.grml.org> wrote:
>
> Michael Prokop <mika@grml.org> added the comment:
>
> Hi suntong!
>
> First of all: please leave assigning the bug priority to the according
> developer. I don't consider it an urgent bug because it neither destroys any
> data, isn't a security issue either nor prevents your system from booting. ;)

Sorry, OK.

> Regarding your sound issue: alsa works fine on your box when using the official
> Debian lenny kernel and the same userland? Did you try it on real hardware as
> well (so it's not just a vmware issue)?

Hmm... I didn't tried the official Debian lenny kernel because my box
is so geared towards grml, I don't know if any of my HW will work
without grml's auto detection mechanism. Moreover, I presumed that it
should not be any problem since Debian lenny is the *stable* release
that is used by hundreds and thousands of people. Nobody has such
issue when I was asking the question on debian user mlist.

As for testing on real hardware, I just tried again. No, alsa does not
work either. So it *is* universal. Actually, I noticed that the alsa
problem starts with linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.07
(linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.05 is fine, and I don't have
linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.06).

> Regarding aufs: aufs-modules-2.6.26-grml and aufs-modules-2.6.28-grml are known
> to work just fine, any special needs for an upgrade?

aufs-modules-2.6.28-grml is using the latest aufs while
aufs-modules-2.6.26-grml is not. aufs-modules-2.6.26-grml does not
include the previous mount.aufs file, thus:

% mount -v -t aufs -o br:/aufs/day0:/aufs/base none /aufs/u
none on /aufs/u type aufs (rw,br:/aufs/day0:/aufs/base)

% mount -v -o remount,prepend:/aufs/day1,mod:/aufs/day0=ro,del:/aufs/day0
/aufs/u
none on /aufs/u type aufs
(rw,si=f631fe5e,xino=/aufs/day0/.aufs.xino,br:/aufs/day0=rw:/aufs/base=ro,prepend:/aufs/day1,mod:/aufs/day0=ro,del:/aufs/day0)

Not as shown in man page.

thanks

Hi suntong!

First of all: please leave assigning the bug priority to the according 
developer. I don't consider it an urgent bug because it neither destroys any 
data, isn't a security issue either nor prevents your system from booting. ;)

Regarding your sound issue: alsa works fine on your box when using the official 
Debian lenny kernel and the same userland? Did you try it on real hardware as 
well (so it's not just a vmware issue)?

Regarding aufs: aufs-modules-2.6.26-grml and aufs-modules-2.6.28-grml are known 
to work just fine, any special needs for an upgrade?

thanks && regards,
-mika-

I've just built a clean lenny system from scratch using grml-debootstrap. I
found that neither linux-image-2.6.26-grml nor linux-image-2.6.28-grml has
proper alsa sound, as reported in this issue. 

The testing is done in vmware, which makes me believe that the issue is
universal, not just limited to my sound card. Thus, I raised the priority and
hope that we can have a working grml kernel for stable lenny soon. 

BTW, please also update the corresponding aufs-modules-2.6.2x-grml as well.

Thanks

> My recent upgrade caused my sound card not working any more. Checking back
> at my packages version log, the only related upgrade is that
> alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-2 is upgraded to alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-4. 
> The rest are still the same:
> 
>   alsa-oss_1.0.15-1
>   alsa-utils_1.0.16-2
> 
> Also get upgraded is my kernel, from
> linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.05 to
> linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.08.

I've now confirmed that it is the latest grml 2.6.26 kernel,
linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.08, that breaks my alsa. Here are my test steps:

- leave linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.08 and go back to alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-2
  NOK, even after reboot

- while keeping alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-2, go back kernel to
linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.05. Yes, problem solved. 

So, mika, I'll leave the issue open, since you are still maintaining grml
kernels v2.6.23, 2.6.22, 2.6.20 etc, and let you decide what to do with
linux-image-2.6.26-grml. 

FYI, my test shows that linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.05 does not work with
alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-4.

cheers

> Please provide output of:

>    apt-cache policy acp alsa-oss alsa-base alsa-utils libesd-alsa0
aufs-modules-2.6.28-grml linux-image-2.6.28-grml

Ahh, alsa-oss is holding back at an earlier version. That might be the reason
that the new testing alsa environment does not work (details follows). The issue
has come to a point that I can't afford to go any further, so I'll close the bug
and revert to my last-good grml. 

Thanks again for prompt responds



Details:

alsa-oss:
  Installed: 1.0.15-1
  Candidate: 1.0.15-1
  Version table:
     1.0.17-1 0
         50 http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca unstable/main Packages
 *** 1.0.15-1 0
        300 http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca lenny/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

> Looks ok. If you execute 'soundtest' what happens then?

No sound, even the MPlayer plays the /usr/share/grml/effect.ogg fine. 

When I tried "play" that comes with 
sox - Swiss army knife of sound processing

I get:

$ play test.wav
play soxio: Can't open output file `/dev/dsp': Permission denied

$ ls /dev/dsp
ls: cannot access /dev/dsp: No such file or directory

* Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20090216 18:06]:

> > Please try upgrading all alsa related package to latest versions
> > from Debian unstable/experimental and upgrade your kernel to
> > 2.6.28-grml (available through grml-testing) as well.

> thanks for the swift reply. Done as you suggested. Here are the results:

> aptitude -t experimental install alsa-oss alsa-base alsa-utils libesd-alsa0
> aptitude install aufs-modules-2.6.28-grml linux-image-2.6.28-grml
> # reboot, then

Please provide output of:

    apt-cache policy acp alsa-oss alsa-base alsa-utils libesd-alsa0 aufs-modules-2.6.28-grml linux-image-2.6.28-grml

> % alsa reload
> Unloading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-via82xx snd-mpu401-uart
> snd-seq-midi snd-seq-midi-event snd-via82xx-modem snd-ac97-codec
> snd-rawmidi snd-pcm snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device snd-page-alloc.
> Loading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-via82xx snd-mpu401-uart
> snd-seq-midi snd-seq-midi-event snd-via82xx-modem snd-ac97-codec
> snd-rawmidi snd-pcm snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device snd-page-alloc.

> % ls /dev/dsp
> ls: cannot access /dev/dsp: No such file or directory

Not relevant. The party is in /dev/snd/

> % cat /dev/sndstat
> Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.18rc3 emulation code)
> Kernel: Linux helios.selfip.org 2.6.28-grml #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Dec 29
> 18:07:13 UTC 2008 i686
> Config options: 0

> Installed drivers:
> Type 10: ALSA emulation
[...]

Same here.

> Card config:
> VIA 8237 with AD1980 at 0xc800, irq 22
[...]

Looks ok. If you execute 'soundtest' what happens then?

regards,
-mika-

On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 11:03 AM, Michael Prokop <bts@bts.grml.org> wrote:

> Please try upgrading all alsa related package to latest versions
> from Debian unstable/experimental and upgrade your kernel to
> 2.6.28-grml (available through grml-testing) as well.

thanks for the swift reply. Done as you suggested. Here are the results:

aptitude -t experimental install alsa-oss alsa-base alsa-utils libesd-alsa0
aptitude install aufs-modules-2.6.28-grml linux-image-2.6.28-grml
# reboot, then

% alsa reload
Unloading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-via82xx snd-mpu401-uart
snd-seq-midi snd-seq-midi-event snd-via82xx-modem snd-ac97-codec
snd-rawmidi snd-pcm snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device snd-page-alloc.
Loading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-via82xx snd-mpu401-uart
snd-seq-midi snd-seq-midi-event snd-via82xx-modem snd-ac97-codec
snd-rawmidi snd-pcm snd-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device snd-page-alloc.

% ls /dev/dsp
ls: cannot access /dev/dsp: No such file or directory

% cat /dev/sndstat
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.18rc3 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux helios.selfip.org 2.6.28-grml #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Dec 29
18:07:13 UTC 2008 i686
Config options: 0

Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
VIA 8237 with AD1980 at 0xc800, irq 22

Audio devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
31: system timer

Mixers: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

* Tong Sun <bts@bts.grml.org> [20090216 16:55]:

> My recent upgrade caused my sound card not working any more. Checking back
> at my packages version log, the only related upgrade is that
> alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-2 is upgraded to alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-4. 
> The rest are still the same:

>   alsa-oss_1.0.15-1
>   alsa-utils_1.0.16-2
[...]

Please try upgrading all alsa related package to latest versions
from Debian unstable/experimental and upgrade your kernel to
2.6.28-grml (available through grml-testing) as well.

regards,
-mika-

hi, 

My recent upgrade caused my sound card not working any more. Checking back
at my packages version log, the only related upgrade is that
alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-2 is upgraded to alsa-base_1.0.17.dfsg-4. 
The rest are still the same:

  alsa-oss_1.0.15-1
  alsa-utils_1.0.16-2

Detailed info regarding the issue is posted at
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.debian.user/346652

Having an extensive discussion over the issue, I now suspect that it might be
caused by my grml kernel, because also get upgraded is my kernel, from
linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.05 to
linux-image-2.6.26-grml_grml.08.

Quoting from Florian Kulzer @debian.user:

>   # modprobe -r snd_via82xx gameport snd_ac97_codec ac97_bus snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc snd_mpu401_uart snd_seq_midi snd_seq_midi_event snd_rawmidi
snd_seq snd_timer snd_seq_device snd soundcore
> 
>   # lsmod | grep snd
> 
>   # modprobe -v snd_via82xx
>   install /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-via82xx  && {
/lib/alsa/modprobe-post-install snd-via82xx ; /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-seq ; }
>   insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-grml/kernel/sound/pci/snd-via82xx.ko index=0

Maybe the grml kernel is for some reason not compatible with Debian's
ALSA setup. (Grml is based on Debian, but I don't know which changes its
maintainers introduce to their kernels. They are focused on system
rescue so maybe they don't bother too much about ALSA.) Do you have the
same problem with a stock Debian kernel?

>   # modprobe -v snd_pcm
> 
>   # modprobe -v snd_seq

That means the modules were already loaded together with snd_via82xx. I
do see such additional modules listed when I "modprobe -v" my main sound
module; maybe the "--quiet" in the command above suppresses this output
for you.

>   $ cat /dev/sndstat
>   Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.16 emulation code)
>   Kernel: Linux helios.selfip.org 2.6.26-grml #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Nov 26
21:41:43 UTC 2008 i686
>   Config options: 0
> 
>   Installed drivers: 
>   Type 10: ALSA emulation
> 
>   Card config: 
>   VIA 8237 with AD1980 at 0xc800, irq 22
> 
>   Audio devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

... and it is still broken. You already tried to purge and reinstall the
ALSA packages, so I am afraid the next step is to recompile your kernel
with CONFIG_SND_DEBUG enabled and hope that something useful shows up in
the syslog.