Alsa module configuration

Alsa module configuration

[Andy Wingo]

Hey alsa kernel wizards,

Is there any way we can get rid of this?

On Thu, 29 Aug 2002, frank pirrone wrote to linux-audio-user:

> *** grab the Alsa 0.9.0rc3 tarball and compile it
> *** Configure /etc/modules.conf as follows:
> 
> # ALSA native device support
> alias char-major-116 snd
> options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1
> alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4236
> options snd-cs4236 snd_id="Crystal Audio" snd_index=0 snd_isapnp=1
> # OSS/Free compatibility setup
> alias char-major-14 soundcore
> alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
> alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
> alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
> alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
> alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
> alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

It just struck me how every alsa install has to do this. I am not a
kernel wiz, but it would be so much nicer if (somehow) this just worked:

alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4236

And maybe an options line with the snd_id or something. But it seems
that these are the only crucial pieces of information. I know, I know,
alsaconf is supposed to help. Still. Is there any way this can be
simpler?

Just wondering, yo.

wingo.


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Re: Alsa module configuration

[Takashi Iwai]

At Fri, 30 Aug 2002 00:26:48 -0400,
Andy Wingo wrote:
> 
> Hey alsa kernel wizards,
> 
> Is there any way we can get rid of this?
> 
> On Thu, 29 Aug 2002, frank pirrone wrote to linux-audio-user:
> 
> > *** grab the Alsa 0.9.0rc3 tarball and compile it
> > *** Configure /etc/modules.conf as follows:
> > 
> > # ALSA native device support
> > alias char-major-116 snd
> > options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1

these are needed to load alsa modules _dynamically_.
if you're using an init script for loading the alsa, then basically
you don't need them.

> > alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4236

this value is usually referred in alsasound init script.
so this is somehow essential if you use this init script.
also, this alias is called from the alsa itself, if the
corresponding card (in this case #0) is not found.  then the alsa
tries to load the module automatically.

> > options snd-cs4236 snd_id="Crystal Audio" snd_index=0 snd_isapnp=1

this is somehow fundmamental, too, but mostly omissible.
snd_id is not always necessary.  if it's omitted, then the default
name "card0" is set.  this id is used in saving the status into
/etc/asound.state.
snd_index is not always necessary, too, unless you have multiple
cards.  even if you have multiple cards, usually it can be omitted.
the index option ensures the order of the driver loading.
snd_isapnp=1 is the default setting, so you can ommit it safely.


> > # OSS/Free compatibility setup
> > alias char-major-14 soundcore
> > alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
> > alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
> > alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
> > alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
> > alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
> > alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

these stuffs are only for loading OSS emulation modules _dynamically_.
if you load these modules statically prior to the actual use, you
don't need these entries.


> 
> It just struck me how every alsa install has to do this. I am not a
> kernel wiz, but it would be so much nicer if (somehow) this just worked:
> 
> alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4236
> 
> And maybe an options line with the snd_id or something. But it seems
> that these are the only crucial pieces of information. I know, I know,
> alsaconf is supposed to help. Still. Is there any way this can be
> simpler?
 
yes, most of them are NOT necessary.

it depends on your system - you can omit most of the values above.
but setting the configuration above is more safer (i.e. portable on
every system).


Takashi


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Re: Alsa module configuration

[Paul Davis]

>these are needed to load alsa modules _dynamically_.
>if you're using an init script for loading the alsa, then basically
>you don't need them.

which script? is there one? alsasound doesn't load the OSS modules,
for example.



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Re: Alsa module configuration

[Takashi Iwai]

At Mon, 02 Sep 2002 08:48:20 -0400,
Paul Davis wrote:
> 
> >these are needed to load alsa modules _dynamically_.
> >if you're using an init script for loading the alsa, then basically
> >you don't need them.
> 
> which script? is there one? alsasound doesn't load the OSS modules,
> for example.

The above sentence is for the entries cited there, namely the
following two:

> > # ALSA native device support
> > alias char-major-116 snd
> > options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1

About OSS configuration, it was explained separately in another part
after the sentence above.


Takashi


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Re: Alsa module configuration

[Paul Davis]

>About OSS configuration, it was explained separately in another part
>after the sentence above.

but we don't provide any such script ... without it and without the
modules.conf entries, any OSS program will fail, right?


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Re: Alsa module configuration

[Takashi Iwai]

At Mon, 02 Sep 2002 09:24:20 -0400,
Paul Davis wrote:
> 
> >About OSS configuration, it was explained separately in another part
> >after the sentence above.
> 
> but we don't provide any such script ... without it and without the
> modules.conf entries, any OSS program will fail, right?

well, you can load the modules manually, of course :)

recently i came to believe that loading the oss modules in the
init script would make the life easier.  then we can delete all these
complex things.  the only necessary configuration is an alias

	alias snd-card-0 snd-xxxxx

and others are not necessary.  even the alias above can be omitted
if alsasound init script reads another configuration file such like
/etc/sysconfig/sound and retrieves the driver modules from it.

nevertheless, the two entries i referred to are irrelevant with OSS.
as long as you're using alsasound init script, they are not needed,
although you may get annoying messages from the kernel if you access
to an unexisting device (but this also happens e.g. when you access to
/dev/mixer3 which is not aliased).


Takashi


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