Re: Device name lists

[Marcel Holtmann <marcel@holtmann.org>]

Hi Jaroslav,

> 	I've added the functions handling device name list to alsa-lib.
> Because alsa-lib open functions handle virtual names, it's impossible to
> get list of all possible device names. The interface is:
> 
> typedef struct snd_devname snd_devname_t;
> 
> struct snd_devname {
>         char *name;
>         char *comment;
>         snd_devname_t *next;
> };
> 
> int snd_names_list(const char *interface, snd_devname_t **list);
> void snd_names_list_free(snd_devname_t *list);
> 
> 	As you can see, it simple as possible. The applications might 
> request for a device list which can be generated automagically or advanced
> users might create their own lists.
> 	The lookup is this:
> 
> 1) file specified with ALSA_NAMES_FILE environment variable
> 2) ~/.asoundnm
> 3) /etc/asound.names
> 
> 	Note that 2) and 3) files are not merged (only one file is 
> parsed)!!! The syntax of these files is quite straighforward (alsa-lib
> keeps the order of device compounds):
> 
> timer {
>         alsactl1 {
>                 name 'hw:CLASS=1,SCLASS=0,CARD=-1,DEV=0,SUBDEV=0'
>                 comment 'Physical Device - system timer'
>         }
> }
> 
> 	The alsactl tool was extended to generate a basic set of
> device names (might be extended to detect other plugins as well). This 
> command will generate /etc/asound.names file:
> 
> 	alsactl names
> 
> To generate the user file use:
> 
> 	alsactl -f ~/.asoundnm names
> 
> 
> It's still time to do any changes and I would really appreciate 
> comments...

this is prefect and I hope that the ALSA library users adapt this very
soon, but two questions came to my mind:

1) What is the reason for not merging /etc/asound.names and ~/.asoundnm?

2) Is another config file really needed? Why not add another parameter
called "name" to the current config file. So that I can simply create
this entry for my Bluetooth headphone from HP:

	pcm.hp {
	        type a2dp
	        name "HP stereo headphone"
	        bdaddr "00:0D:44:xx:xx:xx"
	}

If the name value is present then snd_names_list() will show it and
otherwise not. Telling people to add entries in two files sounds not
right to me.

Regards

Marcel




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