PipeWire 0.3.77 (2023-08-04)
This is a quick bugfix release that is API and ABI compatible with previous 0.3.x releases.
Highlights
- Fix a bug in ALSA source where the available number of samples was miscaluclated and resulted in xruns in some cases.
- A new L permission was added to make it possible to force a link between nodes even when the nodes can’t see each other.
- The VBAN module now supports midi send and receive as well.
- Many cleanups and small fixes.
I am shocked that Lennart Poettering, PulseAudio dev, but also Avahi and SystemD dev, whose name might frequently be brought up in conversations about interoperability, reliability, small ego, diplomacy, etc etc, might not be as good at coding an audio stack as legendary C64 demo coder and PipeWire dev Wim Taymans. Shocked, I tell you. Well, not that shocked.
Let’s be fair here. PipeWire is leaps and bounds ahead of pulse and I was super happy when I could drop pulse. But pulse predates PipeWire by a decade and introduced concepts that were previously rather complex in Linux. It’s no coincidence its interface was adopted so quickly by audio tools and that it’s the recommended interface for PipeWire today (until devs are comfortable with recommending their own). Lennart saw the need and provided a solution which, in retrospective, could be much improved - but until PipeWire, nobody put in the work.
I too had my fair share of issues with PA. But it also solved some fundamental ones for me. I don’t miss meddling with .asoundrc or whatever it was to get dmix working. Pulse should not be measured against PipeWire, but rather ALSA, OSS and the stuff that the DEs brought with them (aRts…). It wasn’t always pretty. Early Pulse, however, wasn’t either.
Also, audio was originally not even in scope for PipeWire - it was touted as “PulseAudio for video”. So pulse didn’t exactly have a bad reputation even among PipeWire devs.
I didn’t even know Avahi is his project too, but was avoiding it too. Crazy how one person can create so many bad but popular projects.
I am curious, why is Avahi considered bad? Never used it so I am unfamiliar with the topic.
