Bug 289758

Summary:	Any KDE application with root privileges is stole audio-output from PulseAudio (that running under user by default) just for playback notification sound
Product:	[Applications] KSystemLog	Reporter:	RussianNeuroMancer <russianneuromancer>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Nicolas Ternisien <nicolas.ternisien>
Status:	RESOLVED DUPLICATE
Severity:	normal	CC:	ken20001
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Ubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description RussianNeuroMancer 2011-12-24 21:51:39 UTC

Version: unspecified (using KDE 4.7.3)
OS: Linux

I report this bug to KSystemLog because running KSystemLog is easier way to reproduce it. Sure it's not KSystemLog bug - please reassign it to some more appropriate KDE component. I didn't find right one.

The problem is: any KDE application with root privileges can stole audio-output from PulseAudio that running under user. Sure any not-KDE applcation with root privileges also can do that, but I think there is probably problem in playback notifications machanism design in KDE that making such things possible even when user just click to button that totally unrelated to audio. So in my case it's happen when KDE application playback error-sound. For that this application use ALSA even if ALSA is already in-use by PulseAudio. In result there is no sound in all application that connected with PulseAudio Server so from user point of view sound is stop working just after click to one button.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Launch KSystemLog, kdesu will ask root password.
2. Enter requested password.
3. Click to the some button on KSystemLog toolbar that will make KSystemLog try to open log that doesn't exist. You can remove or rename some logfile to reproduce this bug but in Kubuntu case there is daemon.log that is always doesn't exist:
4. Press "Daemon's Logs" button.

Actual Results:
KSystemLog playback error sound, display error message, and then sound out of the PulseAudio control.

Expected Results:
Sound doesn't out of the PulseAudio control.

KDE version: 4.7.4.
Kubuntu version: 11.10 x86_64.
PulseAudio is running under user.
daemon.log is doesn't exist.

Comment 1 Eugene 2011-12-24 22:10:49 UTC

This bug also reproduces when machine exits from suspend2ram mode. Message appears that KDE deactivated some sound devices because they was disconnected. After that sound stops working and in syslog appears following message:

[alsa-sink] alsa-sink.c: Error opening PCM device front:0: Device or resource busy

and then:

last message repeated 5 times

This bug is very annoying and it must be fixed as soon as possible because there is no possibility to work with sound with it.

Comment 2 Christoph Feck 2011-12-25 15:19:41 UTC


*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 285646 ***