Bug 384215 – media-tv/tvtime-1.0.2_p20110131-r1 fails to start with USB webcam plugged in

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Anders Hellgren 2011-09-23 16:53:34 UTC]

The alsa patches in media-tv/tvtime-1.0.2_p20110131-r1 makes tvtime fail to start if I have my USB webcam plugged in.

Actual results:
me@mybox ~ $ tvtime --device=/dev/video1
Running tvtime 1.0.2.
Reading configuration from /etc/tvtime/tvtime.xml
Reading configuration from /home/me/.tvtime/tvtime.xml
Playback device is hw:0,0
Capture device is hw:0,0
Found "USB Device 0x46d:0x81d : USB Audio (hw:2,0)"
Channels count non availableme@mybox ~ $

Expected results:
me@mybox ~ $ tvtime --device=/dev/video1
Running tvtime 1.0.2.
Reading configuration from /etc/tvtime/tvtime.xml
Reading configuration from /home/me/.tvtime/tvtime.xml
Playback device is hw:0,0
Capture device is hw:0,0
Thank you for using tvtime.
me@mybox ~ $

The patch available at $URL works around the issue by make the checks against the webcam non-fatal. I still consider it a bug, though, that tvtime even tries to muck around with it.

[Comment 1 Alex Legler (RETIRED) 2011-10-13 08:22:51 UTC]

I'm not sure if we should keep that alsa patch in the current state. :/
Not only requires it lots of rebasing, it also adds new issues. 
Thus, I've made applying them optional via the alsa USE flag and masked that flag for now.

Also, what patch on that ubuntu bug did you use exactly? Maybe you can provide a clean diff against our patch at http://dev.gentoo.org/~a3li/distfiles/tvtime-1.0.2-alsa.patch

[Comment 2 Anders Hellgren 2011-10-13 21:17:14 UTC]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Also, what patch on that ubuntu bug did you use exactly? Maybe you can provide
> a clean diff against our patch at
> http://dev.gentoo.org/~a3li/distfiles/tvtime-1.0.2-alsa.patch

I used the one from comment 3 in the ubuntu bug. It applies as-is after the alsa and alsamixer patches.

[Comment 3 Nikos Chantziaras 2011-10-14 19:49:37 UTC]

Thanks for removing the patch. Now tvtime doesn't block all sound anymore. When tvtime was running, I couldn't listen to anything else on the machine. Amarok, Mumble, Firefox, nothing else could produce sound (the error message on the terminal was "device or resource busy").

Now everything works fine, including my TV card.

[Comment 4 Alex Legler (RETIRED) 2011-10-14 21:23:21 UTC]

I've added the additional patch from Anders to the list of patches applied when the masked alsa USE flag is enabled. 

Chances are I'll throw out the whole shebang again if it causes any more problems.

[Comment 5 Nikos Chantziaras 2011-10-17 01:53:29 UTC]

(In reply to comment #4)
> I've added the additional patch from Anders to the list of patches applied when
> the masked alsa USE flag is enabled. 
> 
> Chances are I'll throw out the whole shebang again if it causes any more
> problems.

I must have messed up something.  The problem is still there after all.  I was pretty sure I tested correctly (starting tvtime first, then other audio apps), but it seems I didn't.

That means the problem has nothing to do with the ALSA patches.

[Comment 6 Markellos Orfanos 2011-10-17 11:54:19 UTC]

(In reply to comment #5)
> (In reply to comment #4)
> > I've added the additional patch from Anders to the list of patches applied when
> > the masked alsa USE flag is enabled. 
> > 
> > Chances are I'll throw out the whole shebang again if it causes any more
> > problems.
> 
> I must have messed up something.  The problem is still there after all.  I was
> pretty sure I tested correctly (starting tvtime first, then other audio apps),
> but it seems I didn't.
> 
> That means the problem has nothing to do with the ALSA patches.

I can confirm that, no changes with the alsa patches on. Still tvtime blocks all other sound sources if it's started before anything else(but I think that doesn't fit in this bug report as the title refers to another problem). Furthermore without the alsa flag on, I lose the ability of changing the volume while tvtime is running  using the left/right arrows.