[asterisk-users] Asterisk throws error using the alsa, module

[Dave Platt]

> this i got from syslog:
> 
> puppy:~# grep pulse /var/log/syslog | tail -3
> Dec 14 20:32:45 puppy pulseaudio[25967]: main.c: Unable to contact D-Bus:
> org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: /usr/bin/dbus-launch
> terminated abnormally without any error message
> Dec 14 20:32:46 puppy pulseaudio[25967]: alsa-source.c:
> snd_pcm_mmap_commit: The device or resource is busy
> Dec 14 20:39:11 puppy pulseaudio[26368]: main.c: Unable to contact D-Bus:
> org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: /usr/bin/dbus-launch
> terminated abnormally without any error message
> 
> 
> Hmmm, since aplay / arecord are working fine - is it maybe that asterisk
> wants to lock the soundcard exclusively?

That would be the case if the ALSA device you were trying to use
was "hw:" or "plughw", since these access the hardware directly.

By using a PCM device of "pulse" you ought to be preventing Asterisk
from attempting to open the sound card directly (either exclusively
or shared).  Instead, it should be directing the audio I/O through
a network/socket connection to the pulseaudio server.

Two further thoughts:

[1] According to what I've read, pulseaudio requires that all users
    who are going to be using it must belong to a special user-group.
    If the user-ID under which you are running the Asterisk server isn't
    a member of this group, then I think that attempts by Asterisk to
    connect to the pulseaudio server might very well fail.

    Check /etc/group, and see if you need to add the pulseaudio group to
    the definition for your Asterisk daemon user-ID.

[2] Are you by any chance running Asterisk in a chroot'ed jail?  If so,
    it may not be able to find some of the programs or sockets that it
    requires.