feat(sound): redesign with separate device profiles page

[mmstick]

Closes #1325
Closes #1577
Closes pop-os/cosmic-epoch#655
Closes pop-os/cosmic-epoch#787
Closes pop-os/cosmic-epoch#946
Closes pop-os/cosmic-epoch#1001
Closes pop-os/cosmic-epoch#568
Closes pop-os/cosmic-epoch#1368

• Device profiles have been moved into a new Device Profiles sub-page for selecting profiles per device
  • Set with wpctl set-profile {{device-id}} {profile-index}} instead of pactl
• Setting the default sink (output) and source (input) now operates independently
  • Set with wpctl set-default {{node-id}}
• All of our devices now have stable node object and device IDs from pipewire-rs
  - Enables using wpctl for setting card profiles, default sinks/sources, volume, and mute
  - Significant performance and stability improvements
  - Wireplumber state no longer gets corrupted
• Fixed early return on debounced volume events dropping pipewire and pulse events
• Update pipewire-rs to version 0.9
• Most of our dependency on libpulse has been eliminated
  • It is only used for getting and setting volume, volume balance, and watching default sink/source changes

[jacobgkau]

First, there's an overflow/sizing issue with the drop-down box on the Device Profiles page. By default, I had no profile selected (not even "Off"), which seems impossible. In that state, most of the drop-down items flowed out of the end of the window:

It seems like longer labels being selected allowed the drop-down to display more of its contents:

Separate issue, but after I selected "Off" as my profile, the device disappeared from the list, making it impossible to turn on again. The point of the "Off" option is to still show the device in the list while it's disabled, so that shouldn't happen.

[mmstick]

What's the output of pw-dump on this system? This is what I see on a system with a Realtek card, Radeon HDMI audio, and a USB-C sound card.

[mmstick]

Fixed the devices on the device profiles page disappearing when setting their profile to off. Which also fixes the device briefly disappearing when the device's nodes are replaced.

[jacobgkau]

On the same machine as yesterday, I still had one of the devices not have any profile visibly selected at first, which shouldn't be possible:

Here is pw-dump from that system: pw-dump-oryp8.txt

If I set the device to "Off", it initially shows itself as "Off", but if I reboot, I end up in the same state as shown above (it boots up set to nothing instead of showing as set to "Off".)

[jacobgkau]

I'm still also seeing menu items getting cut off at the edge of the window. Is that a libcosmic bug? Dropdown menus in other COSMIC apps seem to be able to run out the side of the window.

[mmstick]

It's a different dropdown widget. I will switch to it

[mmstick]

The index of the selected profile on that Built-in Audio device should be fixed now

[jacobgkau]

On 8688b54 and oryp8, the profile of Built-in Audio keeps defaulting to Digital Surround 5.1 (IEC958/AC3) Output. I think this corresponds to the S/PDIF output, but attempting to change the volume does nothing. Going directly to Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output doesn't work, but if I choose Off, then I can go to Digital Stereo (IEC958) Output to get sound out of the S/PDIF port (the Digital Surround option then gives distorted audio if I select that again).

If I just boot (defaulting to Digital Surround 5.1 (IEC958/AC3) Output) and change directly to one of the Analog Stereo options, that also doesn't work (changing the volume doesn't work & there's no sound). Again, I have to select Off first, then go back to Analog Stereo for it to work.

I know some of this might be audio card weirdness that's outside the scope of COSMIC Settings, but does any of this sound like a COSMIC Settings thing? The two distinct problems are the default/last selected profile not being saved between sessions, and not being able to switch from the default to one of the others successfully without first selecting Off (or possibly just sound not working at all until it's turned Off).

[jacobgkau]

From @WatchMkr in Mattermost (posting here so it doesn't get lost)-- the design also calls for the device description to be prepended to the profile name when selecting an input/output device (e.g. Speakers - Built-in Audio). The string to be prepended appears to be labeled "description" in pw-dump.

[mmstick]

Seems I'll need to add the different routes (ports) to the output/input dropdown lists. Pavucontrol puts those on a separate port dropdown.

[jacobgkau]

Not sure if you were ready for me to look at this again yet, but just to corroborate, on f787c83, I'm seeing the Output device as Analog Stereo - Built-in Audio, when it should say Speakers - Built-in Audio. As you noted, it should be the description of the route, not the profile.

The other problems I mentioned before are still occurring.

[jacobgkau]

35e3127 still has reliability issues on oryp8.

If I set Built-in Audio's profile to Analog Stereo Duplex and then reboot, it defaults to Digital Surround 5.1 (IEC958/AC3) Output again.

If I change the profile to Analog Stereo Duplex, then both Output device and Input device show their only option as Built-in Audio, with no route name/description prepended. Changing the speaker volume with hotkeys doesn't work in this state.

If I change the profile to Analog Stereo Output, then Output device changes to Speakers - Built-in Audio, and the speaker hotkeys work. Alternatively, if I open up an app and start playing audio, then the Output device does not change, but the speaker hotkeys do start working.

[mmstick]

What's the output of pw-dump when set to Analog Stereo Duplex? Particularly the Pipewire:Interface:Node associated with it. Changing the profile changes the active route, and a PipeWire:Interface:Node is created from that.

Based on the logic that I have, the most likely problem is that the node failed to parse. The node ID is required to set a default sink/source, and the route won't be added to the device name if a node isn't associated with it.

[mmstick]

This is where the node is parsed. This could be wrapped with dbg!(Node::from_node(info)) to check if all nodes are getting parsed.

[jacobgkau]

Here is pw-dump after booting on 4a14492, defaulting to S/PDIF: oryp8-4a14492-default-spdif.txt
Here is pw-dump after changing the profile to Analog Stereo Duplex: oryp8-4a14492-duplex.txt

On 4a14492, the speaker hotkeys work immediately after changing the profile to Analog Stereo Duplex, but the Output device is only labeled Built-in Audio, while the Input device is labeled Speakers - Built-in Audio.

[mmstick]

I think I see the issue

[mmstick]

Hoping this fixes the issue you're seeing.

[mmstick]

Switched to using libpulse for monitoring active port changes, and I'm seeing it switch between Speakers and Headphones on my system. Checking the Pro Audio issue now.

[jacobgkau]

On ff15c0d, the active port change is working. Pro Audio isn't necessarily showing the expected labels-- this is what I see in COSMIC Settings vs. pavucontrol:

The speaker output actually being labeled Speakers is actually better than pavucontrol, but it still seems like it makes less sense for the rest to not have any identifiers. Again, it looks like we could get e.g. Built-in Audio Pro 1 from node.description, or Pro 1 from device.profile.description. If we don't want to just always use the node.description instead of device.description, then maybe we could use the device.profile.description in place of the route description when the latter's empty? That would make it show up as e.g. Pro 1 - Built-in Audio.

---

The Confirm device type pop-up is sometimes slow to trigger, and that causes issues in the Sound settings panel if I unplug before it's processed. E.g.:

• Plug in a headset; sound settings immediately changes Output device to reflect the output change.
• Unplug the headset.
• A few seconds later, the Confirm Device Type pop-up finally shows up.
• I choose Headset (even though I've already unplugged the headset) and click Confirm.
• Sound settings changes Input device to Speakers - Built-in Audio, which doesn't make sense.

Would this be a cosmic-osd issue?

[mmstick]

Do you have a pw-dump with those devices on the pro audio profile?

[mmstick]

Yeah the confirm device pop-up may be a cosmic-osd issue.

[jacobgkau]

Here's a pw-dump while set to Pro Audio on oryp8: oryp8-pro-audio.txt

[jacobgkau]

Pro Audio labels are showing up as expected now.

Last thing I'm noticing is an issue with the Balance setting. It works if I'm playing audio and I change it. However, it resets to the middle every time I adjust the volume (via hotkey or slider). It should probably be unaffected by volume changes (although some way to reset it might be nice, since its slider doesn't snap to the middle).

[mmstick]

Finally resolved. I'll need ~15-30 minutes to get this ready to commit though. We will be able to get and set channel volumes and other parameters directly in cosmic-settings without needing libpulse, wpctl, or pw-cli now. Now that we're subscribing to pipewire for parameter updates, I can drop libpulse as a dependency.

Updating the audio applet to share the same cosmic-settings library will ensure that our balance stays intact when using that as well. Changing the volume by shortcut uses wpctl though, which will overwrite the balance. I think we'll need to use cosmic-settings-daemon after this is merged to add an API for the shortcuts to use that preserves our balance.

[jacobgkau]

The latest update (to 9c51fff) broke the test case upgrading from the current stable version. I'm back to having no volume hotkeys after changing the profile to Analog Stereo Duplex on the new version.

Also, dragging the slider to adjust the volume doesn't seem to work anymore. It's reflected in the COSMIC Settings interface, but not pavucontrol or the OSD, and adjusting the volume with the hotkeys resumes from wherever it was before, not from where I set it to in COSMIC Settings.

[mmstick]

Re-added the use of pw-cli in case that does something to fix this that a direct call to pipewire doesn't.

[mmstick]

Not able to replicate any issues with volume sliders, so I suppose fixing the broken state will also fix that too.

[jacobgkau]

All other previous issues seem to be fixed.

However, changing the Input volume also changes the Output volume to the same value (+/- 1). Changing the Output volume doesn't change the Input volume, so it's just the Input slider that's not behaving properly.

[mmstick]

Should be fixed now.

[jacobgkau]

I noticed that if I e.g. plug in an HDMI cable while the Device profiles page is open, the list of profiles doesn't update to let me select it until I leave the page and re-enter it. Conversely, if I unplug HDMI while that page is open, the profiles that are no longer available don't disappear from the list until I leave the page & re-enter it. Is that something that could be refreshed when it changes or otherwise watched? (pavucontrol seems to update that info immediately in its list.)

[mmstick]

Checking it. That is likely a simple fix

[jacobgkau]

Hotplugging/unplugging entire devices now updates their available profiles mostly as expected. There are still a couple of quirks:

• If a drop-down is open, the profiles aren't updated until it's closed.
  • Would automatically closing the drop-down (if not re-opening it automatically) when there's an update be feasible? Not sure if this would require deeper libcosmic work. It doesn't seem critical.
• The way this is currently implemented seems like it results in e.g. having to go and set a profile for the HDMI device every time I plug it in, as it's set to "Off" when I unplug a device. The only exception is if I open the drop-down while it's plugged in, unplug it, and select the profile as if it was plugged in; this results in the drop-down being blank, but the profile is set to what I selected next time I plug it in. After re-plugging a couple of times, it's set to Off again on unplug, and then stays on Off again after I plug in again.
  • I'm assuming this kind of problem is related to why pavucontrol shows all profiles and just marks unplugged/unavailable ones as such, instead of hiding them.
    • On that topic, setting the profile to something that's (unplugged) (unavailable) in pavucontrol results in the COSMIC Settings drop-down being blank.
  • Not sure what the best way to solve this would be, but it seems like we need to remember the last profile in some form even if it becomes unavailable, rather than just setting it to off and forgetting whatever was previously selected.
    • Maybe if the selected profile becomes unavailable, we can allow it to remain in the list and stay selected until something else is manually chosen? I.e. filter to only show available or selected profiles, instead of just available ones. That would fix the view when selecting unavailable things from pavucontrol and prevent having to re-set the profile every time if something's getting plugged/unplugged a lot, while still retaining a cleaner look than pavucontrol.

I wouldn't be as concerned about remembering the last profile if the applet included profiles, but since UX has decided the applet won't show profiles, it seems like it'd be better for someone not to have to open up the Settings app and navigate into the Profiles page in order to get HDMI output as an option in the applet every time they plug into an HDMI device. But if this is too big of a challenge to tackle right now, let me know.