On Thu, Feb 22, 2024 at 08:44:35AM -0500, Haines Brown via Dng wrote:
>
> I get
>

>     $ wpctl status
>     "Could not connect to PipeWire"

Ok, if you get this message then all bets are off--nothing is going to
work. I believe the pipewire process is NOT running (see my note below).

Might I suggest the following workflow for testing and production with
PipeWire:

1. Open an xterm.
2. Run 'pipewire' in the foreground (which will tie up the xterm). E.g.

$ pipewire

(If it exits immediately, then we have a misconfiguration that needs
to be resolved before we can continue further.)

Put this xterm aside and leave the pipewire process running in it for
the duration of your X11 session.

3. Open another xterm.
4. Do whatever testing is necessary, or start your mixer/cd player, etc.

> > Did you create the two configuration files as I described much earlier
> > in this thread? E.g.:
> >
> > /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/10-wireplumber.conf
> > /etc/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d/20-pipewire-pulse.conf
>
> Yes, I dod, but I worry about the contant of the latter. What I have
> in 20-pipewire-pulse.conf is:
>

>      context.exec = [ { path = "/usr/bin/pipewire" args = "-c
>      pipewire-pulse.conf" } ]

>
> Is two lines legit here?

This could be a problem! Try making the configuration one long line.
(That's my bad--my silly editor wrapped the text...)

>     $ alsamixer
>     cannot open mixer: Host is down

This is actually a GOOD sign. It means that the ALSA configuration for
the default mixer is properly set to use PipeWire, but it can't because
the pipewire process is not running.

> Both pipewirr and wireplumber are running:
>     

>     $ ps x | grep pipewire
>     26207 pts/16   S+     0:00 grep pipewire

>

>     $ ps x | grep wireplumber
>     26210 pts/16   S+     0:00 grep wireplumber

In fact, pipewire and wireplumber are NOT running. What you're looking
at is your 'grep' process with an *argument* of 'pipewire'.

If pipewire was running, there would be TWO lines of output in each case:
one for the grep process and one for pipewire/wireplumber proper, like so:

$ ps x | grep pipewire
26205 pts/16   S     0:00 pipewire
26207 pts/16   S+    0:00 grep pipewire
$

(Of course, the process numbers, flags, and timing may be different.)

Haines, I believe we're very close to getting this resolved, take heart.