Public bug reported: This is actually a PulseAudio bug, but the workaround is to disable Bluetooth audio in GDM.
Further discussion (and the source of my understanding about this issue) upstream are here: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=805414 To summarise: GDM opens the A2DP profile for a11y purposes to allow screenreaders to output over BT audio devices. However Pulse doesn't release those devices when no audio is being played and the upshot is that once in the users session A2DP is not available for any Bluetooth audio devices, this means that you can only use the low quality profile HSP/HFP. There is a proposed workaround, but this means that a11y tools which need to output audio won't be able to use Bluetooth devices within GDM. I think that for 17.10 shipping this work-around is acceptable, and we should revisit in the 18.04 cycle to try and get a proper fix in PA. The suggested PA bug is: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57167 but that hasn't seen movement since 2012. = The work around = >From the Debian wiki: https://wiki.debian.org/BluetoothUser/a2dp Disable the Bluetooth sink in the GDM PA daemon. Add this to /var/lib/gdm3/.config/pulse/default.pa #!/usr/bin/pulseaudio -nF # # load system wide configuration .include /etc/pulse/default.pa ### unload driver modules for Bluetooth hardware .ifexists module-bluetooth-policy.so unload-module module-bluetooth-policy .endif .ifexists module-bluetooth-discover.so unload-module module-bluetooth-discover .endif I have tested this, and I can confirm that it allows access to A2DP again in the user session. ** Affects: pulseaudio Importance: Unknown Status: Unknown ** Affects: gdm3 (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Affects: gdm3 (Debian) Importance: Unknown Status: Unknown ** Bug watch added: freedesktop.org Bugzilla #57167 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57167 ** Also affects: gdm via https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57167 Importance: Unknown Status: Unknown ** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #805414 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=805414 ** Also affects: gdm3 (Debian) via http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=805414 Importance: Unknown Status: Unknown ** Project changed: gdm => pulseaudio -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to gdm3 in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1703415 Title: Disable Bluetooth sink in GDM to allow A2DP in the user session To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/pulseaudio/+bug/1703415/+subscriptions -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
