Public bug reported:
Binary package hint: unity
This bug is about problems using the system bell in Unity or another
Compiz-based environment. For problems using the system bell in Ubuntu
Classic or a Metacity-based environment, please see bug #486154.
The system bell (that beep when you backspace on an empty line on a
terminal, i.e.) is badly broken using the Unity environment in the Natty
beta 2. By default, no sound is produced, and several misconfigurations
make it difficult to produce sound either from the PC speaker or Pulse
Audio's module-x11-bell. Not knowing what the desired behavior is, I
can't say exactly what needs to be fixed. But the combination of the
following issues makes the system quite obviously broken.
1) pcskpr is blacklisted.
The pcspkr module is necessary for the PC speaker to produce sound. It is
blacklisted, so regular users cannot turn the bell on. It would be nice for
this to be fixed, but the attitudes displayed in #77010 suggest that it won't
be. Nonetheless, I note it here because it interacts with some of the
following.
2) The X bell volume is set to 0.
As reported by `xset q`, the bell volume is 0 when Unity is started. Both the
PC speaker and module-x11-bell respect this setting, so the volume must be
turned up (with `xset b on` or `xset b 100`) for either to work. Since both
the PC speaker and module-x11-bell are disabled by default, this setting only
serves to frustrate attempts to turn them on; it never prevents unwanted sound.
3) module-x11-bell is loaded by /usr/bin/start-pulseaudio-x11
This is a system file, not a user file, so users cannot decide whether they
want this module loaded or not. They could write a script to unload the module
at login (and hope the module number doesn't vary between boots), but it would
be much cleaner to have the modules loaded from a user file, possibly with
defaults if the user file doesn't exist.
4) Sample bell.ogg is not loaded.
When module-x11-bell is loaded, it is told to use the sample bell.ogg. But no
sample is loaded into Pulse Audio. Thus, module-x11-bell traps system bell
events (keeping them from going to the PC speaker) without producing any sound.
If module-x11-bell is loaded, the sample it calls on should be loaded as well.
(To fix this, run `pactl upload-sample
/usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/stereo/bell.ogg bell.ogg`.)
5) gnome-volume-control doesn't.
The "Sound Effects" tab of gnome-volume-control offers to set the volume and
sound for system bell events, but these have no effect. This is because
gnome-volume-control is trying to control system bells through metacity.
Ideally, it should be rewritten to control module-x11-bell instead, but a
temporary fix could be to simply disable this tab.
6) System bell settings don't transfer to the Ubuntu Classic environment.
Because that is using metacity, which has it's own set of problems. See bug
#486154.
This has been from testing in a VM (virtualbox), but all of these
behaviors have also been seen in Compiz in various previous versions of
Ubuntu running on various hardware.
I have reported this bug against several components, as it is really an
integration issue. The eventual fix may not involve your component, but please
do not mark this bug as invalid until we have at least a roadmap for fixing it.
Otherwise, I fear responsibility will be passed from component to component
without anything being fixed. Rationales:
Unity - As the overarching environment, Unity should be responsible for getting
everything integrated. Additionally, some of the problems relate to session
startup settings.
Pulse Audio - module-x11-bell is not loaded intelligently or correctly.
Gnome Media - Own gnome-volume-control.
Versions (but note the same behavior has been seen in many earlier versions):
unity: 3.8.10-0ubuntu2
pulseaudio: 1:0.9.22+stable-queue-24-g67d18-0ubuntu3
gnome-media: 2.32.0-0ubuntu7
** Affects: unity
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Affects: unity (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Also affects: unity
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/769314
Title:
System bell broken in Natty/Unity (despite heroic...)
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