[Solved] User lost sound in at & cron

[Pita]

For some reason I lost the sound as user for at and cron jobs and I seem unable
to get it back.

Like in cron 'saytime' will not say time and in 'at' a command 'aplay file.wav' will
not play, however, it does when I put it in as sudo.

Any suggestions?

Thanks & regards

[Pita]

For some reason I lost the sound as user for at and cron jobs and I seem unable
to get it back.

Like in cron 'saytime' will not say time and in 'at' a command 'aplay file.wav' will
not play, however, it does when I put it in as sudo.

Any suggestions?

Thanks & regards

I posted this in Distro Development and pick it up ones more here hoping more
might read it and find an answer.

I have made VL-6-A014-Light my working Linux box fully running to my needs,
except one problem 'at' and 'cron' jobs will not play sound when commanded
by user.
This problem is present as well in slackware-12.1/2 from where I guess it was
inherited originally.

Now in the Beta version of light 'at' and 'cron' jobs do play sound when commanded
by user.

After having moved house I do not feel inclined to do it again just because of this problem.
I am therefore asking if a solution can be found for my present VL-6-Light box.

The error I get when trying to play sound with 'at' or cron is:

ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3513:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:3985:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2202:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
sox: Failed writing default: cannot open audio device

Would I just have to copy some files from Beta over to my box and which one?

Help much appreciated.

[bigpaws]

This problem is present as well in slackware-12.1/2 from where I guess it was
inherited originally.

I tested that it works in Slackware. My guess would be a permissions issue
in Vector.

I tested in VL-6.0 RC1.8 and it does not work.

Bigpaws

[caitlyn]

Pita:  I believe you are running the 2.6.27.10-3 kernel.  Uelsk8s built a new alsa-driver package to match.  alsa-driver is very much kernel version dependent.  Try the matching new alsa-driver package.  I believe it may resolve the problem.

Sound is working perfectly for me with the new package and wasn't before I installed it.  I know you have different hardware than I do so this may not apply but it is certainly worth a try.

-Cait

[Pita]

Pita:  I believe you are running the 2.6.27.10-3 kernel.  Uelsk8s built a new alsa-driver package to match.  alsa-driver is very much kernel version dependent.  Try the matching new alsa-driver package.  I believe it may resolve the problem.

Sound is working perfectly for me with the new package and wasn't before I installed it.  I know you have different hardware than I do so this may not apply but it is certainly worth a try.

-Cait

I did install the new alsa-driver both in my current box and in Beta when I installed the new kernel.
Now it works in Beta and not in my alpha it did work in alpha015 with the 2.6.27.7 kernel.
Some hidden bug somewhere.

On second thought, could it not be an at/cron permission problem rather than an alsa one?

Command "at now"
                    "play file.wav"
will not play and gives the above error.

Command "sudo at now"
                    "play file.wav"
will play the file and no errors.

This is naturally just for testing. I use 'at' with xmessage commands and sound to alert me
for things to do.

~:$ ls -l /usr/sbin/atd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root

:$ ls -l /var/spool/atjobs
-rwx------ 1 heisspf daemon
-rwx------ 1 heisspf bin

atjobs is set to 777.

What would alsa gain by distinguishing between user and root? Does not make sense
tpo me.

[caitlyn]

I'm thinking the permissions error has nothing to do with alsa and everything to do with at.  Either way, it's not that alsa is distinguishing but rather the way the permissions for certain files are set.

[Pita]

Thanks all for all the help.

This annoying problem was solved. In /etc/group, audio: my user name was missing.
Rbistolfi thanks for the hint.