Parole reports "Gstreamer backend error, could not initialise supporting library" because "gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio" is missing.

Bug #1309951 reported by Ratchanan Srirattanamet
32
This bug affects 5 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
parole (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned
Trusty
Fix Released
Medium
Logan Rosen

Bug Description

[Impact]
* Some users are unable to use parole because the pulseaudio backend cannot be opened.
* The upload fixes this issue by adding gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio to recommends. Most (all?) ubuntu distributions use pulseaudio as a backend, so this can help future users as well.

[Test Case]
* On a clean system, run parole and try to open a video file.
* The error "Gstreamer backend error, could not initialise supporting library" may be displayed, preventing the user from viewing their media.

[Regression Potential]
* This upload adds a single gstreamer1.0 backend to recommends, so the risk of regression is slim to none.

[Original Bug Details]
I use newly installed Xubuntu 14.04. When I try to open a video file, Parole pops up a dialog box, say that "Gstreamer backend error, could not initialise supporting library".

This is the output from the terminal, with gst debug level = 2:

somporn@somporn-P4M900T-M2:~$ parole --gst-debug-level=2 SomeVideo.webm
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
0:00:00.756042853 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN jackclient gstjackaudioclient.c:359:gst_jack_audio_get_connection: could not create connection
0:00:00.756305455 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN jacksink gstjackaudiosink.c:359:gst_jack_ring_buffer_open_device:<audio-actual-sink-jackaudio> error: Jack server not found
0:00:00.756380823 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN jacksink gstjackaudiosink.c:359:gst_jack_ring_buffer_open_device:<audio-actual-sink-jackaudio> error: Cannot connect to the Jack server (status 17)
0:00:00.758265641 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN default oss4-property-probe.c:376:gst_oss4_property_probe_get_values:<audio-actual-sink-oss4> Can't open file descriptor to probe available devices: No such file or directory
0:00:00.758452068 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN oss4sink oss4-sink.c:516:gst_oss4_sink_open:<audio-actual-sink-oss4> error: Could not open audio device for playback.
0:00:00.758515932 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN oss4sink oss4-sink.c:516:gst_oss4_sink_open:<audio-actual-sink-oss4> error: system error: No such file or directory
0:00:00.759750439 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN oss gstosssink.c:399:gst_oss_sink_open:<audio-actual-sink-oss> error: Could not open audio device for playback.
0:00:00.759963397 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN oss gstosssink.c:399:gst_oss_sink_open:<audio-actual-sink-oss> error: system error: No such file or directory
0:00:00.760421367 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 WARN autodetect gstautoaudiosink.c:373:gst_auto_audio_sink_detect:<audio> error: Failed to find a supported audio sink
0:00:00.760646274 10578 0x7fc9ae233700 ERROR playbin gstplaybin2.c:5136:activate_group:<player> failed to activate sinks

You'll notice that it doesn't try to use pulseaudio, cause gst to failed to find a supported audio sink.

The workaround is to install "gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio" manually.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: parole 0.6.1-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Sat Apr 19 19:57:41 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-19 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140416.2)
SourcePackage: parole
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Related branches

Revision history for this message
Ratchanan Srirattanamet (peat-new) wrote :
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in parole (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Sean Davis (bluesabre)
description: updated
Sean Davis (bluesabre)
tags: added: verification-needed
Revision history for this message
Daniel Letzeisen (dtl131) wrote :

I find it kind of odd that gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio is not included in a fresh install of Xubuntu, especially if Xubuntu uses gmusicbrowser as the default music player.

Changed in parole (Ubuntu Trusty):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Logan Rosen (logan)
tags: removed: verification-needed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package parole - 0.6.1-0ubuntu4

---------------
parole (0.6.1-0ubuntu4) utopic; urgency=medium

  * Add recommends on gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio. LP: #1309951
 -- Sean Davis <email address hidden> Sun, 20 Apr 2014 22:01:52 -0400

Changed in parole (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
Logan Rosen (logan)
Changed in parole (Ubuntu Trusty):
status: Confirmed → In Progress
assignee: nobody → Logan Rosen (logan)
Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote : Please test proposed package

Hello Ratchanan, or anyone else affected,

Accepted parole into trusty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/parole/0.6.1-0ubuntu3.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

Changed in parole (Ubuntu Trusty):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
tags: added: verification-needed
Revision history for this message
Daniel Letzeisen (dtl131) wrote :

Using parole (0.6.1-0ubuntu3.1), the issue is fixed, assuming one has apt configured to install recommended dependencies automatically. Despite that caveat, I'm going to mark verification-done because this will force gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio to be included in the ISO, which was the point of this bug as far as I understand.

Oh, and ignore my previous comment. I didn't realize gmusicbrowser was still using gstreamer0.10.

tags: added: verification-done
removed: verification-needed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package parole - 0.6.1-0ubuntu3.1

---------------
parole (0.6.1-0ubuntu3.1) trusty; urgency=medium

  * Add recommends on gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio. LP: #1309951
 -- Sean Davis <email address hidden> Sun, 20 Apr 2014 22:01:52 -0400

Changed in parole (Ubuntu Trusty):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote : Update Released

The verification of the Stable Release Update for parole has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regresssions.

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