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8 This file is part of PulseAudio.
10 PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
11 under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
12 published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
13 License, or (at your option) any later version.
15 PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
16 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
17 or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General
18 Public License for more details.
20 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
21 License along with PulseAudio; if not, write to the Free Software
22 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
26 <manpage name=
"pulse-daemon.conf" section=
"5" desc=
"PulseAudio daemon configuration file">
29 <p><file>~/.pulse/daemon.conf
</file></p>
31 <p><file>@pulseconfdir@/daemon.conf
</file></p>
35 <p>The PulseAudio sound server reads configuration directives from
36 a file
<file>~/.pulse/daemon.conf
</file> on startup, and when that
37 file doesn't exist from
38 <file>@pulseconfdir@/daemon.conf
</file>. Please note that the
39 server also reads a configuration script on startup
40 <file>default.pa
</file> which also contains runtime configuration
43 <p>The configuration file is a simple collection of variable
44 declarations. If the configuration file parser encounters either ;
45 or # for it ignores the rest of the line until its end.
</p>
47 <p>For the settings that take a boolean argument, the values
48 <opt>true
</opt>,
<opt>yes
</opt>,
<opt>on
</opt> and
<opt>1</opt>
49 are equivalent, resp.
<opt>false
</opt>,
<opt>no
</opt>,
50 <opt>off
</opt>,
<opt>0</opt>.
</p>
54 <section name=
"General Directives">
57 <p><opt>daemonize=
</opt> Daemonize after startup. Takes a
58 boolean value, defaults to
"no". The
<opt>--daemonize
</opt>
59 command line option takes precedence.
</p>
63 <p><opt>fail=
</opt> Fail to start up if any of the directives
64 in the configuration script
<file>default.pa
</file>
65 fail. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to
"yes". The
<opt>--fail
</opt> command line
66 option takes precedence.
</p>
70 <p><opt>disallow-module-loading=
</opt> Disallow module loading
71 after startup. This is a security feature that makes sure that
72 no further modules may be loaded into the PulseAudio server
73 after startup completed. It is recommended to enable this when
74 <opt>system-instance
</opt> is enabled. Please note that certain
75 features like automatic hot-plug support will not work if this
76 option is enabled. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to
77 <opt>no
</opt>. The
<opt>--disallow-module-loading
</opt> command line
78 option takes precedence.
</p>
82 <p><opt>resample-method=
</opt> The resampling algorithm to
83 use. Use one of
<opt>src-sinc-best-quality
</opt>,
84 <opt>src-sinc-medium-quality
</opt>,
<opt>src-sinc-fastest
</opt>,
85 <opt>src-zero-order-hold
</opt>,
<opt>src-linear
</opt>,
86 <opt>trivial
</opt>,
<opt>speex-float-N
</opt>,
87 <opt>speex-fixed-N
</opt>,
<opt>ffmpeg
</opt>. See the
88 documentation of libsamplerate for an explanation for the
89 different src- methods. The method
<opt>trivial
</opt> is the most basic
90 algorithm implemented. If you're tight on CPU consider using
91 this. On the other hand it has the worst quality of them
92 all. The Speex resamplers take an integer quality setting in the
93 range
0.
.9 (bad...good). They exist in two flavours:
<opt>fixed
</opt> and
94 <opt>float
</opt>. The former uses fixed point numbers, the latter relies on
95 floating point numbers. On most desktop CPUs the float point
96 resmampler is a lot faster, and it also offers slightly better
97 quality. See the output of
<opt>dump-resample-methods
</opt> for
98 a complete list of all available resamplers. Defaults to
99 <opt>speex-float-
3</opt>. The
<opt>--resample-method
</opt>
100 command line option takes precedence. Note that some modules
101 overwrite or allow overwriting of the resampler to use.
</p>
105 <p><opt>disable-remixing=
</opt> Never upmix or downmix channels
106 to different channel maps. Instead, do a simple name-based
111 <p><opt>use-pid-file=
</opt> Create a PID file in
112 <file>/tmp/pulse-$USER/pid
</file>. Of this is enabled you may
113 use commands like
<opt>--kill
</opt> or
<opt>--check
</opt>. If
114 you are planning to start more than one PulseAudio process per
115 user, you better disable this option since it effectively
116 disables multiple instances. Takes a boolean argument, defaults
117 to
<opt>yes
</opt>. The
<opt>--no-cpu-limit
</opt> command line
118 option takes precedence.
</p>
122 <p><opt>no-cpu-limit=
</opt> Do not install the CPU load limiter,
123 even on platforms where it is supported. This option is useful
124 when debugging/profiling PulseAudio to disable disturbing
125 SIGXCPU signals. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to
<opt>no
</opt>. The
126 <opt>--no-cpu-limit
</opt> command line argument takes
132 <p><opt>system-instance=
</opt> Run the daemon as system-wide
133 instance, requires root priviliges. Takes a boolean argument,
134 defaults to
<opt>no
</opt>. The
<opt>--system
</opt> command line
135 argument takes precedence.
</p>
140 <p><opt>disable-shm=
</opt> Disable data transfer via POSIX
141 shared memory. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to
142 <opt>no
</opt>. The
<opt>--disable-shm
</opt> command line
143 argument takes precedence.
</p>
148 <section name=
"Scheduling">
151 <p><opt>high-priority=
</opt> Renice the daemon after startup to
152 become a high-priority process. This a good idea if you
153 experience drop-outs during playback. However, this is a certain
154 security issue, since it works when called SUID root only, or
155 RLIMIT_NICE is used. root is dropped immediately after gaining
156 the nice level on startup, thus it is presumably safe. See
157 <manref section=
"1" name=
"pulseaudio"/> for more
158 information. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to
"yes". The
<opt>--high-priority
</opt>
159 command line option takes precedence.
</p>
163 <p><opt>realtime-scheduling=
</opt> Try to acquire SCHED_FIFO
164 scheduling for the IO threads. The same security concerns as
165 mentioned above apply. However, if PA enters an endless loop,
166 realtime scheduling causes a system lockup. Thus, realtime
167 scheduling should only be enabled on trusted machines for
168 now. Please not that only the IO threads of PulseAudio are made
169 real-time. The controlling thread is left a normally scheduled
170 thread. Thus enabling the high-priority option is orthogonal.
171 See
<manref section=
"1" name=
"pulseaudio"/> for more
172 information. Takes a boolean argument, defaults to
"no". The
173 <opt>--realtime
</opt> command line option takes precedence.
</p>
177 <p><opt>realtime-priority=
</opt> The realtime priority to
178 acquire, if
<opt>realtime-scheduling
</opt> is enabled. Note: JACK uses
10
179 by default,
9 for clients. Thus it is recommended to choose the
180 PulseAudio real-time priorities lower. Some PulseAudio threads
181 might choose a priority a little lower or higher than the
182 specified value. Defaults to
"5".
</p>
186 <p><opt>nice-level=
</opt> The nice level to acquire for the
187 daemon, if
<opt>high-priority
</opt> is enabled. Note: on some
188 distributions X11 uses -
10 by default. Defaults to -
11.
</p>
193 <section name=
"Idle Times">
196 <p><opt>exit-idle-time=
</opt> Terminate the daemon after the
197 last client quit and this time in seconds passed. Use a negative value to
198 disable this feature. Defaults to -
1. The
199 <opt>--exit-idle-time
</opt> command line option takes
204 <p><opt>module-idle-time=
</opt> Unload autoloaded modules after
205 being idle for this time in seconds. Defaults to
20. The
206 <opt>--module-idle-time
</opt> command line option takes
211 <p><opt>scache-idle-time=
</opt> Unload autoloaded sample cache
212 entries after being idle for this time in seconds. Defaults to
213 20. The
<opt>--scache-idle-time
</opt> command line option takes
219 <section name=
"Paths">
222 <p><opt>dl-search-path=
</opt> The path were to look for dynamic
223 shared objects (DSOs/plugins). You may specify more than one
224 path seperated by colons. The default path depends on compile
225 time settings. The
<opt>--dl-search-path
</opt> command line
226 option takes precedence.
</p>
230 <p><opt>default-script-file=
</opt> The default configuration
231 script file to load. Specify an empty string for not loading a
232 default script file. The default behaviour is to load
233 <file>~/.pulse/default.pa
</file>, and if that file does not
234 exist fall back to the system wide installed version
235 <file>@pulseconfdir@/default.pa
</file>. If
<opt>-n
</opt> is
236 passed on the command line the default configuration script is
242 <section name=
"Logging">
245 <p><opt>log-target=
</opt> The default log target. Use either
246 <opt>stderr
</opt>,
<opt>syslog
</opt> or
<opt>auto
</opt>. The
247 latter is equivalent to
<opt>sylog
</opt> in case
248 <opt>daemonize
</opt> is enabled, otherwise to
249 <opt>stderr
</opt>. Defaults to
<opt>auto
</opt>. The
250 <opt>--log-target
</opt> command line option takes
255 <p><opt>log-level=
</opt> Log level, one of
<opt>debug
</opt>,
256 <opt>info
</opt>,
<opt>notice
</opt>,
<opt>warning
</opt>,
257 <opt>error
</opt>. Log messages with a lower log level than
258 specified here are not logged. Defaults to
259 <opt>notice
</opt>. The
<opt>--log-level
</opt> command line
260 option takes precedence. The
<opt>-v
</opt> command line option
261 might alter this setting.
</p>
266 <section name=
"Resource Limits">
268 <p>See
<manref name=
"getrlimit" section=
"2"/> for
269 more information. Set to -
1 if PulseAudio shall not touch the resource
270 limit. Not all resource limits are available on all operating
274 <p><opt>rlimit-as
</opt> Defaults to -
1.
</p>
277 <p><opt>rlimit-core
</opt> Defaults to -
1.
</p>
280 <p><opt>rlimit-data
</opt> Defaults to -
1.
</p>
283 <p><opt>rlimit-fsize
</opt> Defaults to -
1.
</p>
286 <p><opt>rlimit-nofile
</opt> Defaults to
256.
</p>
289 <p><opt>rlimit-stack
</opt> Defaults to -
1.
</p>
292 <p><opt>rlimit-nproc
</opt> Defaults to -
1.
</p>
295 <p><opt>rlimit-memlock
</opt> Defaults to
16 KiB. Please note
296 that the JACK client libraries may require more locked
300 <p><opt>rlimit-nice
</opt> Defaults to
31. Please make sure that
301 the default nice level as configured with
<opt>nice-level
</opt>
302 fits in this resource limit, if
<opt>high-priority
</opt> is
306 <p><opt>rlimit-rtprio
</opt> Defaults to
9. Please make sure that
307 the default real-time priority level as configured with
308 <opt>realtime-priority=
</opt> fits in this resource limit, if
309 <opt>realtime-scheduling
</opt> is enabled. The JACK client
310 libraries require a real-time prority of
9 by default.
</p>
315 <section name=
"Default Device Settings">
317 <p>Most drivers try to open the audio device with these settings
318 and then fall back to lower settings. The default settings are CD
319 quality:
16bit native endian,
2 channels,
44100 Hz sampling.
</p>
322 <p><opt>default-sample-format=
</opt> The default sampling
323 format. Specify one of
<opt>u8
</opt>,
<opt>s16le
</opt>,
324 <opt>s16be
</opt>,
<opt>float32le
</opt>,
<opt>float32be
</opt>,
325 <opt>ulaw
</opt>,
<opt>alaw
</opt>. Depending on the endianess of
326 the CPU the formats
<opt>s16ne
</opt>,
<opt>s16re
</opt>,
327 <opt>float32ne
</opt>,
<opt>float32re
</opt> (for native,
328 resp. reverse endian) are available as aliases.
</p>
332 <p><opt>default-sample-rate=
</opt> The default sample frequency.
</p>
336 <p><opt>default-sample-channels
</opt> The default number of channels.
</p>
341 <section name=
"Default Fragment Settings">
343 <p>Some hardware drivers require the hardware playback buffer to
344 be subdivided into several fragments. It is possible to change
345 these buffer metrics for machines with high scheduling
346 latencies. Not all possible values that may be configured here are
347 available in all hardware. The driver will to find the nearest
348 setting supported.
</p>
351 <p><opt>default-fragments=
</opt> The default number of
352 fragments. Defaults to
4.
</p>
355 <p><opt>default-fragment-size-msec=
</opt>The duration of a
356 single fragment. Defaults to
25ms (i.e. the total buffer is thus
362 <section name=
"Authors">
363 <p>The PulseAudio Developers
<@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@
>; PulseAudio is available from
<url href=
"@PACKAGE_URL@"/></p>
366 <section name=
"See also">
368 <manref name=
"pulse-client.conf" section=
"5"/>,
<manref name=
"default.pa" section=
"5"/>,
<manref name=
"pulseaudio" section=
"1"/>,
<manref name=
"pacmd" section=
"1"/>