[raring] Pulse audio fails to start with error 'Failed to open module "module-esound-protocol-unix": file not found'

[Robert Ancell]

When I dist-upgraded to raring I lost audio. The indicator and settings showed no volume control.

Some debugging later showed that pulse audio wasn't running.

When running manually:
bob@alchemy:~/bzr/ubuntu/vte3$ pulseaudio
E: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to open module "module-esound-protocol-unix": file not found
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Module load failed.
E: [pulseaudio] main.c: Failed to initialize daemon.

I installed pulseaudio-esound-compat and then it worked:
bob@alchemy:~/bzr/ubuntu/vte3$ sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-esound-compat
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  pulseaudio-esound-compat:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  pulseaudio-esound-compat
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1 to remove and 26 not upgraded.
Need to get 36.8 kB of archives.
After this operation, 8,192 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

Luke said it worked for him without this module, but it appears having the i386 module installed was confusing pulse into thinking it was available but being unable to load it (I am using an amd64 machine).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: pulseaudio 1:2.1-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-17.27-generic 3.2.6
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-17-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.6.2-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: e440e09ef58a53bccc45087674ba6b8e
CheckboxSystem: d00f84de8a555815fa1c4660280da308
Date: Wed Nov 14 15:15:35 2012
InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-04-01 (593 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110330)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to raring on 2011-07-05 (497 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 10/25/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A10
dmi.board.name: 0NVXFV
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A10
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: A10
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA10:bd10/25/2010:svnDellInc.:pnVostro3500:pvrA10:rvnDellInc.:rn0NVXFV:rvrA10:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrA10:
dmi.product.name: Vostro 3500
dmi.product.version: A10
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and any supporting documentation. Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as confirmed and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better!

[Michael Neuffer (neuffer)]

Some modules seem indeed to be 32 bit, I have the same issue

root@kyle:/usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules# file *| grep -v 64-bit
libprotocol-esound.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, BuildID[sha1]=0xba465c853f9f4a756be3c5799004d5dad154d779, stripped
module-esound-compat-spawnfd.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, BuildID[sha1]=0xfb762fd5be52f7ecacdcd853e03620c1a55ae9a1, stripped
module-esound-compat-spawnpid.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, BuildID[sha1]=0xcbf384e8214682b6b01fa73a8fb29454ae69842e, stripped
module-esound-protocol-tcp.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, BuildID[sha1]=0xf20628b16f34bf4109d8cf27c5a4f6159485bf6f, stripped
module-esound-protocol-unix.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, BuildID[sha1]=0xe22999757c6a8a55851c0d46d7eb60b287619536, stripped

root@kyle:/usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules#
root@kyle:/usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules# for a in libprotocol-esound.so module-esound-compat-spawnfd.so module-esound-compat-spawnpid.so module-esound-protocol-tcp.so module-esound-protocol-unix.so
> do
> dpkg -S `pwd`/$a
> done
pulseaudio-esound-compat: /usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules/libprotocol-esound.so
pulseaudio-esound-compat: /usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules/module-esound-compat-spawnfd.so
pulseaudio-esound-compat: /usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules/module-esound-compat-spawnpid.so
pulseaudio-esound-compat: /usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules/module-esound-protocol-tcp.so
pulseaudio-esound-compat: /usr/lib/pulse-2.1/modules/module-esound-protocol-unix.so

It seems that the upgrade installs the 32bit version instead of the 64bit one.
pulseaudio-esound-compat:i386 - PulseAudio ESD compatibility layer

[Michael Neuffer (neuffer)]

replace
pulseaudio-esound-compat:i386
with
pulseaudio-esound-compat:amd64

and the pulseaudo server will be able to start again.

[Michael Neuffer (neuffer)]

remove
pulseaudio-esound-compat:i386
and install
pulseaudio-esound-compat:amd64
instead and the pulseaudio server will start again.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

I think the problem here is that pulseaudio is declared "Multi-Arch: foreign", where in fact it should not be multi-arch at all (only libpulse and its dependencies should be "multi-arch: same", which they already are).

I don't know how pulseaudio and pulseaudio-esound-compat end up with different architectures, but pulseaudio-esound-compat is useless without a pulseaudio package of the same arch.

[František Zatloukal (zatloukal-frantisek)]

Same here. No sound after dist-upgrade.

[Luke Yelavich (themuso)]

František, are you specifically affected by this bug, and did the work-around solve your problem?

[František Zatloukal (zatloukal-frantisek)]

I can confirm that solution described above solves problem completely. I did exactly this:
sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio-esound-compat:i386
sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio-esound-compat:amd64
sudo reboot

Note: launching pulseaudio directly after replace doesn't solved anything. So in my case reboot was inevitable.

[František Zatloukal (zatloukal-frantisek)]

Sorry for typo, the solution was(second line - purge>install):
sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio-esound-compat:i386
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-esound-compat:amd64
But after last installation(=upgrade with do-release-upgrade -d) to raring was everything ok.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package pulseaudio - 1:3.0-0ubuntu1

---------------
pulseaudio (1:3.0-0ubuntu1) raring; urgency=low

  [ Luke Yelavich ]
  * debian/control: Update Vcs-Bzr field for raring
  * Bump upstream version and rules/shlib files to 3.0.

  [ David Henningsson ]
  * New upstream release (3.0)
  * 0100-resampler-Fix-volume-on-downmix-to-mono.patch,
    0101-alsa-mixer-Remove-analog-output-lfe-on-mono.patch,
    0010-lp453966-handle-digmic-pt2.patch:
    Dropped, applied upstream
  * 0002-In-KDE-only-start-pulseaudio-from-the-KDE-specific-d.patch:
    Dropped, Debian dropped it and we got it from there
  * 0002-add-padsp-wrapper-check.patch:
    Dropped, makes no sense now that OSS is disabled in the kernel
  * 0008-delay-gnome-autostart.patch:
    Dropped per Martin Pitt's recommendation (incompatible upstream change)
  * 0101-alsa-mixer-Fix-the-analog-output-speaker-always-path.patch,
    0102-Call-change_cb-only-when-there-s-an-actual-change.patch,
    0103-Initialize-monitor-s-busy-status-to-false-if-we-own-.patch:
    Added from upstream stable-3.x tree
  * Other patches refreshed
  * debian/control: PulseAudio binary package is no longer
    "Multi-Arch: foreign" (LP: #1078543)
  * debian/control, pulseaudio-module-bluetooth.install:
    Update for new bluetooth dependency (libsbc)
  * debian/watch: Change to .xz by default (because Debian does)
  * debian/pulseaudio.init: Don't claim to support reload (Debian BTS: #690736)
  * debian/rules, debian/pulseaudio.manpages: Fix installation of default.pa
    (Debian BTS: #690416)
  * debian/rules: disable hal compat module
  * debian/pulse-alsa.conf, debian/README.Debian,
    debian/pulseaudio-esound-compat.links, debian/pulseaudio.init,
    debian/pulseaudio.install: Sync with Debian.
  * debian/manpages/esdcompat.1: Remove, already upstream.
  * debian/control: Sync build-dependencies with debian, in particular,
    - add fftw3 development library
  * debian/control: Cosmetic changes (sync with Debian)
  * debian/pulseaudio.postinst: Remove ancient upgrade stuff - we won't support
    direct upgrades from 8.04 to 13.04+ anyway

  [ Luke Yelavich ]
  * 0104-alsa-ucm-Fallback-to-stereo-duplex.patch: Added from upstrea git
    stable tree to fix ucm related issues.
  * Disable use of UCM in PulseAudio for now.
 -- Luke Yelavich <email address hidden> Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:05:20 +1100

[Andrea Amoroso (heiko81)]

I have upgraded 2 days Ago to Ubuntu 13.04 and my audio is not working..I'll try to apply the solution described in the bug thread and see if it works..

[Dave Gorski (gorski-dave)]

I have this problem with the i386 architecture.

[col reilly (lupinehorror)]

this is happening with me on the daily 13.04. dist-upgrade scuppered audio

killall pulseaudio;rm -rf ~/.pulse;rm ~/.pulse-cookie;pulseaudio --start

sorted it.

[bar (barhofesh)]

Also happened to me,

Fixed it ===> "killall pulseaudio;rm -rf ~/.pulse;rm ~/.pulse-cookie;pulseaudio --start"

[Ashwin Rao Nooyi (ashwin-nooyi)]

This bug affected me too. Solution by 'František' worked for me. I'm using i386 architecture and upgraded to raring recently.

[Maximo (maximozane)]

None of the above works for me :(

[Nicholas Young (n.young)]

Had onboard audio issues also. Attempted to remove .i386 and after multiple rounds of updating to .a64 and killing+ restarting service then sys, sound is resolved.

In begining, only device shown was 'dummy device'. After resolution, 'Speakers - builtin audio' shows up. However, the sound test is not functional.

[Julian Lam (julian-lam)]

$ apt-cache policy pulseaudio
pulseaudio:
  Installed: 1:4.0-0ubuntu11
  Candidate: 1:4.0-0ubuntu11
  Version table:
 *** 1:4.0-0ubuntu11 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Skype exhibits inability to find pulseaudio server, running "pulseaudio" showed me the following:

$ pulseaudio
E: [pulseaudio] ltdl-bind-now.c: Failed to open module module-esound-protocol-tcp.so: module-esound-protocol-tcp.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
E: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to open module "module-esound-protocol-tcp".
E: [pulseaudio] module-gconf.c: pa_module_load() failed

Followed advice by Frantisek (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/1078543/comments/11), fix works.