ALSA Jack Midi bridge off selection not surviving a reboot

[Ross Gammon]

[Impact]

 * As the status of the jack-midi and pulseaudio-jack bridges are not updated correctly from the config file, users have to open ubuntustudio-controls to set the required status every time they login/logout/reboot.

 * The bug is very annoying for users that need to adjust their jack settings to cater for different audio software and hardware.

 * The statuses read from the config file are a string. When converting from string to boolean to set the check button status in the gui, python will always evaluate the boolean as "True" for any string except "None". Now the strings are parsed with some if/elif statments to set the correct boolean status for the check button.

[Test Case]

 * Run ubuntustudio-controls

 * The first time ubuntustudio-controls is run, the 4 tick boxes in the gui (e.g. "Auto Start Jack at Session Start") should be set to the recommended defaults for Ubuntu Studio. Change the tick boxes to something else (e.g. all off).

 * Click Apply Audio Settings (saves the settings to a configuration file).

 * Close Ubuntu Studio Controls.

 * Restart Ubuntu Studio Controls. The previous settings should be remembered. Previously to the fix, the recommended defaults were set (ignoring the settings saved in the configuration file).

[Regression Potential]

 * The changes are limited to the ubuntustudio-controls app, and this package is only ever installed for Ubuntu Studio users, or users that want to add the Ubuntu Studio settings to their favourite flavour. The only reverse dependency is the Ubuntu Studio meta-package.

 * The changes have been tested in my ppa (https://launchpad.net/~rosco2/+archive/ubuntu/testing) for Disco with no apparent regressions.

[Other Info]

 * The same changes (uploaded to Eoan) have been backported in our Ubuntu Studio Backports PPA (https://launchpad.net/~ubuntustudio-ppa/+archive/ubuntu/backports) and is therefore already in the hands of many users.

[Original Description]

Several users on the Ubuntu Studio list have reported that they only want the ALSA Jack Midi bridge to be active sometimes.

When switched off in ubuntustudio-controls it always restarts with it enabled again which is very inconvenient.

[Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer)]

Confirmed due to multiple reports on ubuntu-studio-users mailing list.

[Ross Gammon (rosco2)]

OK - I have worked it out. The a2j status read from the config file is a string. When converting from string to boolean to set the check button status, python will always evaluate the boolean as "True" for any text. We need to parse the string with some if/elif statments to set the correct boolean status for the check button.

I have some time today to fix and upload a new version. Or is Len already on the case?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntustudio-controls - 1.8

---------------
ubuntustudio-controls (1.8) eoan; urgency=medium

  [ Len Ovens ]
  * Add to ROADMAP next steps

  [ Ross Gammon ]
  * Set check box status correctly from config file (LP: #1826413)

 -- Ross Gammon <email address hidden> Fri, 26 Apr 2019 15:34:52 +0200

[Ross Gammon (rosco2)]

The importance of this bug should probably be "Medium", and I would like to target it as an SRU for Disco, as the bug can make the package annoying to use for people that need to disable the checkbox options occasionally and have them remembered.

[Len Ovens (len-ovenwerks)]

On Fri, 26 Apr 2019, Ross Gammon wrote:

> OK - I have worked it out. The a2j status read from the config file is a
> string. When converting from string to boolean to set the check button
> status, python will always evaluate the boolean as "True" for any text.
> We need to parse the string with some if/elif statments to set the
> correct boolean status for the check button.

Thank you. I completely missed that in my quick look over the code.

> I have some time today to fix and upload a new version. Or is Len
> already on the case?

If it needs to released quickly (will bug fix into 19.04) then you may
want to do that. If it is a fix for 19.10, I will get to that and go
through all the rest of my file read to value bits as well.

I have already started some major rewriting and it would be some work to
only change/fix this one thing. Though I guess it will be done in a branch
if released for 19.04.

--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net

[Ross Gammon (rosco2)]

I need Bug Control to add a task to target the Disco release for this SRU before I can upload to Disco.

[C de-Avillez (hggdh2)]

for whatever reason I cannot add a task to Disco.

Also, I cannot see anywhere stated it has been fixed in Eoan (which is required for a SRU).

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

On 2019-04-26 19:29, Ross Gammon wrote:
> I need Bug Control to add a task to target the Disco release for
> this SRU before I can upload to Disco.

Done.

--
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

- self.usb_plug_check.set_active(self.usb)
+ if self.usb == "True":
+ self.usb_plug_check.set_active(True)
+ elif self.usb == "False":
+ self.usb_plug_check.set_active(False)

I think this could be instead written as

    self.usb_plug_check.set_active(self.usb == "True")

to cast from a string to a boolean (unless you expect there to be other possible values besides "True" and "False")

would you want to make this change in devel and reupload to the queue?

[Ross Gammon (rosco2)]

Much simpler. Thanks Steve. Will make the change and reupload.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

An upload of ubuntustudio-controls to disco-proposed has been rejected from the upload queue for the following reason: "Uploader says they will reupload.".

[Ross Gammon (rosco2)]

Sorry about the delay. I have just reuploaded a new version with a tidier cast to boolean.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello Ross, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ubuntustudio-controls into disco-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntustudio-controls/1.7.1 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 on 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-disco to verification-done-disco. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-disco. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

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

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[Ross Gammon (rosco2)]

Tested v1.7 again to be sure. Saved settings are not remembered.
Installed v1.7.1 from disco-proposed. Now the audio settings are remembered.

I can confirm that the bug is fixed in the disco-proposed version of ubuntustudio-controls.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntustudio-controls - 1.7.1

---------------
ubuntustudio-controls (1.7.1) disco; urgency=medium

  * Set check box status correctly from config file (LP: #1826413)

 -- Ross Gammon <email address hidden> Sun, 19 May 2019 20:13:09 +0200

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for ubuntustudio-controls 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 regressions.