padsp binary missing from pulseaudio-utils

[Eamonn McHugh-Roohr]

This package is supposed* to include the padsp binary, but it is not installed with the package.

steps to reproduce:

sudo apt install pulseaudio-utils

padsp

result:

Command 'padsp' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install pulseaudio-utils

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
Package: pulseaudio-utils 1:16.1+dfsg1-2ubuntu10
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.8.0-38.38-generic 6.8.8
Uname: Linux 6.8.0-38-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/seq: eamonnm 1373 F.... pipewire
 /dev/snd/controlC1: eamonnm 1376 F.... wireplumber
 /dev/snd/controlC0: eamonnm 1376 F.... wireplumber
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: LXQt
Date: Fri Jul 19 15:40:30 2024
InstallationDate: Installed on 2024-07-15 (4 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Lubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat" - Release amd64 (20240425.1)
MachineType: AAEON MF-001
PulseList: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/30/2018
dmi.bios.release: 5.11
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: MFC1AM12
dmi.board.asset.tag: Default string
dmi.board.name: MF-001
dmi.board.vendor: AAEON
dmi.board.version: V1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Default string
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: AAEON
dmi.chassis.version: V1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrMFC1AM12:bd01/30/2018:br5.11:svnAAEON:pnMF-001:pvrV1.0:rvnAAEON:rnMF-001:rvrV1.0:cvnAAEON:ct3:cvrV1.0:skuDefaultstring:
dmi.product.family: Default string
dmi.product.name: MF-001
dmi.product.sku: Default string
dmi.product.version: V1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: AAEON

[Hans Joachim Desserud (hjd)]

Thanks for reporting.

Took a look at the package content and changes. Looks like padsp was present in Ubuntu 23.10 [1] and then removed in 24.04 [2]. Which means something happened between versions
1:16.1+dfsg1-2ubuntu4 [3]
1:16.1+dfsg1-2ubuntu10 [4]

Checking the changelog between these two versions led me to https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/1:16.1+dfsg1-2ubuntu8 which disabled padsp. though is short on details why. So there might be other issues which should be resolved before it can be re-enabled.

Regardless, now that it is disabled, looks like additionally:
* the package still contains bash completions for the binary even though it isn't included [2}
* the database for command-not-found doesn't seem to have been updated after the binary was removed. It probably should to reflect which binaries exists and are offered by the package.

[1] https://packages.ubuntu.com/mantic/amd64/pulseaudio-utils/filelist
[2] https://packages.ubuntu.com/noble/amd64/pulseaudio-utils/filelist
[3] https://packages.ubuntu.com/mantic/pulseaudio-utils
[4] https://packages.ubuntu.com/noble/pulseaudio-utils