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Hello ALSA developers,
I would like to report a reproducible issue with *snd-fireface* on Linux kernels 6.10 through 6.17-rc2. ------------------------------ System Information
-
*Kernel versions tested:* 6.10 → 6.17-rc2 -
*Audio interface:* RME Fireface 800 -
*Driver in use:* snd-fireface -
*Audio server:* JACK (tested with jackd and QJackCtl) -
*Distribution:* Debian 12 -
*Kernel config:* ALSA FireWire drivers enabled, no FFADO in use - *Chip 1394: *Texas Instrumets
------------------------------ Steps to Reproduce
1.
Boot kernel 6.10 … 6.17-rc2 with snd-fireface loaded. 2.
Start JACK with ALSA backend, for example:
jackd -d alsa -d hw:Fireface -p 64 -n 3
3. Use the system normally — during playback, recording, or even when idle. The issue may occur at any time without apparent external cause.
Actual Behavior
After some idle time, ALSA stops responding and JACK prints:
ERROR: ALSA: poll time out, polled for ... usecs ERROR: JackAudioDriver::ProcessAsync: read error, stopping...
JACK immediately terminates. The Fireface 800 does not recover until JACK is restarted. ------------------------------ Expected Behavior
The ALSA FireWire driver should maintain the stream and allow JACK to continue running without manual restart, even when idle. ------------------------------ Notes 4.
With *FFADO* backend (jackd -d firewire), the same hardware works reliably and does not exhibit this issue. 5.
This suggests that the problem lies in the ALSA FireWire streaming engine rather than the hardware itself. 6.
The problem has been reproducible across all tested kernels (vanila, rt, liquorix) from *6.10 through 6.17-rc2*.
------------------------------ Request
Could you please confirm if this issue is known? Is there any ongoing work on the ALSA FireWire streaming engine ( snd-fireface) to address these poll timeout conditions?
I can provide additional logs (dmesg, journalctl) or test patches if needed.
Thank you,
Ilya Kuznetsov.