[alsa-devel] hw_params ignores ioplug's buffer size requirements

[Andrew Eikum]

Hi folks,

I've got either a bug or a misunderstanding in how ALSA handles
ioplugs that provide hw_params restrictions. My understanding is that
the snd_pcm_ioplug_set_param_* functions are supposed to restrict
which hw_params settings a client may set. This seems to work for at
least access and format. But I noticed that it's broken for
buffer_bytes and periods at least.

Attached is two source files demonstrating the problem. alsa-example.c
is a dead-simple ioplug module. It sets some hw_params restrictions,
and does basically nothing else. The important thing to notice is that
it sets /only one/ allowable period size, period count, and buffer
size, all of which are compatible with each other (256 byte period *
8 periods == 2048 byte buffer size).

There is also test client, alsa-test.c, which attempts to violate
those hw_params restrictions, and succeeds! The eventual call to the
ioplug's example_hw_params() callback gets an invalid buffer_size
parameter (it happens to be 512).

Here is the output when run on my Arch Linux with alsa-lib 1.0.25:

[aeikum at aeikum ioplug_buffer_bytes]$ ./alsa-test 
ALSA-example: Opening
bytes: 512
ALSA-example: hw_params: 512
TEST FAILURE: buffer_size != 8812: 512
ALSA-example: stop
ALSA-example: close
[aeikum at aeikum ioplug_buffer_bytes]$ 

Am I misunderstanding the snd_pcm_ioplug_set_param_* methods, or is
this a bug? I am seeing this behavior in the wild with a pulseaudio
client that ignores my hw_params restrictions.

Thanks for any insight,
Andrew
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