[alsa-devel] seq module loading issue

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 09 Oct 2014 11:14:57 +0200,
Clemens Ladisch wrote:
> 
> Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > Clemens Ladisch wrote:
> >> Takashi Iwai wrote:
> >>> If it were a simple cleanup, I'm fine with it.  But this leads to
> >>> a major behavior change, which has a high risk of incompatibility.
> >>
> >> But there would be no changed behaviour as far as the API is concerned
> >> (except for this particular issue, which is a bug).
> >
> > Currently, the sequencer stuff can be suppressed by simply not loading
> > snd-seq core module itself.  Do you mean to drop this feature?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > Some distros don't load sequencer modules nowadays as default.
> 
> Do you know why?  Any reason except memory?

Mostly yes, and also reduce the installation base.

> > So it would result in a clear behavior change on the whole system.
> 
> And alsa-lib tries its best to do autoloading to hide the fact that
> snd-seq might not have been loaded.  Therefore, it has never been
> possible to assume, at any time, that snd-seq is _not_ loaded.

What if the sound system doesn't exist at all like a server?  The
module is built and provided even on such a system by a distro, but
it's just not enabled.

> Is the high risk of incompatibility that you mentioned this assumption,
> or anything else?

It results in a surprising outcome, and it's what I'd like to avoid.


Takashi