Trying to compile App_Server

[jeangot]

Hello,

I am trying to compile the App_Server binary, where I want to make a change regarding the mixer selection. I searched as much as possible in this forum but I am simply stuck.
I downloaded the source files from SVN.
Then the FAQ in this developer forum says:
"To build Applications, you should fetch it from the SVN repository, then go into Application directory and run:
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b "

So in my case, I went to /src/App_Server
And issued the command
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b

Which gives me:
dpkg-parsechangelog: error: cannot open debian/changelog to find format: No such file or directory
dpkg-buildpackage: unable to determine source package is
What am I doing wrong?

Thanks. Jean.

[danielk]

dpkg-buildpackage will only work with applications that have a debian directory.

To build the App_Server binary first compile everything using "./configure ; make" using the charon-merge branch sources, this will create all the dependencies and it will also create a processed Makefile in the App_Server's directory which you can use to recompile after changes to the sources.

[jeangot]

Thank you.
That's what I tried first. I'm doing this on my live core. The script started installing a lot of packages, which I figured couldn't harm, but then it stopped mysql and wanted to make a backup, so that got me scared and I stopped.

Can someone positively guarantee that running the full "make" will not mess up my running core, as long as no "make install" is issued?

[tschak909]

It will not. I do this very tihng to test my MAME plugin/player on my production core.

-Thom

[jeangot]

Perfect, thanks! Some commercial companies could learn a thing or two about the quality and speed of the support that you guys provide here!
Will try this tonight, and if it's successfull, I'll post my binary in the user forum if it heps anyone else...

[jeangot]

Sorry, but I'm running into problems.
When running make in the trunk directory, after compiling a few packages I get this error:
dpkg-architecture: warning: Couldn't determine gcc system type, falling back to default (native compilation)
and then the script just hangs, I have to press Control+C to stop it.

Gcc as well as G++ are installed.
("which gcc" gives "/usr/bin/gcc")

Any ideas?

Jean

[jeangot]

I am still stuck with this :-( Is anyone able to help?

Jean

[tkmedia]

Jeangot try the chat you generally will find at least one dev in there.

[jondecker76]

have you tried these instructions http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Setting_Up_A_Development_Environment

[jeangot]

Thank you! That worked great!
I had used the instructions on http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Building_From_Source and I'm not sure what the difference is but it must be missing a step.
I now put a link in the wiki from Building_From_Source to Setting_Up_A_Development_Environment.

Thanks again, and sorry, I didn't have a chance to visit the chat yet.

[jeangot]

I have now recompiled App_Server and changed the code where amix selects the mixer to adjust the sound volume. Now instead of using the mixer called "Master" in alsamixer, it uses the mixer called "PCM".
On 3 different computers with different sound cards, I was finding that the default behavior of using the mixer "Master" did not adjust the sound volume and had basically no effect (I could indee see the mixer Master being adjusted when looking in alsamixer, but it had no effect on sound volume generated by LinuxMCE). Now with using the mixer PCM, the sound volume gets adjusted just fine.

So before opening a ticket in Mantis and asking to make this change permanent in the future code, does anyone know of a scenario where it is usefull to use the mixer "Master" and not "PCM", or do all of you adjust your sound via external receivers/amps anyway?
Just want to make sure that this change would not harm anyone in a particular hardware configuration that I didn't try?

Jean

[bulek]

I have now recompiled App_Server and changed the code where amix selects the mixer to adjust the sound volume. Now instead of using the mixer called "Master" in alsamixer, it uses the mixer called "PCM".
On 3 different computers with different sound cards, I was finding that the default behavior of using the mixer "Master" did not adjust the sound volume and had basically no effect (I could indee see the mixer Master being adjusted when looking in alsamixer, but it had no effect on sound volume generated by LinuxMCE). Now with using the mixer PCM, the sound volume gets adjusted just fine.

So before opening a ticket in Mantis and asking to make this change permanent in the future code, does anyone know of a scenario where it is usefull to use the mixer "Master" and not "PCM", or do all of you adjust your sound via external receivers/amps anyway?
Just want to make sure that this change would not harm anyone in a particular hardware configuration that I didn't try?

Jean

Hi,
I
on majority of my systems, volume works out of the box - I guess this means that default mixer device is right....

I'd suggest to make Mixer name as device data and leave default value as it is now. Then we can do small Poll how many users had to change that...
Anyway making Mixer name as device data will allow everyone to make suitable setup... AFAIK, sometimes pretty weird mixer devices do the proper jobs, so I always try in practice with alsamixer first...

Maybe it would be also wise to add "Dummy" mixer name to do nothing. Sometimes I want to change volume in certain audio zone based on events for start/stop media or any other causes with different other approaches and would like to make volume control doing nothing...

Thanks in advance.

regards,

Bulek.

[darrenmason]

I have now recompiled App_Server and changed the code where amix selects the mixer to adjust the sound volume. Now instead of using the mixer called "Master" in alsamixer, it uses the mixer called "PCM".
On 3 different computers with different sound cards, I was finding that the default behavior of using the mixer "Master" did not adjust the sound volume and had basically no effect (I could indee see the mixer Master being adjusted when looking in alsamixer, but it had no effect on sound volume generated by LinuxMCE). Now with using the mixer PCM, the sound volume gets adjusted just fine.

So before opening a ticket in Mantis and asking to make this change permanent in the future code, does anyone know of a scenario where it is usefull to use the mixer "Master" and not "PCM", or do all of you adjust your sound via external receivers/amps anyway?
Just want to make sure that this change would not harm anyone in a particular hardware configuration that I didn't try?

Jean

I assumed that App-Server looked for a child device of the MD which was in category Peripherals-Sounds Cards and then used the #174 ALSA Master Mixer Name setting in the device data. I have different machines with different templates for these and different default values (one is Master, One is Front). I have never looked at the code though.

[jeangot]

Bulek,
yes of course, to make it configurable is the best solution for everyone, just a bit more work for developers :-)

Darrenmason,
that's very interesting what you;re saying, because I remember now seing that Master Mixer Name in the sound card device on my Media Live, however I just see that all my generic PCs where my sound problem is occuring don;t have a child device that's a sound card. Does that make any sense? Sound is working on these machines, the Sound Card setting in the MD options says "Standard Sound Card" and there is no sound card child device in the device tree. Is this normal or possibly a bug where LMCE is not creating the device under certain circumstances?

Jean

[darrenmason]

Jean,

I had a look at my core (which is now setup as a hybrid) and it uses the Standard Sound Card setting and as a result doesn't have the device. And there is currently no device template for a standard sound card either.

I am not sure what the #174 ALSA Master Mixer Name is used for then. Maybe the intention was to do as I implied in the previous post and it just never got implemented.

The routine in amix that you are changing looks like it has had the "Front" logic added in to cater for sound cards that don't have Master. It will be a bit of a pain to parameterise it as it seems to be only called from the constructor, which is in turn created as part of App_Server(with no parameters), but I think this is the way to go. While we are at it, it would seem to make sense to parameterise the "default" setting for the snd_mixer_attach call so that this class could be used to adjust multiple sound cards.

The question then is where to put the parameter(s). To me is seems to logically be part of the sound card device - therefore we would need to create a standard sound card device template when this value needs to be changed (the defaults could be as is if it can't find the device).
What do you think?

Darren