debcrafters-packages team mailing list archive

[Paul Geoghegan <2127250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, I will say that that work around will not help people using screen
readers as they would need to get past the installer first which is very
difficult when you can't really use Orca.

On Wed 22 Oct 2025, 15:20 Charles, <2127250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Sorry for the triaging spam, after comparing to 24.04, I found this is a
> wireplumber configuration problem. The general system performance is *a
> lot* worse than using KVM via libvirt, but that doesn't seem to have
> been the root cause here.
>
> A workaround for this is,
>
> mkdir -pv ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d
> sed 's/api.alsa.headroom.*/api.alsa.headroom = 8192/' <
> /usr/share/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/alsa-vm.conf >
> ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/90-alsa.vm.conf
> systemctl --user daemon-reload
> systemctl --user restart pipewire wireplumber
>
> Now the audio is no longer choppy in 25.10.
>
> The root cause is that the ALSA headroom parameter was dropped to 2048,
> which is not enough for the virtual sound card in VMware, and I'd guess
> in VirtualBox as well, but that would need additional testing. Upstream
> changed this without testing these VMs, it would seem,
>
> In Wireplumber commit ac0d8ee4a88113c831963b2c01d9139d79ddc4a1, quote
>
> """
>     monitors/alsa: remove vm.node.defaults and use match rules instead
>
>     The vm.node.defaults logic which was inherited from p-m-s is not really
>     good because it seems like different VM hardware requires different
>     values for the defaults. Also, passthrough USB hardware should not
>     inerhit these values, they just cause trouble.
>
>     Instead, we can use rules to match the vm.type and specific device
>     properties to set a more informed period & headroom.
>
>     For now, I am also decreasing the default headroom down to 2048, which
>     works for me and perhaps it's a good default. We can always add more
>     rules here and fine-tune per vm type and virtual hardware.
>
>     See !394, #316, #348, #507, #162, pipewire#3452
> """
>
> Will propose something upstream to fine-tune for VMware. As Daniel said,
> the GPU simulation is likely the cause of us bumping  into this new
> maximum. Pulseaudio used to workaround problems like this, but Pipewire
> doesn't support IRQ based scheduling yet, so you have to manually fuss
> with the headroom parameter.
>
> ** Summary changed:
>
> - Severe Performance Lag on 25.10 Live CD in VirtualBox and VMware
> Workstation on Windows 11 hosts
> + Audio stuttering in 25.10
>
> ** Package changed: linux (Ubuntu) => wireplumber (Ubuntu)
>
> ** Changed in: wireplumber (Ubuntu)
>        Status: New => Triaged
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2127250
>
> Title:
>   Audio stuttering in 25.10
>
> Status in wireplumber package in Ubuntu:
>   Triaged
>
> Bug description:
>   Currently in 25.10 there is so much audio stuttering that it makes using
> Orca completely unusable.
>   I was setting up a VM for testing 25.10 and noticed this in both Virtual
> Box and VM Ware. I thought this was odd so I created vms for 24.04 on both
> platforms as well.
>   In 24.04 there is essentially no stuttering and Orca is usable. In
> 25.10, however, you can't really understand anything Orca is saying as it
> is far too choppy.
>   I'm mainly testing the installer but it does also seem like this is
> happening on the actual desktop as well.
>
>   I'm running my VMs on Windows 11 and dedicating 16gb of ram and 4
>   cores with 2 threads each to each VM. I'm happy to provide a video or
>   anything else that can help narrow down where this issue is coming
>   from.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wireplumber/+bug/2127250/+subscriptions
>
>

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of
Debcrafters packages, which is subscribed to wireplumber in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2127250

Title:
  Audio stuttering in 25.10 with VMware and Virtualbox guest on Windows
  11 host

Status in wireplumber package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Currently in 25.10 there is so much audio stuttering that it makes using Orca completely unusable.
  I was setting up a VM for testing 25.10 and noticed this in both Virtual Box and VM Ware. I thought this was odd so I created vms for 24.04 on both platforms as well.
  In 24.04 there is essentially no stuttering and Orca is usable. In 25.10, however, you can't really understand anything Orca is saying as it is far too choppy.
  I'm mainly testing the installer but it does also seem like this is happening on the actual desktop as well.

  I'm running my VMs on Windows 11 and dedicating 16gb of ram and 4
  cores with 2 threads each to each VM. I'm happy to provide a video or
  anything else that can help narrow down where this issue is coming
  from.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wireplumber/+bug/2127250/+subscriptions