Pulseeffects not finding any plugins

Hey there!

I noticed that recently, my pulseeffects stopped working, but I didn’t pay much attention to it, since I only use it for my mic and I haven’t been using that lately. When starting up pulseeffects, I get a long list of all plugins that it cannot find, although I’m pretty sure they are installed. They are also all grayed out inside pulseeffects and I don’t see any input from my mic either.

Some people suggested to rm -rf .cache/gstreamer-1.0 - which I did, as well as resetting pulseeffects and rebooting. Nothing helped so far. Any ideas?

You can check if the logs contain any clues to why it’s not working with terminal commands like

journalctl --user -b -u pipewire*

or

journalctl --user -b -g pulse

Hopefully they’ll contain a better description of what’s wrong.

For the record, PulseEffects is broken for me as well in a strange way - it shows all the plugins, but none of them actually work. Not even the spectrum analyzer, no audio seems to be flowing.

PulseEffects 5.0.3
PipeWire 0.3.31

Nothing in there, sadly. Also, I ave 4 desktops with Fedora 34 and only 1 is affected, so it’s not generally broken :thinking:

Do you restart these services: pipewire or pipewire-pulse ?

You do restart:

systemctl --user restart pipewire*

or

systemctl --user restart pipewire-pulse*

Neither this, logging the user out or even restarting Fedora changed anything

I had a similar problem on my Arch Linux host. I resolved it by uninstalling all of the Pipewire packages, reinstalling them, and rebooting. I cannot say whether this would resolve your problem, and the Fedora packages might have different names.

The specific Arch packages I did this to were gst-plugin-pipewire pipewire pipewire-alsa pipewire-media-session pipewire-pulse pulseeffects

do you restart socket and services?

Because, You have pipewire and pipewire-pulse, sockets and service.

I did a systemctl --user restart pipewire\* which restarts both, sockets and services. But restarting the whole machine should have fixed any of these issues, right?

1 Like

Tried reinstaling all pipewire\* and gstre\* packages, deleting cache and rebooting - still no plugins found.

Try running it with G_MESSAGES_DEBUG env variable to see if it will tell you more about the issue.

G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=pulseeffects pulseeffects

Also note that there’s a new version from a couple of days ago that ought to fix problems with the latest PipeWire release. It’s in Fedora Updates Testing (5.0.3-2 vs. 5.0.4-1)…

BTW, what does the list of missing plugins actually contain? Is it warning you about the effects or GStreamer libs (like those in /usr/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/)

I’m sorry, I should have posted this earlier:

(process:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.310: main: locale directory: /usr/share/locale
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: system input presets directory: "/etc/PulseEffects/input";
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: system input presets directory: "/etc/xdg/PulseEffects/input";
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: system output presets directory: "/etc/PulseEffects/output";
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: system output presets directory: "/etc/xdg/PulseEffects/output";
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: user presets directory already exists: /home/user/.config/PulseEffects
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: user presets directory already exists: /home/user/.config/PulseEffects/input
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: user presets directory already exists: /home/user/.config/PulseEffects/output
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.374: presets_manager: user presets directory already exists: /home/user/.config/PulseEffects/autoload
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.375: application: PE version: 5.0.3
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.376: pipe_manager: compiled with pipewire: 0.3.24
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.376: pipe_manager: linked to pipewire: 0.3.31
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: core version: 0.3.31
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: core name: pipewire-0
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: found metadata: settings
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: found metadata: default
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: found metadata: route-settings
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: Audio/Sink 42 alsa_output.usb-FongLun_USB_Microphone_201605-00.analog-stereo was added
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: Audio/Source 43 alsa_input.usb-FongLun_USB_Microphone_201605-00.analog-stereo was added
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: Audio/Sink 44 alsa_output.pci-0000_26_00.1.hdmi-stereo was added
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: Audio/Sink 45 alsa_output.pci-0000_28_00.4.analog-stereo was added
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: Audio/Sink 63 pulseeffects_sink was added
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: Audio/Source/Virtual 64 pulseeffects_source was added
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: connected to the core
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: new metadata property: 0, log.level, , 2
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: new metadata property: 0, clock.min-quantum, , 32
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: new metadata property: 0, clock.max-quantum, , 8192
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: new metadata property: 0, clock.force-quantum, , 0
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.378: pipe_manager: new metadata property: 0, clock.force-rate, , 0
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.411: soe: using input device: 63
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.411: soe: using output device: 0
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.411: limiter plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.411: compressor plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.411: filter plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: equalizer plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: reverb plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: bass_enhancer plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: exciter plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: crossfeed plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: maximizer plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: multiband_compressor plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.412: loudness plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.413: gate plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.413: pitch plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.413: multiband_gate plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.413: deesser plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.413: stereo_tools plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-WARNING **: 05:38:16.422: delay plugin was not found!
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.427: sie: using input device: 0
(pulseeffects:3604): pulseeffects-DEBUG: 05:38:16.427: sie: using output device: 64

Update: I found the problem. The one PC with problems had gstreamer1-plugins-bad from Negativo17 installed, whereas the others had gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free and gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras installed. It also always wants to replace the others again:

> sudo dnf upgrade
Last metadata expiration check: 0:02:56 ago on Sa 03 Jul 2021 05:58:02 CEST.
Dependencies resolved.
========================================================================================================================
 Package                            Architecture       Version                      Repository                     Size
========================================================================================================================
Installing:
 gstreamer1-plugins-bad             x86_64             1:1.18.4-2.fc34              fedora-multimedia             4.4 M
     replacing  gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free.x86_64 1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34
     replacing  gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras.x86_64 1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34

Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Am I really the only one with these issues? Something seems to be wrong with these, because as soon as I “upgrade”, the effects aren’t shown anymore, neither in pulseeffects, not in gst-inspect-1.0.

Digging further, all these missing effects seem to be blacklisted by gst, so I tried to find out why:

> GST_DEBUG=4 gst-inspect-1.0 /usr/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/libgstwebrtc.so

…
0:00:00.009884686  9125 0x55e8b446ae00 WARN      GST_PLUGIN_LOADING gstplugin.c:491:gst_plugin_register_func: plugin "/usr/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/libgstwebrtc.so" has incompatible version (plugin: 1.19, gst: 1.18), not loading
Could not load plugin file: File "/usr/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/libgstwebrtc.so" appears to be a GStreamer plugin, but it failed to initialize

So there we go. Should I maybe just block the gstreamer1-plugins-bad package from @fedora-multimedia, or am I doing something totally wrong here?

2 Likes

gstreamer1-plugins-bad from Negativo17 should provide version 1.18.4 according to the build spec, so it’s very suspicious that you end up with version 1.19.1 of the libs :thinking:

Can you verify that’s the package that provides the file, and not something else that might be screwing with it? Nothing comes to mind except removing and reinstalling the gstreamer1-plugins* packages to fix whatever may have gone wrong.

FWIW it works on my system (after updating PE from updates-testing). I don’t have the Negativo17 repos, but then again nothing seems to be wrong with them, on the surface at least.

$ gst-inspect-1.0 --version
gst-inspect-1.0 version 1.18.4
GStreamer 1.18.4

$ gst-inspect-1.0 /usr/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/libgstwebrtc.so
Plugin Details:
  Name                     webrtc
  Description              WebRTC plugins
  Filename                 /usr/lib64/gstreamer-1.0/libgstwebrtc.so
  Version                  1.18.4
...
gstreamer1.x86_64                                 1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-libav.x86_64                           1:1.18.4-3.fc34                      @rpmfusion-free-updates                        
gstreamer1-plugin-openh264.x86_64                 1.18.2-1.fc34                        @fedora-cisco-openh264                         
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free.x86_64                1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras.x86_64         1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-plugins-base.x86_64                    1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-plugins-good.x86_64                    1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-plugins-good-gtk.x86_64                1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-plugins-good-qt.x86_64                 1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free.x86_64               1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
gstreamer1-vaapi.x86_64                           1.19.1-2.1.18.4.fc34                 @updates                                       
pipewire-gstreamer.x86_64                         0.3.31-2.fc34                        @updates

Yes, I can confirm that. Doing as I said - removing gstreamer1-plugins-bad, deactivating that in the yum repo and then installing the regular Fedora ones - fixes the problem,

Also: something looks mixed as the package is version 1.18 in Negativo and 1.19 in Fedora itself, but gst complains that the plugins were 1.19 and gst was 1.18 - so the other way around. Quite odd if you ask me. I’d think that the error message is actually the wrong way around and complaing that the Negativo17 plugins are 1.18 and not compatible with 1.19 gstreamer provided by the Fedora repos. Or maybe I’m just reading that odd version number wrong.

1 Like

GStreamer version labeling in Fedora is kind of messed up, it’s actually 1.18.4. From the changelog:

2021-06-15 - Wim Taymans <wtaymans@redhat.com> - 1.19.1-1.18.4.1
- Reverted from wrong unstable 1.19.1 update. F34 should keep the
stable 1.18.4 version.

You can verify it with the --version argument.

I checked the actual RPM from Negativo17 and it deploys 1.18.4, so it’s a complete mystery where the v1.19 comes from :man_shrugging:

Here’s a link to the repo if you feel like reporting it to the maintainers.

1 Like