7 <dfn>Ubuntu Linux</dfn> is the most popular variety of Linux in use on desktop
8 and laptop systems. It has the backing of a for-profit corporation
9 (Canonical Inc.), a defined philosophy and a huge and
10 worldwide user base. As a result, it is a common platform for people
11 who want to use Ardour and other tools for music creation and
15 <h2>High Level Recommendations for Ubuntu Users</h2>
17 Currently, installing pro audio applications on vanilla Ubuntu requires
18 some configuration, in order for the user to gain realtime privilege
20 Ubuntu Studio, which is an official flavor of Ubuntu, and thus shares
21 the repositories with Ubuntu, has this already configured.
22 Other distributions, such as KXStudio, and Dreamstudio are largely based
23 on Ubuntu, and like Ubuntu Studio, has these settings preconfigured, while
24 also containing customized versions of Ubuntu packages, which often are
28 <h2>Installing Ardour</h2>
30 There may be unintended differences, and even bugs in Ubuntu native
31 packages, as a result of a different building method. For this reason,
32 Ardour developers highly recommend you to install the official
33 ready-to-run version of the program that you can get from <a
34 href="http://ardour.org/download">ardour.org</a>, as Ubuntu native
35 packages are not supported in official Ardour forums or other
39 Follow these steps to install the latest version of Ardour.
41 <li>Download the latest release from <a href="http://ardour.org/download">
43 <li><kbd class="mouse">Right+Click</kbd> the downloaded file and choose
45 <li>Click the Permissions tab and check the option "Allow this file to
46 run as a program"</li>
47 <li>Close the dialog and double-click the file.</li>
48 <li>Follow the prompts.</li>
52 <h2>Problems with the interaction between PulseAudio and JACK</h2>
54 <h3>Background Info</h3>
56 Like many distributions, Ubuntu has decided to use <dfn>PulseAudio</dfn> as the
57 default audio system. PulseAudio is a rich and capable system that
58 provides excellent services for typical users of Linux on the
59 desktop. However, it is not capable of the type of performance that
60 tools like Ardour require and in particular does not offer the
61 possibility of sending audio between applications that can make the
62 Linux audio environment a very interesting one.
65 This would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that JACK
66 will not run correctly (if at all) if it needs to use the same
67 soundcard/audio interface that PulseAudio is using. And since on
68 Ubuntu, PulseAudio is configured by default to always use the
69 (typically single) audio interface on your computer, this is a bit
73 The developers of JACK and PulseAudio got together in 2009 and
74 agreed upon a mechanism by which PulseAudio and JACK could cooperate
75 in their use of a single soundcard. Whether or not PulseAudio is running by
76 default, when JACK starts up it sends out a request to use the
77 soundcard. If PulseAudio is running, it will give up its use of the
78 soundcard to allow JACK to take over (and can optionally be told to
79 route its own audio through JACK). When JACK finishes, it sends out
80 another message, and PulseAudio can once again use the soundcard
83 <h3>What is the problem?</h3>
85 The specific issues known at this time for all flavors of Ubuntu
89 <li>a bug in PulseAudio that causes it not to give up the
90 soundcard when JACK asks
91 (<a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/1163638">LP:
93 fixed in Ubuntu 13.04).</li>
98 <samp>Cannot start JACK</samp> (though see the next section for other
104 These bugs do not affect releases from 13.04, and earlier releases
105 (12.04 and 12.10) are in the process of being fixed.
108 <h2>Problems with JACK configuration</h2>
110 <h3>What is the problem?</h3>
112 To function as intended, JACK needs to run with access to two
113 operating system facilities called <dfn>realtime scheduling</dfn> and
114 <dfn>memory locking</dfn>. This means that you, the user who starts JACK, must be
115 allowed access to these facilities. By default, Ubuntu does create a
116 user group that has this permission but — it does not put new
117 users into this group by default. Read more about why <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/TheAudioGroup">here</a>.
118 Consequently, you will not have permission to run JACK in the way you should.
122 A message like <samp>Cannot lock down memory</samp> in the output from JACK as
123 it starts up. This output may be hidden in the Messages window of
124 QJackctrl (aka JACK Control), so you should check there.
129 Make sure the file /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf exists. If it is
130 named /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf.disabled, rename it to the former.
133 <kbd class="cmd lin">sudo usermod -a -G audio
134 <em>YOUR-LOGIN-NAME</em></kbd>
136 Then log out and log in again. On Ubuntu Studio the user is a member of audio
137 group by default, but not on other official flavors.
140 <h2>Reporting Issues</h2>
142 Given the difficulties in supporting Ubuntu and the limited time/resources
143 of the Ardour team, the <dfn>Ubuntu Studio Project</dfn> has requested that
144 issues and bug reports related to Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and other
145 derivitives be directed to them.
147 <h3>Contact Information for Ubuntu Studio</h3>
148 <p><a href="http://ubuntustudio.org">The Ubuntu Studio Homepage</a></p>
149 <p><a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=335">The Ubuntu Studio Forums.</a></p>
150 <p><a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/MailLists">Information on the Ubuntu Studio Mailing Lists.</a></p>
151 <p><a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/IRC">Information on the Ubuntu Studio IRC channel.</a> #ubuntustudio on irc.freenode.net</p>