7 Ubuntu Linux 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 Unfortunately, Ubuntu has repeatedly caused major headaches for
16 people who want to use Ardour. These problems have arisen from a
17 combination of two basic issues:
20 <li>Badly built packages of Ardour</li>
21 <li>Poor system configuration related to JACK, which Ardour (and
22 most other pro-audio tools on Linux) uses for audio and MIDI I/O.
27 <h2>High Level Recommendations for Ubuntu Users</h2>
30 Currently, installing pro audio applications on vanilla Ubuntu requires
31 some configuration, in order for the user to gain realtime privilege
33 Ubuntu Studio, which is an official flavor of Ubuntu, and thus shares
34 the repositories with Ubuntu, has this already configured.
35 Another distribution, KXStudio, is largely based on Ubuntu, and also has
36 these settings preconfigured - also containing many customized and often
37 more up to date packages.
40 <h2>Problems with Ardour Packages</h2>
43 <dt>What is the problem?</dt>
46 It is not possible to know whether the current package of Ardour
47 released by Ubuntu has been correctly built or not. Ubuntu has a
48 history of making packaging errors that lead to crashes, missing
49 functionality and odd behaviour that is not present in the
50 ready-to-run version of the program that you can get from <a
51 href="http://ardour.org/download">ardour.org</a> (or in the packages
52 released by other distributions)
57 Ardour starts up and basically runs, but you encounter subtle
58 problems (for example, with plugin GUIs or with export, or with the
59 use of certain specific plugins), or are missing functionality, or
66 Download the ready-to-run version
67 from <a href="http://ardour.org/download">ardour.org</a>. Ardour's
68 lead developer (and many of the most active members of our user
69 community) will not provide support for, and will not investigate
70 bugs reported for, Ubuntu's own packages of Ardour. The ardour.org
71 packages install along side your distribution versions, and do not
72 interfere or interact in anyway other than sharing your own personal
73 Ardour settings and configuration choices.
78 <h2>Problems with the interaction between PulseAudio and JACK</h2>
81 <dt>Background Info</dt>
84 Like many distributions, Ubuntu has decide to use PulseAudio as the
85 default audio system. PulseAudio is a rich and capable system that
86 provides excellent services for typical users of Linux on the
87 desktop. However, it is not capable of the type of performance that
88 tools like Ardour require and in particular does not offer the
89 possibility of sending audio between applications that can makes the
90 Linux audio environment a very interesting one.
93 This would not a problem if it were not for the fact that JACK will
94 not run correctly (if at all) if it needs to use the same
95 soundcard/audio interface that PulseAudio is using. And since on
96 Ubuntu, PulseAudio is configured by default to always use the
97 (typically single) audio interface on your computer, this is a bit
101 The developers of JACK and PulseAudio got together in 2009 and
102 agreed upon a mechanism by which PulseAudio and JACK could cooperate
103 in their use of a single soundcard. Whether or not PulseAudio is running by
104 default, when JACK starts up it sends out a request to use the
105 soundcard. If PulseAudio is running, it will give up its use of the
106 soundcard to allow JACK to take over (and can optionally be told to
107 route its own audio through JACK). When JACK finishes, it sends out
108 another message, and PulseAudio can once again use the soundcard
112 <dt>What is the problem?</dt>
115 The specific issues known at this time (spring 2013) are:
117 <li>a bug in PulseAudio that causes it not to give up the
118 soundcard when JACK asks (<a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/1163638">LP: #1163638</a></li>
119 <li>a bug that causes jackdbus v.1.9.8 (jackd does not suffer from this)
120 to freeze up when told to stop, causing issues with restarting (<a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise/+source/jackd2/+bug/956438">LP: #956438</a></li>
127 <li>Cannot start JACK (though see the next section for other
134 Install jackd2 1.9.9 to fix crash on stop bug.
135 Install pulseaudio-3.0 to fix card reservation bug.
141 <h2>Problems with JACK configuration</h2>
144 <dt>What is the problem?</dt>
147 To function as intended, JACK needs to run with access to two
148 operating system facilities called "realtime scheduling" and "memory
149 locking". This means that you, the user who starts JACK, must be
150 allowed access to these facilities. By default, Ubuntu does create a
151 user group that has this permission but ... it does not put new
152 users into this group by default. Read more about why <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/TheAudioGroup">here</a>.
153 Consequently, you will not have permission to run JACK in the way you should.
159 A message like "Cannot lock down memory" in the output from JACK as
160 it starts up. This output may be "hidden" in the Messages window of
161 QJackctrl (aka JACK Control), so you should check there.
167 Make sure the file /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf exists. If it is
168 named /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf.disabled, rename it to the former.
169 Run the command <code>sudo usermod -a -G
170 audio <em>YOUR-LOGIN-NAME</em></code>. Then logout and login again.
171 On Ubuntu Studio the user is a member of audio group by default, but not
172 on other official flavors.
176 <h2>Reporting Issues</h2>
177 <p>Given the difficulties in supporting Ubuntu and the limited time/resources of the Ardour team, the <code>Ubuntu Studio Project</code> has requested that issues and bug reports related to Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and other derivitives be directed to them.<p>
178 <h4>Contact Information for Ubuntu Studio</h4>
179 <p><a href="http://ubuntustudio.org" target="_blank">The Ubuntu Studio Homepage</a></p>
180 <p><a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=335" target="_blank">The Ubuntu Studio Forums.</a></p>
181 <p><a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/MailLists" target="_blank">Information on the Ubuntu Studio Mailing Lists.</a></p>
182 <p><a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/IRC" target-"_blank">Information on the Ubuntu Studio IRC channel.</a> #ubuntustudio on irc.freenode.net</p>