Ubuntu Linux is the most popular variety of Linux in use on desktop and laptop systems. It has the backing of a for-profit corporation - (Canonical Inc.) behind it, a defined philosophy and a huge and - worldwide user base.As a result, it is a common platform for people + (Canonical Inc.), a defined philosophy and a huge and + worldwide user base. As a result, it is a common platform for people who want to use Ardour and other tools for music creation and pro-audio work.
-- Unfortunately, Ubuntu has repeatedly caused major headaches for - people who want to use Ardour. These problems have arisen from a - combination of two basic issues: -
- It is not possible to know whether the current package of Ardour - released by Ubuntu has been correctly built or not. Ubuntu has a - history of making packaging errors that lead to crashes, missing - functionality and odd behaviour that is not present in the - ready-to-run version of the program that you can get from ardour.org - (or in the packages released by other distributions) + Currently, installing pro audio applications on vanilla Ubuntu requires + some configuration, in order for the user to gain realtime privilege + (read below). + Ubuntu Studio, which is an official flavor of Ubuntu, and thus shares + the repositories with Ubuntu, has this already configured. + Other distributions, such as KXStudio, and Dreamstudio are largely based + on Ubuntu, and like Ubuntu Studio, has these settings preconfigured, while + also containing customized versions of Ubuntu packages, which often are + more up to date.
-- If you plan to use Ardour on Ubuntu, you are strongly - recommended to download the ready-to-run version from - ardour.org. Ardour's lead developer (and many of the most active - members of our user community) will not provide support for, and - will not investigate bugs reported for, Ubuntu's own packages of - Ardour. -
-- If have already installed the Ubuntu package of Ardour and find that - although the program starts up and basically runs, but you are - running into more subtle problems (for example, with plugin GUIs or - with export, or with the use of certain specific plugins), then you - are strongly recommended to download the - ready-to-run version from ardour.org. -
-- This relatively simple system ought to be the basis for excellent - cooperation between PulseAudio and JACK. Unfortunately, it relies on - everything being correctly configured for it to work, and Ubuntu - have repeatedly failed to get this configuration correct. + The specific issues known at this time for all flavors of Ubuntu + 12.04 and 12.10 are:
-- The specific issues known at this time (spring 2013) are:
- To function as intended, JACK needs to run with access to two - operating system facilities called "realtime scheduling" and "memory - locking". This means that you, the user who starts JACK, must be - allowed access to these facilities. By default, Ubuntu does create a - user group that has this permission but ... it does not put new - users into this group by default. Consequently, you will not have - permission to run JACK in the way you should. -
- -- A message like "Cannot lock down memory" in the output from JACK as - it starts up. This output may be "hidden" in the Messages window of - QJackctrl (aka JACK Control), so you should check there. + These bugs do not affect the upcoming 13.04 release, and earlier + releases (12.04 and 12.10) are in the process of being fixed.
+ + -
- Run the command sudo usermod -a -G
- audio YOUR-LOGIN-NAME. Then logout and login again.
-
+ To function as intended, JACK needs to run with access to two + operating system facilities called "realtime scheduling" and "memory + locking". This means that you, the user who starts JACK, must be + allowed access to these facilities. By default, Ubuntu does create a + user group that has this permission but ... it does not put new + users into this group by default. Read more about why here. + Consequently, you will not have permission to run JACK in the way you should. +
++ A message like "Cannot lock down memory" in the output from JACK as + it starts up. This output may be "hidden" in the Messages window of + QJackctrl (aka JACK Control), so you should check there. +
+
+ Make sure the file /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf exists. If it is
+ named /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf.disabled, rename it to the former.
+ Run the command sudo usermod -a -G
+ audio YOUR-LOGIN-NAME. Then logout and login again.
+ On Ubuntu Studio the user is a member of audio group by default, but not
+ on other official flavors.
+
Given the difficulties in supporting Ubuntu and the limited time/resources of the Ardour team, the Ubuntu Studio Project has requested that issues and bug reports related to Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and other derivitives be directed to them.
Information on the Ubuntu Studio Mailing Lists.
+Information on the Ubuntu Studio IRC channel. #ubuntustudio on irc.freenode.net