Hi, Strange behavior for paplay. [As normal user] No pulseaudio daemon launched before, paplay audio file => caused new pulseaudio daemon launched automatically. [As root] No pulseaudio daemon launched before, paplay audio file, "connection refused" Please refer to attached logs of normal user and root. Tested on FC10, with pulseaudio 0.9.13 integrated. ===========log: as normal user=============== (Notes: 1> Though paplay caused pa daemon launched,while without alsa sink/source module loaded, (instead null-sink attached) maybe it's due to access configuration of alsa framework for this normal user. 2> After somewhile , PA daemon quits, I guess it's due to exit-idle-time=20, or internal time out 3>this normal user account is created, just using command "useradd test" ) [root at hchen59 ~]# su test [test at hchen59 root]$ ps -f -U test | grep pulse test 16917 16897 0 22:36 pts/2 00:00:00 grep pulse [test at hchen59 root]$ paplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Side_Left.wav I: caps.c: Limited capabilities successfully to CAP_SYS_NICE. I: caps.c: Dropping root privileges. I: caps.c: Limited capabilities successfully to CAP_SYS_NICE. [WARN 16940] polkit-session.c:144:polkit_session_set_uid(): session != NULL Not built with -rdynamic so unable to print a backtrace [test at hchen59 root]$ ps -f -U test | grep pulse test 16943 1 1 22:37 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/pulseaudio --start --log-target=syslog test 16945 16943 0 22:37 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/pulse/gconf-helper test 16949 16897 0 22:37 pts/2 00:00:00 grep pulse [test at hchen59 root]$ pacmd Welcome to PulseAudio! Use "help" for usage information. >>> list-sinks 1 sink(s) available. index: 0 name: <auto_null> driver: <modules/module-null-sink.c> flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY state: SUSPENDED volume: 0: 0% 1: 0% muted: no current latency: 0.00 ms configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 4.00 .. 2000.00 ms max request: 344 KiB max rewind: 344 KiB monitor source: 0 sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz channel map: front-left,front-right used by: 0 linked by: 0 module: 7 properties: device.description = "Null Output" device.class = "abstract" >>> list-modules 14 module(s) loaded. index: 0 name: <module-hal-detect> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 1 name: <module-esound-protocol-unix> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 2 name: <module-native-protocol-unix> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 3 name: <module-stream-restore> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 4 name: <module-device-restore> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 5 name: <module-default-device-restore> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 6 name: <module-rescue-streams> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 7 name: <module-null-sink> argument: <sink_name=auto_null> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 8 name: <module-always-sink> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 9 name: <module-suspend-on-idle> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 10 name: <module-console-kit> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 11 name: <module-position-event-sounds> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 12 name: <module-gconf> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no index: 13 name: <module-cli-protocol-unix> argument: <> used: -1 auto unload: no >>> ^C [test at hchen59 root]$ ps -f -U test | grep pulse test 16974 16897 0 22:39 pts/2 00:00:00 grep pulse [test at hchen59 root]$ pulseaudio --dump-conf | grep idle I: caps.c: Limited capabilities successfully to CAP_SYS_NICE. I: caps.c: Dropping root privileges. I: caps.c: Limited capabilities successfully to CAP_SYS_NICE. [WARN 16979] polkit-session.c:144:polkit_session_set_uid(): session != NULL Not built with -rdynamic so unable to print a backtrace E: polkit.c: Cannot set UID on session object. N: main.c: Called SUID root and real-time/high-priority scheduling was requested in the configuration. However, we lack the necessary privileges: N: main.c: We are not in group 'pulse-rt' and PolicyKit refuse to grant us privileges. Dropping SUID again. N: main.c: For enabling real-time scheduling please acquire the appropriate PolicyKit privileges, or become a member of 'pulse-rt', or increase the RLIMIT_NICE/RLIMIT_RTPRIO resource limits for this user. W: main.c: High-priority scheduling enabled in configuration but not allowed by policy. exit-idle-time = 20 module-idle-time = 20 scache-idle-time = 20 ==============log: as root================= [root at hchen59 ~]# ps -f -U root | grep pulseaudio root 17036 15450 0 22:43 pts/1 00:00:00 grep pulseaudio [root at hchen59 ~]# paplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Side_Left.wav Connection failure: Connection refused [root at hchen59 ~]# pulseaudio --exit-idle-time=-1 --start W: main.c: This program is not intended to be run as root (unless --system is specified). [root at hchen59 ~]# ps -f -U root | grep pulseaudio root 12035 1 0 16:39 ? 00:00:00 pulseaudio --exit-idle-time=-1 --start root 16997 15450 0 22:40 pts/1 00:00:00 grep pulseaudio [root at hchen59 ~]# pacmd Welcome to PulseAudio! Use "help" for usage information. >>> list-sinks 1 sink(s) available. * index: 0 name: <alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playback_0> driver: <modules/module-alsa-sink.c> flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY state: SUSPENDED volume: 0: 37% 1: 37% muted: no current latency: 0.00 ms configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 4.00 .. 371.52 ms max request: 64 KiB max rewind: 64 KiB monitor source: 0 sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz channel map: front-left,front-right used by: 0 linked by: 0 module: 0 properties: device.api = "alsa" device.class = "sound" alsa.class = "generic" alsa.subclass = "generic-mix" alsa.name = "ALC262 Analog" alsa.id = "ALC262 Analog" alsa.subdevice = "0" alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0" alsa.device = "0" alsa.card = "0" alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel" alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel at 0xf0620000 irq 21" device.description = "HDA Intel - ALC262 Analog" device.string = "front:0" device.buffering.buffer_size = "65536" device.buffering.fragment_size = "32768" device.access_mode = "mmap+timer" >>> ^C [root at hchen59 ~]# paplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Side_Left.wav [root at hchen59 ~]#