Not sure if this is a bug or braindamage on my part. In view of the doc for the "--check" option, I was surprised at the following: As ordinary user 'gdg' (under which PA daemon is running): $ id uid=501(gdg) gid=501(gdg) groups=501(gdg),19(log),92(audio), \ 190(systemd-journal) $ pulseaudio -v --check I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon running as PID 23204 But as root, do "su - gdg", then $ id uid=501(gdg) gid=501(gdg) groups=501(gdg),19(log),92(audio), \ 190(systemd-journal) $ pulseaudio -v --check I: [pulseaudio] main.c: Daemon not running Why?