# No sound on unstable

**URL:** https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130
**Category:** Help
**Created:** [June 9, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130 "2019-06-09T13:10:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Aeschylus](https://discourse.nixos.org/user_avatar/discourse.nixos.org/aeschylus/32/29920_2.png) [@Aeschylus](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/Aeschylus)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130/1 "2019-06-09T13:10:55Z")

</div>

This is my current audio config with pulseaudio:

```auto
{pkgs, config, ...}:

{
  sound.enable = true;

  hardware.pulseaudio = {
    enable = true;
    support32Bit = true;
    package = pkgs.pulseaudio.override {
      jackaudioSupport = true;
    };
  };

  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    flac
    pavucontrol
  ];
}

```

After upgrading from `19.09pre181629.ae71c13a92f (Loris)` to `19.09pre182256.168d1031af4 (Loris)` my system seems to have no audio.

Output of certain commands while playing a sound:

```auto
$ sudo lsof /dev/snd/*
<nothing>

```

Also, the upgrade changed the kernel from 5.1.6 to 5.1.7, did something change as to break pulseaudio? Making a roolback the audio on the system seems to work fine.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![timokau](https://discourse.nixos.org/user_avatar/discourse.nixos.org/timokau/32/40_2.png) [@timokau](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/timokau)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130/2 "2019-06-09T13:42:14Z")

</div>

[https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/61269#issuecomment-500211927](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/61269#issuecomment-500211927)

Since apparently I’m not alone in this issue, I’ll look into reverting that commit (as long as it doesn’t cause mass rebuild on master).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Aeschylus](https://discourse.nixos.org/user_avatar/discourse.nixos.org/aeschylus/32/29920_2.png) [@Aeschylus](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/Aeschylus)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130/3 "2019-06-09T15:36:39Z")

</div>

Can confirm this seems to be the cause, I’ve made the following overlay and the system now rebuilds with audio:

```auto
self: super:

{
  alsaLib = super.alsaLib.overrideAttrs (old: rec {
    name = "alsa-lib-1.1.8";
    src = super.fetchurl {
      url = "mirror://alsa/lib/${name}.tar.bz2";
      sha256 = "1pxf0zkmps03l3zzd0fr828xhkg6a8hxljmbxzc2cyj2ls9kmp1w";
    };
  });
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![fpletz](https://discourse.nixos.org/user_avatar/discourse.nixos.org/fpletz/32/344_2.png) [@fpletz](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/fpletz)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130/4 "2019-06-09T16:09:32Z")

</div>

The root cause was that pulseaudio wasn’t able to load its alsa modules due to missing symbols because the alsa headers files moved. This was [fixed on master](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/dacc02faa541741c5ed11f6403ebf3fef0a54a32) but after the latest nixos-unstable channel release.

It would be wise to also check the current master in such situations in the future. Note that it’s called nixos-unstable for a reason. A NixOS test for working sound with pulseaudio would be great if anybody wants to take a shot at it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![timokau](https://discourse.nixos.org/user_avatar/discourse.nixos.org/timokau/32/40_2.png) [@timokau](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/timokau)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130/5 "2019-06-09T17:30:39Z")

</div>

You’re right, I should’ve checked current master. I only searched the reported issues, not recent commits.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![worldofpeace](https://discourse.nixos.org/user_avatar/discourse.nixos.org/worldofpeace/32/245_2.png) [@worldofpeace](https://discourse.nixos.org/u/worldofpeace)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://discourse.nixos.org/t/no-sound-on-unstable/3130/6 "2019-06-13T02:47:27Z")

</div>

You don’t need to override the package to enable `jackSupport`.

`pulseaudioFull` already enables those features

###### all-packages.nix

```nix
pulseaudioFull = pulseaudio.override {
    x11Support = true;
    jackaudioSupport = true;
    airtunesSupport = true;
    bluetoothSupport = true;
    remoteControlSupport = true;
    zeroconfSupport = true;
  };

```

Or unless you just want that one feature.