[arch-general] headless box audio with pipewire

[David Runge]

On January 30, 2022 4:37:26 AM GMT+01:00, Javier via arch-general <arch-general at lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
>I have a box, where I can login through SSH, start ncmpcpp to play something with mpd, and then logout, leaving the box playing music, but with no user logged in.  At times, I also want to start Xorg (eventually Wayland), and use pipewire for sound and even using bluetooth audio devices (easy with pipewire/pulse).
>
>While logged in, I can use pipewire even in console.  But once logged out, sound is gone.  So pipewire doesn't really work headless by default, is there a way to make it work headless (no one logged in, and still having audio enabled and playing music for example), how so?

For your user at .service to remain running (and be automatically started during boot) you will want to enable linger [1].
This allows for your pipewire user service (which runs in the scope of your user's user at .service) to automatically run on boot and keep running without you having a session (which is the usual way for systemd to start your user's user at .service).

Best,
David

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd/User#Automatic_start-up_of_systemd_user_instances


-- 
https://sleepmap.de