padsp

Wrap OSS applications for PulseAudio

TLDR

Run an OSS application with PulseAudio

$ padsp [oss_application]

Connect to a specific PulseAudio server

$ padsp -s [server] [application]

Set the client application name

$ padsp -n [name] [application]

Disable /dev/dsp emulation

$ padsp -D [application]

Enable debug output

$ padsp -d [application]

SYNOPSIS

padsp [options] program [arguments...]

padsp (PulseAudio OSS Wrapper) starts a program using an LD_PRELOAD library that redirects OSS audio device access (/dev/dsp, /dev/mixer, /dev/sndstat) to PulseAudio. This provides a compatibility layer for legacy OSS applications so they play through the PulseAudio sound server.

PARAMETERS

PROGRAM

OSS application to run.

-s SERVER

PulseAudio server to connect to.

-n NAME

Client application name sent to the server.

-m NAME

Stream name passed when creating a stream.

-M

Disable /dev/mixer device emulation.

-S

Disable /dev/sndstat device emulation.

-D

Disable /dev/dsp device emulation.

-d

Enable debug output.

-h, --help

Display help information.

INSTALL

sudo apt install pulseaudio-utils

sudo dnf install pulseaudio-utils

sudo apk add pulseaudio-utils

sudo zypper install pulseaudio-utils

CAVEATS

Relies on LD_PRELOAD, so it only works with dynamically linked ELF binaries. Not every OSS feature is emulated; applications using mmap or exotic ioctls may not work. Part of the PulseAudio distribution.

HISTORY

padsp was developed as part of the PulseAudio project to support legacy OSS applications after PulseAudio replaced OSS as the default sound system on most Linux distributions.