Issue with kalarm 25.12.2

[pygoscelis]

I have a recent problem with kalarm. It won't play sounds.

When I edit an alarm and hit "Test", nothing happens. No sound and no error messages anywhere. But when I close the dialog, kalarm hangs and I have to kill it.

The only available audio backend is mpv.

I have no issues with other sound applications, including KDE ones.

Have anyone seen this? Is there a workaround? (Except using an external sound player command.)

[rab0171610]

First, are you on stable or testing?
Which version of kalarm are you using?
There are currently two in the gentoo repo, 25.12.3 (testing) and 25.12.2 (stable).
Open disclosure: I am using my own custom ebuild for kalarm version 25.12.2 so that I can avoid mpv. (I am using vlc as a sound backend.)
I am not able to replicate the issue you are having.
Have you tried different sound files?
(I usually stick to files that are in my home directory.)
Have you checked the volume level of 'Notification Sounds'?
SystemSettings -> Input & Output -> Sound
Check that the slide at the bottom labeled Notification Sounds under Playback Streams is not muted or that the volume
is not high enough.
This is not likely to be an issue since you are having trouble with freezing when trying to "try" a sound alarm.

Try running kalarm from the command line and see if there is any relevant ouput. Working normally, this is the only output that I see when setting an audio alarm and trying it:

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kalarm
org.kde.pim.kalarm: Wake from suspend: use RTC (no CAP_WAKE_ALARM capability)

Is this only happening when trying an audio alarm? Try a display alarm and see if there is any output or the same issue occurs.

Since you are likely using mpv for sound, are you able to play the same sound file you are trying to use for the audio alarm with mpv from the command line?

[pygoscelis]

First, are you on stable or testing?Which version of kalarm are you using?
There are currently two in the gentoo repo, 25.12.3 (testing) and 25.12.2 (stable).

25.12.2

Open disclosure: I am using my own custom ebuild for kalarm version 25.12.2 so that I can avoid mpv. (I am using vlc as a sound backend.)

Please share your build!

I am not able to replicate the issue you are having.
Have you tried different sound files?
(I usually stick to files that are in my home directory.)
Have you checked the volume level of 'Notification Sounds'?
SystemSettings -> Input & Output -> Sound
Check that the slide at the bottom labeled Notification Sounds under Playback Streams is not muted or that the volume
is not high enough.

I did try several files. They are all playable by any audio player.

Moreover, kalarm doesn't play notification sounds at all. Other KDE apps do. I tried to play with Notification Sounds volume, doesn't help.

This is not likely to be an issue since you are having trouble with freezing when trying to "try" a sound alarm.

Try running kalarm from the command line and see if there is any relevant ouput. Working normally, this is the only output that I see when setting an audio alarm and trying it:

Code: Select all

kalarm
org.kde.pim.kalarm: Wake from suspend: use RTC (no CAP_WAKE_ALARM capability)

Is this only happening when trying an audio alarm? Try a display alarm and see if there is any output or the same issue occurs.

I also see this message. It happens on startup, even before any alarm is played. I also see some messages when I edit an alarm (any one, not just the sound):

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QPainter::begin: Paint device returned engine == 0, type: 2
QWidget::render: Cannot render with an inactive painter
QPainter::begin: Paint device returned engine == 0, type: 2
QWidget::render: Cannot render with an inactive painter
Unsupported return type 4097 QPixmap in method "grab"
Unsupported return type 4097 QPixmap in method "grab"

But they don't seem to break any other type of alarm.

Since you are likely using mpv for sound, are you able to play the same sound file you are trying to use for the audio alarm with mpv from the command line?

Yes, mpv from the command line works. In fact I replaced my sound alarms with command alarms that just run mpv.

[rab0171610]

I am not getting any of those QT errors when setting up alarms or testing them so I would think they are significant,
The only thing I can suggest is to figure out how to debug QT, this is done through an environment variable If I remember correctly.

Also, make sure your make sure you machine is updated, make sure you have updated all config files after emerge, and make sure to do a depclean and restart your machine. Check your package.mask to make sure you are not holding back any KDE or QT packages or masking anything that might cause issues.
I would also clear the cache in my home directory. When updating from KDE 5 to KDE 6 and introducing QT 6 libraries, many KDE users experienced issues with cached QT5 files. Deleting the files in .cache fixed the problem. This was not exclusive to Gentoo, it was seen in forums on multiple distros.
The best way to do that is when not logged in so that KDE doesn't continue to cache files there while you are logged in and during subsequent logout. Open a tty when at the login screen, in your case likely SDDM. Delete the files in cache and they should regenerate on log in as needed. As your user in a TTY (when not logged in):

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rm -rv ~/.cache/*

Log into KDE and see if you can replicate the issue.
If you continue to have problems, you can try to reinstall relevant QT/KDE packages overnight in case there was a bad build. This is rare but it has happened to me that it fixed a malfunctioning app or group of apps after update.
(If you wanted to be extreme you could rebuild your system omitting any large or unnecessary packages like gcc, the kernel, etc. Most people will probably frown upon that or not recommend it but it is relatively harmless and can give you peace of mind that you at least tried to eliminate everything.)
After all that, if you continue to have problems I would file a bug report.
https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/kd ... alarm/bugs

[rab0171610]

The ebuild:
I omitted the mpv dependency. I deleted this line:

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>=media-video/mpv-0.37.0:=[libmpv]

(VLC is explicitly installed on my machine so exists in the world file and is not solely a dependency of any other package.)
Under src_configure -> local mycmakeargs
I disabled LIBMPV enabled LIBVLC:

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-DENABLE_LIBMPV=OFF 
-DENABLE_LIBVLC=ON

This step may or may not have been necessary but it seems to have worked.
So far I have no issues and it is using VLC for sound again as it was before it changed recently. MPV is no longer installed as a dependency. I will monitor the situation as things progress.

[Hu]

In the interest of making rab0171610's change a little easier to use, the below is a diff from the stock ebuild constructed from the instructions in the preceding post. I have not tested it.

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Remove hard dependency on mpv.
Add hard dependency on vlc.
Adjust CMake arguments accordingly.

--- a/kde-apps/kalarm/kalarm-25.12.2.ebuild
+++ b/kde-apps/kalarm/kalarm-25.12.2.ebuild
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 	>=kde-frameworks/kwidgetsaddons-${KFMIN}:6
 	>=kde-frameworks/kwindowsystem-${KFMIN}:6[X?]
 	>=kde-frameworks/kxmlgui-${KFMIN}:6
-	>=media-video/mpv-0.37.0:=[libmpv]
+	media-video/vlc
 	pim? (
 		>=kde-apps/akonadi-${PVCUT}:6=
 		>=kde-apps/akonadi-contacts-${PVCUT}:6=
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@
 
 src_configure() {
 	local mycmakeargs=(
-		-DENABLE_LIBMPV=ON # default upstream
-		-DENABLE_LIBVLC=OFF # OFF as long as it is Qt5-based
+		-DENABLE_LIBMPV=OFF # OFF as a local change
+		-DENABLE_LIBVLC=ON # ON as a local change
 		-DENABLE_AKONADI_PLUGIN=$(usex pim)
 		$(cmake_use_find_package speech KF6TextEditTextToSpeech)
 		-DWITHOUT_X11=$(usex !X)

A more flexible version would add USE flags for picking this, but my only goal here is to let OP test rab0171610's change.

[pygoscelis]

Thanks! Most of my packages are binary and I don't have anything outdated. Are you you using X11 or Wayland? I'm on X11.

I tried the ebuild and it worked like a charm. I also tried enabling both mpv and vlc, it works and lets the user to select the backend in the kalarm configuration dialog. It would be great if future ebuilds add a use flag for backend selection.

[rab0171610]

I'm using Wayland. I have not tried in X. Would you consider filing a bug report for a feature request and link to this post?

[asturm]

This bug needs to be fixed upstream by kalarm developers. VLC is no solution as kalarm code relies on VLC-3, which pulls in Qt5 for many users, and VLC-4 as the only way forward breaks kalarm again.