Install/start without local sound card?

[ZZninepluralZalpha]

After a long struggle, I finally managed to compile and install forked-daapd on my FreeBSD 8.2 server to replace the decrepit mt-daapd/firefly. (d--j's FreeBSD recipe was very helpful, garnished with fixes for several other issues.) Now forked-daapd starts up, realizes that its new home (a Dell PowerEdge) lacks any sort of audio system, and immediately exits, leaving this in the log:

[2011-11-03 15:51:03]   laudio: Could not open sound device: No such file or directory
[2011-11-03 15:51:03]   player: Local audio init failed
[2011-11-03 15:51:03]     main: Player thread failed to start
[2011-11-03 15:51:03]     main: File scanner deinit
etc.

Is there a way to start forked-daapd without the player thread so that the lack of a local sound output device is ignored?

[dnlkng]

Same here. It was frustrating to compile forked-daapd on my HP microserver with FreeBSD 8.2 stable. I have the same problem that my server doesn't have any sound card. I read on the OSS wiki that there is an option to add virtual sound cards (oss_audioloop.conf) but i didn't get it work.

[stormcock]

Not a solution (so, apologies) but a comment: why would a server applciation care about the prescence of sound reproduction capabilties on the machine on which it runs? That woud be a client issue, surely? If the app has elements of both server and client, is there insufficient separation between the elements.

[peterjc]

In reply to stormcock's question, you can use forked-daapd running on a computer with a sound card, controlled via the Apple iOS Remote app running on an iPod. That is how I was using it with the PC driving speakers in the lounge. I believe you can do the same with a computer running iTunes.

[stormcock]

Hi Peter, I was commenting on ZZetc's issue that forked-daapd apparently will not run on a machine without sound capabilities, which seemed illogical since I understood the application to be a server, not a client. But I think now that reading a little more, and from your reply, that forked-daap also operates as a client in some way too? I think my comment still stands, i.e. curious as to why an application with the primary function of a server requires sound facilities on the machine on which it is running, and now also curious as to whether the apparent client aspects can be switched off. Tim

[peterjc]

The terms client/server are a bit difficult to apply to iTunes or forked-daapd, since in some ways they act as a server and in others as a client.

But I agree, some of the tasks handled by forked-daapd like acting as a server for streaming music to clients, do not require any local sound card, so it would make sense to be able to disable that if not needed.

Perhaps it might make sense in the medium/long term to go even further and look at splitting forked-daapd into separate processes (server handling media scanning etc, and client handling playing media under remote control).

[couteau]

If people are still having issues with this - try commenting out the local audio output settings in /etc/forked-daapd.conf (the section beginning "audio {" through the closing "}"). I'm running on a supermicro matx server board without a sound card and it runs fine.