Kooha freezes on startup

[spxak1]

Distribution (run cat /etc/os-release):

NAME="Pop!_OS"
VERSION="21.04"
ID=pop
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
PRETTY_NAME="Pop!_OS 21.04"
VERSION_ID="21.04"
HOME_URL="https://pop.system76.com"
SUPPORT_URL="https://support.system76.com"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://github.com/pop-os/pop/issues"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://system76.com/privacy"
VERSION_CODENAME=hirsute
UBUNTU_CODENAME=hirsute
LOGO=distributor-logo-pop-os

Also on the 21.10 beta.

Related Application and/or Package Version (run apt policy $PACKAGE NAME):

pipewire:
  Installed: 0.3.24-3
  Candidate: 0.3.24-3
  Version table:
 *** 0.3.24-3 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hirsute/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Issue/Bug Description: Latest version of Kooha (2.0.0 and 2.0.1) freezes/crashes on start up.

Steps to reproduce (if you know): Install latest Kooha 2.0.1. Start recording.

Expected behavior: Kooha records the screen without crashing.

Other Notes: This has been identified as a bug in Kooha here: https://github.com/SeaDve/Kooha/issues/120

However it was pointed out that upgrading Pop/Ubuntu (21.04/21.10) to the latest version of pipewire fixes this issue.

Suggested solution:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pipewire-debian/pipewire-upstream
sudo apt update
sudo apt install pipewire

This installs a newer version which makes Kooha work. Since Pop 21.10 will be based on Ubuntu 21.10, this implies that the same out of date version of pipewire (probably 0.3.32) will ship with Pop, which won't solve the issue.

Is there a chance to get a newer version of pipewire (also on 21.04) to solve this?

The workaround, installing the debian version, may be a quick solution, but I haven't tested any side effects.

Thank you.

[jacobgkau]

From my 21.04 system:

jacob@serw12:~$ apt policy pipewire
pipewire:
  Installed: 0.3.24-3
  Candidate: 0.3.24-3
  Version table:
 *** 0.3.24-3 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hirsute/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

This output shows that the pipewire package is coming from Ubuntu, and is not being repackaged or modified by Pop!_OS. The options here would be working with the Ubuntu maintainers to get the package updated/backported there, or Pop!_OS packaging it itself (which would add engineering and QA work for every PipeWire update going forward.)

https://github.com/SeaDve/Kooha/issues/120 confirms that this issue also occurs on Ubuntu, so I'm tagging this issue appropriately.

[mmstick]

It may be better to fix this issue in Kooha for the time being. I'm not opposed to providing updated Pipewire packages in 21.10 and potentially migrating to it. Although I haven't personally had issues with Pipewire on my setup in 21.10 with my bluetooth / USB / analog headphones.

[spxak1]

It may be better to fix this issue in Kooha for the time being. I'm not opposed to providing updated Pipewire packages in 21.10 and potentially migrating to it. Although I haven't personally had issues with Pipewire on my setup in 21.10 with my bluetooth / USB / analog headphones.

I have filed a bug at Kooha's github page for that.

I will also file it in launchpad.

Thanks.

[supermacro]

I have filed a bug at Kooha's github page for that.

I will also file it in launchpad.

Mind linking to those?

I am assuming the Kooha GH issue is: https://github.com/SeaDve/Kooha/issues/120

[mmstick]

This is still an issue?

[n3m0-22]

It is no longer crashing, but the recordings are for all intents and purposes unusable. I've played around with different settings, but never could get much more than a choppy screen recording.

[spxak1]

I can't test it right now, I'll get back by the end of the week. Thanks for asking.

[supermacro]

I have GStreamer multimedia codecs installed via pop shop - several of them - so not sure if there's any particular one that may be missing.

OS: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS x86_64 Host: Darter Pro darp6 Kernel: 5.18.10-76051810-generic Uptime: 1 day, 7 hours, 57 mins Packages: 1973 (dpkg), 50 (brew), 16 (flatpak) Shell: zsh 5.9 Resolution: 1920x1080, 2560x1080 DE: GNOME 42.3.1 WM: Mutter WM Theme: Pop Theme: Pop-dark [GTK2/3] Icons: Pop [GTK2/3] Terminal: kitty CPU: Intel i7-10510U (8) @ 4.900GHz GPU: Intel CometLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics] Memory: 13341MiB / 15875MiB

[spxak1]

Tested on 22.04, and Kooha works as expected. Thanks @mmstick.