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In message <10dfs4k$2j983$1@dont-email.me>, Chris Elvidge 
 writes
>On 24/10/2025 at 13:18, Adrian wrote:
>> In message <10dei3u$27uve$7@dont-email.me>, Lawrence
>> =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=  writes
>>> On Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:09:02 +0100, Adrian wrote:
>>>
>>>> If I do a cut and paste of the aplay command, it works fine. So the
>>>> problem looks as though it is some thing to do with the python call.
>>>
>>> I would try to confirm this by running the Python script (or at least
>>> a copy of the part that does the aplay command) from a terminal
>>> session. In other words, try to minimize all the differences between
>>> the situation where you can successfully invoke the command, and the
>>> one where you can?t.
>>>
>>  Thanks for the detailed reply.
>>  I've just tried that, and running the Python interactively works (I 
>>get sound). So far, so good.
>>  In the normal way of things, the Python code is started by cron 
>>using @reboot.  Being aware that the environment that cron gets can be 
>>different to that of an interactive session, I've just killed off the 
>>background Python code, and restarted it using nohup (which I think 
>>should give the same environment as the command line).  That still 
>>fails (code runs, no sound), but now the error message doesn't appear, 
>>instead  in the error file, I get the message :
>>  nohup: ignoring input and appending output to 'nohup.out'
>>  which it doesn't, that file remains empty.
>>  So it looks as though the problem is with the Python code running in 
>>the  background, rather than the Python code itself.  I'm wondering if 
>>one of  the updates that has run since the previous reboot (~8 weeks 
>>ago) has  come into play because of yesterday's reboot.
>>  I forgot to mention that the path to the sound file is absolute, 
>>rather than $HOME/...
>>  When I run Python from the command line, it tells me that I'm 
>>running Python 3.11.2
>>
>>>> Both command line and python are running under the same user.
>>>
>>> I suspect there is some issue with setup of environment variables
>>> (e.g. $HOME) when running the script in the background versus
>>> interactively.
>>  I would agree, but see above.  And why did it work pre-reboot ?
>>
>>>
>>>> What I'm seeing logged by the python code is the following error :
>>>>
>>>> ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:999:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
>>>> aplay: main:831 audio open error: Unknown error 524
>>>>
>>>> I've tried rebooting again, and an Internet search doesn't come up
>>>> with anything for my particular problem (they all seem to be
>>>> "nothing working").
>>>
>>> I did a search for ?alsa Unknown error 524? and found this
>>> >> open-audio-device-unknown-error-524-what-is-going>
>>> where the error was fixed by putting something into the systemwide
>>> ALSA config.
>>>
>>> This would be consistent with my suspicion that the per-user setup
>>> for your background versus interactive cases is not exactly the same.
>>  Thanks.  I tried adding those entries, but it makes no difference.
>>  And to repeat, the background and foreground sessions are run by the 
>>same user, so I think the problem is "how it is being run" rather than 
>>"who is running it".
>>  Adrian
>

Thanks.

>Check your XDG_RUNTIME_DIR and/or PULSE_COOKIE settings. I had to set 
>theses to get vlc to play properly from a task set from a non-terminal 
>run file though a bluetooth speaker.
>HIH

The first comes back as :

/run/user/1000

and the second isn't set.

However, the speakers are wired in, rather than Bluetooth, which may or 
may not be relevant.

Adrian
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