ALSACONF(8)

💖 alsaconf

okay so bestie, welcome to alsaconf — it lives in section 8 of the System Manager's Manual, which is the fancy way of saying "this is an admin tool, handle with care, but also it's literally a shell script so breathe." 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

alsaconf — the configuration tool for the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA). yes, that ALSA. the one that makes your speakers go brrr. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

alsaconf [options]

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

This manual page documents briefly the alsaconf command. Fun fact: this page was written for the Debian distribution because the original program doesn't even have a manual page — so Debian said "fine, I'll do it myself." iconic behavior, honestly. 👑

alsaconf is a simple shell script that tries to detect the sound cards on your system and writes a suitable configuration file for ALSA. It will also try to guess which GNU/Linux distribution you're running, and will act accordingly to the standards of that distribution — but only if specific support is available. it's giving "i read the room" energy. 🧚

alsaconf will write a module-init-tools (or modutils) snippet which can then be used by module-init-tools (or modutils) to load the correct parameters for your sound card. so it's not just guessing — it's leaving you a little love note for your kernel modules. 💌

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

alsaconf accepts the following options:

• -c, --config file — specify the module config file. as default, alsaconf probes the available config file automatically. (automatic mode: slay. manual mode: also slay.)
• -d, --devmode mode — set the device mode for the ALSA devices (default = 0666). heads up bestie: this option is obsolete in the recent ALSA version. 💀
• -g, --gid gid — set the gid for the ALSA devices (default = 0). also obsolete in the recent ALSA version. we love a legacy queen but she's retired. 🙈
• -h, --help — displays this help text. the classic. the icon. ✨
• -L, --log file — logging on the given file. the log is appended to the file (not overwritten, she's polite). this option is for debugging purpose only. 🔍
• -l, --legacy — check only for legacy non-isapnp cards.
• -m, --modinfo — read module descriptions instead of reading a card database.
• -P, --listprobe — list the supported legacy card modules.
• -p, --probe card-name — probe a legacy non-isapnp card and print module options.
• -r, --strict — set strict device mode (equiv. with -g 17 -d 0660). yes, that's the exact equivalence, no cap. obsolete in the recent ALSA version. 🫠
• -s, --sound-wav-file — use the specified wav file as a test sound. test sound supremacy!! turn it up!! 🔊
• -u, --uid uid — set the uid for the ALSA devices (default = 0). obsolete in the recent ALSA version. told you, there's a whole retirement party happening in this option list. 🎈

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🌈 DEBIAN SPECIFIC 🌈

In Debian, the default gid of the device files is 29 (corresponding to the audio group) and the default device mode is 0660.

For the ALSA base package, see also /usr/share/doc/alsa-base/ — go read it, it's right there, she's waiting. 📚

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

alsamixer(1), amixer(1), aplay(1), arecord(1)

like the whole friend group showed up. squad goals fr fr. 🫶

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🦋 HOMEPAGE 🦋

http://www.alsa-project.org/

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

The alsaconf script was written by Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>, Bernd Kaindl <bk@suse.de> and Jan Ondrej (SAL) <ondrejj@salstar.sk> — legends, all of them. 💖

This manual page was written by Jordi Mallach <jordi@debian.org>, for the Debian system (but may be used by others). sharing is caring, bestie. 🎀

also real talk: several of these options are marked obsolete in the recent ALSA version — that's not me being dramatic, that's literally what the page says. don't come for me, come for the changelog. 😭

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and that's the whole vibe check! this page is from February 23, 2003, out of the System Manager's Manual, filed under ALSACONF(8). vintage, but still serving. 💜🦋✨