.xsession-error filled with ALSA lib errors when using vncserver

[biochris]

Dear geeks,

I am running multiple servers under Debian 12. Some users access the server through VNC sessions using turbovnc as a vncserver provider.
For unknown reasons and since unknown date (I figured that happened because the log files filed the disk on the smaller server) 2 of my servers running Debian 12 are producing massive .xsession-errors files filed mainly with logs related to ALSA lib. For example:

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ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1334:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:5703:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib control.c:1528:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL default
ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1334:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:5703:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib control.c:1528:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL default
ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1334:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:5703:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib control.c:1528:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL default
ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1334:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directoryALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) 
cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) ALSA lib conf.c:5703:(snd_config_expand) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directoryEvaluate error: No such file or directory

ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) ALSA lib control.c:1528:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) error evaluating stringsInvalid CTL default

ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1334:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:5703:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib control.c:1528:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL default
ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'cannot find card '0'

ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directoryfunction snd_func_card_inum returned error: No such file or directory

ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) ALSA lib confmisc.c:422:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating stringserror evaluating strings

ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directoryfunction snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory

ALSA lib confmisc.c:1334:(snd_func_refer) ALSA lib confmisc.c:1334:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating nameerror evaluating name

ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) ALSA lib conf.c:5180:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directoryfunction snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory

ALSA lib conf.c:5703:(snd_config_expand) ALSA lib conf.c:5703:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directoryEvaluate error: No such file or directory

ALSA lib control.c:1528:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) ALSA lib control.c:1528:(snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL defaultInvalid CTL default

ALSA lib confmisc.c:855:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'

We do not really care about sound as the servers are mainly used for computation.

The logs are related to standard users as the root account does not get its its .xsession-errors file filled with ALSA lib related messages.
When I run aplay -l as standard user I get:

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aplay: device_list:274: no soundcards found...

When I run it as root I get:

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**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I have not been able to find the source of this problem or any way to fix it so far.

I am looking for help. Any idea out there? Any more information needed?

Chris

[trinidad]

Turbo VNC has no sound coded in connection handler for sound service.
https://github.com/TurboVNC/turbovnc/issues/178

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection could be your issue. It's built to connect for high quality audio then video. Not sure how you're setup or why.

TC

[biochris]

Hi trinidad, thx for looking into that.
We do not have any display linked to the servers.
Very similar setups running same systems do not display these errors.

[biochris]

I found a fix but no explanation yet for this new behaviour.

It did not happen for vnc sessions created/last used before 18th of December 2023.

I added the users to the audio group:

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usermod -a -G audio username

Then vnc sessions should be killed and new ones created from a new bash session (logout/login).