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Package: release.debian.org
Severity: normal
User: release.debian.org@packages.debian.org
Usertags: unblock
Hello,
I have uploaded the attach changes of espeakup to unstable, proposed for
inclusion for bullseye.
The complete discussion is on
https://lists.debian.org/debian-accessibility/2021/03/msg00019.html
which started with Bug#985666, currently assigned to pulseaudio.
[ Reason ]
During installation with speech synthesis enabled, users have the
capslock-1 / 2 keyboard shortcuts to change the volume of the sound card
used for synthesis. In the debian-installer context, these shortcuts not
only make espeakup change the synthesis volume for itself, but also the
global alsa mixer, to be sure to allow for the maximum volume that the
hardware can achieve. This level of control is however disabled in the
installed system, to avoid espeakup overriding users' fine-tuning in
amixer / alsamixer.
A user however reported that he didn't have sound in the installed
system, and we found out that this was because the sound level was too
low for him to hear, and the speakup shortcuts where not enough to get
it audible, precisely because in the installed system espeakup does not
change the global volume, which was too low.
The base problem is that the alsa-utils package sets volumes in the
installed system by default to 80%, which is considered not too high to
avoid breaking the user's ears, but apparently depending on the hardware
it can be too low for the user to be able to use the computer with a
speech synthesis and to even be able to raise the volume to make it
usable.
The proposed changes thus make espeakup running inside the installer
replicate the mixer settings into the installed system, so that the
volume levels that were reached through espeakup inside the installer
are pre-set for the reboot into the installed system to have them just
like during installation.
[ Impact ]
Without the change, depending on some hardware, users may see their
first reboot into the installed system with an inaudible speech
synthesis, making the installed system unusable.
[ Tests ]
I tested it by hand, and the user who reported the issue also tested it.
[ Risks ]
The code is basically 4 lines, and they are essentially either harmless
or their failing would be just ignored.
[ Checklist ]
[X] all changes are documented in the d/changelog
[X] I reviewed all changes and I approve them
[X] attach debdiff against the package in testing
unblock espeakup/1:0.80-20
Thanks!
Samuel
diff -Nru espeakup-0.80/debian/changelog espeakup-0.80/debian/changelog
--- espeakup-0.80/debian/changelog 2020-11-09 20:39:46.000000000 +0100
+++ espeakup-0.80/debian/changelog 2021-04-04 14:33:26.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+espeakup (1:0.80-20) unstable; urgency=medium
+
+ * espeakup-udeb.finish-install: Carry over the alsa mixer levels into the
+ installed system.
+
+ -- Samuel Thibault <sthibault@debian.org> Sun, 04 Apr 2021 14:33:26 +0200
+
espeakup (1:0.80-19) unstable; urgency=medium
* patches/range: Really enable patch.
diff -Nru espeakup-0.80/debian/espeakup-udeb.finish-install espeakup-0.80/debian/espeakup-udeb.finish-install
--- espeakup-0.80/debian/espeakup-udeb.finish-install 2020-04-29 02:48:49.000000000 +0200
+++ espeakup-0.80/debian/espeakup-udeb.finish-install 2021-04-04 14:33:26.000000000 +0200
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@
apt-install espeakup alsa-utils || true
+mkdir -p /var/lock
+mkdir -p /var/lib/alsa
+if alsactl store
+then
+ cp /var/lib/alsa/asound.state /target/var/lib/alsa/ || true
+fi
+
cp /usr/share/espeakup-udeb/espeakup.default /target/etc/default/espeakup
sed -i -e "s/^VOICE=.*/VOICE=$VOICE/" /target/etc/default/espeakup
[ -z "$ALSA_CARD" ] || sed -i -e "s/^# ALSA_CARD=.*/ALSA_CARD=\"$ALSA_CARD\"/" /target/etc/default/espeakup
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