audio access

[Reinhold Rumberger]

On Tuesday 08 June 2010, xPol wrote:
> Reinhold Rumberger wrote:
> >> I have no audio group. Should i?
> > 
> > Are you sure? They aren't in alphabetical order. You can check
> > with the following command:
> > grep audio /etc/group
> 
> I get:
> audio:x:29:pulse,timidity
> 
> No real user has been added to that group. Yet the session owner
> can play audio files
> I am using Kde 4.4.4

... and, apparently, pulse audio? Then the KDE, etc. apps will access 
the sound devices indirectly through a pulse audio daemon and have 
permission that way. I guess the daemon either filters other users or 
provides an environment variable which can only be accessed from 
within the session started by KDM/KDE.

> Anyway, i will add users to that group and see
> 
> > I have one, and if the user isn't in it, they can't play
> > audio... see /dev/snd/
> 
> l /dev/snd/

If you use "ls -l", you'll see that the group is "audio", meaning 
that any user in that group will be able to access the device 
directly. Note that users will only be able to use those privileges 
within console sessions that are started *after* the user becomes a 
member of the audio group.

  --Reinhold