man/pulseaudio.1.xml.in - pulseaudio - Git at Google


            
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            <!DOCTYPE manpage SYSTEM "xmltoman.dtd">

            
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            This file is part of PulseAudio.


            PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

            
            under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as

            
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            License, or (at your option) any later version.


            PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

            
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            or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General

            
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            <manpage name="pulseaudio" section="1" desc="The PulseAudio Sound System">


              <synopsis>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio [<arg>options</arg>]</cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--help</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--version</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--dump-conf</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--dump-modules</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--dump-resample-methods</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--cleanup-shm</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--start</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--kill</opt></cmd>

            
                <cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--check</opt></cmd>

            
              </synopsis>


              <description>

            
                <p>PulseAudio is a networked low-latency sound server for Linux, POSIX and Windows systems.</p>

            
              </description>


              <options>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-h | --help</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Show help.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--version</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Show version information.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--dump-conf</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Load the daemon configuration file

            
                  <file>daemon.conf</file> (see below), parse remaining

            
                  configuration options on the command line and dump the resulting

            
                  daemon configuration, in a format that is compatible with

            
                  <file>daemon.conf</file>.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--dump-modules</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>List available loadable modules. Combine with

            
                  <opt>-v</opt> for a more elaborate listing.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--dump-resample-methods</opt></p>

            
                  <optdesc><p>List available audio resamplers.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--cleanup-shm</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Identify stale PulseAudio POSIX shared memory

            
                  segments in <file>/dev/shm</file> and remove them if

            
                  possible. This is done implicitly whenever a new daemon starts

            
                  up or a client tries to connect to a daemon. It should normally

            
                  not be necessary to issue this command by hand. Only available

            
                  on systems with POSIX shared memory segments implemented via a

            
                  virtual file system mounted to <file>/dev/shm</file>

            
                  (e.g. Linux).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--start</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Start PulseAudio if it is not running yet. This is

            
                  different from starting PulseAudio without <opt>--start</opt>

            
                  which would fail if PA is already running. PulseAudio is

            
                  guaranteed to be fully initialized when this call

            
                  returns. Implies <opt>--daemonize</opt>.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-k | --kill</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Kill an already running PulseAudio daemon of the

            
                  calling user (Equivalent to sending a SIGTERM).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--check</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Return 0 as return code when the PulseAudio daemon

            
                  is already running for the calling user, or non-zero

            
                  otherwise. Produces no output on the console except for errors

            
                  to stderr.</p>


                  <p>Note that a non-zero return value doesn't necessarily mean that

            
                  PulseAudio is not usable. Even if the server is not running, it

            
                  may get automatically started via PulseAudio's autospawning

            
                  mechanism or systemd's socket activation, or the environment might

            
                  be such that checking for processes doesn't work (for example, the

            
                  running server might not show up in a container, even if the

            
                  server is accessible via a socket). Also disabling PID files with

            
                  <opt>--use-pid-file=no</opt> prevents <opt>--check</opt> from

            
                  detecting running servers.</p>


                  <p>A more robust check in most situations would be to try

            
                  establishing a client connection to the server. Unfortunately

            
                  there's currently no <opt>--check-connection</opt> option to

            
                  replace <opt>--check</opt>, but running "pactl info" could be a

            
                  pretty good substitute.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--system</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Run as system-wide instance instead of

            
                  per-user. Please note that this disables certain features of

            
                  PulseAudio and is generally not recommended unless the system

            
                  knows no local users (e.g. is a thin client). This feature needs

            
                  special configuration and a dedicated UNIX user set up. It is

            
                  highly recommended to combine this with

            
                  <opt>--disallow-module-loading</opt> (see below).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-D | --daemonize</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Daemonize after startup, i.e. detach from the

            
                  terminal. Note that when running as a systemd service you should

            
                  use <opt>--daemonize=no</opt> for systemd notification to work.

            
                  </p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--fail</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Fail startup when any of the commands specified in

            
                  the startup script <file>default.pa</file> (see below)

            
                  fails.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--high-priority</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Try to acquire a high Unix nice level. This will

            
                  only succeed if the calling user has a non-zero RLIMIT_NICE

            
                  resource limit set (on systems that support this), or we're

            
                  configured to be run as

            
                  system daemon (see <arg>--system</arg> above). It is recommended

            
                  to enable this, since it is only a negligible security risk (see

            
                  below).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--realtime</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Try to acquire a real-time scheduling for

            
                  PulseAudio's I/O threads. This will only succeed if the calling

            
                  user has a non-zero RLIMIT_RTPRIO resource limit set (on systems

            
                  that support this), or rtkit is available and allows PulseAudio

            
                  to enable real-time scheduling, or we are configured to be run as

            
                  system daemon (see <arg>--system</arg> above).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--disallow-module-loading</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Disallow module loading after startup. This is a

            
                  security feature since it disallows additional module loading

            
                  during runtime and on user request. It is highly recommended

            
                  when <arg>--system</arg> is used (see above). Note however, that

            
                  this breaks certain features like automatic module loading on hot

            
                  plug.</p></optdesc>


                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--disallow-exit</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Disallow user requested exit</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--exit-idle-time</opt><arg>=SECS</arg></p>


                  <optdesc>

            
                    <p>Terminate the daemon after the last client quit and this time in

            
                    seconds passed. Use a negative value to disable this feature. Defaults

            
                    to 20.</p>


                    <p>When PulseAudio runs in the per-user mode and detects a login

            
                    session, then any positive value will be reset to 0 so that PulseAudio

            
                    will terminate immediately on logout. A positive value therefore has

            
                    effect only in environments where there's no support for login session

            
                    tracking (or if the user is logged in without a session spawned,

            
                    a.k.a. lingering). A negative value can still be used to disable any

            
                    automatic exit.</p>


                    <p>When PulseAudio runs in the system mode, automatic exit is always

            
                    disabled, so this option does nothing.</p>

            
                  </optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--scache-idle-time</opt><arg>=SECS</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Unload autoloaded samples from the cache when they

            
                  haven't been used for the specified number of

            
                  seconds.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--log-level</opt><arg>[=LEVEL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>If an argument is passed, set the log level to the

            
                  specified value, otherwise increase the configured verbosity

            
                  level by one. The log levels are numerical from 0 to 4,

            
                  corresponding to <arg>error</arg>, <arg>warn</arg>,

            
                  <arg>notice</arg>, <arg>info</arg>, <arg>debug</arg>. Default

            
                  log level is <arg>notice</arg>, i.e. all log messages with lower

            
                  log levels are printed: <arg>error</arg>, <arg>warn</arg>,

            
                  <arg>notice</arg>.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-v | --verbose</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Increase the configured verbosity level by one (see

            
                  <opt>--log-level</opt> above). Specify multiple times to

            
                  increase log level multiple times.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--log-target</opt><arg>={auto,syslog,journal,stderr,file:PATH,newfile:PATH}</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Specify the log target. If set to <arg>auto</arg>

            
                  (which is the default), then logging is directed to syslog when

            
                  <opt>--daemonize</opt> is passed, otherwise to

            
                  STDERR. If set to <arg>journal</arg> logging is directed to the systemd

            
                  journal. If set to <arg>file:PATH</arg>, logging is directed to

            
                  the file indicated by PATH. <arg>newfile:PATH</arg> is otherwise

            
                  the same as file:PATH, but existing files are never overwritten.

            
                  If the specified file already exists, a suffix is added to the

            
                  file name to avoid overwriting.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--log-meta</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Show source code location in log messages.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--log-time</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Show timestamps in log messages.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--log-backtrace</opt><arg>=FRAMES</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>When FRAMES is greater than 0, log for each message a

            
                  stack trace up to the number of specified stack frames.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-p | --dl-search-path</opt><arg>=PATH</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Set the search path for dynamic shared objects

            
                  (plugins).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--resample-method</opt><arg>=METHOD</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Use the specified resampler by default (See

            
                  <opt>--dump-resample-methods</opt> above for possible

            
                  values).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--use-pid-file</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Create a PID file. If this options is disabled it is possible to run multiple sound servers per user.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--no-cpu-limit</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Do not install CPU load limiter on platforms that

            
                  support it. By default, PulseAudio will terminate itself when it

            
                  notices that it takes up too much CPU time. This is useful as a

            
                  protection against system lockups when real-time scheduling is

            
                  used (see below). Disabling this mechanism is useful when

            
                  debugging PulseAudio with tools like <manref name="valgrind"

            
                  section="1"/> which slow down execution.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--disable-shm</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>PulseAudio clients and the server can exchange audio

            
                  data via POSIX or memfd shared memory segments (on systems that

            
                  support this). If disabled PulseAudio will communicate exclusively

            
                  over sockets. Please note that data transfer via shared memory

            
                  segments is always disabled when PulseAudio is running with

            
                  <opt>--system</opt> enabled (see above).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>--enable-memfd</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>PulseAudio clients and the server can exchange audio

            
                  data via memfds - the anonymous Linux Kernel shared memory mechanism

            
                  (on kernels that support this). If disabled PulseAudio will

            
                  communicate via POSIX shared memory.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-L | --load</opt><arg>="MODULE ARGUMENTS"</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Load the specified plugin module with the specified

            
                  arguments.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-F | --file</opt><arg>=FILENAME</arg></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Run the specified script on startup. May be

            
                  specified multiple times to specify multiple scripts to be run

            
                  in order. Combine with <opt>-n</opt> to disable loading of the

            
                  default script <file>default.pa</file> (see below).</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>

            
                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-C</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Open a command interpreter on STDIN/STDOUT after

            
                  startup. This may be used to configure PulseAudio dynamically

            
                  during runtime. Equivalent to

            
                  <opt>--load</opt><arg>=module-cli</arg>.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>

            
                <option>

            
                  <p><opt>-n</opt></p>


                  <optdesc><p>Don't load default script file

            
                  <file>default.pa</file> (see below) on startup. Useful in

            
                  conjunction with <opt>-C</opt> or

            
                  <opt>--file</opt>.</p></optdesc>

            
                </option>


              </options>


              <section name="Files">


                <p><file>~/.config/pulse/daemon.conf</file>,

            
                <file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/daemon.conf</file>: configuration settings

            
                for the PulseAudio daemon. If the version in the user's home

            
                directory does not exist the global configuration file is

            
                loaded. See <manref name="pulse-daemon.conf" section="5"/> for

            
                more information.</p>


                <p><file>~/.config/pulse/default.pa</file>,

            
                <file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/default.pa</file>: the default configuration

            
                script to execute when the PulseAudio daemon is started. If the

            
                version in the user's home directory does not exist the global

            
                configuration script is loaded. See <manref name="default.pa"

            
                section="5"/> for more information.</p>


                <p><file>~/.config/pulse/client.conf</file>,

            
                <file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/client.conf</file>: configuration settings

            
                for PulseAudio client applications. If the version in the user's

            
                home directory does not exist the global configuration file is

            
                loaded.  See <manref name="pulse-client.conf" section="5"/> for

            
                more information.</p>


              </section>


              <section name="Signals">


                <p><arg>SIGINT, SIGTERM</arg>: the PulseAudio daemon will shut

            
                down (Same as <opt>--kill</opt>).</p>


                <p><arg>SIGHUP</arg>: dump a long status report to STDOUT or

            
                syslog, depending on the configuration.</p>


                <p><arg>SIGUSR1</arg>: load module-cli, allowing runtime

            
                reconfiguration via STDIN/STDOUT.</p>


                <p><arg>SIGUSR2</arg>: load module-cli-protocol-unix, allowing

            
                runtime reconfiguration via a AF_UNIX socket. See <manref

            
                name="pacmd" section="1"/> for more information.</p>


              </section>


              <section name="UNIX Groups and users">


                <p>Group <arg>pulse-access</arg>: if PulseAudio is running as a system

            
                daemon (see <opt>--system</opt> above) access is granted to

            
                members of this group when they connect via AF_UNIX sockets. If

            
                PulseAudio is running as a user daemon this group has no

            
                meaning.</p>


                <p>User <arg>pulse</arg>, group <arg>pulse</arg>: if PulseAudio is running as a system

            
                daemon (see <opt>--system</opt> above) and is started as root the

            
                daemon will drop privileges and become a normal user process using

            
                this user and group. If PulseAudio is running as a user daemon

            
                this user and group has no meaning.</p>

            
              </section>


              <section name="Real-time and high-priority scheduling">

            
                <p>To minimize the risk of drop-outs during playback it is

            
                recommended to run PulseAudio with real-time scheduling if the

            
                underlying platform supports it. This decouples the scheduling

            
                latency of the PulseAudio daemon from the system load and is thus

            
                the best way to make sure that PulseAudio always gets CPU time

            
                when it needs it to refill the hardware playback

            
                buffers. Unfortunately this can be a security risk on some systems,

            
                since PulseAudio runs as user process, and giving realtime

            
                scheduling privileges to a user always comes with the risk

            
                that the user misuses it to lock up the system -- which is

            
                possible since making a process real-time effectively disables

            
                preemption. To solve this problem, PulseAudio uses rtkit to safely

            
                acquire real-time scheduling when available.</p>


                <p>If the risk of locking up the machine is

            
                considered too big to enable real-time scheduling, high-priority

            
                scheduling can be enabled instead (i.e. negative nice level). This

            
                can be enabled by passing <opt>--high-priority</opt> (see above)

            
                when starting PulseAudio and may also be enabled with the

            
                appropriate option in <file>daemon.conf</file>. Negative nice

            
                levels can only be enabled when the appropriate resource limit

            
                RLIMIT_NICE is set (see <manref name="setrlimit" section="2"/> for

            
                more information), possibly configured in

            
                <file>/etc/security/limits.conf</file>. A resource limit of 31

            
                (corresponding with nice level -11) is recommended.</p>

            
              </section>


              <section name="Environment variables">


                <p>The PulseAudio client libraries check for the existence of the

            
                following environment variables and change their local configuration accordingly:</p>


                <p><arg>$PULSE_SERVER</arg>: the server string specifying the server

            
                to connect to when a client asks for a sound server connection and doesn't

            
                explicitly ask for a specific server. The server string is a list of

            
                server addresses separated by whitespace which are tried in turn. A server

            
                address consists of an optional address type specifier (unix:, tcp:, tcp4:,

            
                tcp6:), followed by a path or host address. A host address may include an

            
                optional port number. A server address may be prefixed by a string enclosed

            
                in {}. In this case the following server address is ignored unless the prefix

            
                string equals the local hostname or the machine id (/etc/machine-id).</p>


                <p><arg>$PULSE_SINK</arg>: the symbolic name of the sink to connect to when a client creates a playback stream and doesn't explicitly ask for a specific sink.</p>


                <p><arg>$PULSE_SOURCE</arg>: the symbolic name of the source to connect to when a client creates a record stream and doesn't explicitly ask for a specific source.</p>


                <p><arg>$PULSE_BINARY</arg>: path of PulseAudio executable to run when server auto-spawning is used.</p>


                <p><arg>$PULSE_CLIENTCONFIG</arg>: path of file that shall be read instead of <file>client.conf</file> (see above) for client configuration.</p>


                <p><arg>$PULSE_COOKIE</arg>: path of file that contains the PulseAudio

            
                authentication cookie. Defaults to <file>~/.config/pulse/cookie</file>.</p>


                <p>These environment settings take precedence -- if set -- over the configuration settings from <file>client.conf</file> (see above).</p>


              </section>


              <section name="Authors">

            
                <p>The PulseAudio Developers &lt;@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@&gt;; PulseAudio is available from <url href="@PACKAGE_URL@"/></p>

            
              </section>


              <section name="See also">

            
                <p>

            
                  <manref name="pulse-daemon.conf" section="5"/>, <manref name="default.pa" section="5"/>, <manref name="pulse-client.conf" section="5"/>, <manref name="pacmd" section="1"/>

            
                </p>

            
              </section>


            </manpage>
	<?xml version="1.0"?><!---nxml--->
	<!DOCTYPE manpage SYSTEM "xmltoman.dtd">
	<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="xmltoman.xsl" ?>

	<!--
	This file is part of PulseAudio.

	PulseAudio is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
	under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as
	published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the
	License, or (at your option) any later version.

	PulseAudio is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
	ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
	or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General
	Public License for more details.

	You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
	License along with PulseAudio; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
	-->

	<manpage name="pulseaudio" section="1" desc="The PulseAudio Sound System">

	<synopsis>
	<cmd>pulseaudio [<arg>options</arg>]</cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--help</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--version</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--dump-conf</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--dump-modules</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--dump-resample-methods</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--cleanup-shm</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--start</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--kill</opt></cmd>
	<cmd>pulseaudio <opt>--check</opt></cmd>
	</synopsis>

	<description>
	<p>PulseAudio is a networked low-latency sound server for Linux, POSIX and Windows systems.</p>
	</description>

	<options>

	<option>
	<p><opt>-h \| --help</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Show help.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--version</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Show version information.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--dump-conf</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Load the daemon configuration file
	<file>daemon.conf</file> (see below), parse remaining
	configuration options on the command line and dump the resulting
	daemon configuration, in a format that is compatible with
	<file>daemon.conf</file>.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--dump-modules</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>List available loadable modules. Combine with
	<opt>-v</opt> for a more elaborate listing.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--dump-resample-methods</opt></p>
	<optdesc><p>List available audio resamplers.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--cleanup-shm</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Identify stale PulseAudio POSIX shared memory
	segments in <file>/dev/shm</file> and remove them if
	possible. This is done implicitly whenever a new daemon starts
	up or a client tries to connect to a daemon. It should normally
	not be necessary to issue this command by hand. Only available
	on systems with POSIX shared memory segments implemented via a
	virtual file system mounted to <file>/dev/shm</file>
	(e.g. Linux).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--start</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Start PulseAudio if it is not running yet. This is
	different from starting PulseAudio without <opt>--start</opt>
	which would fail if PA is already running. PulseAudio is
	guaranteed to be fully initialized when this call
	returns. Implies <opt>--daemonize</opt>.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>-k \| --kill</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Kill an already running PulseAudio daemon of the
	calling user (Equivalent to sending a SIGTERM).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--check</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Return 0 as return code when the PulseAudio daemon
	is already running for the calling user, or non-zero
	otherwise. Produces no output on the console except for errors
	to stderr.</p>

	<p>Note that a non-zero return value doesn't necessarily mean that
	PulseAudio is not usable. Even if the server is not running, it
	may get automatically started via PulseAudio's autospawning
	mechanism or systemd's socket activation, or the environment might
	be such that checking for processes doesn't work (for example, the
	running server might not show up in a container, even if the
	server is accessible via a socket). Also disabling PID files with
	<opt>--use-pid-file=no</opt> prevents <opt>--check</opt> from
	detecting running servers.</p>

	<p>A more robust check in most situations would be to try
	establishing a client connection to the server. Unfortunately
	there's currently no <opt>--check-connection</opt> option to
	replace <opt>--check</opt>, but running "pactl info" could be a
	pretty good substitute.</p></optdesc>
	</option>


	<option>
	<p><opt>--system</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Run as system-wide instance instead of
	per-user. Please note that this disables certain features of
	PulseAudio and is generally not recommended unless the system
	knows no local users (e.g. is a thin client). This feature needs
	special configuration and a dedicated UNIX user set up. It is
	highly recommended to combine this with
	<opt>--disallow-module-loading</opt> (see below).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>-D \| --daemonize</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Daemonize after startup, i.e. detach from the
	terminal. Note that when running as a systemd service you should
	use <opt>--daemonize=no</opt> for systemd notification to work.
	</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--fail</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Fail startup when any of the commands specified in
	the startup script <file>default.pa</file> (see below)
	fails.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--high-priority</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Try to acquire a high Unix nice level. This will
	only succeed if the calling user has a non-zero RLIMIT_NICE
	resource limit set (on systems that support this), or we're
	configured to be run as
	system daemon (see <arg>--system</arg> above). It is recommended
	to enable this, since it is only a negligible security risk (see
	below).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--realtime</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Try to acquire a real-time scheduling for
	PulseAudio's I/O threads. This will only succeed if the calling
	user has a non-zero RLIMIT_RTPRIO resource limit set (on systems
	that support this), or rtkit is available and allows PulseAudio
	to enable real-time scheduling, or we are configured to be run as
	system daemon (see <arg>--system</arg> above).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--disallow-module-loading</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Disallow module loading after startup. This is a
	security feature since it disallows additional module loading
	during runtime and on user request. It is highly recommended
	when <arg>--system</arg> is used (see above). Note however, that
	this breaks certain features like automatic module loading on hot
	plug.</p></optdesc>

	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--disallow-exit</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Disallow user requested exit</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--exit-idle-time</opt><arg>=SECS</arg></p>

	<optdesc>
	<p>Terminate the daemon after the last client quit and this time in
	seconds passed. Use a negative value to disable this feature. Defaults
	to 20.</p>

	<p>When PulseAudio runs in the per-user mode and detects a login
	session, then any positive value will be reset to 0 so that PulseAudio
	will terminate immediately on logout. A positive value therefore has
	effect only in environments where there's no support for login session
	tracking (or if the user is logged in without a session spawned,
	a.k.a. lingering). A negative value can still be used to disable any
	automatic exit.</p>

	<p>When PulseAudio runs in the system mode, automatic exit is always
	disabled, so this option does nothing.</p>
	</optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--scache-idle-time</opt><arg>=SECS</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Unload autoloaded samples from the cache when they
	haven't been used for the specified number of
	seconds.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--log-level</opt><arg>[=LEVEL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>If an argument is passed, set the log level to the
	specified value, otherwise increase the configured verbosity
	level by one. The log levels are numerical from 0 to 4,
	corresponding to <arg>error</arg>, <arg>warn</arg>,
	<arg>notice</arg>, <arg>info</arg>, <arg>debug</arg>. Default
	log level is <arg>notice</arg>, i.e. all log messages with lower
	log levels are printed: <arg>error</arg>, <arg>warn</arg>,
	<arg>notice</arg>.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>-v \| --verbose</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Increase the configured verbosity level by one (see
	<opt>--log-level</opt> above). Specify multiple times to
	increase log level multiple times.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--log-target</opt><arg>={auto,syslog,journal,stderr,file:PATH,newfile:PATH}</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Specify the log target. If set to <arg>auto</arg>
	(which is the default), then logging is directed to syslog when
	<opt>--daemonize</opt> is passed, otherwise to
	STDERR. If set to <arg>journal</arg> logging is directed to the systemd
	journal. If set to <arg>file:PATH</arg>, logging is directed to
	the file indicated by PATH. <arg>newfile:PATH</arg> is otherwise
	the same as file:PATH, but existing files are never overwritten.
	If the specified file already exists, a suffix is added to the
	file name to avoid overwriting.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--log-meta</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Show source code location in log messages.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--log-time</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Show timestamps in log messages.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--log-backtrace</opt><arg>=FRAMES</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>When FRAMES is greater than 0, log for each message a
	stack trace up to the number of specified stack frames.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>-p \| --dl-search-path</opt><arg>=PATH</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Set the search path for dynamic shared objects
	(plugins).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--resample-method</opt><arg>=METHOD</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Use the specified resampler by default (See
	<opt>--dump-resample-methods</opt> above for possible
	values).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--use-pid-file</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Create a PID file. If this options is disabled it is possible to run multiple sound servers per user.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--no-cpu-limit</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Do not install CPU load limiter on platforms that
	support it. By default, PulseAudio will terminate itself when it
	notices that it takes up too much CPU time. This is useful as a
	protection against system lockups when real-time scheduling is
	used (see below). Disabling this mechanism is useful when
	debugging PulseAudio with tools like <manref name="valgrind"
	section="1"/> which slow down execution.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--disable-shm</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>PulseAudio clients and the server can exchange audio
	data via POSIX or memfd shared memory segments (on systems that
	support this). If disabled PulseAudio will communicate exclusively
	over sockets. Please note that data transfer via shared memory
	segments is always disabled when PulseAudio is running with
	<opt>--system</opt> enabled (see above).</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>--enable-memfd</opt><arg>[=BOOL]</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>PulseAudio clients and the server can exchange audio
	data via memfds - the anonymous Linux Kernel shared memory mechanism
	(on kernels that support this). If disabled PulseAudio will
	communicate via POSIX shared memory.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>-L \| --load</opt><arg>="MODULE ARGUMENTS"</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Load the specified plugin module with the specified
	arguments.</p></optdesc>
	</option>

	<option>
	<p><opt>-F \| --file</opt><arg>=FILENAME</arg></p>

	<optdesc><p>Run the specified script on startup. May be
	specified multiple times to specify multiple scripts to be run
	in order. Combine with <opt>-n</opt> to disable loading of the
	default script <file>default.pa</file> (see below).</p></optdesc>
	</option>
	<option>
	<p><opt>-C</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Open a command interpreter on STDIN/STDOUT after
	startup. This may be used to configure PulseAudio dynamically
	during runtime. Equivalent to
	<opt>--load</opt><arg>=module-cli</arg>.</p></optdesc>
	</option>
	<option>
	<p><opt>-n</opt></p>

	<optdesc><p>Don't load default script file
	<file>default.pa</file> (see below) on startup. Useful in
	conjunction with <opt>-C</opt> or
	<opt>--file</opt>.</p></optdesc>
	</option>


	</options>

	<section name="Files">

	<p><file>~/.config/pulse/daemon.conf</file>,
	<file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/daemon.conf</file>: configuration settings
	for the PulseAudio daemon. If the version in the user's home
	directory does not exist the global configuration file is
	loaded. See <manref name="pulse-daemon.conf" section="5"/> for
	more information.</p>

	<p><file>~/.config/pulse/default.pa</file>,
	<file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/default.pa</file>: the default configuration
	script to execute when the PulseAudio daemon is started. If the
	version in the user's home directory does not exist the global
	configuration script is loaded. See <manref name="default.pa"
	section="5"/> for more information.</p>

	<p><file>~/.config/pulse/client.conf</file>,
	<file>@PA_DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR@/client.conf</file>: configuration settings
	for PulseAudio client applications. If the version in the user's
	home directory does not exist the global configuration file is
	loaded. See <manref name="pulse-client.conf" section="5"/> for
	more information.</p>

	</section>

	<section name="Signals">

	<p><arg>SIGINT, SIGTERM</arg>: the PulseAudio daemon will shut
	down (Same as <opt>--kill</opt>).</p>

	<p><arg>SIGHUP</arg>: dump a long status report to STDOUT or
	syslog, depending on the configuration.</p>

	<p><arg>SIGUSR1</arg>: load module-cli, allowing runtime
	reconfiguration via STDIN/STDOUT.</p>

	<p><arg>SIGUSR2</arg>: load module-cli-protocol-unix, allowing
	runtime reconfiguration via a AF_UNIX socket. See <manref
	name="pacmd" section="1"/> for more information.</p>

	</section>

	<section name="UNIX Groups and users">

	<p>Group <arg>pulse-access</arg>: if PulseAudio is running as a system
	daemon (see <opt>--system</opt> above) access is granted to
	members of this group when they connect via AF_UNIX sockets. If
	PulseAudio is running as a user daemon this group has no
	meaning.</p>

	<p>User <arg>pulse</arg>, group <arg>pulse</arg>: if PulseAudio is running as a system
	daemon (see <opt>--system</opt> above) and is started as root the
	daemon will drop privileges and become a normal user process using
	this user and group. If PulseAudio is running as a user daemon
	this user and group has no meaning.</p>
	</section>

	<section name="Real-time and high-priority scheduling">
	<p>To minimize the risk of drop-outs during playback it is
	recommended to run PulseAudio with real-time scheduling if the
	underlying platform supports it. This decouples the scheduling
	latency of the PulseAudio daemon from the system load and is thus
	the best way to make sure that PulseAudio always gets CPU time
	when it needs it to refill the hardware playback
	buffers. Unfortunately this can be a security risk on some systems,
	since PulseAudio runs as user process, and giving realtime
	scheduling privileges to a user always comes with the risk
	that the user misuses it to lock up the system -- which is
	possible since making a process real-time effectively disables
	preemption. To solve this problem, PulseAudio uses rtkit to safely
	acquire real-time scheduling when available.</p>

	<p>If the risk of locking up the machine is
	considered too big to enable real-time scheduling, high-priority
	scheduling can be enabled instead (i.e. negative nice level). This
	can be enabled by passing <opt>--high-priority</opt> (see above)
	when starting PulseAudio and may also be enabled with the
	appropriate option in <file>daemon.conf</file>. Negative nice
	levels can only be enabled when the appropriate resource limit
	RLIMIT_NICE is set (see <manref name="setrlimit" section="2"/> for
	more information), possibly configured in
	<file>/etc/security/limits.conf</file>. A resource limit of 31
	(corresponding with nice level -11) is recommended.</p>
	</section>

	<section name="Environment variables">

	<p>The PulseAudio client libraries check for the existence of the
	following environment variables and change their local configuration accordingly:</p>

	<p><arg>$PULSE_SERVER</arg>: the server string specifying the server
	to connect to when a client asks for a sound server connection and doesn't
	explicitly ask for a specific server. The server string is a list of
	server addresses separated by whitespace which are tried in turn. A server
	address consists of an optional address type specifier (unix:, tcp:, tcp4:,
	tcp6:), followed by a path or host address. A host address may include an
	optional port number. A server address may be prefixed by a string enclosed
	in {}. In this case the following server address is ignored unless the prefix
	string equals the local hostname or the machine id (/etc/machine-id).</p>

	<p><arg>$PULSE_SINK</arg>: the symbolic name of the sink to connect to when a client creates a playback stream and doesn't explicitly ask for a specific sink.</p>

	<p><arg>$PULSE_SOURCE</arg>: the symbolic name of the source to connect to when a client creates a record stream and doesn't explicitly ask for a specific source.</p>

	<p><arg>$PULSE_BINARY</arg>: path of PulseAudio executable to run when server auto-spawning is used.</p>

	<p><arg>$PULSE_CLIENTCONFIG</arg>: path of file that shall be read instead of <file>client.conf</file> (see above) for client configuration.</p>

	<p><arg>$PULSE_COOKIE</arg>: path of file that contains the PulseAudio
	authentication cookie. Defaults to <file>~/.config/pulse/cookie</file>.</p>

	<p>These environment settings take precedence -- if set -- over the configuration settings from <file>client.conf</file> (see above).</p>

	</section>

	<section name="Authors">
	<p>The PulseAudio Developers <@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@>; PulseAudio is available from <url href="@PACKAGE_URL@"/></p>
	</section>

	<section name="See also">
	<p>
	<manref name="pulse-daemon.conf" section="5"/>, <manref name="default.pa" section="5"/>, <manref name="pulse-client.conf" section="5"/>, <manref name="pacmd" section="1"/>
	</p>
	</section>

	</manpage>