Packaging scenarios

There are three scenarios (use cases) for JACK, related to D-Bus, from users point of view:

  • Classic JACK only (UNSUPPORTED in LADI project)

  • D-Bus only JACK

  • D-Bus JACK and Classic JACK mixture (UNSUPPORTED in LADI project)

Note All these scenarios don’t affect interaction of normal JACK programs (ardour, hydrogen, etc) with JACK server.

Apart from D-Bus only functionality availability, they affect JACK server auto-launching and thus overall user experience. If more than one scenario is supposed to be available for user, typically package "flavors" are used.

Scenario 1: Classic JACK only

Important This scenario is not supported by LADI project and is kept for reference.

This is the traditional scenario, pre jackdbus for jack1 and the one enabled with "classic" configure option of jackaudio/jack2 waf build system.

Server auto-launching is implemented as fork+exec (starting new process) of jackd executable - the classic JACK server launcher.

  • Pros:

    • This is the classic environment most current JACK users are aware of.

  • Cons:

    • User is blind about what happens with JACK server execution if it auto-started rather than manually started.

    • No JACK D-Bus only control/monitor applications can be used.

    • No audio card negotiation with PulseAudio.

Scenario 2: D-Bus only JACK

Server auto-launching is implemented as D-Bus call that auto-activates JACK D-Bus service, in case it is not already started, and starts the JACK server. Correct interaction with PulseAudio is done using a D-Bus based audio card "acquire/release" mechanism. When JACK server starts, it asks this D-Bus service to acquire the audio card and PulseAudio will unconditionally release it. When JACK server stops, it releases the audio card that can be grabbed again by PulseAudio.

  • Pros:

    • JACK D-Bus aware control/monitor applications can be used, resulting in much better [Linux] end-user (especially desktop) experience.

    • Audio card negotiation with PulseAudio.

  • Cons:

    • This is/was not the classic environment most current JACK users are/were aware of before year 2008.

    • If D-Bus session bus gets misconfigured/non-functional, user is not able to use JACK server before fixing it.

Scenario 3: D-Bus JACK and Classic JACK mixture

Important This scenario is not supported by LADI project and is kept for reference.

Both D-Bus launcher (jackdbus executable) and classic launcher (jackd executable) are installed. Server auto-launching is implemented as fork+exec (starting new process) of jackd executable - the classic JACK server launcher. Audio card negotiation with PulseAudio in implemented in jackdbus only.

  • Pros:

    • If D-Bus session bus gets misconfigured/non-functional, user is able to fallback to jackd, with its pros and cons.

    • User can start the JACK server both through jackdbus and jackd (and also through qjackctl when configured without jackdbus supoprt).

    • Audio card negotiation with PulseAudio if and only if jackdbus is used.

  • Cons:

    • non-dbus aware tools (like qjackctl when configured without jackdbus support) or auto-launching will start jackd, associated with:

      • User is blind about what happens with JACK server execution if jackd is autolaunched.

      • No JACK D-Bus aware control/monitor applications can be used. They will claim JACK server is not started (cannot be contacted) even when JACK server is actually running and normal JACK applications are connected and probably using it.

      • PulseAudio will not know whether JACK server is running

  • jackd and jackdbus will use different storage for JACK server configuration. jackd will be typically started through the ~/.jackdrc script or qjackctl. jackdbus reads and stores settings in ~/.config/jack/conf.xml

How to package jack-audio-connection-kit components (LADI jackdbus and others)

  • jack server frontend - virtual package provided by jackd and jackdbus packages

  • jack server (library) - package containing libjackserver.so at least. Maybe also: essential tools, drivers, inprocess clients.

  • jackd - package containing jackd binary. This package depends on jack server (library)

  • jackdbus - package containing jackdbus binary and jack_control script. This package depends on jack server (library)

  • jack client library - package containing libjack.so

  • jack client library dev - package containging headers and pkgconfig file for libjack.so

  • jack server library dev - package containging headers and pkgconfig file for libjackserver.so

jack client library and jack server (library) packages should be version coupled because they use internal IPC protocol that is not guaranteed to be compatible between versions.

All different releases of JACK should be considered internally incompatible - that is, it should never be considered possible to mix versions of the JACK server with other versions of the JACK library/ies, drivers or internal clients. Packaging should ensure that no packages associated with different releases of JACK are ever installed simultaneously. Especially, having two versions of libjack.so installed simultaneously, often causes JACK programs using one libjack version not being able to operate with JACK server of other version.

  • An app that uses jack as only audio interfaces, (jack_keyboard for example), depends on jack client library package and on the jack server frontend virtual package

  • An app that uses jack as alternative (not the only) audio interface, (mplayer for exmaple), depends on jack client library and suggests jack server frontend virtual package

  • ardour depends on jack client library and depends on jackd package, because it can start jack server through jackd binary.

  • qjackctl if built without jackdbus support (unsupported scenario in LADI project) depends on jack client library. If built with jackdbus, it depends on jack server frontend package. qjackctl can start jack server through either jackd or jackdbus binary.

  • laditools depends on jackdbus only

JACK server auto-start behaviour of libjack.so

While jack2 can be configured with auto-start of JACK server (through jackdbus) and this will cause creation of automatic studio in LADISH, autolaunching is better to not be used in jack modular scenarios with LADISH. Instead, initial auto-created studio can be achieved by starting jack server manually through jack_control start.

Note In case LADISH is not in effect, auto-starting behaviour of libjack depends on packager’s choice. See also the Packaging scenarios section and especially consider not to package the mix of both jackd and jackdbus (scenario 3).

Installation layout on a Linux system

Binaries

This includes:

  • jackdbus - The D-Bus frontend for JACK server

  • jack_control - Commandline frontend to jackdbus

They are to be installed in <PREFIX>/bin/.

Libraries

This includes:

  • libjack - library that JACK-aware client applications link to

  • libjackserver - library that JACK-aware server applications link to

The libjack, libjacknet and libjackserver libraries are to be installed in <PREFIX>/lib64/ (for 64-bit libraries) or <PREFIX>/lib/ (for 32-bit libraries).

SONAME of libjack is libjack.so.0, so symbolic link should be created, like this:

libjack.so.0 --> libjack.so.0.1.0
libjack.so.0.1.0

Depending on JACK server version, the libjack.so.0 symlink target will be different. libjack.so.0.1.0 is the version from JACK2.

Drivers

Jack drivers are installed into <PREFIX>/libexec/jack-driver/ as dynamic libraries.

In-process clients

In-process clients are installed into <PREFIX>/libexec/jack-internal/.

D-Bus service file

jackdbus service is auto-activated upon request through a D-Bus service file installed system-wide. The org.jackaudio.service file instructs the D-Bus session bus how to activate the JACK controller object upon request.

By default the org.jackaudio.service file is installed in <PREFIX>/share/dbus-1/services/.

Note When not built as system-wide installed sesion bus D-Bus service, jackdbus build can be configured with --enable-pkg-config-dbus-service-dir parameter, so to use the system-wide D-Bus service directory anyway. The --enable-pkg-config-dbus-service-dir can be used for weird scenarios but is not supported by LADI project. Packgers are strongly advised to not suppy this parameter during configure stage. If the service file is installed in a different prefix, the D-Bus session bus daemon configuration should be adjusted so to search in the appropriate directory.

Headers

C headers are installed in a JACK specific header directory, <PREFIX>/include/jack/.

pkg-config

jack.pc is to be installed installed in <PREFIX>/lib64/pkgconfig/ (for 64-bit) or <PREFIX>/lib/pkgconfig/ (for 32-bit).

User documentation

Man pages are installed in <PREFIX>/share/man/man1/.

Development documentation

HTML documentation is installed in a JACK specific directory <PREFIX>/share/jack-audio-connection-kit.

The index file of the HTML documentation is in <PREFIX>/share/jack-audio-connection-kit/reference/html/.

Filesystem relocation

Some unusual things related to installation relocateability:

  • in-process clients and drivers are loaded from a fixed path (<PREFIX>/lib/jack/), specified literally during build. Drivers load directory may be overridden using the JACK_DRIVER_DIR environment variable. At the moment there is no way to override the in-process client directory.

  • The D-Bus session bus daemon configuration may need modification to be able to auto-activate the JACK controller service.

  • The jack.pc file contains <PREFIX>.