NAME¶
sndstat - Open Sound System status device
DESCRIPTION¶
/dev/sndstat is a text formatted device special file that returns information
about available (OSS) sound devices. This device file is obsolete and the
ossinfo(1) utility should be used instead.
Notice that the device numbering used in this file is different that the
official numbering used by
ossinfo(1) and some other utilities.
/dev/sndstat uses device numbers that match the "legacy" /dev/dspN,
/dev/midiN and /dev/mixerN device files.
Application programs should not use /dev/sndstat to obtain information about the
sound devices. The format of this file may change in the future and
/dev/sndstat may even be removed from OSS in distant future. OSS 4.0 and later
has an ioctl interface for getting detailed and reliable information about the
devices.
AUDIO USAGE HISTORY¶
/dev/sndstat reports some history information about previously run audio
applications. This section is a debugging aid for application developers and
it will be moved to the ossinfo program in the future.
For example:
History:
/dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm0.10: pid 6326 cmd 'error_test' OUT Play events:01009:2 Rec events:01002:0
/dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm0.10: pid 6329 cmd 'mpg123' OUT
/dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm0.10: pid 6329 cmd 'mpg123' OUT
/dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm0.10: pid 6329 cmd 'mpg123' OUT
Each line will show the the device name, PID and name of the application (if
known) and access mode (IN and/or OUT). There may also be additional info
about buffer underruns/overruns and other recording and playback related
events.
Each Play and rec events consist of 5-6 digit event code and a parameter
separated by a colon. A list of defined event codes and their explanations can
be found from
http://manuals.opensound.com/developer/oss_error_codes.html.
Purpose of these events is to inform application developers by potential
problems in their code.
COMPATIBILITY¶
/dev/sndstat has been available in all OSS versions. However in OSS 4.0 and
later this device file should only be used by applications written for earlier
OSS versions.
OPTIONS¶
None
Some applications use /dev/sndstat to find the audio devices available in the
system. This method is no longer recommended. Applications should use the
SNDCTL_AUDIOINFO(2) ioctl call to find the devices.
SEE ALSO¶
- •
- dsp(7) - Audio device files
- •
- mixer(7) - Mixer (control panel) device files
- •
- midi(7) - MIDI device files
FILES¶
/dev/sndstat
AUTHOR¶
4Front Technologies