Pipewire configuration in Void Linux

pipewire-void.md

Making Pipewire Work In Void Linux

Prerequisites

1. Install this tool to set $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR automatically

xbps-install -S dumb_runtime_dir

or

2. Add this line in your .zshenv to set the variable manually

export PIPEWIRE_RUNTIME_DIR=`mktemp -d $(id -u)-runtime-dir.XXX`

• choose either one of the two procedures shown above (1 or 2)
• pipewire-pulse requires $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR to be configured
• which is typically handled automatically by systemd-logind or elogind
• but since we are using runit as our init system this is necessary

Fix policy warnings

Real-time Policy Kit

xbps-install -S rtkit

pipewire on some systems may spew out warnings and permission issues about RTKit, this package is related to that issue. but I am yet to find the proper solution.

Autostarting

1. Desktop Applications Autostart Specification

xbps-install -S xdg-desktop-portal
mkdir $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autostart
ln -s /usr/share/applications/pipewire.desktop $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autostart/
ln -s /usr/share/applications/pipewire-pulse.desktop $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autostart/

or

2. Just use runit to start pipewire as root

ln -s /etc/sv/pipewire /var/service
ln -s /etc/sv/pipewire-pulse /var/service

• note that the void docs explicitly states that pipewire needs to be started as the current $USER, which means it is recommended to use the first method

sources:

https://docs.voidlinux.org/config/media/pipewire.html
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/PipeWire#Login_without_session_management
https://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/o74i76/pipewire_rtkit_warnings/
https://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/xs72hz/initializing_pipewire/