[webkit-gtk] Webkit seizes sound device

[Jeffrey Barish]

On Saturday, 30 November 2013 14:06:59 Calvin Morrison wrote:
> Hi Jeff,
> 
> Why not use a sound layer that supports multiple inputs? Jack works
> well, as does PulseAudio (even alsa can handle multiple inputs with
> some niggling)
> 
> Calvin
> 
> On 30 November 2013 12:00, Jeffrey Barish <jeff_barish at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Apologies to those who have seen this message on the webkit mailing list. 
> > I erroneously subscribed to that list before understanding that I should
> > have subscribed to this one.
> > 
> > When I visit a web page that wants to play a sound, webkit opens the sound
> > device and never lets go of it until I navigate away from the page.  I
> > would like for webkit not to open the sound device (and to ignore any
> > play request, obviously).  Is there a way to tell webkit globally that it
> > should ignore all sounds and never, ever open the sound device?
> > 
> > I am on Lubuntu 12.04.  webkit appears to be 1.0.
> > 
> > I found the enable_webaudio property in WebSettings.  It seemed as if it
> > would solve my problem, but it was already at its default value (False).
> > 
> > I tried changing some settings in dconf-editor:
> > 
> > org | gnome | desktop | media-handling | autorun-never -> ticked
> > org | gnome | desktop | media-handling | autorun-x-content-ignore ->
> > ['audio/ogg']
> > desktop | gstreamer | 0.10 | default-elements |
> > {chat,music,sounds}-audiosink -> fakesink
> > 
> > all to no avail.  Any suggestions?  My best idea at this point is to
> > filter the <audio></audio> item out of the html, but I think that's a
> > pretty bad idea.

Well, I don't want the sound from webkit to come out, so it seems a little 
circuitous to add a sound layer that supports multiple inputs just so that I 
can turn off all the inputs but one.  I'm sure your suggestion is valid, it 
just seems as if there ought to be an easier way -- something like setting 
enable_webaudio to false.  I appreciate the reply, though.