alsa-base not installing

rl5 · 04-29-2004, 03:31 PM

disclaimer: I wasn't sure if this should go into distros - Debian since it involves alsa, which is why I posted here.

I am running Debian 3.0r2 with a 2.6.5. kernel, and I complied alsa support into the kernel. I am using an Aureal Vortex 8810 sound card. I used dselect to install alsa-utils and alsa-base, but I am unable to get alba-base to install - dselect installation fails with this error message:

Setting up alsa-base (1.0.4-2) ...
Note: Moving to /etc/default/alsa
mv: missing file argument
Try `mv --help' for more information.
dpkg: error processing alsa-base (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
alsa-base
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
Some errors occurred while unpacking. I'm going to configure the
packages that were installed. This may result in duplicate errors
or errors caused by missing dependencies. This is OK, only the errors
above this message are important. Please fix them and run [I]nstall again
Press enter to continue.

I have done my research on this but can't find a solution that works for my system. I also am a bit confused about what alsa components I should install - some of the messages I have read imply that when alsa is bult into the 2.6.5. kernel, that there is no need to install alsa-base, -utilities, etc. So I'm hoping one of you Linux uber-geeks can point me in the right direction. <g>

Thanks.

Clément XVII · 05-02-2004, 02:41 AM

Hi rl5,

You posted at the right place, I just installed the latest sarge from scratch yesterday, and discovered I had the same problem as you: when running apt-get install alsa-base, I got the following.

Code:

Note: Moving to /etc/default/alsa
mv: missing file argument
Try `mv --help' for more information.

So I thought, ok, maybe it tries to move the config file from another location to the new one (/etc/default/alsa), and as I'm installing from scratch, I don't have the old file?

I googled a bit, and found this on the debian package changelog:

(...)
Move /etc/alsa/alsa-base.conf to /etc/default/alsa
(...)

So the correct command should be 'mv /etc/alsa/alsa-base.conf /etc/default/alsa', but the problem is that the /etc/alsa/alsa-base.conf isn't present on the system!

So, a quick look into the alsa-base package description for sarge showed me that there is a config file for alsa located in /usr/share/alsa-base/alsa-base.conf!

So, all you have to do is the following:

Code:

apt-get install alsa-base
(you'll get the error message about configuring, but don't worry, it won't stay long)
cp /usr/share/alsa-base/alsa-base.conf /etc/alsa/alsa-base.conf
apt-get install alsa-base

Or you can alternatively run dpkg-reconfigure alsa-base.

Now it should work!

[EDIT:] Please note that you also need the alsa-source package to configure your card!