9

I am using ArchLinux with i3. I recently switched from PulseAudio to Pipewire, since I want to switch also to Wayland and Sway in the near future.

For now, Pipewire works perfectly. Nevertheless, I have a little problem.

I am using audio devices with the same Description, so I cannot distinguish them in Pavucontrol for example. Using Pulse, I wrote an update-sink-proplist statement into my local default.pa file.

Does someone know, how to do this with Pipewire, i.e. how can I change the description of a device, if this device is connected.

Currently, I am using the default configuration of Pipewire.

My approaches:

  • I guess this probably works with pw-metadata, but I did not find the right command.

  • I added the following in ~/.config/pipewire/media-session.d/alsa-monitor.conf

{
    matches = [
        {
            node.name = "~^alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.output_analog-stereo$"
        }

    ]
    actions = {
        update-props = {
             device.description = "Laptop"
        }
    }
}

This changed the corresponding entry in the list of properties in the output of pactl list sinks, but not the actual description. Indeed, the output is

Sink #45
    ...
    Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.output_analog-stereo
    Description: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo Output
    ...
    Properties:
        ...
        device.description = "Laptop"
        ...

Thanks for your help.

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4 Answers 4

Reset to default
7

If you're following the current recommendation, using WirePlumber instead of PipeWire Media Session, the way to change a node's description (or any other property) is to create a Lua script and add it into ~/.config/wireplumber under the proper path and name.

For instance, to change the description of an ALSA node as felix wants, you would create a file such as ~/.config/wireplumber/main.lua.d/51-alsa-rename.lua with the following content:

rule = {
  matches = {
    {
      { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.output_analog-stereo" },
    },
  },
  apply_properties = {
    ["node.description"] = "Laptop",
  },
}

table.insert(alsa_monitor.rules,rule)

If instead you wish to change something on a Bluetooth node or device, you could create ~/.config/wireplumber/bluetooth.lua.d/51-rename.lua with a content such as:

rule = {
  matches = {
    {
      { "node.name", "equals", "bluez_output.02_11_45_A0_B3_27.a2dp-sink" },
    },
  },
  apply_properties = {
    ["node.nick"] = "Headphones",
  },
}

table.insert(bluez_monitor.rules,rule)

The Lua scripts' filenames and locations are thus devised in a way that allows WirePlumber's Multi-path merging to run them just after the default config files (e.g. /usr/share/wireplumber/main.lua.d/50-alsa-config.lua) but before the file that loads and enables the devices (e.g. /usr/share/wireplumber/main.lua.d/90-enable-all.lua).

The properties that you can change as well as the matching rules to select devices or nodes are documented at ALSA configuration and Bluetooth configuration.

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7

dllud's answer regarding WirePlumber is on the right track, but in case anyone comes across this after 2023, Lua is out and SPA-JSON is the new hotness.

mkdir -p ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d
touch ~/.config/wireplumber/wireplumber.conf.d/99-renames.conf

The exact filename is not important.

The format looks like this:

monitor.alsa.rules = [
    {
        matches = [
            { node.name = "alsa_output.usb-Turtle_Beach_Elo_7.1_Air_8502FFFF8102-01.analog-stereo" }
        ],
        actions = {
            update-props = {
                node.description   = "Headset",
                device.form-factor = "headset",
                device.icon-name   = "audio-headset-symbolic",
            }
        }
    }
]

Restart wireplumber with

systemctl --user restart wireplumber.service

You can grab properties to match and change with wpctl status and wpctl inspect ##, where ## is the ID number listed by wpctl status.

On my system (openSUSE Tumbleweed), examples are found in /usr/share/doc/wireplumber/examples/wireplumber.conf.d. The alsa.conf file in particular is what I used for the above.

More documentation can be found here: https://pipewire.pages.freedesktop.org/wireplumber/daemon/configuration/alsa.html

Fingers crossed that it stays stable for more than two years.

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1

In addition to your own answer (node.description is the property to be updated), the configuration you stated needs to be embedded in a rules = [...] block in ~/.config/pipewire/media-session.d/alsa-monitor.conf:

rules = [
  {
    matches = [
      {
        node.name = "~^alsa_output.pci-0000_0d_00.4.analog-stereo$"
      }
    ]
    actions = {
      update-props = {
        node.description = "Headphones"
      }
    }
  }
]

Further hints in PipeWire's Wiki.

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2
  • 2
    Newbie here: how do I make that description actually appear in Settings > Sound > Output > Output Device? Commented Apr 15, 2022 at 15:24
  • 2
    Same question. I added the file (I had to create directories pipewire/media-session.d and the alsa-monitor.conf file in ~/.config, since they were not there. I don't see any changes. Commented Jul 18, 2022 at 17:07
0

Nevermind, I got the answer.

In my second try, it has to be node.description instead of device.description.

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1
  • Please mark the question as answered. You can even answer your own questions. Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 4:56

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