Disable the 'dummy' output module

[smowton]

Hi,

When scripting VLC, and for some reason it fails to pick up the desired output module (couldn't find the X server, exclusive-mode audio device in use, etc) it tends to fall back to 'dummy' modules and play the file into nowhere regardless. I'd prefer that it fails and exits in that situation, but I can't find a way to disable the dummy modules, or for that matter any modules -- e.g. if I select --aout=alsa, it seems to try alsa first, but then pulse, then oss, then dummy regardless. So to phrase this another way: can I somehow specify the exact list of modules that should be tried, rather than just promote some particular one to the top?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

"Dummy" modules have zero priority, so they will never be selected unless they were explicitly requested in the configuration.

As for not falling back to another output, you can use --aout=alsa,none. But evidently, that will not make audio magically work when ALSA fails.

[smowton]

I don't think that's true -- here's an excerpt from a log of cvlc some_file --aout=alsa

[0x9979cf0] main audio output debug: looking for audio output module: 4 candidates
[0x9979cf0] alsa audio output warning: audio device: hw:0,0 is already in use
[0x9979cf0] alsa audio output debug: failed to find a useable alsa configuration
[0x9979cf0] pulse audio output: No. of Audio Channels: 2
[0x9979cf0] pulse audio output debug: Pulse mainloop started
[0x9979cf0] pulse audio output debug: Failed to connect to server: Connection refused
[0x9979cf0] pulse audio output debug: Pulse initialization unlock and fail
[0x9979cf0] pulse audio output debug: Pulse initialization failed
[0x9979cf0] oss audio output error: cannot open audio device (/dev/dsp)
[0x9979cf0] main audio output debug: using audio output module "dummy"

As you can see, a dummy module *is* loaded without an explicit request, as a fallback. --aout=alsa,none does stop dummy getting loaded, but VLC *still* tries to play the file into the empty air -- read the original post more carefully, I don't *want* audio to magically work, I want VLC to *die* when it's unable to connect a required output. Is there any way to do that?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Yeah, edit the source code.