The repository in which the development of Ubuntu is conducted 22.10, The transition to the use of a multimedia server pipewire for sound processing by default. Poulseaudio packages are removed from Desktop and Desktop-Minimal sets, and to ensure compatibility instead of libraries for interacting with Pulseaudio, the layer of Pipewire-pulse , which allows you to save the work of all existing customers Pulseaudio.
The decision on the full transition to Pipewire to Ubuntu 22.10 confirmed Hizer Ellsurt ( heather ellsworth ) from Canonical. It is noted that in Ubuntu 22.02, both servers were used in distribution – Pipewire was used to process the video when recording the screenshots and providing access to the screen, but the sound continued to be processed using Pulseaudio. Only Pipewire will be left in Ubuntu 22.10. Two years ago, such a change was already introduced in the Fedora 34 distribution, which made it possible to provide the possibilities of professional sound processing, get rid of fragmentation and unify sound infrastructure for different applications.
Pipewire offers an extended security model that allows you to control access at the level of individual devices and specific flows, and simplifies the organization of sound and video from isolated containers and in them. Pipewire can process any multimedia flows and is able to mix and redirect not only streams with sound, but streams with video, as well as manage video sources (video capture devices, Webcams or the outline of the screen). Pipewire can also act as a sound server that provides minimal delays and provides functionality that combines the capabilities of Pulseaudio and jack , including taking into account the needs of professional sound processing systems that Pulseaudio could not claim.
- Capture and reproduction of sound and video with minimal delays;
- means for processing video and sound in real time;
- multiprocessing architecture, which allows organizing joint access to the content of several applications;
- Processing model on the basis of a graph of multimedia units with support for feedback cycles and atomic renewal of the column. It is allowed to connect the handlers both inside the server and external plugins;
- Effective interface for access to video streams through the transmission of file descriptors and access to sound through jointly used ring buffers (Shard Ringbuffer);
- The ability to process multimedia data from any process;