Found by a live boot-order test (host started before the user session's
PipeWire): PwMicSource::open returned Ok before the daemon connection was
attempted, so a PipeWire that wasn't running surfaced as an instantly-dead
instance instead of an open failure — and the pump churned
open→die→reopen at heartbeat rate (1 Hz "virtual mic ready" log spam)
instead of backing off.
- PwMicSource::open now has a bring-up handshake (mirrors the Windows
backend): ready only after connect + stream connect succeed, so a
down daemon is an open ERROR and the pump's backoff engages.
- The pump triages deaths: an instance that lived >= 5 s (a one-off
daemon restart) reopens immediately with the backoff reset; one that
died right after opening counts as a failed open and backs off
(2 s → 60 s cap). New pump test rapid_death_backs_off.
Re-validated live: host started with PipeWire stopped → throttled
"unavailable" warns, zero churn; daemon started → mic node up on the
next retry; exactly one pump + one loop thread (no leak).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Mic passthrough silently died on real hosts. Root causes, all fixed:
- No liveness anywhere: a PipeWire restart (Linux) or any WASAPI device
error (Windows) killed the backend worker; push() fed the dead queue
for the rest of the host's life. VirtualMic now has a liveness
contract (push -> bool, alive(), discard()) and the new shared
audio::MicPump reopens with backoff, probing on an idle heartbeat so
the mic heals BETWEEN sessions too. Validated live: systemctl restart
pipewire -> node back in ~0.5 s, tone flows through the reopened
backend.
- Lazy creation: the mic device didn't exist until the first 0xCB
frame, but games bind their capture device at launch and never
re-follow. The pump opens eagerly at host start (node exists with
zero clients, elected default source).
- Windows headless dead-end: with VB-CABLE as the ONLY render endpoint
(exactly what the installer ships), the anti-echo guard rejected the
cable as the default render endpoint -> mic permanently dead. The new
wiring_plan (pure, unit-tested on every platform) assigns the mic its
endpoint FIRST (cable reserved for the mic), points the loopback at a
DIFFERENT endpoint, and the capture side now yields (explicit
endpoint or honest error) instead of the mic dying. Plan recomputed
per (re)open — endpoints churn at boot/logon/driver installs.
- Stale bursts: buffered audio from a previous session played into a
newly-attached recorder (observed live). Timestamped chunks + a
consumer-gap check in the process callback age everything past 1 s.
The Linux node mechanism stays the stream-based Audio/Source with
RT_PROCESS + priority.session: the canonical null-audio-sink adapter
recipe was tested on this box (PipeWire 1.6.2) and never gets a clock
(QUANT 0 -> pure silence), and WirePlumber reroutes a feeder targeting
it to the default sink (echo). Decision documented in the module docs.
Live-validated on this box (synthetic host + probe --mic-test,
pw-record): eager node, both attach orderings, PipeWire-restart
self-heal, post-session silence. Windows side compile/CI + on-glass
validation pending.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The punktfunk/1 virtual microphone was created as a plain Audio/Source with
no session priority, which caused two failures — both diagnosed live against a
Bazzite host on PipeWire 1.4.10:
1. It was never WirePlumber's default source, so any app recording the *default*
input (games, Discord, arecord) heard silence. This is the Linux analogue of
the Windows host forcing the default recording endpoint (audio_control.rs).
2. The real killer on PipeWire 1.4.x: a *non-default* Audio/Source recorded via
`--target` never gets a driver assigned — the {source, recorder} group stays
orphaned (pw-top QUANT/RATE 0, driver-node None), so the RT process() callback
never fires and even an explicitly-selected mic is pure silence. PipeWire 1.6
drives any recorded source regardless, which is why the host worked on a 1.6
box but not the 1.4.10 Bazzite host.
Fix: advertise a high priority.session on the source so WirePlumber elects it as
the default source and keeps it driven. Reproduced with a faithful standalone
copy of the node on the same 1.4.10 daemon: no priority.session -> silent,
priority.session set -> audio. Only overrides WirePlumber's auto default; a
user's explicit default.configured.audio.source still wins.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The punktfunk-mic PipeWire source connected without RT_PROCESS, so it ran as an
async/main-loop node. In the host's busy multi-stream graph (desktop audio + video
capture + the session) it never acquired a driver, stayed suspended, and its
process() callback never fired — every recorder reading the remote mic heard pure
silence (the long-standing "Linux host mic broken"). Connect the mic stream with
RT_PROCESS so it is a synchronous node that joins its consumer's driver group and
is actually driven.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Move 36 platform-specific files into per-module `windows/` and `linux/` subfolders (and the
shared HID codecs into `inject/proto/`):
capture/{windows,linux}/ encode/{windows,linux}/ inject/{windows,linux,proto}/
audio/{windows,linux}/ vdisplay/{windows,linux}/
src/windows/ (service, wgc_helper, win_adapter, win_display)
src/linux/ (dmabuf_fence, drm_sync, zerocopy/)
Done with `#[path]`, NOT a module rename: every file moves into its folder while the
`crate::*::*` module names stay FLAT, so all caller paths and every internal `super::`/`crate::`
reference are unchanged — only the parent `mod` decls gained `#[path = "..."]`. This is the
codebase's existing pattern (inject's gamepad_windows) and makes the move byte-identical in
behaviour with ZERO reference churn, far lower risk than collapsing to a single
`crate::capture::windows::` namespace (that deeper rename is an optional follow-on; this delivers
the cfg-sprawl folder confinement the stage is about). Done LAST, after the semantic stages, so
the path churn didn't fight them.
Verified: Linux cargo check + clippy (-D warnings) clean; my mod-decl changes fmt-clean (the 3
remaining fmt diffs are pre-existing local-rustfmt-version skew that moved with their files); all
36 `#[path]` targets exist; no internal `#[path]`/`include!`/file-child-mod in any moved file
(the inline `mod X {` blocks are self-contained). Box build to follow.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
enricobuehlerandClaude Fable 5