Libcanberra

Related articles

• GTK
• Desktop notifications

Libcanberra is a simple abstract interface for playing event sounds. It implements the XDG Sound Theme and Naming Specifications for generating event sounds on free desktops, such as GNOME. Further description here

Installation

Libcanberra can be installed with the package libcanberra, available in the Official repositories. It contains the library and a GTK module.

You have to choose a backend to play sounds:

• ALSA backend is included in libcanberra package
• GStreamer backend can be installed with package libcanberra-gstreamer, available in the Official repositories.
• PulseAudio backend can be installed with package libcanberra-pulse, available in the Official repositories.

Also, you have to install a sound theme in order to hear any event sound:

• The default sound theme is 'freedesktop', which can be installed with the package sound-theme-freedesktop, available in the Official repositories.
• Alternatively, you can install ubuntu-sounds^AUR, available in the Arch User Repository.

Configuration

By default, the GTK module is loaded automatically, when a GTK application launched. You can overwrite default settings in user's GtkSettings file:

$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0 and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

gtk-enable-event-sounds=true
gtk-enable-input-feedback-sounds=true
gtk-sound-theme-name=freedesktop

In GNOME, these settings are managed by gnome-settings-daemon, and the configuration is available in GSettings under org.gnome.desktop.sound schema.

Systemd

To enable bootup, shutdown and reboot sounds using canberra, enable canberra-system-bootup service.

Usage in programming

You can write your own libcanberra sound events easily in many programming languages using GSound through GObject-Introspection, or you can simply use bash.

Bash

• Dependency: libcanberra

hello_world.sh

#!/bin/bash
canberra-gtk-play -i phone-incoming-call -d "hello world"

C

• Dependency: libcanberra
• Build with: gcc -o hello_world `pkg-config --cflags --libs glib-2.0 libcanberra` hello_world.c

hello_world.c

#include <glib.h>
#include <canberra.h>
int main () {
	ca_context * hello;
	ca_context_create (&hello);
	ca_context_play (hello, 0,
		CA_PROP_EVENT_ID, "phone-incoming-call",
		CA_PROP_EVENT_DESCRIPTION, "hello world",
		NULL);
	g_usleep (2000000);
	return 0;
}

• Dependency: gsound
• Build with: gcc -o hello_world `pkg-config --cflags --libs glib-2.0 gsound` hello_world.c

hello_world.c

#include <glib.h>
#include <gsound.h>
int main () {
	GSoundContext *hello = gsound_context_new(NULL, NULL);
	gsound_context_play_simple(hello, NULL, NULL,
		GSOUND_ATTR_EVENT_ID, "phone-incoming-call",
		GSOUND_ATTR_EVENT_DESCRIPTION, "hello world",
		NULL);
	g_usleep (2000000);
	return 0;
}

Genie

• Dependency: libcanberra
• Makedependency: vala
• Build with: valac --pkg libcanberra hello_world.gs

hello_world.gs

uses
	Canberra
init
	hello: Context
	Context.create(out hello)
	hello.play (0,
		PROP_EVENT_ID, "phone-incoming-call",
		PROP_EVENT_DESCRIPTION, "hello world")
	Thread.usleep (2000000)

• Dependency: gsound
• Makedependency: vala
• Build with: valac --pkg gsound hello_world.gs

hello_world.gs

uses
	GSound
init
	var hello = new GSound.Context
	hello.init()
	hello.play_simple(null,
		GSound.Attribute.EVENT_ID, "phone-incoming-call",
		GSound.Attribute.EVENT_DESCRIPTION, "hello world")
	Thread.usleep (2000000)

JavaScript

• Dependencies: gsound, gjs

hello_world.js

#!/usr/bin/gjs
const GLib = imports.gi.GLib;
const GSound = imports.gi.GSound;

let hello = new GSound.Context();
hello.init(null);
hello.play_simple({ "event.id" : "phone-incoming-call", 
                    "event.description" : "hello world" }, null);
GLib.usleep (2000000);

Lua

• Dependencies: gsound, lua-lgi

hello_world.lua

#!/usr/bin/lua
lgi = require 'lgi'
GLib = lgi.require('GLib')
GSound = lgi.require('GSound')

hello = GSound.Context()
hello:play_simple({ [GSound.ATTR_EVENT_ID] = "phone-incoming-call",
                    [GSound.ATTR_EVENT_DESCRIPTION] = "hello world" })
GLib.usleep (2000000)

Perl

• Dependencies: gsound, perl-glib-object-introspection

hello_world.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl
use Glib::Object::Introspection;
Glib::Object::Introspection->setup (
	basename => 'GSound',
	version => '1.0',
	package => 'GSound');
my $hello = GSound::Context->new;
$hello->play_simple({ "event.id" => "phone-incoming-call",
                      "event.description" => "hello world" });
sleep (2);

Python

• Dependencies: gsound, python-gobject

hello_world.py

#!/usr/bin/python
import gi
gi.require_version('GSound', '1.0')
from gi.repository import GLib, GSound

hello = GSound.Context()
hello.init()
hello.play_simple({GSound.ATTR_EVENT_ID: "phone-incoming-call",
                   GSound.ATTR_EVENT_DESCRIPTION: "hello world"})
GLib.usleep(2000000)

Ruby

• Dependencies: gsound, ruby-gir_ffi^AUR

hello_world.rb

#!/usr/bin/ruby
require 'gir_ffi'
GirFFI.setup :GSound
Hello = GSound::Context.new
Hello.play_simple("event.id" => "phone-incoming-call", 
                  "event.description" => "hello world")
sleep (2)

Vala

• Dependency: libcanberra
• Makedependency: vala
• Build with: valac --pkg libcanberra hello_world.vala

hello_world.vala

using Canberra;
public class HelloWorld {
	static void main () {
	Context hello;
	Context.create(out hello);
	hello.play (0,
		PROP_EVENT_ID, "phone-incoming-call",
		PROP_EVENT_DESCRIPTION, "hello world");
	Thread.usleep (2000000);
	}
}

• Dependency: gsound
• Makedependency: vala
• Build with: valac --pkg gsound hello_world.vala

hello_world.vala

using GSound;
public class HelloWorld {
	static void main () {
	var hello = new GSound.Context();
	hello.init();
        hello.play_simple(null,
		GSound.Attribute.EVENT_ID, "phone-incoming-call",
		GSound.Attribute.EVENT_DESCRIPTION, "hello world");
	Thread.usleep (2000000);
	}
}

See also

• Libcanberra Reference Manual
• GSound Reference Manual