Hi Salvatore,
Sorry for the delay.hi stable release managers, hi Felipe,
On Wed, Nov 04, 2020 at 09:33:21AM +0100, Salvatore Bonaccorso wrote:
> Package: release.debian.org
> Severity: normal
> Tags: buster
> User: release.debian.org@packages.debian.org
> Usertags: pu
> X-Debbugs-Cc: carnil@debian.org,fsateler@debian.org
>
> Hi SRM, hi Felipe
>
> [ Reason ]
>
> pulseaudio's deamon.conf uses the (for that version of upstream) the
> default of yes for flat-volumes. The flat-volumes value enables to
> 'flat' volumes, the sink volume equal the maximum of the volumes of
> the inputs connected to it. But this can cause quite some surprised
> and problems and can hurt ears depending on e.g. headphones values.
>
> So some distributions have changed that already in past
> and upstream did as well in later versions.
>
> In unstable the change was done in the 13.0-3 upload.
>
> [ Impact ]
>
> So far users probably stumpling over the problem have changed away
> form the default in their configuration.
Any comment on this proposed update? Although I completely see the
point as it is changing a default in stable, I still wonder if we
should do it because it has been switched upstream and was a problem
several times for reporting user.
I don't think this change is in scope for a stable update. While I agree it has been problematic for many users, and that this setting has great relevance, this same impact makes me doubt it is fit for a stable update.
This is not a bugfix, it is a change in the default value of a setting. Even if I agree with the new value, I don't think it is the sort of change people expect in a stable update.
For the RT: this setting changes the behavior of the volume controls. Current behavior in stable is to move the master volume along with the loudest app volume (which creates the problem of a single app raising your volume to very high levels). Current behavior in unstable is to decouple them: app volume is now relative to the master volume.
This is all based on my understanding of how stable should remain stable. I have no technical issue with backporting the setting change. Therefore, if the release team deems the change in setting as appropriate, I won't object (and very much welcome if you could upload it).
Saludos