[LAD] list all ALSA-devices (including virtual ones)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 hi all, what's the proper way to list all alsa-devices, including those (plugin, slave,...) defined in asoundrc? e.g. on my desktop i have $ cat ~/.asoundrc pcm.jack { type jack playback_ports { 0 1 } capture_ports { 0 1 } } $ cat /proc/asound/cards 0 [MID ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel MID HDA Intel MID at 0xf4ff8000 irq 42 1 [Bt878 ]: Bt87x - Brooktree Bt878 Brooktree Bt878 at 0xf3fff000, irq 17 but aplay will show me: <snip> $ LANG=C aplay -L -l null Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture) pulse PulseAudio Sound Server sysdefault:CARD=MID HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Analog Default Audio Device front:CARD=MID,DEV=0 HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Analog Front speakers surround40:CARD=MID,DEV=0 HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Analog 4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers surround41:CARD=MID,DEV=0 HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Analog 4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers surround50:CARD=MID,DEV=0 HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Analog 5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers surround51:CARD=MID,DEV=0 HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Analog 5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers surround71:CARD=MID,DEV=0 HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Analog 7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers hdmi:CARD=MID,DEV=0 HDA Intel MID, VT1828S Digital HDMI Audio Output **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices **** card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 0: VT1828S Analog [VT1828S Analog] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 2: VT1828S Alt Analog [VT1828S Alt Analog] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 3: VT1828S Digital [VT1828S Digital] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 </snip> there is no mention of my 'jack' pcm, *and* there are devices that i don't know where they come from: namely 'null' and 'pulse' (pulseaudio is installed but not running, as confirmed by <snip> $ pgrep pulse $ </snip> so i figure that the extra devices come from system-configuration files in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf(.d/*.conf) but why does my "jack" PCM not show up? i know that i can extend my asoundrc to: <snip> pcm.jack { type jack playback_ports { 0 1 } capture_ports { 0 1 } hint { description "use jack as alsa-device" } } </snip> but i don't fully understand why i have to manually add the "hint" (of which i haven't found *any* documentation) in order to make the device show up with char**hints=NULL; snd_device_name_hint(-1, "pcm", (void***)&hints); any clues? fgasmdr IOhannes