NEWS item draft for enabling pipewire in desktop profiles

gistfile1.txt

Title: Desktop Profile to enable PipeWire support
Author: Ian Jordan <immoloism@gmail.com>
Posted: 2025-09-06
Revision: 4
News-Item-Format: 2.0
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_hf/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_hf/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_sf/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_sf/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/armv7a_hf/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/armv7a_hf/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa1.1/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa1.1/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa1.1/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa2.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa2.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa2.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/loong/23.0/la64v100/lp64d/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/loong/23.0/la64v100/lp64d/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/loong/23.0/la64v100/split-usr/lp64d/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/loong/23.0/la64v100/split-usr/lp64d/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64d/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64d/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/split-usr/lp64d/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/split-usr/lp64d/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/sparc/23.0/64ul/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/sparc/23.0/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/sparc/23.0/split-usr/64ul/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/sparc/23.0/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/split-usr/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/time64/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/time64/desktop/*
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/time64/split-usr/desktop
Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/time64/split-usr/desktop/*

Reasons
=======

Gentoo has had a longstanding complaint that desktop profiles do not
enable a suitable working audio setting, which causes confusion for 
new users. An example of when this is a user can end up compiling 
Firefox without audio support, meaning the user will have to add the 
USE flags and then compile Firefox a second time. This not only wastes
time for the user, but also increases support workload by the volunteers
that provide it.

This change will make PipeWire the default sound server for all Gentoo desktop
profiles which support it, rather than just Plasma profiles as was the 
previous norm[1]. PipeWire has been widely adopted by Linux as a whole due to
its feature to work with older standards such as PulseAudio, and means 
Gentoo will be less likely to need users to make any follow-up changes to
their system related to audio.

Changes
=======

New global USE flags enabled: pulseaudio

Enables PulseAudio support for packages as a fallback when native PipeWire isn't
available. 

New global USE flags enabled: pipewire
New package.use default: media-video/pipewire[sound-server]

These settings will enable PipeWire by default where available and also tell PipeWire 
to act as our PulseAudio server where there is no native PipeWire support.

New global USE flags enabled: screencast

In Wayland sessions, the video functionality of PipeWire is not only used for 
screen sharing but also to take screenshots and recordings or simply to cast 
window content onto task managers' window previews. As this is basically a free 
and beneficial addition as it provides things like screenshoting and webcam
access under Wayland.

Alpha and HPPA
===============

Alpha and HPPA currently do not have PipeWire support enabled so only PulseAudio is enabled.
These can be requested by users at a later date after confirming they work with the respected
projects.

Users not Wishing to Change
===========================

For users not wanting to change from the their current desktop profile setup,
then all that is required is to set USE="-pipewire -pulseaudio -screencast" in 
their make.conf file.

User Action Required
====================

In order to enact all changes:

    emerge -1avUD @world
    
Afterwards all that should be required is a reboot, however in the unlikely
event of issues then check out how to configure PipeWire for your purposes. [1][2]

In order to keep a previously configured PulseAudio only system:

    Set USE="-pipewire -screencast" in /etc/portage/make.conf

For an ALSA only system:
    Set USE="-pipewire -pulseaudio -screencast" in /etc/portage/make.conf
    
[1] https://www.gentoo.org/support/news-items/2022-07-29-pipewire-sound-server.
html
[2] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/PipeWire