Skype: video as root, not as user

[Warren Post]

Running Skype as user, the video test shows static. Running as root, the
video test works fine. Details are these:

Skype version skype_static-2.0.0.72-1mib2008.1 on Mandriva 2011.2 One.
Webcam is a CIF Single Chip from Pixart Imaging, 093a:2471, badged as
Genius VideoCam Ge111, using /dev/video0. gstreamer-properties sees the
cam fine on v4l2 but not on v4l. Other applications that access the cam
(Cheese, Ekiga) work fine. About video, lsmod says:

# lsmod | grep videodev
videodev 36601 1 gspca_main
v4l1_compat 13315 1 videodev
i2c_core 24773 6
i2c_i801,i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit,videodev

If I simply run "skype" from a terminal, the video test shows static.
This is true running as user or as root. However, "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/
libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype" makes video work when run as root. Output to
stdout is:

# skype
ALSA lib pulse.c:229:(pulse_connect) PulseAudio: Unable to connect:
Connection refused
Starting the process...
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 17
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 69

When run as user, video again shows static. Output to stdout is
identical, save without the PulseAudio error.

What else might I try to get video working in Skype as user?
--
Warren Post
http://my.opera.com/wpost/

[Doug Laidlaw]

Warren Post wrote:

I run Skype from a shell script to get around that issue. Initially, I put
the "LD_PRELOAD" line in my .bash_profile followed by a line to start Skype
on login. That worked. Putting the call in /etc/profile may make it part
of your system-wide environment: I haven't tried. The script I use now is
in /usr/bin, and is as follows:

#!/bin/sh
#Script to run Skype with correct environment
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype &

I call that script as me, not as root.

BitTwister had something to say about Skype and pulseaudio.

HTH,

Doug.

[Warren Post]

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 15:24:18 +1100, Doug Laidlaw wrote:

> The script I use now is
> in /usr/bin, and is as follows:
>
> #!/bin/sh
> #Script to run Skype with correct environment
> LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype &
>
> I call that script as me, not as root.

Trying this, I have no change in behavior: calling the script as root I
get video, but calling the script as user I get static. Maybe I'm doing
something wrong, so to confirm:

[warren@verdi bin]$ ls -l /usr/bin/skype-script
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 105 2011-02-20 07:01 skype-script*
[warren@verdi bin]$ cat /usr/bin/skype-script
#!/bin/sh
# Script to run Skype with correct environment
# Source: Doug Laidlaw, "Re: Skype: video as root, not as user", 20 Feb
2011, alt.os.linux.mandriva
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype &

[Bit Twister]

Can we assume correctly you have added audio and video to your user id?

[bittwister@wb ~]$ groups
bittwister lp floppy games cdrom usb cdwriter audio video <snip, snip>

[Warren Post]

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 13:56:51 +0000, Bit Twister wrote:

> Can we assume correctly you have added audio and video to your user id?
>
> [bittwister@wb ~]$ groups
> bittwister lp floppy games cdrom usb cdwriter audio video <snip, snip>

No, but I've just added them:

[warren@verdi ~]$ groups
warren audio video

After rebooting, results are the same, however: running Skype in any
manner as any user shows video static unless I both (a) run it as root
and (b) call LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so. stdout messages
also remain the same in all cases.

[Doug Laidlaw]

Warren Post wrote:

I can't help you any further, but I have heard of this.

Doug.