| 1 | Audio Testing of VirtualBox
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| 2 | ===========================
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| 3 |
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| 4 |
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| 5 | Overview / Goal
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| 6 | ---------------
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| 7 |
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| 8 | The goal is to create a flexible testing framework to test the
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| 9 | VirtualBox audio stack.
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| 10 |
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| 11 | It should be runnable with an easy-to-use setup so that also regular users
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| 12 | can perform tests on request, without having to install or set up additional
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| 13 | dependencies.
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| 14 |
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| 15 | That framework must be runnable on all host/guest combinations together with all
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| 16 | audio drivers ("backends") and device emulations being offered. This makes it a
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| 17 | rather big testing matrix which therefore has to be processed in an automated
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| 18 | fashion.
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| 19 |
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| 20 | Additionally it should be flexible enough to add more (custom) tests later on.
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| 21 |
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| 22 |
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| 23 | Operation
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| 24 | ---------
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| 25 |
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| 26 | The framework consists of several components which try to make use as much of
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| 27 | the existing audio stack code as possible. This allows the following
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| 28 | operation modes:
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| 29 |
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| 30 | Standalone
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| 31 | Playing back / recording audio data (test tones / .WAV files) in a
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| 32 | standalone scenario, i.e. no VirtualBox / VMs required). This mode is using
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| 33 | VirtualBox' audio (mixing) stack and available backend drivers without the
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| 34 | need of VirtualBox being installed.
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| 35 |
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| 36 | Manual
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| 37 | Performing single / multiple tests manually on a local machine.
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| 38 | Requires a running and set up test VM.
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| 39 |
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| 40 | Automated
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| 41 | Performs single / multiple tests via the Validation Kit audio test
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| 42 | driver and can be triggered via the Validation Kit Test Manager.
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| 43 |
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| 44 | (Re-)validation of previously ran tests
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| 45 | This takes two test sets and runs the validation / analysis on them.
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| 46 |
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| 47 | Self testing mode
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| 48 | Performs standalone self tests to verify / debug the involved components.
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| 49 |
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| 50 |
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| 51 | Components and Terminology
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| 52 | --------------------------
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| 53 |
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| 54 | The following components are in charge for performing the audio tests
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| 55 | (depends on the operation mode, see above):
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| 56 |
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| 57 | - VBoxAudioTest (also known as VKAT, "Validation Kit Audio Test"):
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| 58 | A binary which can perform the standalone audio tests mentioned above, as well
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| 59 | as acting as the guest and host service(s) when performing manual or automated
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| 60 | tests. It also includes the analysis / verification of audio test sets.
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| 61 | VKAT also is included in host installations and Guest Additions since
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| 62 | VirtualBox 7.0 to give customers and end users the opportunity to test and
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| 63 | verify the audio stack.
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| 64 |
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| 65 | Additional features include:
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| 66 | * Automatic probing of audio backends ("--probe-backends")
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| 67 | * Manual playback of test tones ("play -t")
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| 68 | * Manual playback of .WAV files ("play <WAV-File>")
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| 69 | * Manual recording to .WAV files ("recording <WAV-File>")
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| 70 | * Manual device enumeration (sub command "enum")
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| 71 | * Manual (re-)verification of test sets (sub command "verify")
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| 72 | * Self-contained self tests (sub command "selftest")
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| 73 |
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| 74 | See the syntax help ("--help") for more.
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| 75 |
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| 76 | - ATS ("Audio Testing Service"): Component which is being used by 1 and the
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| 77 | Validation Kit audio driver (backend) to communicate across guest and host
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| 78 | boundaries. Currently using a TCP/IP transport layer. Also works with VMs
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| 79 | which are configured with NAT networking ("reverse connection").
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| 80 |
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| 81 | - Validation Kit audio test driver (tdAudioTest.py): Used for integrating and
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| 82 | invoking VKAT for manual and automated tests via the Validation Kit framework
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| 83 | (Test Manager). Optional. The test driver can be found at [1]_.
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| 84 |
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| 85 | - Validation Kit audio driver (backend): A dedicated audio backend which
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| 86 | communicates with VKAT running on the same host to perform the actual audio
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| 87 | tests on a VirtualBox installation. This makes it possible to test the full
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| 88 | audio stack on a running VM without any additional / external tools.
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| 89 |
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| 90 | On guest playback, data will be recorded, on guest recording, data will be
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| 91 | injected from the host into the audio stack.
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| 92 |
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| 93 | - Test sets contain
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| 94 | - a test manifest with all information required (vkat_manifest.ini)
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| 95 | - the generated / captured audio data (as raw PCM)
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| 96 |
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| 97 | and are either packed as .tar.gz archives or consist of a dedicated directory
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| 98 | per test set.
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| 99 |
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| 100 | There always must be at least two test sets - one from the host side and one
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| 101 | from the guest side - to perform a verification.
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| 102 |
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| 103 | Each test set contains a test tag so that matching test sets can be
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| 104 | identified.
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| 105 |
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| 106 | The above components are also included in VirtualBox release builds and can be
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| 107 | optionally enabled (disabled by default).
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| 108 |
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| 109 | .. [1] src/VBox/ValidationKit/tests/audio/tdAudioTest.py
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| 110 |
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| 111 |
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| 112 | Setup instructions
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| 113 | ------------------
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| 114 |
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| 115 | - VM needs to be configured to have audio emulation and audio testing enabled
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| 116 | (via extra-data, set "VBoxInternal2/Audio/Debug/Enabled" to "true").
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| 117 | - Audio input / output for the VM needs to be enabled (depending on the test).
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| 118 | - Start VBoxAudioTest on the guest, for example:
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| 119 |
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| 120 | VBoxAudioTest test --mode guest --tcp-connect-address 10.0.2.2
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| 121 |
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| 122 | Note: VBoxAudioTest is included with the Guest Additions starting at
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| 123 | VirtualBox 7.0.
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| 124 | Note: Depending on the VM's networking configuration there might be further
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| 125 | steps necessary in order to be able to reach the host from the guest.
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| 126 | See the VirtualBox manual for more information.
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| 127 |
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| 128 |
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| 129 | Performing a manual test
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| 130 | ------------------------
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| 131 |
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| 132 | - Follow "Setup instructions".
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| 133 | - Start VBoxAudioTest on the host with selected test(s), for example:
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| 134 |
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| 135 | VBoxAudioTest test --mode host
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| 136 |
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| 137 | Note: VBoxAudioTest is included with the VirtualBox 7.0 host installers and
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| 138 | will be installed by default.
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| 139 |
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| 140 | - By default the test verification will be done automatically after running the
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| 141 | tests.
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| 142 |
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| 143 |
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| 144 | Advanced: Performing manual verification
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| 145 | ----------------------------------------
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| 146 |
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| 147 | VBoxAudioTest can manually be used with the "verify" sub command in order to
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| 148 | (re-)verify previously generated test sets. It then will return different exit
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| 149 | codes based on the verification result.
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| 150 |
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| 151 |
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| 152 | Advanced: Performing an automated test
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| 153 | --------------------------------------
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| 154 |
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| 155 | - TxS (Test E[x]ecution Service) has to be up and running (part of the
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| 156 | Validation Kit) on the guest.
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| 157 | - Invoke the tdAudioTest.py test driver, either manually or fully automated
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| 158 | via Test Manager.
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| 159 |
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| 160 |
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| 161 | Internals: Workflow for a single test
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| 162 | -------------------------------------
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| 163 |
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| 164 | When a single test is being executed on a running VM, the following (simplified)
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| 165 | workflow applies:
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| 166 |
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| 167 | - VKAT on the host connects to VKAT running on the guest (via ATS, also can be a
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| 168 | remote machine in theory).
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| 169 | - VKAT on the host connects to Validation Kit audio driver on the host
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| 170 | (via ATS, also can be a remote machine in theory).
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| 171 | - For example, when doing playback tests, VKAT on the host ...
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| 172 | * ... tells the Validation Kit audio driver to start recording
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| 173 | guest playback.
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| 174 | * ... tells the VKAT on the guest to start playing back audio data.
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| 175 | * ... gathers all test data (generated from/by the guest and recorded from
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| 176 | the host) as separate test sets.
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| 177 | * ... starts verification / analysis of the test sets.
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| 178 |
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| 179 |
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| 180 | Current status / limitations
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| 181 | ----------------------------
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| 182 |
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| 183 | - The following test types are currently implemented:
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| 184 | * Test tone (sine wave) playback from the guest
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| 185 | * Test tone (sine wave) recording by the guest (injected from the host)
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| 186 | - Only the HDA device emulation has been verified so far.
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| 187 | - Only the ALSA audio stack on Debian 10 has been verified so far.
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| 188 | Note: This is different from PulseAudio using the ALSA plugin!
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| 189 |
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| 190 |
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| 191 | Troubleshooting
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| 192 | ---------------
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| 193 |
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| 194 | - Make sure that audio device emulation is enabled and can be used within the
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| 195 | guest. Also, audio input / output has to be enabled, depending on the tests.
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| 196 | - Make sure that the guest's VBoxAudioTest's instance can reach the host via
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| 197 | the selected transport layer (TCP/IP by default).
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| 198 | - Increase the hosts audio logging level
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| 199 | (via extra-data, set "VBoxInternal2/Audio/Debug/Level" to "5").
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| 200 | - Increase VBoxAudioTest's verbosity level (add "-v", can be specified
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| 201 | multiple times).
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| 202 | - Check if the VBox release log contains any warnings / errors with the
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| 203 | "ValKit:" prefix.
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| 204 |
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| 205 |
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| 206 | :Status: $Id: VBoxAudioValidationKitReadMe.txt 92584 2021-11-24 09:29:59Z vboxsync $
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| 207 | :Copyright: Copyright (C) 2021 Oracle Corporation.
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