Based on bugs https://bugs.gentoo.org/961764 , https://bugs.gentoo.org/936101 and https://bugs.gentoo.org/961764 I have made the PR https://github.com/gentoo/gentoo/pull/43497 which will finally make audio and screensharing easier to manage for all Gentoo desktop users. This will also bring them more inline with the KDE profiles which already do this and the news item item below heavily porrowed from for wording.
The news item shows users that do not wish to use pipewire and pulseaudio for what every reason how to disable the change. Title: Desktop Profile to enable PulseAudio and PipeWire support Author: Ian Jordan <[email protected]> Posted: 2025-08-26 Revision: 1 News-Item-Format: 2.0 Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/alpha/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/desktop/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_hf/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_hf/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_hf/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_hf/desktop/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_sf/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_sf/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_sf/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/armv7a_sf/desktop/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/desktop/gnome/systemd 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/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/armv7a_sf/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/armv7a_sf/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/desktop/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/arm64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa1.1/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/hppa/23.0/hppa1.1/desktop/systemd 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/systemd 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/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/loong/23.0/la64v100/lp64d/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/loong/23.0/la64v100/lp64d/desktop/systemd 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/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc/23.0/time64/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/desktop/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/split-usr/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/ppc64le/23.0/split-usr/desktop/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64d/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64d/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64d/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64d/desktop/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/lp64/desktop/systemd 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/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/split-usr/lp64/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/riscv/23.0/rv64/split-usr/lp64/desktop/gnome 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/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/desktop/gnome/systemd Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/split-usr/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/split-usr/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/time64/desktop Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/time64/desktop/gnome Display-If-Profile: default/linux/x86/23.0/i686/time64/desktop/gnome/systemd 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/gnome Reasons ======= Following on from enabling support for Pipewire in KDE Plasma profiles, this change enables Pipewire for all desktop profiles. As the way we output sound has changed dramatically in the years since using wireless or often several devices, dynamically connected and shared between multiple systems, a modern desktop environment is expected to handle this effortlessly by default. In Wayland sessions, the video functionality of PipeWire is not only used for screensharing but also to take screenshots and recordings or simply to cast window content onto task managers' window previews. Changes ======= New global USE flags enabled: pipewire, pulseaudio, screencast, wayland New package.use default: media-video/pipewire[sound-server] We want broad sound server support in packages, and these settings will make PipeWire act as our PulseAudio server where there is no native PipeWire support. 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. Users not Wishing to Change =========================== For users not wanting to change from the their currrent setup, then all that is required is to set USE"-pipewire -pulseaudio -screenshare" in their make.conf file. User Action Required ==================== In order to enact all changes: emerge -1avUD @world Check out how to configure PipeWire for your purpose [1][2] In order to keep a PulseAudio or ALSA-only setup: Invert above new USE flag settings as needed, see also [2]. In order to avoid media-video/pipewire completely: This can only be achieved by losing basic task manager, screenshot/screen recording/sharing functions as provided by Plasma and KDE applications. [1] https://www.gentoo.org/support/news-items/2022-07-29-pipewire-sound-server. html [2] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/PipeWire
