Ubuntu
linux package

  1. Bug #281732
  2. Comment #49

Comment 49 for bug 281732

Revision history for this message
Luka Renko (lure) wrote :

What Steve wanted to explain is that the "fix" for mute button was that we told to BIOS/ACPI that we are "Linux", which may not only "fix" mute button, but may have other side effects, which cannot be seen immediately. This is why upstream kernel developers did not like the "fix".
Some time ago, it was decided in the Linux kernel community, that it is better to notify the BIOS/ACPI that we are "Windows"-compatible, in order to get all the bells and whistles from the BIOS/ACPI as Windows gets. In our particular case, this has also drawback: missing mute functionality, due to missing BIOS mixer availability through ALSA. This makes mute button only HW switch, with no support for SW (kernel, applications).

The right fix is therefore to implement missing functionality (expose BIOS mixer to ALSA), rather than changing overall behavior with potentially bad side effects.
Even though I do not like the change, I can understand why it was made.