shairport-sync/FEDORA.md

Fedora Installation Guide

Fedora uses PipeWire for audio management since Fedora 34. An adapter for ALSA-compatible software is included which creates a virtual ALSA output device to route audio from ALSA-compatible sources into the PipeWire infrastructure. It is recommended that Shairport Sync is built with the standard ALSA backend (--with-alsa).

Shairport Sync also offers a PipeWire (--with-pw) backend -- still new and still under development. The PulseAudio (--with-pa) backend may also be used thanks to a PulseAudio-to-PipeWire adapter.

The use of PipeWire, even indirectly, means that Shairport Sync can not be installed as a system service (aka a system daemon). Instead it must be started by a user after login or installed as a user service. It means that the user must log in for the Shairport Sync service to become available.

Enable RPM Fusion Software Repositories (AirPlay 2 Only)

For AirPlay 2, it is important to enable the RPM Fusion software repositories, at least to the "Free" level. This is so that ffmpeg libraries will be installed that include a suitable AAC decoder.

Update Everything

# yum update

Install Toolchain and Libraries

# yum install make automake gcc gcc-c++
# yum install autoconf automake avahi-devel libconfig-devel openssl-devel popt-devel soxr-devel
# yum install alsa-lib-devel # for the ALSA back end -- used in this build

(To build the PipeWire backend, install the pipewire-devel library; for the PulseAudio backend, you'll need the pulseaudio-libs-devel library.)

For AirPlay 2 operation, extra libraries must be installed. Before taking this step, once again please ensure the you have enabled RPM Fusion software repositories at least to the "Free" level. If this is not done, ffmpeg libraries will be installed that lack a suitable AAC decoder, preventing Shairport Sync from working.

Install the extra libraries with the following command:

# yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel libplist-devel libsodium-devel libgcrypt-devel libuuid-devel vim-common

Build

NQPTP

Skip this section if you are building Classic Shairport Sync – NQPTP is not used by Classic Shairport Sync.

Download, install, enable and start NQPTP from here. By the way, Fedora has a firewall running by default, so make sure you enable UDP traffic to and from ports 319 and 320, as noted in the NQPTP guide.

Shairport Sync

Please use git to clone the repository!

As you probably know, you can download the repository in two ways: (1) using git to clone it -- recommended -- or (2) downloading the repository as a ZIP archive. Please use the git method. The reason it that when you use git, the build process can incorporate the git build information in the version string you get when you execute the command $ shairport-sync -V. This will be very useful for identifying the exact build if you are making comments or bug reports. Here is an example:

Version with git information:
4.1-dev-389-gf317161a-AirPlay2-OpenSSL-Avahi-ALSA-soxr-sysconfdir:/etc

Version without git information:
4.1-dev-AirPlay2-OpenSSL-Avahi-ALSA-soxr-sysconfdir:/etc

Build and Install

Download Shairport Sync, check out the development branch and configure, compile and install it.

• Omit --with-airplay-2 from the ./configure options to build Classic Shairport Sync.

$ git clone https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync.git
$ cd shairport-sync
$ git checkout development
$ autoreconf -fi
$ ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc --with-alsa \
    --with-soxr --with-avahi --with-ssl=openssl --with-systemd --with-airplay-2

If you get errors during the ./configure step, check again that you have installed the toolchain and libraries correctly.

$ make -j
# make install

By the way, the autoreconf step may take quite a while – please be patient!

Configuration

By default when you start Shairport Sync, it will play to the default output device, which is just what is needed here -- the default ALSA device routes audio into Fedora's PipeWire infrastructure. You can configure many Shairport Sync settings in the configuration file, installed during the # make install step at /etc/shairport-sync.conf along with a sample at /etc/shairport-sync.conf.sample.

Automatic Start

To run automatically after user login, Shairport Sync can be installed as a user service.

Running From the Command Line

You may wish to run Shairport Sync from the command line. To enable debug messages and statistics, use the following:

$ shairport-sync -v --statistics

The user doesn't need to be privileged, but must be a member of the audio group to access the alsa subsystem.

Adding to Home

If you have built it for AirPlay 2, you can follow the steps in ADDINGTOHOME.md to add your Shairport Sync device to the Apple Home system.

Update Your Mac!

Many AirPlay 2 bugs have been fixed in recent versions of macOS, so it is strongly recommended that you update your Mac.

Using Shairport Sync

The Shairport Sync AirPlay service should appear on the network with a service name made from the machine's hostname with the first letter capitalised, e.g. hostname fedora gives a service name Fedora. You can change the service name in the configuration file.

Connect and enjoy...