Subject: Bug#894994: Proper way to stop

From: 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2018 08:15:14 +0800

Package: alsa-utils
Version: 1.1.3-1
Severity: wishlist
File: /usr/share/man/man1/aplay.1.gz

We see
SYNOPSIS
       arecord [flags] [filename]
       aplay [flags] [filename [filename]] ...
which shows us how to start.

Regarding how to stop, all we find is

SIGNALS
       When recording, SIGINT, SIGTERM and SIGABRT will close the output file
       and exit. SIGUSR1 will close the output file, open a new one, and
       continue recording. However, SIGUSR1 does not work with
       --separate-channels.

So apparently one is supposed to perhaps press ^C.

But that leaves all kinds of nasty error messages on the terminal:

$ arecord x
Recording WAVE 'x' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
^CAborted by signal Interrupt...
arecord: pcm_read:2103: read error: Interrupted system call

$ aplay x
Playing WAVE 'x' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
^CAborted by signal Interrupt...
aplay: pcm_write:2261: write error: Interrupted system call

Therefore you need to document:
* The proper way to stop.
* What error messages are expected, what are unexpected.

In fact, perhaps implement ESC or q for a less violent stop.