Can't connect speech-dispatcher deamon

General
1

Hello, I have a problem with a container that does speech synthesis (text to speech)
When I launch my application, I have an error with the speech dispatcher

Connection to speech-dispatcher failed

I tried to install the package

apt install speech-dispatcher

but it’s the same. When I start the daemon

root@613e09423058:/app# speech-dispatcher
[Tue Sep 19 08:08:58 2023: 945319] speechd: Speech Dispatcher 0.10.2 starting

and I restart my app I have the same error

Connection to speech-dispatcher failed

After some research it’s not a problem with the application, but rather with the speechd daemon

root@d75572a5f3d1:/# spd-say 'hello'
Failed to connect to Speech Dispatcher:
Error: Can't connect to unix socket /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/speechd.sock: No such file or directory. Autospawn: Autospawn failed. Speech Dispatcher refused to start with error code, stating this as a reason:

Here the different logs:

root@a590016e0d58:/app# cat $HOME/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log/speech-dispatcher.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 870356] speechd:   Speech Dispatcher Logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//speech-dispatcher.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 870713] speechd:  Configuration has been read from "/etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf"
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 891917] speechd:  Initializing output module dummy with binary /usr/lib/speech-dispatcher-modules/sd_dummy and configuration /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/dummy.conf
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 891969] speechd:   Output module is logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//dummy.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 892629] speechd:  Module dummy loaded.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 897279] speechd:  Module dummy started successfully with message: 
---------------
Everything ok so far.
---------------

[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 911197] speechd:  Error: Module reported error in request from speechd (code 3xx): 300-Opening sound device failed. Reason: Couldn't open pulse plugin. 
300 UNKNOWN ERROR
.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 911235] speechd: ERROR: Can't initialize audio in output module, see reason above.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 911424] speechd:  Initializing output module espeak-ng with binary /usr/lib/speech-dispatcher-modules/sd_espeak-ng and configuration /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/espeak-ng.conf
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 911455] speechd:   Output module is logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//espeak-ng.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 912132] speechd:  Module espeak-ng loaded.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 969833] speechd:  Module espeak-ng started successfully with message: 
---------------
Espeak-ng: Initialized successfully.
---------------

[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 972201] speechd:  Error: Module reported error in request from speechd (code 3xx): 300-Opening sound device failed. Reason: Couldn't open pulse plugin. 
300 UNKNOWN ERROR
.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 972236] speechd: ERROR: Can't initialize audio in output module, see reason above.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 972347] speechd:   Speech Dispatcher Logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//speech-dispatcher.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 972395] speechd: Error [speechd.c:683]:No speech output modules were loaded - aborting...
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 978714] speechd:   Speech Dispatcher Logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//speech-dispatcher.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 979043] speechd:  Configuration has been read from "/etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf"
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 996753] speechd:  Initializing output module dummy with binary /usr/lib/speech-dispatcher-modules/sd_dummy and configuration /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/dummy.conf
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 996803] speechd:   Output module is logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//dummy.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 997380] speechd:  Module dummy loaded.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:35 2023 : 2038] speechd:  Module dummy started successfully with message: 
---------------
Everything ok so far.
---------------

[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 12942] speechd:  Error: Module reported error in request from speechd (code 3xx): 300-Opening sound device failed. Reason: Couldn't open pulse plugin. 
300 UNKNOWN ERROR
.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 12979] speechd: ERROR: Can't initialize audio in output module, see reason above.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 13172] speechd:  Initializing output module espeak-ng with binary /usr/lib/speech-dispatcher-modules/sd_espeak-ng and configuration /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/espeak-ng.conf
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 13203] speechd:   Output module is logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//espeak-ng.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 13858] speechd:  Module espeak-ng loaded.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 69298] speechd:  Module espeak-ng started successfully with message: 
---------------
Espeak-ng: Initialized successfully.
---------------

[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 71587] speechd:  Error: Module reported error in request from speechd (code 3xx): 300-Opening sound device failed. Reason: Couldn't open pulse plugin. 
300 UNKNOWN ERROR
.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 71642] speechd: ERROR: Can't initialize audio in output module, see reason above.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 71758] speechd:   Speech Dispatcher Logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//speech-dispatcher.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:36 2023 : 71814] speechd: Error [speechd.c:683]:No speech output modules were loaded - aborting...
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 443789] speechd:   Speech Dispatcher Logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//speech-dispatcher.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 444531] speechd:  Configuration has been read from "/etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf"
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 483401] speechd:  Initializing output module dummy with binary /usr/lib/speech-dispatcher-modules/sd_dummy and configuration /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/dummy.conf
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 483501] speechd:   Output module is logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//dummy.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 484583] speechd:  Module dummy loaded.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 493591] speechd:  Module dummy started successfully with message: 
---------------
Everything ok so far.
---------------

[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 513811] speechd:  Error: Module reported error in request from speechd (code 3xx): 300-Opening sound device failed. Reason: Couldn't open pulse plugin. 
300 UNKNOWN ERROR
.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 513874] speechd: ERROR: Can't initialize audio in output module, see reason above.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 514279] speechd:  Initializing output module espeak-ng with binary /usr/lib/speech-dispatcher-modules/sd_espeak-ng and configuration /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/espeak-ng.conf
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 514340] speechd:   Output module is logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//espeak-ng.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 515184] speechd:  Module espeak-ng loaded.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 606753] speechd:  Module espeak-ng started successfully with message: 
---------------
Espeak-ng: Initialized successfully.
---------------

[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 608928] speechd:  Error: Module reported error in request from speechd (code 3xx): 300-Opening sound device failed. Reason: Couldn't open pulse plugin. 
300 UNKNOWN ERROR
.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 608961] speechd: ERROR: Can't initialize audio in output module, see reason above.
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 609071] speechd:   Speech Dispatcher Logging to file /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/log//speech-dispatcher.log
[Tue Sep 19 09:57:49 2023 : 609117] speechd: Error [speechd.c:683]:No speech output modules were loaded - aborting...

I also tried to use this image:

https://hub.docker.com/r/mavlink/qgc-build-linux/dockerfile/

but I got the same error

Have any ideas ?

2

What is the speed-dispatcher? Is it a piece of software? Does it run inside the container? Does it need access to hardware on the host?

3

Speech Dispatcher is a device independent layer for speech synthesis that provides a common easy to use interface for both client applications (programs that want to speak) and for software synthesizers (programs actually able to convert text to speech)

4

How do you start speech-dispatcher and then your app? In two separate shells? Running speech-dispatcher will probably just start the server, but quit when you stop it, not continue in background.

If it’s a service/daemon running inside the container, check its status

systemctl status speech-dispatcher
systemctl start speech-dispatcher