/run/lock/fluidsynth.lock issue.

[edpil02]

My distro upgraded to Fluidsynth 2.4.4 two weeks ago, and since
fluidsynth no longer starts in daemon mode due to permission issues
for /run/lock/fluidsynth.lock.
Error:
Can't touch /run/lock/fluidsynth.lock.

Downgrade to 2.4.3 solves the issue.

[derselbst]

Related to #1491. @andrew-sayers pls advise.

[andrew-sayers]

@edpil02 what is the output of ls -lhd /run/lock and touch /run/lock/fluidsynth.lock when you run them in a terminal? Which distro is this, and is /run/lock the correct path for that distro?

@derselbst it should be possible to do a quick workaround with ExecStartPre=-... and ExecStopPost=-.... The - tells systemd to ignore the error, which means the original bug would come back in associated distro's until there's a proper fix. Happy to submit a PR for that.

[edpil02]

I 'm running a Fedora distro and /run/lock requires root access.

ls -lhd /run/lock
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 180 4 avril 06:28 /run/lock

I found a workaround :
#ExecStartPre=touch /run/lock/fluidsynth.lock
#ExecStopPost=rm -f /run/lock/fluidsynth.lock

[andrew-sayers]

Could you try the following workaround? If it works, I'll turn it into a proper PR.

# tell systemd to create a directory with the permissions we need:
echo 'd /run/lock/fluidsynth 0777 root root' | sudo tee /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/fluidsynth.conf
# create that directory immediately:
sudo systemd-tmpfiles --create /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/fluidsynth.conf

# Use the new /run/lock/fluidsynth directory in the service file:
sed -i -e 's/lock\/fluidsynth\.lock/lock\/fluidsynth\/fluidsynth.lock/' /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service
# Disable the previous workaround:
sed -i -e 's/^#ExecStart/ExecStart/' /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service

# tell systemd about the updated service file:
systemctl --user daemon-reload
# restart fluidsynth:
systemctl --user restart fluidsynth.service

# Check the file was created:
ls -lh /run/lock/fluidsynth

Please let me know the output of the last command, and any tweaks you needed to make before it worked.

[edpil02]

1. Before your patch:

~$ systemctl --user status fluidsynth
○ fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
└─10-timeout-abort.conf
Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2025-04-04 14:16:04 CEST; 32s ago
Invocation: 28433724a9964e528ef3fe8832a92fcf
Docs: man:fluidsynth(1)
Mem peak: 1.8M
CPU: 26ms
avril 04 14:16:04 tuxmachine systemd[1742]: Starting fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth Daemon...
avril 04 14:16:04 tuxmachine touch[1763]: touch: can't touch '/run/lock/fluidsynth.lock':>
avril 04 14:16:04 tuxmachine systemd[1742]: fluidsynth.service: Control process exited, code=exited, statu>
avril 04 14:16:04 tuxmachine systemd[1742]: fluidsynth.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
avril 04 14:16:04 tuxmachine systemd[1742]: Failed to start fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth Daemon.

2. After deleting ExecStartPre=touch /run/lock/fluidsynth.lock ExecStopPost=rm -f /run/lock/fluidsynth.lock.
   then copy and past your patch.

$ systemctl --user status fluidsynth
● fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
└─10-timeout-abort.conf
Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-04-04 14:27:30 CEST; 56s ago
Invocation: 92e668dbf6d044d2a574de68d9b03fe6
Docs: man:fluidsynth(1)
Main PID: 1776 (fluidsynth)
Tasks: 26 (limit: 37962)
Memory: 305M (peak: 306.8M)
CPU: 2.685s
CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/fluidsynth.service
└─1776 /usr/bin/fluidsynth -is -a alsa -m alsa_seq -p "FluidSynth GM" -r 48000 /usr/share/soundfonts/default.sf2

avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: Started fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth Daemon.
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine fluidsynth[1776]: fluidsynth: warning: Failed to set thread to high priority
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service:33: Missing '=', ignoring line.
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service:35: Missing '=', ignoring line.
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service:38: Missing '=', ignoring line.
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service:40: Missing '=', ignoring line.
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service:43: Missing '=', ignoring line.
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service:45: Missing '=', ignoring line.
avril 04 14:27:30 tuxmachine systemd[1753]: /usr/lib/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service:48: Missing '=', ignoring line.
avril 04 14:27:31 tuxmachine fluidsynth[1776]: fluidsynth: warning: Failed to set thread to high priority

I don't know why but all the lines in your patch give " Missing '=', ignoring line." , but I have sound.

[hfc2x]

I just updated to 2.4.5 and this issue is still present. Fludsynth 2.4.5 on Arch, fails to start with the same error as OP.

Still have to downgrade to 2.4.3.

[andrew-sayers]

@hfc2x could you check...

1. does /run/lock/fluidsynth exist?
2. what are its contents?
3. does a file matching /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/*fluidsynth* exist?
4. what is the output of journalctl --user -b0 -u fluidsynth ?

[rkubosz]

I'll answer. Fluidsynth user here, on Arch linux. I have the same problem as @hfc2x

1. does `/run/lock/fluidsynth` exist?

No

2. what are its contents?

No dir, so no contents

3. does a file matching `/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/*fluidsynth*` exist?

There is no such file.

4. what is the output of `journalctl --user -b0 -u fluidsynth` ?

kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p systemd[833]: Stopping FluidSynth Daemon... kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p systemd[833]: Stopped FluidSynth Daemon. kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p systemd[833]: fluidsynth.service: Consumed 2.134s CPU time, 370.5M memory peak. kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p systemd[833]: Starting FluidSynth Daemon... kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p touch[77381]: touch: cannot touch '/run/lock/fluidsynth/fluidsynth.lock': No such file or directory kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p systemd[833]: fluidsynth.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p systemd[833]: fluidsynth.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. kwi 17 17:45:00 t460p systemd[833]: Failed to start FluidSynth Daemon.

[andrew-sayers]

@rkubosz thanks - I'm not sure how Arch packaging works, but it sounds like they haven't installed the new fluidsynth.tmpfiles. You'll probably need to file a bug asking them to do so.