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lokas
Asked: 2018-05-01 08:03:36 +0800 CST

How to disable event sounds with gsettings in Ubuntu 18.04

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I have an install script that I run after fresh installations to install apps, mount network drives and make changes to several configurations to my liking. One of them is disabling the event sounds.

Up until now I have used this command to achieve that:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.sound event-sounds false

However, with 18.04 this command doesn't work anymore. Anyone know which schema and key to use now?

sound gnome events

2 Answers

  1. It is not possible to disable events using gsettings, instead it's saved in pulseaudio's TDB files.

    Using tdbtools (apt install tdb-tools), you can update the setting in the database:

    cd ~/.config/pulse

# Create a back-up in case anything bricks
cp *-stream-volumes.tdb stream-volumes.bup

# Get the entry and update it
entry=$(tdbdump *-stream-volumes.tdb | grep "sink-input-by-media-role:event" -a1 | tail -n1 | cut -d'"' -f2)
tdbtool *-stream-volumes.tdb store "sink-input-by-media-role:event" "${entry/00101/00111}"

    This updates the value for the key "sink-input-by-media-role:event" to mute the system sounds (101 → 111). In my case, these are the values in both states:

    On:  B\011m\01\00v\01\00\01\00\00101talsa_output.usb-FiiO_DigiHug_USB_Audio-01.analog-stereo\000N
Off: B\011m\01\00v\01\00\01\00\00111talsa_output.usb-FiiO_DigiHug_USB_Audio-01.analog-stereo\000N

    Your values are most probably different, but the value needed to replace remains the same.

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  2. Go to the activities panel and type in sound. Click on it and choose sound effects. Click OFF for alert volume (currently denoted as ON).

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