OSSAUDIO(3) Library Functions Manual OSSAUDIO(3)

ossaudio
Open Sound System emulation

OSS Audio Emulation Library (libossaudio, -lossaudio)

#include <soundcard.h>

The ossaudio library provides an emulation of the Open Sound System audio interface.

Use the native audio(4) and mixer(4) interfaces for new programs, and this emulation library only for building code written for other operating systems.

The following table summarizes the mappings from native interface device names to OSSv3 mixer controls.
Native Device Name OSS Mixer Control
*.mic SOUND_MIXER_MIC
*.line SOUND_MIXER_LINE
*.cd SOUND_MIXER_CD
*.dac SOUND_MIXER_PCM
*.aux SOUND_MIXER_LINE1
*.record SOUND_MIXER_IMIX
*.master SOUND_MIXER_VOLUME
*.treble SOUND_MIXER_TREBLE
*.bass SOUND_MIXER_BASS
*.speaker SOUND_MIXER_SPEAKER
*.output SOUND_MIXER_OGAIN
*.input SOUND_MIXER_IGAIN
*.fmsynth SOUND_MIXER_SYNTH
*.midi SOUND_MIXER_SYNTH

The ossaudio interface aims to be compatible with the Open Sound System version 4, as described in:

4Front Technologies, OSS 4.x Programmer's Guide, http://manuals.opensound.com/developer/, 2007.

ioctl(2), audio(4), midi(4), mixer(4)

The ossaudio library first appeared in NetBSD 1.3.

The Open Sound System up to version 3 was originally the preferred API for writing audio code under Linux until ALSA became the new default in Linux 2.6. It remains the preferred API in FreeBSD and Solaris, and a large body of code exists supporting it.

October 20, 2020 NetBSD 10.1