Linux Issues

Developer VST 3 SDK
1

I am trying to port my framework (Jamba) to Linux using the latest SDK 3.7.8. As I am encountering issues, I decided to get back to square 0.

Here are the steps I followed:

  1. On Linux, I am using Ubuntu 22.02 LTS. I have run the script that is provided with the sdk (vst3sdk/tools/setup_linux_packages_for_vst3sdk.sh)

  2. Since there is no project generator for Linux, I generated a project using the Project generator part of the SDK on macOS

  3. I copied the project on my Linux machine

  4. I changed the location of the SDK in the CMakeLists.txt

  5. I ran the following commands to generate the cmake project:

> mkdir build
> cd build
> cmake -G "CodeBlocks - Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ~/src/local/pongasoft/LinuxTest378/

Note1: not providing -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug results in a compilation error

  1. I ran the following command to compile the project:
> cmake --build . --config Debug --target LinuxTest378

which resulted in the following compilation error:

[ 95%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/LinuxTest378.dir/source/controller.cpp.o
/home/ypujante/src/local/pongasoft/LinuxTest378/source/controller.cpp:7:10: fatal error: vstgui/plugin-bindings/vst3editor.h: No such file or directory
    7 | #include "vstgui/plugin-bindings/vst3editor.h"
      |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.

The issue is that there is this block in the CMakeLists.txt (not a Linux issue)

#- VSTGUI Wanted ----
if(SMTG_ADD_VSTGUI)
    target_sources(LinuxTest378
        PRIVATE
            resource/editor.uidesc
    )
    target_link_libraries(LinuxTest378
        PRIVATE
            vstgui_support
    )
    smtg_target_add_plugin_resources(LinuxTest378
        RESOURCES
            "resource/editor.uidesc"
    )
endif(SMTG_ADD_VSTGUI)

Note2: Clearly the generated source code controller.cpp depends on VSTGUI yet there is a conditional in the CMakeLists.txt that doesn’t make any sense. Commenting out the if and endif line fixed the compilation issue.

  1. Since there is no VST3PluginTestHost application on Linux, I used Ardour. Running in Ardour, the daw crashes with the following error:
/opt/Ardour-7.4.0-demo/bin/ardour-7.4.0: symbol lookup error: /home/ypujante/.vst3/LinuxTest378.vst3/Contents/x86_64-linux/LinuxTest378.so: undefined symbol: pango_font_metrics_get_height

I am not sure what to do about this problem. Is it a problem with Ardour? Is it a problem with the SDK?

Thank you for your help

2

If you just want to check VSTGUI issues quickly you could use the editorhost example from the SDK. The editorhost does not call any processing functions but just displays the plug-ins editor. I always use it to check my plug-ins GUI quickly.

Build the SDK and have a look at the hosting examples ((https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3_public_sdk/tree/e099a33fe9d78295f58f919ec3bb58968dd5752c/samples/vst-hosting/editorhost).

3

We had a bug in the currently released generator. The variable SMTG_ADD_VSTGUI was renamed to SMTG_ENABLE_VSTGUI_SUPPORT. But we missed to update the generator. This is fixed now: https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3projectgenerator/blob/1249ad619d494883b4bf68a17f720bab53e59893/script/cmake/templates/vst3plugin_folder/CMakeLists.txt.in#L33

If your plug-in requires VSTGUI and does not work without it, of course you can remove this if…endif from your root CMakeLists.txt. It is just a simple way of enable/disable VSTGUI for a plug-in.

4

Yes I had tried with editorhost and yes it works fine with it. It doesn’t work in Ardour.

5

I just installed Ardour 6.9.0 on Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS and tried some plug-ins from the VST3 SDK, including the ones that use VSTGUI. I was able to instantiate all of them without errors or crashes.

(I assume undefined symbol: pango_font_metrics_get_height might be related to VSTGUI)

Could you provide me with a plug-in that crashes on your system?

6

I just sent you a private message with the link to the vst3 plugin executable.

The source code is this:

LinuxTest378.zip (103.5 KB)

It was generated with the generator

I tested with Ardour 7.4.0 demo (and the latest Ardour 7.5.0 demo) with the same result.

Thanks

7

Ok, I requested access.

Works fine on Ubuntu 22.04.02 LTS with Ardour 6.9.0. as well as the latest Manjaro with Ardour 7.4.0. I could not find any plug-in which does not start up correctly. I installed Ardour using the package managers (apt-get and pacman) on Linux.

8

I just checked your prebuilt binary in

Ardour 6.9.0~ds0
"After Bach"
(rev 6.9.0~ds0-1build1)
Intel 64-bit

No crashes or errors. It opens up just fine.

There was also a Manjaro Update some hours ago and it ships with an updated Ardour

Ardour 7.5.0
"Neroli"
(rev 7.5)
Intel 64-bit

All plug-ins open up without crashes or any errors. Download my synth (www.hansen-audio.org) and try to load it in your installation of Ardour. I never had any trouble using it in Bitwig Studio or Reaper. And it opens up fine on my Ardour installation on Manjaro as well.

9

I tried with your plugin and getting the exact same issue:

/opt/Ardour-7.5.0-demo/bin/ardour-7.5.0: symbol lookup error: /home/ypujante/.vst3/K-Whooms.vst3/Contents/x86_64-linux/K-Whooms.so: undefined symbol: pango_font_metrics_get_height

It does not happen when I add the plugin. It only happens when I open the UI of the plugin (which is the exact same behavior I am getting with my plugin)

I am also using Ubuntu 22.04.02 LTS with all packages up to date. It is not a fresh install of Ubuntu though, so I am wondering if there are some inconsistencies on my system…

Due to the other issues I have encountered porting to Linux, I have currently paused this effort.

I am unclear how you were able to resolve all the threading issues (like how you run things in a UI thread from the RT to send a message to the UI for example), or the file open dialog or drag’n’drop… Maybe you used none of these features…