sndio output support?

[freultwah]

Anybody up for adding sndio output support? As reported on shairport-sync (which recently added its support) forums, sndio output is more stable and smooth even than ALSA on Linux, let alone the ALSA compatibility shim on FreeBSD, which is shaky at best. I myself switched my shairport-sync installation from ALSA to sndio and while it used to crash regularly before, it has been rock solid since.

The good: sndio is cross platform, and thus adds native support for OpenBSD and FreeBSD, and since it also runs on Linux, it may even be a way to eschew Pulse for those who want to avoid it. The API is reportedly sane, concise, and easy to write against. The end result would be leaps and bounds more stable on *BSD (which includes popular NAS platforms such as FreeNAS and even some commercial ones from QNAP), provide better sound quality and work with native components.

The bad: I am not a programmer and I am unable to do it.

[ejurgensen]

First of all good to hear from you again, hope you are doing well.

I of course fully support this, and if anyone is willing to this, I will help as much as I can. I briefly looked at the sndio api, and it doesn't look too scary. The toughest part would probably be to get sync with Airplay to work - not sure what that would require. Edit: Making a first version without sync is of course also an option.