[Problem]: 5.1: no track metadata delivered (pipe and D-Bus both empty) — 4.3.7 works on the same setup

[leodurandfr]

What happened?

Since upgrading from 4.3.7 to 5.1, no track metadata (title/artist/album/cover art) is delivered any more — neither through the metadata pipe nor through the D-Bus interface. Downgrading the binary to 4.3.7, with an unchanged configuration file and an unchanged sender, restores it immediately. I expected metadata to keep working as it did on 4.3.7.

On 5.1, play state still arrives normally, so the pipe itself is alive and being read: conn, snam and pbeg/pend all come through. But no core DMAP items (minm/asar/asal) and no PICT ever arrive. The D-Bus interface agrees: RemoteControl.Metadata stays empty during active playback. Since D-Bus is empty too, this looks like it is upstream of the pipe interface — the metadata does not seem to reach Shairport Sync at all.

Sender: macOS 26 (Mac mini), system audio output selected in Control Center. Same result from an iPhone. Both sessions report StreamType = "Realtime".

What I ruled out:

• Not the pipe interface or its reader — control items flow on both versions, and D-Bus is empty on 5.1 as well.
• Not the configuration — the same configuration file was used for both binaries (only the binary was swapped).
• Not the sender or the stream type — identical sender, both sessions report StreamType = "Realtime".
• Not DACP availability — RemoteControl.Available is false on both versions, including the one where metadata works.

One possibly relevant difference: the mDNS TXT records differ substantially between the two versions on this machine.

4.3.7 : vs=950.7.1  ft=0x4A7FCFD5,0x38174FDE  md=0,1,2
5.1   : vs=366.0    ft=0x405C4A00,0x58340     md=0,1,2

md=0,1,2 is advertised in both cases, but the ft feature bits are much narrower on 5.1.

I notice the DMAP parser was reworked in #2217/#2218 (for #2216) between 5.0.4 and 5.1 — I have not verified whether that is related, but it seemed worth mentioning given the timing.

I can reproduce on demand and can switch between the two binaries in seconds, so I am happy to run any diagnostic, including a -vv capture on 5.1 if that would help.

Relevant log output

D-Bus properties read during active playback, same machine, same sender, same track source.

    ===== 5.1 — playing, no metadata =====
    RemoteControl.PlayerState    : "Playing"
    RemoteControl.StreamType     : "Realtime"
    RemoteControl.Available      : false
    RemoteControl.Metadata       : {} (empty)
    RemoteControl.ProgressString : ""

    ===== 4.3.7 — playing, metadata present =====
    RemoteControl.PlayerState    : "Playing"
    RemoteControl.StreamType     : "Realtime"
    RemoteControl.Available      : false
    RemoteControl.Metadata       : 7 entries —
      "xesam:title"  = "Under Attack"
      "xesam:artist" = ["Mom Tudie"]
      "xesam:album"  = "As the Crows"
      "mpris:artUrl" = "file:///tmp/shairport-sync/.cache/coverart/cover-....jpg"
      "mpris:length" = 215474000
    RemoteControl.ProgressString : "4276420038/4277239545/4285922441"

On 4.3.7 the metadata pipe also delivers `minm`/`asar`/`asal` plus a 512x512 `PICT` for every track; on 5.1 neither appears.

System Information.

Hardware : Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.1
DAC      : HiFiBerry Amp4 Pro (dtoverlay=hifiberry-amp4pro, snd_rpi_hifiberry_dacplus)
OS       : Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)
Kernel   : Linux 6.18.34+rpt-rpi-2712 aarch64
Output   : ALSA only (no PulseAudio, no PipeWire). shairport-sync writes to an
           snd-aloop loopback device, which is captured by CamillaDSP and played
           out to the DAC.

Configuration Information.

Output of `shairport-sync -c /etc/shairport-sync.conf --displayConfig`, run with the **5.1** binary (the affected version):

    >> Display Config Start.

    From "uname -a":
     Linux milo 6.18.34+rpt-rpi-2712 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.18.34-1+rpt1 (2026-06-09) aarch64 GNU/Linux

    From /etc/os-release:
     Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)

    From /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model:
     Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.1

    Shairport Sync Version String:
     5.1-AirPlay2-smi10-OpenSSL-Avahi-ALSA-soxr-metadata-dbus-sysconfdir:/etc

    Configuration File:
     /etc/shairport-sync.conf

    Configuration File Settings:
     general :
     {
       name = "Milō · AirPlay";
       interpolation = "auto";
       output_backend = "alsa";
       mdns_backend = "avahi";
       ignore_volume_control = "yes";
     };
     alsa :
     {
       output_device = "milo_airplay";
       output_format = "S32_LE";
     };
     metadata :
     {
       enabled = "yes";
       include_cover_art = "yes";
       pipe_name = "/tmp/shairport-sync-metadata";
       pipe_timeout = 5000;
     };

    >> Display Config End.

Note: the `output_format = "S32_LE"` line was added after the fact, while testing on 4.3.7; at the time the 5.1 problem was observed, the `alsa` block contained only `output_device`. Nothing else differs.

Configure flags used for both builds:

    --sysconfdir=/etc --with-alsa --with-avahi --with-ssl=openssl --with-soxr
    --with-metadata --with-airplay-2 --with-dbus-interface

PulseAudio or PipeWire installed?

• Check if your system uses a Sound Server.

How did you install Shairport Sync?

Built from source

Check previous issues

• Confirm

[mikebrady]

Thanks for the report. I think this might be due to a mistake — changing over, experimentally, to a newer metadata source without processing it. About 20 hours ago (!) an update was pushed to the development branch which should fix it. If you got a chance to try it out, that would be great.

[leodurandfr]

That did it, thank you for the quick fix. Built the development branch at 4808840 (5.2-dev-46-g6ba8e310) on the same Pi 5 / HiFiBerry / AirPlay 2 setup, config unchanged, and metadata is fully back: title, artist, album and cover art all arrive on both the metadata pipe and the D-Bus RemoteControl.Metadata property. Tested from macOS (Spotify), same sender and same "Realtime" stream that showed nothing on 5.1.

I'll keep my units on 4.3.7 until this lands in a stable release, then move to 5.2. Thanks again!

[rmstep]

I built shairport 5.2-dev-46 into an OpenWRT implementation I'm building, and this fixed the metadata issue for me on Airplay2

[mikebrady]

I built shairport 5.2-dev-46 into an OpenWRT implementation I'm building, and this fixed the metadata issue for me on Airplay2

Good to know, thanks!