Critical error! - Could not boot Sonic Pi Server. on Linux Mint 21.2

[giuliano-obici]

Hello,
I am trying to teach programming for my students in Rio de Janeiro but getting the following issue.
Hope someone could to find a way to solve the following issue.
Best

======================================================

Sonic Pi Boot Error Report

System Information

• Sonic Pi version: 3.2.2
• OS: Linux Mint 21.2

GUI Log

/home/mini/.sonic-pi/log/gui.log

[GUI] - Welcome to the Sonic Pi GUI
[GUI] - ===========================
[GUI] -                            
[GUI] - {cd2997f1-58a9-4bf1-91c7-39560bd628d1}
[GUI] - Discovering port numbers...
[GUI] - Port entry server-listen-to-gui : 51235 : 51235
[GUI] - Port entry gui-send-to-server : 51235 : 51235
[GUI] - Port entry gui-listen-to-server : 51236 : 51236
[GUI] - Port entry server-send-to-gui : 51236 : 51236
[GUI] - Port entry scsynth : 51237 : 51237
[GUI] - Port entry scsynth-send : 51237 : 51237
[GUI] - Port entry osc-midi-out : 51238 : 51238
[GUI] - Port entry osc-midi-in : 51239 : 51239
[GUI] - Port entry server-osc-cues : 4560 : 4560
[GUI] - Port entry erlang-router : 51240 : 51240
[GUI] - Port entry websocket : 51241 : 51241
[GUI] - Detecting port numbers...
[GUI] - GUI listen to server port 51236
[GUI] -    port: 51236 [OK]
[GUI] - Server listen to gui port 51235
[GUI] -    port: 51235 [OK]
[GUI] - Server incoming OSC cues port 4560
[GUI] -    port: 4560 [OK]
[GUI] - Scsynth port 51237
[GUI] -    port: 51237 [OK]
[GUI] - Server send to GUI port 51236
[GUI] -    port: 51236 [OK]
[GUI] - GUI send to server port 51235
[GUI] -    port: 51235 [OK]
[GUI] - Scsynth send port 51237
[GUI] -    port: 51237 [OK]
[GUI] - Erlang router port 51240
[GUI] -    port: 51240 [OK]
[GUI] - OSC MIDI out port 51238
[GUI] -    port: 51238 [OK]
[GUI] - OSC MIDI in port 51239
[GUI] -    port: 51239 [OK]
[GUI] - Websocket port 51241
[GUI] -    port: 51241 [OK]
[GUI] - All ports OK
[GUI] - launching Sonic Pi Runtime Server:
[GUI] - Ruby server pid registered: 330107
[GUI] - hiding main window
[GUI] - initialising toolbar icons
[GUI] - setting up window structure
[GUI] - restoring scope states 
[GUI] - creating status bar
[GUI] - creating info panel
[GUI] - creating shortcuts
[GUI] - creating tool bar
[GUI] - initialising documentation window
[GUI] - wait for sync
[GUI] - waiting for Sonic Pi Server to boot...
Server on port 51236...
[GUI] - waiting for Sonic Pi Server to boot...
[GUI] - UDP OSC Server ready and listening
............................................................
[GUI] - Sonic Pi Server failed to start with this error message: 
      > Server Exception:
 SIGTERM
 ["/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/util.rb:599:in `wait'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/util.rb:599:in `kill_and_deregister_process'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:224:in `rescue in boot_and_wait'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:221:in `boot_and_wait'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:443:in `boot_server_linux'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:151:in `boot'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:37:in `initialize'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/server.rb:78:in `new'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/server.rb:78:in `initialize'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/studio.rb:192:in `new'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/studio.rb:192:in `init_scsynth'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/studio.rb:57:in `initialize'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/lang/sound.rb:89:in `new'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/lang/sound.rb:89:in `block (2 levels) in included'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/lang/ixi.rb:72:in `block (2 levels) in included'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/bin/sonic-pi-server.rb:302:in `new'", "/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/bin/sonic-pi-server.rb:302:in `<main>'"]
[GUI] - UDP OSC Server no longer listening

[GUI] - Critical error! Could not boot Sonic Pi Server.
[GUI] - stopping UDP OSC Server...
[GUI] - Critical Error. Unable to connect to server..

Server Errors

/home/mini/.sonic-pi/log/server-errors.log

Cannot create RT messagebuffer thread: Operation not permitted (1)
Retrying messagebuffer thread without RT scheduling
Messagebuffer not realtime; consider enabling RT scheduling for user
no message buffer overruns
Cannot create RT messagebuffer thread: Operation not permitted (1)
Retrying messagebuffer thread without RT scheduling
Messagebuffer not realtime; consider enabling RT scheduling for user
no message buffer overruns
Cannot create RT messagebuffer thread: Operation not permitted (1)
Retrying messagebuffer thread without RT scheduling
Messagebuffer not realtime; consider enabling RT scheduling for user
no message buffer overruns
ALSA: Cannot open PCM device alsa_pcm for playback. Falling back to capture-only mode
JackTemporaryException : now quits...
Cannot initialize driver
JackServer::Open failed with -1
Failed to open server

Server Output

/home/mini/.sonic-pi/log/server-output.log

Sonic Pi server booting...
This is version 3.2.0 running on Ruby 3.0.2.
The time is 2025-07-10 10:44:39 -0300
Using primary protocol: udp
Detecting port numbers...
Listen port: 51235
  - OK
Scsynth port: 51237
  - OK
Scsynth send port: 51237
  - OK
OSC cues port: 4560
  - OK
Erlang port: 51240
  - OK
OSC MIDI out port: 51238
  - OK
OSC MIDI in port: 51239
  - OK
Websocket port: 51241
  - OK
Opening UDP Server to listen to GUI on port: 51235
Starting Server Runtime
Booting server...


Booting Sonic Pi
----------------

Booting on Linux
Jackd not running on system. Starting...
jackdmp 1.9.20
Copyright 2001-2005 Paul Davis and others.
Copyright 2004-2016 Grame.
Copyright 2016-2021 Filipe Coelho.
jackdmp comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details
JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
audio_reservation_init
Acquire audio card Audio0
creating alsa driver ... hw:0|hw:0|2048|3|44100|0|0|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit
Released audio card Audio0
audio_reservation_finish
Started [330120] [-] jackd [-] /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330120
Boot - Starting the SuperCollider server...
Boot - scsynth -u 51237 -m 131072 -a 1024 -D 0 -R 0 -l 1 -i 16 -o 16 -b 4096 -B 127.0.0.1
Started [330133] [-] scsynth -u 51237 -m 131072 -a 1024 -D 0 -R 0 -l 1 -i 16 -o 16 -b 4096 -B 127.0.0.1 [-] /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330133
Failed to start server: SIGTERM
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/util.rb:599:in `wait'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/util.rb:599:in `kill_and_deregister_process'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:224:in `rescue in boot_and_wait'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:221:in `boot_and_wait'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:443:in `boot_server_linux'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:151:in `boot'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/scsynthexternal.rb:37:in `initialize'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/server.rb:78:in `new'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/server.rb:78:in `initialize'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/studio.rb:192:in `new'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/studio.rb:192:in `init_scsynth'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/studio.rb:57:in `initialize'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/lang/sound.rb:89:in `new'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/lang/sound.rb:89:in `block (2 levels) in included'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/lib/sonicpi/lang/ixi.rb:72:in `block (2 levels) in included'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/bin/sonic-pi-server.rb:302:in `new'
/usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/bin/sonic-pi-server.rb:302:in `<main>'


Clearing pids: ["330107", "330133", "330120"]

Clearing [330107]
  -- command /usr/bin/ruby -E utf-8 /usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/bin/sonic-pi-server.rb -u 51235 51236 51237 51237 4560 51240 51238 51239 51241
  -- removing /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330107
  -- politely killing 330107
  -- killed 330107

Clearing [330133]
  -- command scsynth -u 51237 -m 131072 -a 1024 -D 0 -R 0 -l 1 -i 16 -o 16 -b 4096 -B 127.0.0.1
  -- removing /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330133
  -- unable to get ProcTable info for: 330133
  -- process: 330133 not running

Clearing [330120]
  -- command jackd
  -- removing /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330120
  -- unable to get ProcTable info for: 330120
  -- process: 330120 not running

Finished clearing pids

Scsynth Output

/home/mini/.sonic-pi/log/scsynth.log

# Starting SuperCollider 2025-07-10 10:44:39
Found 74 LADSPA plugins
Exception in World_New: Permission denied

Process Log

/home/mini/.sonic-pi/log/processes.log

Clearing pids: []
No pids to clear :-)
Started [330107] [-] /usr/bin/ruby -E utf-8 /usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/bin/sonic-pi-server.rb -u 51235 51236 51237 51237 4560 51240 51238 51239 51241 [-] /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330107
Started [330120] [-] jackd [-] /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330120
Started [330133] [-] scsynth -u 51237 -m 131072 -a 1024 -D 0 -R 0 -l 1 -i 16 -o 16 -b 4096 -B 127.0.0.1 [-] /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330133


Clearing pids: ["330107", "330133", "330120"]

Clearing [330107]
  -- command /usr/bin/ruby -E utf-8 /usr/lib/sonic-pi/app/server/ruby/bin/sonic-pi-server.rb -u 51235 51236 51237 51237 4560 51240 51238 51239 51241
  -- removing /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330107
  -- politely killing 330107
  -- killed 330107

Clearing [330133]
  -- command scsynth -u 51237 -m 131072 -a 1024 -D 0 -R 0 -l 1 -i 16 -o 16 -b 4096 -B 127.0.0.1
  -- removing /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330133
  -- unable to get ProcTable info for: 330133
  -- process: 330133 not running

Clearing [330120]
  -- command jackd
  -- removing /tmp/sonic-pi-pids/330120
  -- unable to get ProcTable info for: 330120
  -- process: 330120 not running

Finished clearing pids

[idommason]

HI

I think you have a couple of problems here

You are not a member of the "audio" group, and you have not got RT enabled

Probably the best way to get RT enabled is to either install jackd2 or - if already installed - reconfigure it

So

sudo apt-get install jackd2

or

sudo dpkg-reconfigure jackd2

When either installing or reconfiguring, you need to answer yes to whether you want to enable realtime priority

What this does is create /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf

You should probably edit that and un-comment the final line, so that the 3 end lines read:

@audio   -  rtprio     95
@audio   -  memlock    unlimited
@audio   -  nice      -19

To add your user to the audio group do

sudo usermod -aG audio $USER

After you've done all of the above, you should reboot

This should get rid or the permissions errors in your logs above

You also appear to have some issues with jack not being set up correctly

You might want to read my documentation about building Sonic Pi 4.50 on Linux Mint

https://github.com/sonic-pi-net/sonic-pi/issues/3396

Hope this helps