The speech-dispatcher package needed for screen reader support doesn't come with the necessary /usr/lib/systemd/user/speech-dispatcher.socket to make it work with some Flatpak apps (in my testing mainly [Firefox through Flatpak](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1638150l) and [Foliate](https://github.com/johnfactotum/foliate/blob/gtk4/docs/troubleshooting.md#text-to-speech-doesnt-work)). The current workaround is to manually run `/usr/bin/speech-dispatcher -d -t 0` in the terminal before opening the apps to make them work, but we shouldn't need it. Currently, if you try to use the speech-dispatcher.service and the speech-dispatcherd.service both of them give out this error: ``` mai 28 18:09:53 casper-3 speech-dispatcher[4166]: [Tue May 28 18:09:53 2024 : 502906] speechd: Can't create pid file in /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/pid/speech-dispatcher.pid, wrong permissions? mai 28 18:09:53 casper-3 speech-dispatcher[4166]: Can't create pid file in /root/.cache/speech-dispatcher/pid/speech-dispatcher.pid, wrong permissions? ``` I'm not 100% sure if this is an issue just with Silverblue or with both SB and Workstation, but as I found it on SB I decided to report it here, and I couldn't find an open issue about it for Workstation. I opened an issue about it in Silverblue's repo, so for more details check the link: https://github.com/fedora-silverblue/issue-tracker/issues/569 Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Run ls /usr/lib/systemd/user | grep speech to make sure the file socket file isn't there, which it probably isn't. 2. Open Firefox installed through Flathub. 3. Try to open an article in Reader Mode (this is a random example: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/30/twitch-ends-contracts-for-its-safety-advisory-council-sac-trust-safety.html) 4. Notice that the headphones icon for the Read Aloud option doesn't show up. 5. Close the app, open a terminal and run /usr/bin/speech-dispatcher -d -t 0 Actual Results: If you don't manually run the speech-dispatcher server you don't get Screen reader and Read Aloud support for apps that make use of speech-dispatcher. Expected Results: Those should work out of the box, as it is a huge accessibility issue. Ubuntu is currently shipping a working package by shipping an unstable version of speech-dispatcher, as speechd support for user sockets isn't in a stable version yet: https://packages.ubuntu.com/source/noble/speech-dispatcher I'm not sure if this is something that can be done by us, but we should if possible, as this provides at least the bare minimum support for users that depend on screen readers.
See https://github.com/fedora-silverblue/issue-tracker/issues/569. It looks like this is "fixed" in the latest release of speechd which is still in RC but has been shipped in Ubuntu 24.04 already apparently.
Ah, sorry, you already posted that info but I missed it on my first quick read.
FEDORA-2025-509997a94e (speech-dispatcher-0.12.0-1.fc42) has been submitted as an update to Fedora 42. https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-509997a94e
FEDORA-2025-509997a94e has been pushed to the Fedora 42 testing repository. Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command: `sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2025-509997a94e` You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-509997a94e See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.
Testing the new speech-dispatcher version on Rawhide, just had to manually activate the socket, but now that it's active it works PERFECTLY.
FEDORA-2025-509997a94e (speech-dispatcher-0.12.0-1.fc42) has been pushed to the Fedora 42 stable repository. If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.