Hopefully fixed weird gstreamer traceback.

README-DEVELOPMENT.md

@@ -98,11 +98,11 @@ git status
 
 ## Dependencies
 
-- **Runtime**: python3, pygobject-3.0, pluggy, AT-SPI2
+- **Runtime**: python3, pygobject-3.0, pluggy, tomlkit, AT-SPI2
 - **Build**: meson, ninja, gettext
 - **Optional**: dasbus (for D-Bus service), BrlTTY, speech-dispatcher, piper-tts
 
 Install build dependencies on Arch Linux:
 ```bash
-sudo pacman -S meson ninja gettext python-dasbus
+sudo pacman -S meson ninja gettext python-dasbus python-tomlkit
 ```

README.md

@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ Ensure you have the development dependencies installed:
 ```bash
 sudo pacman -S python python-gobject gtk3 at-spi2-core at-spi2-atk \
                python-speechd gstreamer python-pluggy python-dasbus \
+               python-tomlkit \
                meson ninja pkgconf intltool gettext
 ```
 
@@ -187,6 +188,7 @@ sudo pacman -S python python-gobject gtk3 at-spi2-core at-spi2-atk \
 sudo apt install python3 python3-gi python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-3.0 \
                  at-spi2-core libatk-adaptor python3-speechd \
                  gstreamer1.0-plugins-base python3-pluggy python3-dasbus \
+                 python3-tomlkit \
                  meson ninja-build pkg-config intltool gettext
 ```
 

build-local.sh

@@ -26,6 +26,12 @@ for cmd in meson ninja python3; do
     fi
 done
 
+if ! python3 -c "import tomlkit" 2>/dev/null; then
+    echo "Error: Python module tomlkit is not installed"
+    echo "Please install: python-tomlkit"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 # Check for optional dependencies
 missingOptional=()
 if ! python3 -c "import gi" 2>/dev/null; then

src/cthulhu/gstreamer_support.py

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2026 Stormux
+#
+# This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+# version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+# Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+"""Compatibility helpers for GStreamer GI bindings."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typing import Any
+
+
+def gst_init_check_available(gst: Any) -> bool:
+    """Return Gst.init_check(None) availability across GI variants."""
+
+    initCheckResult = gst.init_check(None)
+    if isinstance(initCheckResult, tuple):
+        return bool(initCheckResult[0])
+
+    return bool(initCheckResult)

src/cthulhu/meson.build

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ cthulhu_python_sources = files([
   'formatting.py',
   'focus_manager.py',
   'generator.py',
+  'gstreamer_support.py',
   'guilabels.py',
   'highlighter.py',
   'input_event.py',

src/cthulhu/piper_audio_player.py

@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ import threading
 
 import gi
 from gi.repository import GLib
+from . import debug
+from . import gstreamer_support
+from . import sound_sink
 
 try:
     gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
@@ -38,10 +41,7 @@ try:
 except Exception:
     _gstreamerAvailable = False
 else:
-    _gstreamerAvailable, args = Gst.init_check(None)
-
-from . import debug
-from . import sound_sink
+    _gstreamerAvailable = gstreamer_support.gst_init_check_available(Gst)
 
 
 class PiperAudioPlayer:

src/cthulhu/sound.py

@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ import threading
 from typing import Any, Optional, Tuple
 
 import gi
+from . import debug
+from . import gstreamer_support
+from . import settings
+from . import sound_sink
+from .sound_generator import Icon, Tone
 
 try:
     gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
@@ -46,12 +51,7 @@ try:
 except Exception:
     _gstreamerAvailable: bool = False
 else:
-    _gstreamerAvailable, _args = Gst.init_check(None)
-
-from . import debug
-from . import settings
-from . import sound_sink
-from .sound_generator import Icon, Tone
+    _gstreamerAvailable = gstreamer_support.gst_init_check_available(Gst)
 
 _soundSystemFailureReason: Optional[str] = None
 

src/cthulhu/sound_helper.py

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ gi.require_version('GLib', '2.0')
 gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
 from gi.repository import GLib, Gst
 
+from . import gstreamer_support
 from . import settings
 from . import sound_sink
 
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ class SoundWorker:
     """Runs a long-lived GStreamer worker for icon and tone playback."""
 
     def __init__(self, soundSink: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
-        available, _args = Gst.init_check(None)
+        available = gstreamer_support.gst_init_check_available(Gst)
         if not available:
             raise RuntimeError("GStreamer is not available")
 
@@ -371,7 +372,7 @@ def play_file_once(
     soundSink: Optional[str] = None,
     volume: float = 1.0,
 ) -> int:
-    available, _args = Gst.init_check(None)
+    available = gstreamer_support.gst_init_check_available(Gst)
     if not available:
         print("GStreamer is not available", file=sys.stderr)
         return 1

src/cthulhu/sound_sink.py

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 from typing import Any, Optional, Tuple
 
 import gi
+from . import gstreamer_support
+from . import settings
 
 try:
     gi.require_version('Gst', '1.0')
@@ -26,9 +28,7 @@ try:
 except Exception:
     _gstreamerAvailable: bool = False
 else:
-    _gstreamerAvailable, _args = Gst.init_check(None)
-
-from . import settings
+    _gstreamerAvailable = gstreamer_support.gst_init_check_available(Gst)
 
 _SINK_ELEMENT_BY_SETTING = {
     settings.SOUND_SINK_PIPEWIRE: "pipewiresink",

tests/test_sound_recovery.py

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import sys
 import types
 import unittest
+import importlib
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest import mock
 
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ soundGeneratorStub.Tone = _Tone
 sys.modules.setdefault("cthulhu.sound_generator", soundGeneratorStub)
 
 from cthulhu import settings
+from cthulhu import piper_audio_player
 from cthulhu import sound
 from cthulhu import sound_sink
 
@@ -46,6 +48,23 @@ class SoundSinkTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertGreaterEqual(len(candidates), 1)
         self.assertEqual(candidates[0], "autoaudiosink")
 
+    def test_gstreamer_init_check_bool_result_does_not_break_imports(self):
+        modules = [
+            sound_sink,
+            sound,
+            piper_audio_player,
+        ]
+
+        with mock.patch.object(sound_sink.Gst, "init_check", return_value=True):
+            reloadedModules = []
+            for module in modules:
+                reloaded = importlib.reload(module)
+                reloadedModules.append(reloaded)
+                self.assertTrue(reloaded._gstreamerAvailable)
+
+        for module in reloadedModules:
+            importlib.reload(module)
+
 
 class PlayerRecoveryTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_worker_diagnostic_marks_restart_required(self):