Sound Converter will not launch

[purplemunchies]

Sound Converter stopped working for me today. Clicking the menu launcher does nothing. Running it from the terminal I get the following error:

$ soundconverter
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/soundconverter", line 283, in <module>
    options, files = parser.parse_args(args[1:])
                                       ~~~~^^^^
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

I’ve tried uninstalling it, and then reinstalling it from pamac, and it did not change anything.

Any idea what I can do about this?

I’m on Manjaro XFCE, kernel 6.18.12-1

Let me know if there is further information I can provide to diagnose this. Thank you.

[Ben]

Ok, same for me…

❯ soundconverter 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/soundconverter", line 283, in <module>
    options, files = parser.parse_args(args[1:])
                                       ~~~~^^^^
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

Let me see… the same happens on my TEST user too… so it’s not you.

This on Plasma, so not XFCE either.

Git failed to build too

Let’s BODGE the thing:

kate /usr/bin/soundconverter

Now copy and search: options, files = parser.parse_args(args[1:])

That’s Line 283… so use Find and Replace:

`options, files = parser.parse_args(args[1:] if args else [])`

Job’s a good one,

Mark it solved (for now)

[koshikas]

[Testing Update] 2026-02-18 - Kernels, KDE Frameworks, GNOME, GStreamer

fixed in soundcoverter 4.1.2, soundcoverter 4.1.3 in now in unstable branch

[purplemunchies]

Thank you Ben. This appears to have worked without actually trying to convert a file. At least the program opens.

For clarity sake for other people that may find this post…

You need to open /usr/bin/soundconverter with your text editor.

So in my case on XFCE, it is:

sudo mousepad /usr/bin/soundconverter

Replace mousepad with whatever you use for a text editor.

options, files = parser.parse_args(args[1:] if args else [])

Note: Edited the comment ‘open with sudo’ - because that’s entirely dependent on editor. Using fresh-editor, or Kate editor, for example - you only enter your admin password when you SAVE the file.