nixos/speechd: fails to start with no config file found

[Noratrieb]

Nixpkgs version

• Unstable (26.05)

Describe the bug

Since my latest update, speech-dipatcher.service fails to start because it can't find /etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf.

This is probably due to #380361

Steps to reproduce

I do not have speechd enabled manually, I do not know how it gets pulled in. My config is here:

Noratrieb/nixos@8b0c135

I assume just not setting any config for speechd is sufficient. I'm using Niri instead of a full desktop environment, if that matters.

Expected behaviour

Speechd starts successfully

Screenshots

No response

Relevant log output

Jan 05 17:50:34 nixos systemd[4322]: Started Common interface to speech synthesizers.
Jan 05 17:50:34 nixos speech-dispatcher[5727]: [Mon Jan  5 17:50:34 2026 : 233857] speechd: Speech Dispatcher 0.12.1 starting
Jan 05 17:50:34 nixos speech-dispatcher[5727]: Error opening configuration file '/etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf'
Jan 05 17:50:34 nixos speech-dispatcher[5727]: [Mon Jan  5 17:50:34 2026 : 233947] speechd: Can't open /etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf
Jan 05 17:50:34 nixos systemd[4322]: speech-dispatcher.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 05 17:50:34 nixos systemd[4322]: speech-dispatcher.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

Additional context

No response

System metadata

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 6.18.3, 🏳️‍⚧️, 26.05 (Yarara), 26.05.20260102.fb7944c
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Nix) 2.31.2+2
• channels(root): "nixos"
• nixpkgs: /nix/store/as8ksm9hafq3x3cvml95i5s092903kvk-source

Notify maintainers

The module doesn't have maintainers, but @berce @jtojnar as the package maintainers.

Also cc @linsui since I think your PR caused this

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[linsui]

I can't reproduce this problem. If services.speechd.config is not set, /etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf should links to "${cfg.package}/etc/speech-dispatcher". It works correctly for me. What's in your /etc/speech-dispatcher?

[Noratrieb]

/etc/speech-dispatcher does not exist for me.

[Noratrieb]

Ah right you mean "${cfg.package}/etc/speech-dispatcher", which is where it's supposed to be looked up.

[linsui]

/etc/speech-dispatcher should link to "${cfg.package}/etc/speech-dispatcher" when there is no config. But it doesn't work for you somehow? I can't reproduce this problem so I'm not sure how to debug it.

[Noratrieb]

I did some repl exploration and it looks like your PR is actually not at fault, as it hasn't arrived on my system yet. options.services.speechd only contains enable and package. Sorry for jumping to the conclusion too quickly. Your PR is not in unstable yet.

[linsui]

Ah, maybe it's caused by #466233 and it will be fixed by #380361.