MythTV Official Community Forum

Is MythTV stable on Ubuntu? This might sound like a dumb question but, I have a reason for asking it. I'm an Arch Linux user and it's a great OS if you want to really know what's going on and have the ability to maintain it. However, I'd prefer something easier to maintain for my backend. When I started out 2 1/2 years ago, Mythbuntu was still around so I tried it. Easy to install, great features but, the database got corrupted a couple times a week. I couldn't get it stable. So, I went with Arch and the only time I've had to restore a database is to back out an upgrade (Arch sometimes goes to a new version of MythTV before my frontends can talk to it.) and after a disk failure but, one of these days, I'll move to new hardware. I'd like to know whether Ubuntu or Mint are worth another try.

I have been using it on Xubuntu for about 6 or 7 years and never had a corrupted database. It has been extremely stable. Perhaps you were having power failures? I recommend Xubuntu rather than Ubuntu. i originally went to Xubuntu because xrdp worked on Xubuntu but not on Ubuntu. I also like the Xubuntu interface and it does not have the advertising and collection of personal information that Ubuntu has these days.

Thanks for the reply. It wasn't power failures. I use a UPS and there wasn't a power failure in that period that would have been long enough to drain the battery at least not that frequently. I'll admit that I didn't build it up from basic Ubuntu but, I wouldn't think that Mythbuntu would be that different. Arch isn't all that difficult to set up once you've done it but, it's still a time consuming undertaking. I wouldn't have gone that direction without doing everything i could think of to get Mythbuntu to work.

I didn't realize that Ubuntu had started collecting personal information. I hate that stuff. If I were to go to Ubuntu, I'd use a lightweight desktop. Probably minimal Lubuntu or Xbuntu. I'm using LXDE on my Arch backend now.

My main mythtv system runs under Xubuntu 16.04 LTS (HWE) and is stable.

I also have run test mythtv systems under Lubuntu 16.04 LTS (HWE), and Debian Stretch, again all have been stable.

I have never seen a corrupted database, I have a daily backup the database, default install (from mythbuntu ppa) gives a weekly database backup.

Well being on Arch, I only get what I set up. I have a cronjob that runs a database backup, mythfilldatabase, mysql optimize and a backintime system backup daily. Can you tell I work as an Oracle DBA?

Because I hated the Ubuntu Unity interface, I've been using MythTV on front and backend systems running Ubuntu MATE 16.04LTS, which I like a great deal. The MATE version of Ubuntu has enough GUI to be easy to use, without getting in the way or wasting resources. I've never had a database problem with MythTV, except after a version update, which is why once I got a stable system on 16.04LTS, I've stuck with it and avoid non-LTS updates. I play with the non-LTS versions on other machines, but for my TV and media, I avoid software that breaks easily.

I checked my MythTV backend system, and it has been running for more than 3 months since it was last rebooted. It went down at that time because my power was off for several hours due to a winter storm knocking out power. My UPS system is a cheap small one with only enough power to keep the system running during short outages. My Comcast cable TV service goes down for a day or so month, but my MythTV backend otherwise keeps chugging along recording everything I have scheduled, and even records episodes that were missed during outages when they are shown later or rerun.

We've been running Mythbuntu for more than 9 years, we started on version 0.28 and have upgraded to the latest version every couple of years, currently on 0.29 and running really well. Never had any issues with the MythTV database.

I only recently looked at the statistics found in Mythweb and was surprised at how ell it has run:
Number of shows: 7266
Number of episodes: 44534
First recording: Tuesday August 26th, 2008
Last recording: Tuesday May 1st, 2018
Total Running Time: 9 years 8 months 3 days 23 hrs 16 mins
Total Recorded: 5 years 2 months 4 days 15 hrs 7 mins
Percent of time spent recording: 53%

Definitely stable. Using Xubuntu 16.04. I confess I did have an early instance of corruption. I can't stand myisam though so immediately converted all tables to innodb, being a mysql dba formerly. Has run perfectly since, and, recovery is better in general. Having previously run many systems for companies using Centos, Xubuntu is quite different. But I like the ppas. Everything on Centos was always super old (intentionally of course).

You do get a weekly backup, but I take one also and store on another system on a daily basis.

Ubuntu, normally the LTS variant is used by over 80% of our users, and is therefore by default our primary platform