[SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

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InstantFlash
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[SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by InstantFlash »

I did a clean install of Xubuntu LTS 18.04. and installed the version of mythTV from the repositories. When I started it it told me it couldn't connect to the database then got stuck in an infinite loop of thinking it had been unexpectedly stopped and restarting every time I clicked exit. I restarted the PC, uninstalled mythTV and installed version 0.29 from a PPA. It no longer kept restarting itself but still couldn't connect to the database. After a few hours of trying different solutions from the internet all I succeeded in doing was changing the error message to something about a "socket".

I purged mythTV and MySql then reinstalled MySql and made sure I set the root password. I installed mythTV 0.29 from the PPA and the infinite exit loop was back and it still couldn't connect to the database using my root password, the MySql password or "mythtv". Couldn't connect with version 30 either.

I've just re-reinstalled Xubuntu. Is there a good tutorial somewhere on how to get mythTV working? The ones I've looked at don't seem to have any info on not being able to connect to a database. Hopefully if I follow a tutorial exactly someone will be able to spot where I've gone wrong! I've got a Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD tuner and just want to record TV shows on one PC.
Last edited by InstantFlash on Sat Apr 13, 2019 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MikeB2013
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Re: How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by MikeB2013 »

For *ubuntu 18.04 and later.
1. Use a terminal session to setup mythtv, this includes stopping and starting mythtv-backend, see later in this post.
2. Current release is 30, install from the *ubuntu repositories gets an old version of 0.29 (these repositories usually contain a single snapshot).
3. Install the 30 ppa as follows:

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mythbuntu/30
Now install mythtv (client/server)

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sudo apt install mythtv
Now the critical part

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sudo adduser $USER mythtv
mkdir -p $HOME/.mythtv
ln -s -f /etc/mythtv/config.xml ~/.mythtv/config.xml
The first line overcomes the continual looping due to current user not being in mythtv group
The last two lines stop the cannot connect to database issue.

now logout or reboot (I prefer the reboot to ensure a clean start)

Again using a terminal session make sure mythtv-backend is not running, go into mythtv-setup configure as desired (remember to set Security Pin to 0000, otherwise frontends will not connect to backend), and then start mythtv-backend

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sudo systemctl stop mythtv-backend
mythtv-setup
sudo systemctl start mythtv-backend
You can check on mythtv-backend status by doing

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systemctl status mythtv-backend
If it shows Active inactive (dead)

You may need to do

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sudo systemctl daemon-reload
before doing

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sudo systemctl start mythtv-backend
Mike
Last edited by MikeB2013 on Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
yawlhoo
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Re: How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by yawlhoo »

Wow, what an incredibly lucid and useful summary for installing MythTV!
InstantFlash
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Re: How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by InstantFlash »

Thanks Mike, you're a genius! That's got it working. I'll have to do a bit more reading to get it working how I want but I can actually watch live TV on it now. Had me totally baffled :-D
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Steve Goodey
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Re: How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by Steve Goodey »

Hello,

If you're happy could you amend the subject line on your first post and add [Solved], thanks.
Don't forget the Wiki.
mtrax
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by mtrax »

Is there a way to determine the changelog for these updates using this repository?
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heyted
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by heyted »

The Mythbuntu ppa on Launchpad builds from the source on GitHub. For v30-fixes, the changes can be viewed at https://github.com/MythTV/mythtv/commits/fixes/30.
Ted | My blog
varneyb
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Re: How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by varneyb »

MikeB2013 wrote:
Fri Apr 12, 2019 2:10 pm
For *ubuntu 18.04 and later.
1. Use a terminal session to setup mythtv, this includes stopping and starting mythtv-backend, see later in this post.
2. Current release is 30, install from the *ubuntu repositories gets an old version of 0.29 (these repositories usually contain a single snapshot).
3. Install the 30 ppa as follows:
...
I tried all this and it still didn't work. I get the following errors in the terminal window:

Code: Select all

$ mythtv-setup
mysql: [Warning] Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
Gtk-Message: 19:23:08.425: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
Gtk-Message: 19:23:12.230: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
A dialog does eventually pop up asking me if I want to start the backend followed by a dialog assking me if I want to run mythfilldatabase. But I get no actual configuration window!
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bill6502
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by bill6502 »

The above aren't errors. You can get a better log by running this:
mythtv-setup.real --logpath /tmp . The log file will be an obvious
name in /tmp. Coy/paste that file in pastebin.com and add the link to it
here (if it doesn't point you to a solution.) Folks here may be able
to help if the log doesn't help you.
varneyb
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by varneyb »

Here you go:
It won't let me post a link for some reason. Here is the pastebin identifier:

https://pastebin.com/Vg8EV35t

Note that on the command line I also got a "Segmentation fault" error message.
[EDIT: added link]
varneyb
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by varneyb »

Note: I do have a config.xml link in my .mythtv directory pointing to the one in /etc/mythtv.

I've also verified that the username (mythtv) and password in the config.xml does allow me to connect to mysql.
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bill6502
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by bill6502 »

The config.xml in play here is: /home/bruce/.mythtv which is likely a link to the
same /etc file and not an issue.

The: MythUIHelper: Could not find theme: Mythbuntu - Switching to MythCenter-wide line is
of interest. I know I don't get those errors. I'd review the instructions Mike gave earlier as I
haven't seen this error (not that I see all of them...)

The SEGV may be what's preventing more info (typically, there'd be an entry in the log
mentioning the SEGV.) I'd have expected to see a longer log.

To get any useful information from the stack trace, you use:
https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Debugging#I ... m_Packages
If you're new to gdb etc, I'd uninstall/reinstall before tackling this.
varneyb
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by varneyb »

I tried the instructions, but I got stuck here:
6) You will be asked to fill out the bug information, you can either open a browser window now or copy the given URL into any browser to do so.
But nothing ever gave me URL so that I could do this.
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bill6502
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by bill6502 »

@varneyb, to answer your point above, the URL is on the 1st line of that page: Please also see the Ticket HOWTO...
and is: http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/wiki/TicketHowTo. Although I'd admit that it's not obvious to the casual
reader.
devnull
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Re: [SOLVED] How On Earth Do You Get It Working?

Post by devnull »

Not intending to hijack, but in my install, I got around the database issue by changing the MythTV MySQL user's password back to mythtv. Seemed to do the trick and hopefully I'll never have to touch it again 😁
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