[mythtv-users] mythfilldatabase autorun config file location error

[R. G. Newbury]

Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 10/17/06 09:56, Daniel Kristjansson wrote:
> 
>> On Sat, 2006-10-14 at 16:26 +0100, Neil Sedger wrote:
>>  
>>
>>> Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>>    
>>>
>>>> Because the environment from which this is being run doesn't have a HOME 
>>>> environment variable defined.
>>>>      
>>>>
>>> Indeed. How odd. I thought that Fedora initscripts would automatically pick up the user's (root) environment. A quick test shows it doesn't even have $USER!
>>> I've edited the initscript to hardcode the HOME var as you suggested, thanks.
>>> I'd have thought this problem would happen to more people though, I haven't seen it mentioned in the docs, install guide or FAQ.
>>>    
>>>
>> I would think very few people run mythfilldatabase as root..
>>
>> Too many people do something crazy like run mythbackend or mythfrontend
>> as root, but I've never seen anyone recommend running mythfilldatabase
>> that way.
>>
> Of course, if running (the master) mythbackend as root and if MythTV is 
> set to automatically run mythfilldatabase, mythfilldatabase is run as 
> root.  :)
> 
> The most common reason to be lacking a HOME environment variable is 
> because an init script (which is not executed under a login shell) 
> starts mythbackend and doesn't go to the trouble of setting up the 
> environment correctly.  Those without a HOME environment variable tend 
> to end up with /.qt and /.mythtv directories (off the root of the fs) 
> because the HOME expands to nothing (in MythContext::GetConfDir()).  In 
> this case--whether using XMLTV or DataDirect--mythfilldatabase will 
> download the channel icons into /.mythtv/channels directory (off the 
> root of the filesystem).
> 
> Another issue caused by running mythbackend as root is the lack of an 
> XMLTV configuration file (for XMLTV users).  Often, the user will 
> configure XMLTV as user mythtv (the user running mythfrontend) or 
> sometimes even as the root user, but from a login shell (with a HOME 
> environment variable).  In doing so, the XMLTV configuration file is 
> written to the user's home directory.  Then, when mythfilldatabase runs 
> automatically (by the mythbackend process started in an environment 
> lacking a HOME), if often fails because it's lacking an XMLTV 
> configuration file.
> 
> IMHO, we shouldn't be looking through random directories for 
> configuration information when a HOME environment variable doesn't exist 
> (even hard-coding in paths like /home/{root,mythtv} and /root.  So, we 
> just need to ensure that users configure their environments appropriately.
> 
> I don't know how any of the distros set things up, but if, as the OP 
> suggests, the FC init scripts don't set the HOME environment variable, 
> it means that a large number of FC users are probably relying on /.qt 
> and /.mythtv directories for their mythbackend/mythfilldatabase 
> configurations.  If Axel were to change the init scripts to specify a 
> HOME, then those users who had gotten configuration information into 
> directories of the root filesystem would no longer be using that 
> information (and would, therefore, have to be taught to move their 
> configuration information).  So, changing the scripts and not changing 
> the scripts both have their benefits.
> 
> But, as you were saying, running mythfilldatabase as root is not a good 
> idea.  So, by extension, figuring out how to run mythbackend as non-root 
> is a good idea.  :)
> 
> Mike
Verrrryyy interesting. Firstly, I always run mythfilldatabase as root 
and it runs fine!
Under Fedora, at least, the $HOME variable is taken from the /etc/passwd 
file, and set by 'login' on logging in.
I would think that the only way to get running without a $HOME 
environment variable set would be to bypass login somehow.

Regarding running/starting mythbackend as root, I have just noticed that 
the /etc/sysconfig/mythbackend file has an entry providing for I 
mythbackend to be started by some other user than root.
I will try out that possibility to see if it will work together with an 
auto-login as the myth user. If so, it will resolve one major problem 
where the myth user cannot stop and restart the mythbackend service.

If that works I suspect that chown and chgrp of mythfilldatabase may be 
sufficient to avoid the problem referred to above.

Although I still do not understand why 'running mythfilldatabase root is 
not a good idea'.
This is a myth.


Geoff
-- 
              R. Geoffrey Newbury			
            Barrister and Solicitor
       Suite 106, 150 Lakeshore Road West
          Mississauga, Ontario, L5H 3R2

         o905-271-9600 f905-271-1638
           newbury at mandamus.org

        Helping with the HTTP issue
<a href="http://www.w3.org/Protocols/">HTTP</a>