[mythtv-users] Fedora 16 for mythTV

[Gabe Rubin]

Alex, I may have a solution to one of your problems at the end of my message.

On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 3:52 AM, Alec Leamas <leamas.alec at gmail.com> wrote:
> Seems that a lot of folks have upgraded without much trouble to  F16, I
> wish I could say the same ...:)
>
> An incomplete list what I ran into during the upgrade F14-F16. I usually
> lag one major version, this should be the time for F15 for me. However,
> new hardware (DVB/T2) made me take this step now.
>
> An incomplete list o problems I ran into, hopefully helpful to someone (?):
>
> Mythtv on Fedora 16
>
> Preupgrade failed hard due to /var on separate partition:
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=748119
>
> Bluetooth problems on my hardware:
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=733847
>
> Ethernet problems on my hardware
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=719449
>
> Before update, mythbackend refused to start. Related to that it is now
> by default run as mythtv, not root.  Seems OK after update(?)
>
> After update: segmentation faults related to nvidia driver:
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=737223
>
> On my combined frontend/backend/db server, frontend is started before
> mysqld is initiated -> DB connection errors. Had to add code in
> frontend startup script to wait for DB.
>
> Similarly, when irexec is invoked in autostart it fails because lirc has
> yet not created the /var/run/lirc/lircd socket. Code needed to wait for
> socket...
>
> Earlier, I could set up the myth user so that it was automatically logged
> in when it was logged out (or killed), creating a soft, fast reset without
> complete reboot. This seems not possible any more, automatic login after
> boot is OK but not after logout (?). This is not really a bug, the pre-F16
> behaviour was undocumented (?)
>
> Thinking about it, the whole idea of something like GDM is more trouble than
> its worth. It should be possible to define a runlevel (systemd target) which
> just starts  the mythtv user and the services it needs (irexec, licmd etc).
>

My upgrade from Fedora 14 to 16 has been somewhat problematic as well.
 I am not sure I can provide solutions as I am still working some of
them out.  I went from Fedora 14 to 15 to 16.  The transition to 15
seemed smooth enough but I wanted to not have to upgrade in 6 months
(I tend to spend a day in the Thanksgiving weekend doing the upgrade
because that is about the time my even number point release is about
to EOL and I have some free time that weekend).

I used preupgrade, or should say tried to.  I got bit with the /boot
partition not being big enough.  If anyone can advise as to how to
increase the /boot partition, that would be great.  I was able to
remove some old kernels when moving to Fedora 15 but I screwed up when
removing kernels to Fedora 16 and had to burn a DVD and fix the
upgrade that way.  Lesson learned, future upgrades will be via dvd
(could not get my system to boot off a USB flash drive).

Grub changed to grub2.  This threw me for a loop, particularly with
the prior issue, because I did not know how to modify the startup
kernel info to make sure nouveau did not load and to get x started
properly.  Google showed me what to do, but it was quite confusing.  I
don't know why there are not big warning signs about the change in
grub on the fedora upgrade page.  If there is, I was looking at the
wrong page.

There is a new way to start/stop/restart certain services.  I know
have to use "systemctl [start/stop/restart/status] [service]" as
opposed to "service [service] [start/stop/restart/status]".  Again,
wish there had been something on the fedora upgrade page to note this.
 If there is, I was looking at the wrong page.

My windows shares did not mount automatically on startup.  I just
fixed this yesterday.  It turns out that my system was trying to mount
the cifs share prior to the network being up.  I was getting a socket
error and found out that was the issue.  I know have /bin/mount -a in
my rc.local file so it attempts to mount again at the end of the
startup process.  This seems to work.

irexec does not always load up automatically.  I have no idea why, or
at least, had no idea until I read Alec's email.  I don't know if it
is the same issue that Alec has and I need to add code, or it is
related to my lirc problem described next.  Last time I rebooted, lirc
and irexec were working properly, so I think irexec just didn't work
because lirc wasn't loading properly.  I will explore further, but
Alec, how did you solve?

I am having issues with lirc that I have detailed in two other
threads.  My PVR-350 receiver used to always be in the same
/dev/input/eventX (where X was 6, I believe) so I could put that line
in /etc/sysconfig/lirc; however, this is no longer static and on
reboot, I have to find out which event file it is and modify the
config file and start up lirc.  Sometimes, I get lucky and it is the
right eventX on reboot.  I believe when this happens, irexec starts up
properly, but as I said, I need to investigate further.  So far,
suggestions from the list have not solved the problem (but I very much
welcome them).  When I don't configure the lirc file properly, xorg
takes over my remote and treats it like a keyboard.  So some of the
keys work in myth, but others perform other functions (control gnome's
volume for example).  It took me a long time to even figure out what
was going on.

On some reboots, the mythbackend service does not start properly.  Now
looking at Alec's post, I am thinking it is because mythfrontend was
starting before mysql service started.  This seems to have resolved
itself (not sure how), but if it pops back up again, it would be good
to know how Alec specifically fixed that (not sure how to add code to
make the frontend wait for mysql to start).

I am using the nvidia-long-lived packages that atrpms (Axel) packages.
 I ran into the segfault issues with more recent nvidia drivers on
Fedora 14 so already fixed the problem before the upgrade.  This is
definitely a nvidia issue, not a Fedora issue, but I can see how
people would run into this on an upgrade.

Locate was not working for non-root users.  It was saying that the
mythtv user did not have permission to access the database.  I googled
and tried to change the right permissions, but that did not work.
After some reboots, this problem has gone away.  If it comes back, I
will need to investigate further.

Finally, as to Alec's issue with not being able to auto-log back in, I
have a button to do a "soft reset" of myth (short of a reboot) when
things go haywire that uses irexec to execute a script that issues
"sudo killall gdm-binary" with the mythtv user having the correct
permission to perform this.  This kills gdm, gnome, mythfrontend, etc,
and just logs back in.  I think it just basically restarts x.

All in all, the upgrade to Fedora 16 was not smooth.  I am still
struggling with the lirc issue but can work around it for the time
being.  These upgrades really make me consider moving to a centOS or
something with a much longer upgrade horizon.  I say that each time
though and stick with Fedora because I am scared of making that big of
a change.