[mythtv-users] Do you build mythtv from source, and why?

[Mark Lord]

On 11-03-29 11:58 PM, Mario Limonciello wrote:
..
>     I won't speak for Ryan, but all of those "*.real" wrapper scripts
>     simply drive me bananas.
> 
> Is there a specific problem you're hitting with them?  It could easily be a bug
> that just needs to be fixed with them. 

No, they work fine, and I understand why they're there,
but I have my *own* wrapper scripts, and I also really like
being able to do "killall mythfrontend" from ALT-F2
(the frontend frequently locks up when tuning in LiveTV)
without having to add ".real" to it.

Ditto for mythtv-setup --> I don't it to rerun mythfilldatabase
every friggin time.  Actually, just about NEVER.  But the .real
wrapper seemed to always trigger it, whether through user error
or whatever.

So I install mythbuntu, install all of the dev dependencies for mythtv
(plus some that don't show up in build-dep), and then uninstall all
of the mythtv packages afterward, replacing them with self-built binaries.

Anyway, no change needed there -- it's just a reason why I prefer
to build/install from source rather than from the mythbuntu distro packages.

..
>     (1) The box here boots/runs from SSD, but has a 2TB mechanical drive
>     for recordings and videos.  Quite frequently, about every third to fifth boot,
>     something buggy in the startup doesn't "see" the mechanical drive, and starts
>     up the system without mounting it ("auto" in /etc/fstab).  I've now removed
>     the "auto" from /etc/fstab, and added my own script to mount it later on.
>     I also had to add some delays in the initramfs so that udev wouldn't miss
>     seeing that device.  Ugh.
> 
> 
> Have you filed a bug on upstart yet about this?  It sounds like a core problem
> that some of the upstart developers would need to provide some input on.

No. I used to report distro bugs (Ubuntu) very, very diligently,
sometimes even with patches to fix them.

Not a single bug report was ever followed up and fixed in the distro.
Instead, I would get annoying emails every six months telling me to upgrade
and re-open the bug if still present.  Duh.

So, no, I don't waste my time on that nonsense any more, much to my own regret.

>     (2) mythbackend frequently start before networking is up, so it doesn't find
>     the hdhomerun network-based tuners.  Again, I've bypassed this by writing my
>     own scripts to start mythbackend now, and changed the sequence to require
>     networking.
> 
> This actually can be fixed now for natty finally because there is a Network
> Manager upstart job.


I'm not so sure about that -- it needs to wait for the network itself to be
up and running (DHCP completed), not just for the network-manager job to start.
NetworkManager takes an enormous amount of time to "connect", even when
using "static" rather than "DHCP" settings.  That drives me batty!

Cheers!