[mythtv-users] Changing from 0.21 to 0.25 using new hardware

[Nick Rout]

On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 5:40 PM, Bob Long <bob at oblong.com.au> wrote:
> I currently have a reliable 0.21 system (combined FE/BE) running on
> Ubuntu 8.04. However, it has some hardware limitations (AGP slot, so not
> able to install PCI-e video for high definition/VDPAU; motherboard does
> not accept modern larger capacity hard drives; a couple of other things)
> so I'm looking to build a new combined FE/BE with new hardware.
>
> I've done some tests with new hardware with 0.24 and that seems fine.
> However, would it be better to me to wait for 0.25 to build the real new
> system? That is, will it be better/easier to build a 0.25 system from
> scratch rather than try to upgrade from 0.24? There's no rush for the
> new system, so I can wait if it's better/simpler/more future-proof.
>
> And would it also be better to wait for Ubuntu 12.04, rather than use
> 11.10? Is upgrading from 11.10 to 12.04 likely to break things?
>
> Then, with whatever flavour of new system I have built, how to get
> recordings/schedules etc from the 0.21 system?
>
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.25 says it won't upgrade
> from before 0.22. But I don't want to try any upgrade on the existing
> system anyway - I want to keep it running as is.
>
> I've read http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Database_Backup_and_Restore but
> don't really understand if that is applicable in this case. That warns
> about doing partial restores, but would that process do a full restore
> of a 0.21 backup anyway? If it did, and as there will be different
> tuners/channels, etc, would that restore wipe out or break what had been
> newly configured?
>
> Any pointers, or have I just not read things well enough?


Back up your database using the backup and restore functionality as
described in the wiki.

Install 10.04 (LTS) and use mythbuntu-repos to get to 0.24-fixes. Give
it the same hostname as your old backend, or be prepared to do the
change of hostname thing as described in the wiki.  Do not configure
it (ie don't bother with mythtv setup) as you will throw away that
database. Remove the default  database and restore the one you backed
up, again as described in the wiki article. The database will get
updated to 0.24 format when  the backend starts, and some will get
updated when the frontend starts.

Then carry on as before until 12.04 (again LTS) is released. Back up
your database, then try an LTS to LTS upgrade. If that works, you are
sweet. If it doesn't (yes canonical I am talking to you) then do a
fresh install of 12.04 and use the backup you made.

I am assuming you can separate out all your media (recordings, video,
music etc) so that there is no risks of updates screwing it.