[mythtv-users] Systemd File For MythTV on Fedora Questions

[George Galt]

On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 10:51 AM, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 9:40 AM, George Galt <george.galt at gmail.com> wrote:
>> All:
>>
>> I've been working on a .service script for the mythbackend on systemd
>> for my Fedora 16 x86_64 backend, which is installed using Axel's
>> ATrpms repositories.  The script so far is below and owes a lot to the
>> discussion last week.  Currently, this file works for me.
>>
>> I've got a few questions that I'm hoping someone can answer:
>>
>> 1)  Permissions.  The script below runs the backend as user "mythtv"
>> rather than "root".  I've set permissions for the directories
>> containing the recordings/videos, coverart (etc), logs, database
>> backup, and pid file to user=mythtv, but is there anything else that I
>> might be missing or anything that I should look out for?  So far, this
>> seems to work, but if there is something that is run infrequently I
>> might not have seen it yet.
>
> It has not been necessary to run mythbackend as root for quite some
> time. Just make sure the mythtv user is in the audio and video groups
> for access to those devices.
>
> It shouldn't be necessary to change permissions on the physical
> database since mythtv logs in through the server interface.
> Additionally, you don't need to worry about the PID file if you use
> Type=simple, see below.
>
>
>> 2)  service type.  The RPMfusion script and the script on the mythtv
>> wiki designate the service as "type=simple".  RG Newbury's version
>> (from last week's discussion) used "type=forking".  I find that if I
>> try to use "type=simple" the startup fails with "systemd[1]:
>> mythbackend.service stopping timed out. Killing." in
>> /var/log/messages.  Does anyone know why this might be?  I find the
>> description here:
>> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Systemd#.5BService.5D to be
>> unhelpful.
>
> If you use "Type=simple" then you need to drop the --daemon options.
> Simple is preferred over forking in systemd. Basically systemd picks
> up the PID when it starts the backend. If you use --daemon then
> mythbackend forks so then you have to use a PID file.
>
>
>> Environment=MYTHTV_HOME=/var/lib/mythtv
>> Environment=MYTHCONFDIR=/var/lib/mythtv
>> Environment=HOME=/var/lib/mythtv
>> # NOTE: using the "mythtv" user, NOT root.
>> User=mythtv
>> EnvironmentFile=/etc/sysconfig/mythbackend
>
> Using both the Environment and EnvironmentFile options is redundant.
> EnvrionmentFile is more for backwards compatibility, so drop that in
> favor of Environment.
>
>
>> ExecStart=/usr/bin/mythbackend --daemon --logpath /var/log/mythtv
>> --pidfile /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.pid
>
> To use Type=simple, drop the --daemon and --pidfile options.
>
> Richard
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Richard:

Thanks for the detailed comments!!  I'll see if I can't put them into
practice tonight.

George