[mythtv-users] does the backend need root privileges?

[Larry Finger]

On 01/05/2013 08:34 PM, Richard Shaw wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 5, 2013 at 7:36 PM, Malte Gell <malte.gell at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> using MythTV 0.26, does the backend needs to run as root user or can a
>> normal user start the backend too?
>
> It doesn't *have* to but it does make some things easier. As long as
> the user it runs as is part of the audio and video groups (or the
> equivalent on your distro) for access to some devices and the storage
> location doesn't require root privileges, you can run the BE as a
> non-root user.

I run mythtv on an openSUSE 12.1. I created a user "mythtv" with group "mythtv" 
with password "mythtv" but the login is set to /dev/null, thus you cannot log 
into it.

A script named /etc/init.d/mythbackend starts the backend automatically through 
a link /etc/init.d/rc5.d/S10mythbackend that is a link to the script.

If you want a copy of the script from my system, you can get it from
http://www.lwfinger.com/downloads/mythbackend.

Larry