[mythtv-users] Is there an approved may to remove frontend settings?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 02/02/2014 06:00 PM, Mike Perkins wrote:
> On 02/02/14 18:23, Raymond Wagner wrote:
>> The point is that the user shouldn't be fiddling in the database to 
>> find it
>> "unclean" except in the case of development, which would more 
>> appropriately
>> belong on the -dev list.
>>
> Perhaps. But when a simple OS upgrade suddenly causes all your mythtv 
> settings to disappear then investigation is required. That's when you 
> find that 'hostname' has suddenly become 'hostname.example.com' and 
> mythtv-setup is asking you to remember all those settings you tuned 
> over so many years (and forgotten!).

No, the proper solution, then, is to change the 
proper-host-name-but-improper-settings profile host name (using 
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Database_Backup_and_Restore#Change_the_hostname_of_a_MythTV_frontend_or_backend 
) to some "unused" value (like "garbage" or "oops" or whatever), then 
change the wrong-host-name-but-proper-settings profile host name to the 
proper host name using the same approach.

>
> Of course, when you fix that, the 'new' settings stay in the database 
> until the next time you do an upgrade and something else moves... now 
> you have /two/ sets of settings with little clue which is the correct 
> one.
>
> I'm not suggesting that users deliberately fiddle with the database. 
> What I'm suggesting is that with all the cruft that builds up for the 
> above reasons and others, fault finding becomes that much more 
> difficult. A mechanism for clearing out the dead wood would be useful.
>

Eventually it will be there-, but as part of a change to the whole 
profile mechanism that will also stop using host names as the *default* 
value for the profile identifier.  The host name of a MythTV system is 
completely irrelevant.  However, we need /some/ name for the profile, 
and years ago someone decided to use host name as a default.

Note, too, that the host name is only the *default* name used for the 
profile.  Users should probably--because of the problems they have 
keeping host names consistent/constant over time--specify the profile 
name they want when first configuring the backend settings (by 
specifying a name for "Custom identifier") or as a LocalHostName 
override in their config.xml.  If you do, you can change your host name 
all you like, and as long as you have users running MythTV applications 
properly configured (with a valid config.xml, as created when you 
configured backend settings and specified a "Custom identifier"), all 
will work.

Mike