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

Mon Feb 3 23:20:34 UTC 2014

> On 4 Feb 2014, at 8:46 am, "Daryl McDonald" <darylangela at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 4:28 PM, Raymond Wagner <raymond at wagnerrp.com> wrote:
>>> On 2/3/2014 3:54 PM, Daryl McDonald wrote:
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 11:15 AM, Michael T. Dean
>>> <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> 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.
>>> 
>>> So is there a way to go into an existing combined FE/BE setup and
>>> 
>>> change the default, hostname dependent, profile and create a custom
>>> identifier?
>> 
>> 
>> The profile name is defined by the config.xml, and the location of the
>> config.xml is defined by the $HOME and $MYTHCONFDIR environmental variables.
>> If you want to run multiple profiles on a single machine, or split the
>> frontend from the backend, create a new config.xml with the new profile
>> name, and manipulate your environment to get MythTV to read that new file.
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
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> 
> My attempt to find "config.xml" shows no file or directory exists,
> admittedly I am a newb, but I could create a new file, although I
> wouldn't know where to put it. My question relates directly to Mr.
> Dean's advice as follows:
> 
> 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.
> 
> If I'm reading Mike right this should be done when first setting up
> the BE. Would inserting a config.xml file in the appropriate place now
> avoid hostname muckup problems in the future? If so, where should I
> put it, and what should it look like?   Thanks   Daryl
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> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
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Daryl, from one who has managed to do all the wrong things when it comes to hostnames, my advice would be to get Mike or someone else intimately knowledgeable on the subject to list out the steps in detail. I assume that if you don't get the hostname in the config.xml file exactly matching your current hostname (including the hostname versus hostname at localhost versus hostname at ipaddress distinctions) you will actually immediately trigger exactly the problem you are trying to avoid.

A question for Mike (or whoever knows the answer) if I have MythTV configured with a config.xml file (containing a unique identifier that does not match the machines hostname) and I accidentally run the FE or BE as the wrong user (say the desktop user instead of the mythtv user - ie meaning that the config.xml file will fail to be found as it will be in a different home directory) will MythTV automatically populate the settings table with a new host, or is there some sort of prompt to say 'this is the first time MFE has been run on host 'hostname' press ok to create new profile?