[mythtv-users] Advice on clean install/upgrade of OS an MythTV?

[R. G. Newbury]

On 05/03/14 09:51 AM, Simon Hobson wrote:
> DryHeat122 . <dryheat122 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes, I've been thinking about making the switch.  I've really got no reason to favor Fedora except experience with it. And I don't use the machine for anything but MythTV.  So there is nothing that would happen to hose the existing recordings, i.e. a change in XFS or something, if I reinstall with Mythbuntu?
>
> Just keep the drive as it is, and as long as whatever you install supports XFS then it'll "just work".
> If you want to change filesystem then unless there is an in-place upgrade path you will need to copy the recordings elsewhere, reformat the partition, and then copy them back again. Even if there is an in-place option, having a backup would be "prudent".
>
> The main thing to watch is a "use the whole disk ..." option where the installer will just do it's own thing and use whatever is there (parsonally I always manually partition my drives). It may be safer to unplug your recordings drive while doing the install - then you'll need to manually add an extra line to /etc/fstab later to make it auto mount.

I have been running Mythtv with Fedora since F4. Now running F20 on the 
laptop and work desktop which have myth installed for "testing" purposes 
only (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). The actual mythbox 
presently runs F17, but will be upgraded this weekend (as I waited until 
the Olympics were over!)

Pre-install.
You have lots of space on the second drive. Rsync your /etc and 
/home/mythtv folders into your video drive. Save yourself the brain 
cycles of trying to remember *exactly* what your /etc/fstab and 
/etc/hosts files contained, especially the settings for the xfs partition!

Rsync the /var/lib/mysql folder onto the video drive. That would be the 
mythconverg database!

You can leave the sdb drive in place. Just do not select to format it.
Regarding your main drive, you should consider re-partitioning it to 
protect your installation.

I prefer to do any partitioning before the install, using a live-cd/USB 
and gparted. For safety/recovery purposes, /, /home and /var must be on 
separate partitions. If /var is on the root partition, an error log 
'run-away' which fills the partition will destroy the install AND your 
database without chance of recovery!

Note also that Fedora (and ubuntu also I believe) re-format /var as a 
matter of course on an install... so things which you thought would be 
preserved may not be!

So /var should be its own partition, AND /var/lib/mysql should be a 
symlink to, say, /home/mysql. This setup allows a re-install to format / 
and /var, without affecting the mythconverg database. Using this route 
you do not even need to do a 'backup and restore' of the database. But 
make a backup just in case.

With 4Gig of RAM on the mythbox, I have not run a swap partition for 
many years. But note, I do not shut-down, or hibernate the system on a 
daily basis. If you want to do that, then a swap partition is desirable.

I create a /usr/local partition too, to keep all the extra stuff that I 
want, such as a copy of MythCenter-wide with my own edits, the git clone 
version of master which I am running etc. Both /var and /usr/local

So I have 4 primary partitions on the OS drive: /, /home, /usr/local and 
/var.


The F20 install is a little different than previous but not greatly so. 
You are presented with a page of options, and you select and complete 
each before starting the install itself.

You will be presented with a choice of hard drive to install on, and 
then on another page, presented with partitioning choices. You will want 
to select 'Custom partitioning'. If you have pre-partitioned, then you 
will just confirm the partitions, and mark / and /var for formatting (if 
re-installing: obviously on the first install, you will format all 
partitions)

Otherwise it is a straightforward Fedora install. However, if you have 
not dealt with systemd before, there will be a bit of learning curve! 
And mysql has been replaced with mariadb, but the executable is still 
called mysql! However, the setup for myth remains the same as you are 
used to except for systemd.


-- 
              R. Geoffrey Newbury