[mythtv-users] FrontEnd will connect if feels like it

[R. G. Newbury]

On 07/07/2016 12:20 PM, Barry Martin wrote:
>
> Hi Gary and Stephen!
>
> <Gary wrote>
>> > The solution is likely to be changing the settings in the file that
>> > starts mythfrontend so that it waits until after IPv4 networking is
>> > fully up.
>> Summary of the issue:
>> https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/NetworkTarget/
>> As noted, any service which is going to start mythfrontend is
>> going to have to have the appropriate stanzas in them.
>
> Love the "cut the crap" section! <ROTFL>  Not to be rude but yeah, gimme
> the answer to my problem!! <laff>
>
>
> <Stephen suggested:>
>> Barry: From my reading of that page, it looks like trying:
>>   systemctl enable NetworkManager-wait-online.service
>
> Didn't seem to help at all  Tried five times (at Terminal
> 'mythfrontend') and kept going to the Language screen which generally
> means no connection to the Backend.  On-screen logs show that
> "SOAPClient" error to the IPv6 address  (and checked against my original
> post -- is the same address).
>
> As Gary stated, 'appropriate stanzas' are probably already included.
> ...Haha: just tried and it connected!  ...Will use that with Roger's
> PasteBin request.  (Oo - sorry, missed you in the original reply.)

I missed the start of this thread, so some of this may be redundant.

Does systemctl status mythbackend.service report that the backend is 
running?

the {/etc|/lib}/systemd/system/mythbackend.service file should have the 
following at the top:

[Unit]
Description=MythTV backend service
Wants=httpd.service
After=network.target mariadb.service

This has been in the Fedora version for at least a year, and I doubt 
that Ubuntu did not borrow that which already worked, to put into Ubuntu.

In that case, the problem should not be NetworkManager. If you think it 
might  be that problem you might see a 'link not ready' line in the boot 
output. In any case, write a small wrapper script to replace the 
ExecStart line in NetworkManager,service and stick a 'sleep 5' line 
before the 'usr/sbin/NetworkManager --no-daemon' line in the wrapper.

Then system daemon-reload && systemctl restart NetworkManager.service.

This will delay startup by 5 seconds, for network.service and 
mythbackend.service.

Then:

mythfrontend should not be started by systemd (ok; unless you are 
running the box as a kiosk type of setup).

Try starting mythfrontend from a console in a window ( -w ) and with a 
reduced size (using --geometry) so you can see the output of the startup.

This might explain any number of other problems, from schema errors to 
mysql errors to network errors.  In that respect, my experience is that 
it is ALWAYS easier to trace problems when the boxen are on static IP 
addresses. You don't actually have to make the box static, if you force 
a fixed DHCP address being served up by the router against the MAC 
address. (Makes roaming with your laptop/tablets/phones easier, too, as 
they are not fixed as against any external network you run across).

Hard to be sure, but it sorta sounds like you may have that sort of 
problem. This frontend cannot talk to the mythbackend and reverts to 
first steps.

Geoff