[mythtv-users] Mythbuntu discontinued--existing ISO or manual?

[Stephen Worthington]

On Sun, 16 Jul 2017 08:48:50 -0700, you wrote:

>Alright, thatnks.  I am installing from the ISO.  It's giving me a number
>of options, and I'm not sure which is the best one to choose.  The current
>install of 12.04 has developed problems with its mysql plugin and can't
>connect to my HDPVR any more, so I don't want to choose an option that
>might import those problems to the new install.  So...
>
>"Upgrage Mythbuntu 12.04 LTS to Mythbuntu 16.04 LTS"
>
>This is really what I want to do. The current install of 12.04 has
>developed problems with its mysql plugin and can't connect to my HDPVR any
>more, so I don't want to choose this option if it risks importing those
>problems to the new install.  Also I remember reading somewhere that
>upgrade from 12 to 16 was not wise without doing intermediate upgrades.
>When I choose this option it says it's going to "format partition #5 of
>SCSI190,0,0)(sda) as swap."  So it's only going to format the swap
>partition and not the whole of sda?

Yes, it is only going to reformat the swap partition.  If I was doing
this upgrade, I would only allow it to proceed if I had an image
backup of the 12.04 partition so I could try again if there were
problems.  I use Clonezilla to make image backups.  Doing this upgrade
will likely leave you with the same config problems that are causing
you trouble now, but I think it is still the best option.  See below.

>"Erase Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and resinstall"
>
>This seems like the safer option give the comment above, but the installer
>warns that it will "delete all your Ubuntu 12.04 LTS programs, documents,
>photos, and any other files."  I have videos saved on a second
>drive/partition (sdb) and I've backed this up but it would take several
>hours to restore so I don't want it to be erased if possible.  I've backed
>up mythconverg, etc.

Yes, this option will reformat the existing 12.04 partition and
install a new clean 16.04 system.  As well as the mythconverg
database, you have to make sure you have backups of all the config
files you have edited, as there will usually be things you have
changed over the years that you do not remember and will cause you
trouble.  So I would recommend taking a complete copy of your /etc
directory and also your /home directory if it is also on the system
partition.  That way you can diff config files to see what changes
there are.  But unlike with the 12.04 to 16.04 upgrade, the install
process will not tell you which config files have been altered and ask
if you want to keep your changes.  So it can be very hard to work out
what has and has not been changed, which is why I think trying the
upgrade is a better option.

>There is also a "something else" option which I haven't explored but may
>allow me to tell it to wipe sda and install there.
>
>What to do?

The "something else" option allows you to change around the partitions
as much as you like - it gives you a GUI interface that allows you to
delete and create and reformat partitions, but does not actually do
anything until you have the setup you want and tell it to proceed with
the install.

If you have room, I always recommend having two boot partitions (both
the same size).  That way you can image backup your running partition
to the other partition and try an upgrade there, and still have the
old working partition to fall back on if necessary.  Or you can do a
new 16.04 install on the second partition, and when you are happy with
it, make it the default boot partition.  Then next time you upgrade,
you swap the partitions the other way.

Failing that, I would recommend doing an image backup of the 12.04
partition and then trying the 12.04 to 16.04 upgrade.  The problem
with your config.xml files is easy to fix, and will need to be done
anyway as restoring the mythconverg backup so you have your old
database will require setting the correct password in the config.xml
files.  New config.xml files created during a new 16.04 install will
not work with the old database.

What I do for my config.xml files is to create the one in /etc/mythtv,
and then in the /home/mythtv/.mythtv and /home/<mythfrontend
user>/.mythtv directories, link to the one in /etc/mythtv:

mv config.xml config.xml.old
ln -s /etc/mythtv/config.xml

Or you can just copy it:

mv config.xml config.xml.old
cp -a /etc/mythtv/config.xml .

There have been two different formats for config.xml, but I think this
is what a current one should look like:

<Configuration>
  <Database>
    <PingHost>1</PingHost>
    <Host>10.0.2.12</Host>
    <UserName>mythtv</UserName>
    <Password>*********</Password>
    <DatabaseName>mythconverg</DatabaseName>
    <Port>3306</Port>
  </Database>
  <WakeOnLAN>
    <Enabled>0</Enabled>
    <SQLReconnectWaitTime>0</SQLReconnectWaitTime>
    <SQLConnectRetry>5</SQLConnectRetry>
    <Command>echo 'WOLsqlServerCommand not set'</Command>
  </WakeOnLAN>
  <LocalHostName/>
  <UPnP>
    <UDN>
 <MediaRenderer>c15a0c71-a2d7-4344-8376-7f4f8610fdd5</MediaRenderer>
    </UDN>
  </UPnP>
</Configuration>

You do not need to add the <UPnP> section - that will be added
automatically if you set up UPnP.

Since you have lost all your config.xml files, you may not have a
record of what the password is for your database.  If so, then you
should probably try "mythtv" as that is the default, but if that does
not work, you will likely need to use SQL commands to reset the
password.  I think there is a MythTV Wiki page on how to set the
mythconverg password and what permissions to set up for it.  I do know
that I always have to google to find out how to do that correctly.