[mythtv-users] mythfrontend startup freezes [SOLVED]

[David A. De Graaf]

On 04/17/18 17:40, Peter Bennett wrote:
>
>
> On 04/17/2018 05:13 PM, David A. De Graaf wrote:
>> I cannot start mythfrontend on an ACER laptop;  instead it spews some
>> lines into the startup terminal window, then freezes the current Xfce
>> Workspace.  Keyboard and touchpad are inoperative, except that
>> CTL-LARROW will switch to the adjacent Workspace, which is still
>> functional.  Then I can  'pkill -9 mythfrontend'  and recover.
>> mythbackend is running happily on another machine and several other
>> frontends around the house play TV from it without issue.
>>
>> I have noticed a similar annoying freeze-up when starting 
>> mythfrontend on
>> other client machines.  But after a few seconds, the window opens and
>> activity resumes.
>>
>> mythtv-setup behaves the same.  It freezes the Workspace;  it can be
>> killed from a different Workspace.  Neither mythfrontend nor
>> mythtv-setup manage to open their characteristic X display.
>>
>> Now here's the crazy part:   If I create a new user, dumtest, with a
>> pristine HOME directory, log off, log on as dumtest, and start Xfce,
>> mythfrontend works perfectly.
>>
>> My HOME directory has been carried along through many Fedora
>> generations, currently at Fedora 27, so there's likely something
>> lurking there that's blocking the mythfrontend startup sequence.
>> But what???  Mythtv has many secret configurations and hides them
>> well.  Obviously, I have compared the various hidden files in
>> /home/dad and /home/dumtest, but not found the culprit.
>>
>> Suspecting .config, .cache, and .mythtv, I renamed them (NOT.config,
>> etc.) and tried again.  No luck.  Some of the displaced directories were
>> recreated, but mythfrontend still locked up.
>>
>> I have some large log files, created by
>>     mythfrontend | tee mfe.out.1
>> both for dumtest which worked, and for dad which failed, but haven't
>> found them to be helpful in deciphering my problem.
>>
>> Google hasn't helped either.
>> I'm hoping some of the geniuses on this list will.
>>
>
> I suspect that OpenGL is not working for some reason. Try running with 
> parameter -O ThemePainter=qt:
> mythfrontend -O ThemePainter=qt
>
> This may not be the best solution because OpenGL playback will not 
> work this way and you will have to use one of the Xvideo playback 
> profiles such as Slim or Normal. However it may point you towards the 
> root cause of the problem.
>
> I always start with a fresh home directory when upgrading the 
> operating system, then copy or move what I need from the old home 
> directory.
>
> I am running mythfrontend perfectly on an Acer laptop, with Ubuntu 
> 16.04 using VAAPI and OpenGL.
>
> Peter

I finally tracked the villain down and it is    TA DA:
        ~/.mozilla

Here's the process, briefly:
I created a new user, dadnew.  I verified that dadnew could run 
mythfrontend.  Then I copied most of my ~/.* hidden files and 
directories and tested if dadnew could still run mythfrontend.  It could 
NOT.

Using a binary search I discovered that .mozilla/ was the blocker.

I removed .moziilla from /home/dad/ and all is well - mythfrontend runs 
perfectly.  I reran firefox which recreated .mozilla and some stuff 
therein, and mythfrontend STILL RUNS.  Hallelujah.

Beware of .mozilla!