[mythtv-users] Schedules Direct

Jerry mythtv at hambone.e4ward.com
Sat Jan 27 15:27:24 UTC 2018


On Sat, Jan 27, 2018 at 6:28 AM, Jim Abernathy <jfabernathy at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> One more thing.  When you set up the initial database, the script should
> be running as the user which runs mythbackend, which is mythtv in my case.
> The files get put in the currrent user's home directory so this is
> important.
>
> If you do this as a different user, you can try to copy the relevant
> folder (~/.xmltv) to your mythbackend user's home directory, but it's easy
> to make a mistake there.  You can try it though.  'sudo cp -R ~/.xmltv
> /<mythtv_home_dir>/'.  Be sure to 'chown -R mythtv:mythtv .xmltv' (or
> whatever user it happens to be in Ubuntu)  If in doubt where that home
> directory is, you can check the user's entry in /etc/passwd.
>
> This is the sort of thing that I like to try but it's really safer to do
> it the right way and just log in as the mythtv user.   It will probably
> save you time in the long run.  I happen to have a password for the mythtv
> user.  I finally just set a password for the mythtv user because I have to
> log in as that user a lot.  'sudo passwd mythtv' will do that for you.  And
> you may have to add a shell for him in /etc/passwd.  Then you can just 'su
> - mythtv' and login.  Again, I don't know the way that Ubuntu is set up.
>
> Sorry if this is too simplistic.
>
> Running 'su - mythtv -c '/usr/bin/tv_grab_zz_sdjson_sqlite' may do the
> trick if you don't have a password for mythtv.
>
>
> I checked the morning and at 2AM mythfilldatabase ran automatically and
> FAILED.  At least that is what is displayed with on a FE. I used System
> Information and check the Schedule Status.  It FAILED with error code 1,
> but I can't find a log file that gives me any detail.
>
> If it's a permission problem I can chown mythtv:mythtv for the XMLTV
> related config and database files, but not sure how to figure this one out.
>
> Jim A
>

I think you're nearly there.  You can run the script successfully.

On my Fedora system, the automatic mythfilldatabase job runs as the mythtv
(mythbackend) user.  So I'm pretty sure those files need to be in the
mythtv user's home directory.  You'll have to check /etc/passwd for the
path there, but on my system it's /etc/mythtv.  Just make sure they are in
the right place.

As to your other thread, I also had problems until i started running
mythtv-setup as the mythtv user.  I just manually changed the shell for the
mythtv user in /etc/passwd to /bin/bash from /bin/false or whatever it
was.  That alone did the trick.  Then I added a password for mythtv with
'sudo passwd mythtv' and I was ready to roll.

I do the regular day to day maintenance as my regular user (not mythtv).  I
just do the mythtv maintenance as user mythtv.  I don't log in as mythtv
very often, and when I do, I type 'su mythtv' when I'm logged in as my
regular user to switch accounts.

I'm not sure as to the security issues involved here with giving the mythtv
user a shell.  Maybe someone else will chime in.  For a few years, I
actually just did everything on my mythtv backend as the mythtv user and I
never had a problem.  My backend is behind my router and it's inaccessible
from outside my LAN.  If there is a glaring problem with this and someone
has a better alternative, I'm all ears.  I'm pretty sure it's okay.  Just
use a good password.

So, if you want, you can try just manually copying over the files from
/home/jim/.xmltv or wherever they are to /<mythtv_home>/.xmltv and change
the ownership of them.  Or you can go through the entire process again.

I tried to be clear (and I know I failed) but it was hard to remember
exactly how I set it up over a year ago.  I think you're almost done and
you'll have it working very soon.

Jerry
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