[mythtv-users] BE3 - Issues with installation and database

[Stephen Worthington]

On Mon, 13 May 2019 11:56:34 -0500, you wrote:

>
>
>Hi!
>
>
>I’m having problems with my installation of MythTV and don’t know what 
>to do next so turning to the experts. Have attempted three times and 
>things aren’t getting any better.
>
>
>The Basics: Computer is a new build, Ubuntu 18.04.2, MythTV version 30.
>
>
>Following the installation instructions form the Wiki at 
>https://forum.mythtv.org/viewtopic.php?t=2788 plus guidance from Curtis 
>Gedakc’s 14.04 Guide.
>
>
>Want to start with a Master Backend with Frontend so downloaded the 
>‘mythtv’ package. (Actually on trial #3 downloaded that and then the 
>separate Backend, Frontend, and MySQL packages should I have 
>misread/misunderstood the contents of mythtv – nope, contains all the 
>parts.)
>
>
>Main problem seems to be the database isn’t found. I’m guessing this is 
>MySQL. I have an old system (ppa: thing is 0.28) – displays that but the 
>new one is supposed to be 30 (no decimal) and not displayed. Actually 
>had two separate Backends (BE1, BE2), both running 0.28, configured as 
>separate systems; Frontends ‘see’ one or the other, not both. The new 
>Backend (BE3, the one I’m having problems with) did see both of the 0.28 
>Backends (BE1, BE2) but never displayed its own. Mentioning this because 
>somehow in my fiddling managed to wipe out BE1: the webpage for BE1 
>(192.168.0.13) indicated it was trying to find the system at 192.168.0.3 
>(BE3). Everything but the first sentence is probably irrelevant but 
>maybe means something – I have no idea.
>
>
>So right now I don’t know what to do. The first install I was able to 
>get to the configuration screen and do the Backend configuration for the 
>tuner cards, storage directories, etc., but then something went wrong 
>and haven’t been able to get to that screen. LIS, seems to be an issue 
>with MySql, so did the –purge remove option (there are supposed to be 
>two hypens). That also removes MythTV. know the password changes to use 
>the new one
.
>
>
>I apologize for the confused writing but I’ll admit to being confused – 
>no idea what is wrong, Googling based on error messages, and potentially 
>have made things worse.
>
>
>TIA!
>Barry

To bring up a new MythTV system on Ubuntu 18.04, I recommend not using
MySQL but switching the database to MariaDB before installing the
MythTV packages.  MySQL now has several problems that you need to
overcome before it will work properly with MythTV, but I think
MariaDB, as installed from the packages, is more compatible.  So what
you do is first choose which variant of Ubuntu you want to install.
Xubuntu is the closest to what Mythbuntu used to be, so I would
suggest using that as the base system, but ordinary Ubuntu and Lubuntu
also work.  Install that, then before you do anything else (including
running apt update and apt upgrade) install the MariaDB client and
server packages.  That will uninstall the MySQL packages, and install
MariaDB as a direct and fully compatible replacement.  If you already
have MythTV installed, due to the dependencies of the MythTV packages,
they will be uninstalled also.  Now do "apt update" and "apt upgrade"
to update all the packages to the latest versions.  Then install the
MythTV-fixes repository, and install the latest MythTV v30 packages
from there.

Now set the root password:

sudo passwd

This is necessary to allow root access to the mysql command.  Pick a
good password and do not forget it.

At this point, if you want to be using LIRC for your remote control,
download my fix for its broken package from my web server and run it:

http://www.jsw.gen.nz/mythtv/lirc-ubuntu-18.04-install.sh

That will install the LIRC package and run all the fixes needed to
make it work and able to be configured using its new Python config
programs.

Now look at the /etc/mythtv/config.xml file.  Change the password
there if you want to, and then set the same password in MariaDB:

sudo su
mysql
grant all on mythconverg.* to mythtv@"%" identified by "<password>";
flush privileges;
quit
exit

Replace <password> with the password from the config.xml file.

Check that you also have compatible config.xml files in the other two
places they are needed:

/home/mythtv/.mythtv
$(HOME)/.mythtv

I find that the easiest way to do that is to delete or rename any
config.xml file in those two locations, and then create a link to
/etc/mythtv/config.xml:

ln -s /etc/mythtv/config.xml

You may need to use sudo or a root login (sudo su) to do that for
/home/mythtv.

At that point you should be able to run mythtv-setup and start
configuring things, unless you have network tuners.  If you have
network tuners, you will need a systemd override file for starting
mythbackend only after full network access is available.  There are
threads on this mailing list to tell you how to do that, or ask and I
will dig out the information.

Also, since you seem to be using frontends on other PCs, you will need
to change the database configuration to allow it to be accessible from
outside that PC.  To do that, use:

cd /etc/mysql
grep -ir bind-address *

That will tell you where all the "bind-address=" lines in the config
files are.  Pick one (hopefully since this is a clean install, there
will be only one) and change it to either

bind-address=::

or

bind-address=*

Use :: if you have IPv6 on your network (it enable both IPv4 and IPv6
access), otherwise use * for IPv4 only.  Change all other bind-address
lines to have a # at the start of the line (which comments them out).

Then run this command to restart MariaDB:

sudo systemctl restart mysql