[mythtv-users] Upgrade process guidance/tips pls - starting from Ubuntu 16.04LTS, myth .28

[Jim Abernathy]

On 3/30/20 1:12 PM, Andrew Codrington wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> Since I still have my health and some unplanned time at home I 
> realized a potential project could be bringing my mythtv system up to 
> date.
>
> Past experience tells me there will be hiccups but that upgrades go 
> much better than decades past. Past experience also tells me that 
> there might be upgrade paths with higher likelihood of success, and 
> with less cursing!
>
> I'll give some background on where I'm at. If anyone has suggestions 
> for a sequence of upgrades, or gotchas to avoid I would be very grateful.
>
> The system started as a mythbuntu install and has been upgraded a few 
> times. I did have to start from scratch once, but the database could 
> be 10+ years old.
>
>   * Ubuntu 16.04LTS with mythtv 0.28 fixes
>   * HDHomeRun connected to OTA antenna
>   * HDPVR for cable TV capture
>   * MCEUSB remote & IR blaster; blaster driving a Scientific Atlanta
>     cable box with a channel changer script
>   * Combined frontend/backend connected to TV; using mobo Intel
>     graphics with VAAPI
>   * 2 Apple TV 4 with the proprietary MythTV app from the App store
>     (hasn't been updated for years, but works)
>   * Macbook which I've never really got working with any pre-compiled
>     builds of Mythfrontend, but it would be a nice bonus if a more
>     recent release of mythtv had stable OSX frontend support
>
> Let me know if there's any more info I can provide.
>
> Thanks in advance for anything you can share.
>
> Cheers,
> Andrew
> -- 
> Andrew Codrington


Well, I'm not an expert, but I have been using Mythtv since before 
Mythbuntu 14.04. So I've been thru my share of upgrades. You have a lot 
more inputs than my system, so I'd expect issues. So with that in mind, 
if it were me, I'd build up a complete new system. You could do this a 
number of ways, but a simple way would be to get new hard drives and set 
your old ones aside during the testing.  Load Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS, 
install mythtv v31 via the ppa:mythbuntu/31 and configure it to work 
with your HDHR, HDPVR. After you have it working on all your sources, 
then you could restore you backup database, which you need to have saved 
to a USB flash before you remove the old drives. Same for you 
recordings. I backup all my mythtv related files to a NAS before I do 
any upgrades.

Key points about restoring a database is keeping the Hostname on the old 
and new systems the same. And I find I get less errors by having a new 
working system prior to restoring the database and the recordings. I was 
having a discussion with some guys here about doing just that so I could 
switch from MariaDB to MySQL. Not sure why I want to do that since both 
work fine, but I did it this morning in about an hour. Once all the 
files were backed up, I shut down the current system so the network 
would not have a problem with 2 computers with the same hostname.  Also 
didn't want but one backend online at a time so the frontends could be 
setup.

Not sure what luck you'll have with Apple products and Mythtv. Not much 
support for OS X.  On my Macbook I run Kodi 18 with the kodi-pvr-mythtv 
plugin whenever I have to use the Mac. I mainly use FireTV 4K and Shield 
TV for frontends on V31 and a PC in a closet running Ubuntu 18.04.4 
Server for the mythtv v31 backend. My test this morning that worked was:

1. backup mythtv-database on working Ubuntu 18.04 system, hostname 
'mythbuntu', running mythtv v31 using MariaDB 10.1.

2. build new Ubuntu 18.04 system keeping hostname 'mythbuntu'

  3. install mythtv v31, from ppa:mythbuntu/31 which installs MySQL 5.7.
  4. setup xmltv and setup tv_grab_zz_sqlite so SD is the same as on 
previous system.
  5. Run mythtv-setup so the 'mythtv' user gets created. logout/reboot.
  6. Run mythtv-setup and setup general -> database part, save and exit
  7. restore database from other system's backup.
  8. complete mythtv-setup for changes need for tuners, video sources, 
and input connections.
  9. sudo su mythtv   and run mythfilldatabase
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