[mythtv-users] tv_grab_zz_sdjson returning zero-length files

[Mike Perkins]

On 28/12/2022 22:06, James wrote:
> Mike Hi
> 
>> Also, you point up a general rule: never, ever, run anything mythtv related except as the mythtv user. The number of problems caused by running as, say, yourself or root, are legion.
> 
> Since day 0 (IIRC 0.15 days) I refused to have a mythtv user or a cretinacious mythtv password. I'm not dissing your advice :-) but asking about the problems that I should expect.
> I bristle when the ubuntu hierarchy declare 'We think ..." "that you ..." dmesg is a recent example all the way back to no root
> ie Disk problem at boot. Type root passwd to continue ...
> 

Fairly straightforward. All the installation scripts and run instructions assume that you run mythtv 
from a dedicated mythtv user - which might not be named mythtv, of course.

Remember that in most instances a myth system is one or more appliances, designed to be installed 
and then used almost as a black box. You're supposed to be using it either from a front end or one 
of the web interfaces, not the command line.

If you let the install scripts run, at least on Debian or Ubuntu, they will create a mythtv user as 
a system user as part of the installation. I tend to bypass that, since an upgrade/host 
move/reinstall may change the UID/GID of a system user (and cause infinite chaos in /var). I create 
a mythtv user first as a normal user and give it a real password, which is only used on the rare 
occasions I have to ssh into the box.

Also remember that the password which is in config.xml is the database password, not the user 
password. It is perfectly possible to have a mythtv user without a password, provided you have some 
means of accessing that user's files when required.

(I run plain Debian, but keep a bargepole for dealing with systemd. Other OSs are available. My 
mythtv system is on dedicated hosts on a separate subnet. Only ssh and mythweb have access from 
other subnets.)

-- 

Mike Perkins