[mythtv-users] Mythfrontend fails if mythtv installed after user mythtv created

[James Abernathy]

On Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 6:11 PM James Abernathy <jfabernathy at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 5:59 PM Mike Perkins <mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk>
> wrote:
>
>> On 20/06/2024 22:46, James Abernathy wrote:
>> > On Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 7:09 AM James Abernathy <jfabernathy at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Not sure where I went wrong. On Debian 12 Bookworm, if I create the
>> mythtv
>> >> group and user before I install the .deb packages I can get mythtv
>> setup
>> >> using Web App, but with some extra steps.  The backend works
>> correctly. The
>> >> problem shows up running mythfrontend as a mythtv user permission
>> issue.
>> >>
>> >> If I don't create user mythtv and just install the deb packages, Web
>> App
>> >> starts showing mythconverg already setup completely.  In this case
>> >> mythfrontend works.
>> >>
>> >> Jim A
>> >>
>> >
>> > As a further test case I created a system on Kubuntu 24.04 LTS and
>> > installed maradb-server.
>> >
>> > Next I created the mythtv group id 200 and mythtv user id 200.  I then
>> > added my user, jim, to group mythtv.
>> >
>> > Then I installed mythtv using the ppa:mythbuntu/34.  After
>> installation, I
>> > rebooted.
>> >
>> > At this point the Web app came up with no issues. The database was
>> already
>> > set up without further messing around.
>> >
>> > So maybe the Debian mythtv packaging does something funny if the user
>> and
>> > group mythtv is created before installing the mythtv packages.  I use
>> the
>> > Debian 12 packages for mythtv that I build regularly on a VM and store
>> in a
>> > repo on my NAS.
>> >
>> Please note that user/200 and group/200 are /still/ in the system uid and
>> gid range. The numbers in
>> this range can be arbitrarily allocated to various susbsytems in random
>> order if and when they are
>> installed. I do not know if the install mechanism has any collision
>> detection.
>>
>> It is possible that your previous attempt re-used a uid or gid that had
>> already been allocated.
>>
>> I always allocate the mythtv user and group before installing any
>> software. I make sure I put mine
>> in the *user* range (> 1000), in my case 1006/1006. This ensures no
>> accidents or collisions.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Mike Perkins
>>
>
> Thanks,  I don't think it's a collision at this point in either group our
> user is.  However I just got the same error with mythfrontend on Kubuntu
> 24.04 as I got on Debian 12 with the user created before installation.
>
> Either way, I'll test with users> 1000 and see what happens.
>
> The error on mythfrontend is:
> 2024-06-20 18:03:04.715443 I  Start up testing connections. DB localhost,
> BE , attempt 0, status dbAwake, Delay: 2000
> 2024-06-20 18:03:05.248215 E  [DBManager0] Unable to connect to database!
> 2024-06-20 18:03:05.248264 E  Driver error was [1/1045]:
> QMYSQL: Unable to connect
> Database error was:
> Access denied for user 'mythtv'@'localhost' (using password: YES)
>
> Jim A
>

After more testing, I've found that this is not related to whether you have
mysql or mariadb as your database.  It appears that if you don't create
your mythtv user/group ahead of time. Debian 12 and Ubuntu create the
database properly and set up config.xml so that mythfrontend works.  I did
find that on mysql database you get a Web App warning/error about needing
to have the timezones setup correctly. It gives you the command to execute
in a terminal and that fixes it. On mariadb you don't get this error.

I have not found a way to setup the mythtv user and group ahead of the
mythtv installation that allows mythfrontend to work without a permission
problem.  It appears that the backend is working in these cases, but on my
test VM I can't test that without mythfrontend.

Jim A
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