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

[James Abernathy]

On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 12:37 PM James Abernathy <jfabernathy at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 12:31 PM Peter Bennett <pb.mythtv at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> On 6/21/24 10:52, James Abernathy wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>> Is the backend on the same VM as the frontend and using the same login
>> user?
>>
>> Unable to connect to database looks like a problem with the config.xml.
>> Perhaps this is only set up in the install script if the mythtv user does
>> not yet exist.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>
> The backend is on the same VM as the frontend. I'm running it as user
> jim.  I did not setup config.xml for jim before running mythfrontend,
>
> That usually happens automatically, I think.  I didn't mess with the
> mariadb cnf files for bind-address since it was on the same VM.
>
> I tried linking to the same config.xml as the mythtv user config.xml which
> agrees with the /etc/mythtv/config.xml
>
> Jim A
>

Okay, it's fixed now.  What I did was delete the link in /home/jim/.mythtv
for config.xml to /home/mythtv/.mythtv/config.xml.

Then I just copied /etc/mythtv/config.xml to /home/jim/.mythtv/config.xml
and that worked.

So it seems that if you create your own mythtv group and user and manually
add user 'jim' to group mythtv.  The web app will configure the backend
fine but the config.xml for the use is left to that user to do.

I previously had to install kodi to test if the backend was working and I
could watch live tv that way before I got mythfrontend running.

Thanks,

JIm A
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