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

Fri Jun 21 20:07:10 UTC 2024

On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 12:44 PM James Abernathy <jfabernathy at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> 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
>

I just confirmed the fix also on Debian 12. Previous fix was for Linux Mint
21.3 which is Ubuntu 22.04.

So the process is as follows.

1. On a fresh Debian 12 system or Ubuntu system, set up a file in
/etc/sources.list.d/ to include either your local Debian mythtv package
repo location or using the ppa on Ubuntu.
2. Install mariadb or mysql and if using BTRFS, turn off COW by chattr +C
/var/lib/mysql
3. Create the mythtv user to the desired gid/uid and add your own user to
the mythtv group
i.e.
sudo addgroup --gid 1006 mythtv
sudo adduser --ingroup mythtv --home /home/mythtv --shell /bin/bash --uid
1006 mythtv
sudo usermod -aG mythtv jim
4. I reboot for safety reasons, then sudo apt install mythtv
5. point browser to localhost:6544.  The mythconverg database should be set
up.
6. Continue with the remaining backend setup using Web App and restart the
backend with the button at the top.
7. In a terminal in your user copy /etc/mythtv/config.xml to
~/,mythtv/config.xml
8. Run mythfrontend.

Jim A
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