[mythtv] atrpms, ivtv and compiling from source

[Jarod C. Wilson]

On Wednesday, mythdev at cue.cc wrote:

> I've managed to fix it, but I need to figure out a way for the fix to 
> be
> a usable patch.
>
> The problem was the the msp3400 module would lock up, spewing IO errors
> on both read and write.  Using debug=1 didnt reveal any more
> information.
>
> I edited the msp3400.c to try and reveal more about what was happening
> before it choked up on read/write.  Eventually I tracked down what I
> think the problem was.  It seems that the auto-detect routine is
> pre-setting the device to the NTSC configuration.  I changed this to
> PAL, and it worked.  There may be a way for the device to 
> auto-configure
> if I investigate the datasheet a little farther?

You're supposed to use test_ioctl to tell the card whether to operate 
as PAL or NTSC, then specify as a module option what type of tuner to 
load the tuner module for.

You should probably thoroughly read the FAQ, as it definitely addresses 
this issue:
http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/FAQ.html

> I've never submitted a patch before, and I'm not sure what is
> best-practice for making the changes portable for other users.  A quick
> google for 'patch "how-to"' at www.google.com/linux didnt turn up
> anything that will teach me?

Usually, take the clean source code and your modified source code, and 
just run diff against them, outputting the results to a text file. I 
believe the usual syntax is (some please correct me if I'm talking out 
my ass again):

diff -u originalcode.c modifiedcode.c > patch.diff

'man diff' for more info.

>> Yes, there are several rpmmacros Axel uses that you would
>> need to have
>> defined in order to build straight off his spec files. They require
>> some fairly heavy hacking to get around that, but it can be
>> done (I've
>> done it myself for other ATrpms packages), but you have to
>> install the
>> .src.rpm file, edit the spec file, then rpmbuild -ba ivtv.spec.
>>
>
> Does he share those macros?

Typically no, partially because they are somewhat of a moving target 
still. I believe once they've stabilized, they may become part of an 
available atrpms-dev rpm, or something along those lines.

> I must have just assumed that it was a dep... my bad.  I would however,
> still like to be able to re-compile those src atrpms.  Am I asking too
> much ?  Shoud I leave it alone?

I can be done, but it shouldn't be necessary...

> Is there a way I can get a cvs checkout of Myth and compile it to
> replace the atrpm installed packages?  I was thinking that I could use
> the source atrpm, check out cvs into the build source tree, update the
> spec file, and rpmbuild to achieve the update?

It can be done. I've done it, as have others. Basically, you just have 
to overcome the unknown macros, update the version info, then rpmbuild. 
But also watch out for nuances in changes between mythtv 0.11 and the 
cvs version that may require additional mods to the spec files. You 
should be able to find some info on doing this in the mailing list 
archive also; it was discussed at length prior to 0.11's release.

Also, note that making cvs-based rpms readily available to everyone is 
typically frowned upon, as it is preferred that novices stick to the 
(theoretically) more stable release versions, so keep them to yourself 
if you're successful. :)

--Jarod

-- 
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE

Got a question? Read this first...
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

MythTV, Red Hat Linux 9 & ATrpms documentation:
http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-page.php?pageName=rh9pvr250