[mythtv-users] Diskless frontend

[Paul Bender]

me at blaue0.net wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm currently trying to setup a diskless frontend. I want to boot from  
> a *read-only* NFS root. In the initrd I want to setup a unionfs image  
> to have a r/w root for the diskless frontend.
> 
> My question: Does mythtv store data anywhere else than in the  
> recording folder (which is on a r/w NFS share)? I'm asking because I  
> want to know if I have to save parts of the unionfs image...
> 
> Any ideas?

As was already mentioned, you could take a look at MiniMyth 
<http://linpvr.org>. It is a custom Linux distribution designed to turn 
a diskless computer into MythTV frontend. It uses unionfs to make a 
read-only root file system into read/write root file system.

There is no need for the recordings directory to be shared as the MythTV 
frontend can access the recordings directory using the MythTV protocol.

MythTV caches files in the ${HOME}/.mythtv/ directory. However, once 
cached, many of these files are relatively static. For example, once 
generated the themecache does not change unless the theme changes are 
the screen dimensions change. Therefore, you can speed up reboot times 
by saving these files between boots. In addition, if you have a separate 
NFS share for each frontend or all frontends have the same 
configuration, then you can make these files part of the NFS share.

Some plugins require large read-write directories. For example, if you 
want to rip a DVD, then you need the directory in which it is cached to 
be large and read/write. For this, it is not likely that you will want 
to use a RAM based directory. Instead, you will want to remotely mount 
the directory.

Finally, consider making /var or /var/log a tmpfs with a limited size 
after you make the root file system read/write. Otherwise, 
/var/log/messages or /var/log/Xorg.0.log could eventually fill all the 
memory set aside for making the root file system read/write.