[mythtv-users] MythTV start up problems (permissions)

Piers Kittel mailing at biased.org
Sat Feb 2 09:12:07 UTC 2008


Marc (and David Whyte),

Hmph... I thought this email got sent, but just found this in my  
drafts box.  Oh well.

Thanks again for your time!

> If you see the pid file do this
> /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend zap
> Not sure if zap is a proper option in debian but in gentoo this  
> kills the
> pid file, which is what tells the script that the process is still  
> running.
> One more thing, if you have a .mythtv folder in /var/run/mythtv  
> check it for
> a mysql.txt file. Open said file and make sure the user/pass for  
> your mysql
> connection are correct.

The mythtv-backend script doesn't have the zap parameter, but anyway,  
if I do an /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend stop it deletes the PID file  
anyway, but despite that, it still doesn't start up.

> The dirty fix for this error is to change the location of where the  
> pid file
> is saved.
> You can do this by editing your startup script and changing the  
> RUNDIR= line
> to a new location. This will allow you to create a mysql.txt file in  
> the new
> location inside the .mythtv folder of the new location that will  
> delete the
> file every time you startup the system. Negatives to this? None but  
> the fact
> that the pid file is not in the /var/run folder like the rest of them.
> My location is /etc/conf.d/mythtv. You may need to create the folder  
> before
> putting it in the RUNDIR line.

Put the mysql.txt in /etc/conf.d/mythtv/.mythtv and set RUNDIR= to  
RUNDIR=/etc/conf.d/mythtv - the PID file gets created in that folder  
fine.  Still doesn't work, but looking in the logs, the problem has  
been fixed, but there is a different issue now:

2008-01-21 14:18:12.899 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2008-01-21 14:18:13.006 New DB connection, total: 1
2008-01-21 14:18:13.026 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host:  
localhost
2008-01-21 14:18:13.040 Current Schema Version: 1160
Starting up as the master server.
2008-01-21 14:18:13.059 New DB connection, total: 2
2008-01-21 14:18:13.061 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host:  
localhost
2008-01-21 14:18:13.065 mythbackend: MythBackend started as master  
server
2008-01-21 14:18:13.076 New DB connection, total: 3
2008-01-21 14:18:13.079 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host:  
localhost
2008-01-21 14:18:13.104 EITHelper: localtime offset 0:00:00
2008-01-21 14:18:13.217 EITHelper: localtime offset 0:00:00
2008-01-21 14:18:13.309 New DB scheduler connection
2008-01-21 14:18:13.311 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host:  
localhost
2008-01-21 14:18:14.718 Main::Registering HttpStatus Extension
2008-01-21 14:18:14.721 mythbackend version: 0.20.20070821-1 www.mythtv.org
2008-01-21 14:18:14.722 Enabled verbose msgs:  important general
/video/nfslockfile.lock: Permission denied
Unable to open lockfile!
Be sure that '/video' exists and that both
the directory and that file are writeable by this user.

I note that the /video folder and everything in that folder is owned  
by the user root - is it save to change owner and group of the folder  
and contents to mythtv?  I've since done this and it works fine.  I've  
implemented the script suggested to me by David Whyte with some  
modifications and it works nicely.

Thanks very much for your time again it is much appreciated!

Regards - Piers


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