[mythtv-users] How to avoid upgrade headaches

[Chris Stevens]

On Wed, 2009-11-11 at 08:36 -0800, Steve Peters - Priority Electronics
wrote:
> Hello mythtv users,
> 
> It seems that each time i upgrade ubuntu, something that did work great, 
> now doesn't work so great. Going to mythtv 0.22 forced me to upgrade 2 
> versions. I had been pretty hesitant to upgrade ubuntu because of the 
> issues.
> 
> Vdpau doesn't work with this new upgrade even though i am running an 
> nvidia 9500 and the 185 drivers mythbuntu installs, nor does half of 
> mythweb, and the main kicker is that my sd recordings don't fill my 4:3 
> tv but are squished about 50 pixels on each side when you play them. You 
> gotta love that.
> 
> So I was wondering, what do you guys do to avoid this constant 
> "upgrading" problem. I know I could go with slackware, but I'd really 
> like something that is simpler. Debian seems good, but how would I go 
> about upgrading myth to the new version when that comes out? Also, the 
> mythbuntu control center is pretty sweet and really makes it easy to get 
> things like remotes and transmitters going, so would I miss that by 
> going to Debian?
> 
> Is there a solution out there that is fairly simple to setup and will 
> not need to be totally upgraded every time a new version of mythtv comes 
> out? I have no problem updating the packages that mythtv requires, it's 
> just the whole system that I don't want to upgrade. I'm fine with doing 
> an upgrade every couple of years, but every six months is just too 
> often. Why upgrade when the system works great anyways. Well, I was 
> forced to this time to get the new mythtv features.
> 
> The issues I have are very hard for me to diagnose and fix, so a clean 
> install seems to be the best option. But to have to do that every 6 
> months when something breaks is just out of the question.
> 
> Am I way off and this is only an Ubuntu issue and most other distros are 
> fine?
> 
> -Thanks for any ideas.
> -Steve
> 
I never use pre-built packages these days. Always compile. Takes me
about 15 mins from scratch and about 1hr from total scratch (ie. os
too).
I use Mandriva PowerPack since everything gets installed.

eg.1 with MythTv 0.22: Install Mandriva 2010.0 and include dev packages
from the install. Then:
run firefox and search for PLF and run easy-urpmi to add all the PLF
sources.
urpmi colorgcc lame-devel pulseaudio-devel jack-devel fftw-devel
      vdpau-devel directfb-devel flac-devel libcdaudio-devel cdda-devel
      taglib-devel mysql-devel libSDL-devel libexif-devel 
      libvisual-devel
mkdir ~/src
cd ~/src
svn co http://svn.mythtv.org/svn/branches/release-0-22-fixes/mythtv
(or whatever version you want). Do the same for mythplugins, themes,
myththemes. To find out what version are available do svn list ...
cd mythtv
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-proc-opt --enable-vdpau
qmake mythtv.pro
make
su to root and make install

Do the same for the other directories, but only need ./configure
--prefix=/usr and the qmake the appropriate file. You can
run ./configure --help to see if there are other options. For
mythplugins you might want to check this.

MythTv 0.22 or trunk is simple because it uses QT4 which is all ready to
go on Mandriva 2010. Using earlier releases is a bit of a pain because
you need to install some qt3 bits and set environment variables etc.

One easy way to get it all setup is (before compiling the Myth stuff) to
install the Mandriva packages (they are currently 0.22) and run the
setups. This creates appropriate users etc. Of course, you could leave
it at that, but I then compile Myth to use the latest and to ensure I
know what options have been included. That way you can mix Linux
versions as well.

If you want 0.21-fixes I had to use:
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-proc-opt --enable-opengl-vsync
--enable-opengl-video --enable-xvmc-opengl --disable-directfb

and I also had some trouble with the compile of mythplugins because of
kde3/4 issues. I just did make -k and ignored the errors. It works fine.

I use an acer revo (150.00 from Ebuyer) for the frontend. Works a treat
with Mandriva 2010.0. Use the proprietary nvidia driver. If you say
'yes' to that during the install it install the kernel-devel packages
and dkms. I don't muck about with HDMI - it's a pain in the backside
with its overscan problems. Just use the RGB.

Chris




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