[mythtv-users] Setting configuration key/hostname from command line

[Mike Perkins]

Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 01/10/2009 07:56 AM, Bill Williamson wrote:
>> I have a mythbox hooked up to a projector and an SDTV.  I use it for 
>> one OR the other each time.  The settings for each setup are wildly 
>> different.  I've separated them thus far by using a custom identifier 
>> (theater-TV and theater-PROJ) to keep settings apart (lots of myth 
>> settings differ to get best picture).
>>
>> Right now I have
>> -a mysql.txt for each one in ~/.mythtv that is identical apart from 
>> the custom identifier line
>> -a shell script to start each "mode" (cp ~/.mythtv/mysql.txt.proj 
>> ~/.mythtv/mysql.txt; mythfrontend)
>>
>> Is there a way to pass which identifier to use into mythfrontend?  It 
>> seems like it'd be a much better way of doing so.  The man page 
>> mentions overriding specific settings with a flag, but I couldn't get 
>> it to work fro the master identifier (only for other specific settings).
> 
> The -O override-setting option is really meant for changing one or two 
> settings on one-shot runs.  It only works for settings in the settings 
> table.  The custom identifier, however, is used as the "hostname" for 
> all settings pulled from the settings table.  Therefore, I don't think 
> it's possible to change the custom identifier at the command line.
> 
> The closest thing would be changing the location of the configuration 
> directory (using a not-highly-publicized environment variable), but that 
> would mean maintaining two otherwise-identical copies of what's 
> currently in ~/.mythtv.  (And, yes, while you could use links for the 
> equivalent content, when doing so it's likely that over time something 
> would get changed in one and not the other, and it would require careful 
> creation of all the directories that Myth would normally create over 
> time under the configuration directory so you'd have the proper links in 
> place.)
> 
> Therefore, I'd say that the approach you're using is the best one (at 
> least for now).
> 
Why don't you run the two configurations under two different users? That would 
provide a straightforward way of separating the two sets of ~/.mythtv files.

-- 

Mike Perkins