[mythtv-users] Functionality questions about recent release(s) anticipating 0.27 by a Gentoo user

[lists.md301]

I saw in yesterday's IRC logs a developer question why bug fixes were being
ported backwards beyond the immediate prior release.  Someone else
responded (I believe another developer) that he's still using 0.25-fixes
himself.  Which made me chuckle (even though I'm certainly not a
developer), because I'm still on 0.24-fixes -- it works for me just fine
and I'm unsure about whether things I care about have become more unstable
(or even broken) in subsequent releases.

I'm a Gentoo user, and part of my initial barrier to upgrading beyond 0.24
was the loss of overlay ebuilds generated from the myth project repository,
coupled with stale mythtv support in portage.  More bio: I'm an eastern
U.S. user on Comcast, SchedulesDirect guide info, using a SiliconDust Prime
(CableCard) and HomeRun (but not for much longer on the latter,
unfortunately, stupid FCC, making me get an antenna working for that).
Multiple frontends (ION2) and a master front/backend (3-core AthlonII), all
with Nvidia graphics (VDPAU).  (If I ever get beyond 0.24, my system stats
will end up being collected.)

So I have a some questions, but I'll first mention I try and follow the
mailing lists, IRC logs, and tickets fairly closely, but these are some
things I've not been able to definitely determine by searching...

(1) Are the official Gentoo portage ebuilds the "right" way to go, going
forward?  Has the overlay ebuild generation been officially abandoned?
While the universe of plugins has been decreasing (with the video library
integrated, for example), one of the past blocking items for me was not
having ebuilds for the all plugins I used.  I see that there is now a
consolidated mythplugins ebuild, with use flags for each one -- cool.

(2) Is mythweb still relatively stable and useable?  From the list, it
looked like there were issues.  I'm very dependent on it for most of my
scheduling and recording maintenance.  I may have read that people were
hacking stuff because developers didn't have the time to make it compatible
with changes in the main program.  Or updates put off anticipating an
eventual backend webserver configuration overhaul.

(3) Commercial flagging:  this is another one that looked like it took a
step back since 0.24 (because of ffmpeg changes in part).  I was seeing
mentions of it crashing with an exit code, and explanation that there were
upstream ffmpeg changes that needed to be dealt with.  But as there were
apparently several things interacting, I haven't been able to tell if they
are resolved (either in fixes or for upcoming 0.27).  Is it
broken/regressed from 0.24?

(4) Has the controversy over mythmusic settled down, and is it being
supported by anyone (or gradually abandoned)?  Myth has been my primary
music tool, ripping what CD's we have/obtain, and then sharing the digital
music by CIFS to the Windows machine for the iTunes library.

(5) It also appears that mytharchive is fading for lack of a developer
champion with the time.  I have it installed and occassionally use it to
make a DVD compilations from the recordings.  Should I not even bother
installing it on the upcoming 0.27?

I usually wait until a new version has some bug fixes resolved before
upgrading, but I have had enough uncertainty from all of the above to wait
for several releases now.  I'd like finally to make use of the new
MythNotify and restore my caller ID functionality (which I lost going to
0.24), plus play around with HLS. I don't want to lag too far behind the
current official release, and make the eventual upgrade that much more
painful.  But for any (developer) that wonders why people don't upgrade, in
my case it's uncertainty about breaking a working setup--I don't have the
time (but wish I did) to properly experiment in a chroot jail.  And mine
has been working to perfection for several years now on 0.24-fixes; I'm
able to treat it as an appliance.  This message is not a complaint to the
developers, and I hope my appreciation for the full-featured DVR all their
hard work has made possible comes through.  Especially since I'm aware
(from following IRC) that most don't participate on the user list anymore
because their good deeds too often lead to punishment.
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