[mythtv-users] Trying to get schedules direct working
Mike Perkins
mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk
Sun May 17 09:31:43 UTC 2026
On 17/05/2026 05:01, Douglas Peale via mythtv-users wrote:
> On 5/16/26 20:42, Bill Meek wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Saturday 16 May 2026 09:43:14 PM (-05:00), Douglas Peale via mythtv-users
>> wrote:
>>
>> On 5/16/26 19:14, Bill Meek wrote:
>>> On Saturday 16 May 2026 06:57:29 PM (-05:00), Douglas Peale via
>>> mythtv-users wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 5/16/26 16:35, Bill Meek
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> On Saturday 16 May 2026
>>>>> 06:19:29 PM (-05:00), Douglas Peale via mythtv-users wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 5/16/26 16:13, Bill Meek
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>> sudo --set-home
>>>>>>> --user=mythtv mythfilldatabase --verbose=system,xmltv
>>>>>> I'm afraid the results
>>>>>> don't make much sense to me.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> $ sudo --set-home --user=mythtv mythfilldatabase --verbose=system,xmltv
>>>>>> 2026-05-16 16:15:55.942792 I XMLTV config file is:
>>>>>> /home/mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv
>>>>>> 2026-05-16 16:15:55.943532 I Grabber Command: nice tv_grab_zz_sdjson
>>>>>> --config-file '/home/mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv'
>>>>>> --output /tmp/myth6sDm0y
>>>>>> 2026-05-16 16:15:55.943533 I ----------------- Start of XMLTV output
>>>>>> -----------------
>>>>>> 2026-05-16 16:15:55.945170 I Managed child (PID: 57014) has started!
>>>>>> * command=nice tv_grab_zz_sdjson --config-file
>>>>>> '/home/mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv' --output /tmp/myth6sDm0y,
>>>>>> timeout=0
>>>>>> 2026-05-16 16:15:56.226226 I Managed child (PID: 57014) has exited!
>>>>>> command=nice tv_grab_zz_sdjson --config-file
>>>>>> '/home/mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv' --output /tmp/myth6sDm0y,
>>>>>> status=256, result=1
>>>>>> 2026-05-16 16:15:56.242723 I You need to configure the grabber by
>>>>>> running it with --configure <<<------------
>>>>> I see 4 attempts (1 per
>>>>> source), 3 of them show --configure needs to be run,
>>>>> the last log line above. I'd start trying to fix them 1st.
>>>>>
>>>> Isn't that what I did with
>>>> this?
>>>>
>>>> To allow MythTV to sleep, mythfilldatabase must be working.
>>>> need to install
>>>> xmltv
>>>> xmltv-util
>>>> need to run:
>>>> sudo runuser -l mythtv
>>>> tv_grab_zz_sdjson --configure --config-file $HOME/.mythtv/North.xmltv
>>>> tv_grab_zz_sdjson --configure --config-file $HOME/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv
>>>> tv_grab_zz_sdjson --configure --config-file $HOME/.mythtv/NorthWest\
>>>> ATSC3.xmltv
>>>> tv_grab_zz_sdjson --configure --config-file $HOME/.mythtv/South.xmltv
>>>> exit
>>> Looks like it, but I don't know
>>> how the prompts were filled out (and
>>> recall, I don't use that grabber.)
>>>
>>> Looking at the Perl souece it appears that the file doesn't exist?
>>>
>>> if( not defined( $conf ) )
>>> {
>>> print STDERR "You need to configure the grabber by running it with
>>> --configure \n";
>>> exit 1;
>>> }
>>>
>>> Does this work:
>>> ls
>>> ls -ld '/home/mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv'1
>>
>> I'm not sure what that '1' at the end is for, but the command fails if
>> that is present. Without it I get this:
>>
>> dpeale at BlackBox:/home/mythtv/.mythtv$ ls -ld '/home/mythtv/.mythtv/
>> NorthWest.xmltv'
>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 mythtv mythtv 36 May 4 17:39
>> /home/mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv ->
>> /home/dpeale/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv
>>
>> Since that is a soft link, I'll include the directory it is linked to:
>>
>> dpeale at BlackBox:~/.mythtv$ ls
>> -l
>> total 44
>> drwxrwxr-x 2 dpeale dpeale 4096 May 4 16:37 3rdParty
>> -rw-rw-r-- 1 dpeale dpeale 43 May 5 10:08 backuprc
>> drwxrwxr-x 7 dpeale dpeale 4096 May 9 17:10 cache
>> drwxrwxr-x 2 dpeale dpeale 4096 May 4 17:54 channels
>> -rw-rw-r-- 1 dpeale dpeale 565 May 4 16:37 config.xml
>> -rw-rw-r-- 1 mythtv mythtv 3256 May 4 17:24 'NorthWest ATSC3.xmltv'
>> -rw-rw-r-- 1 mythtv mythtv 3256 May 4 17:28 NorthWest.xmltv
>> -rw-rw-r-- 1 mythtv mythtv 3256 May 4 17:27 North.xmltv
>> -rw-rw-r-- 1 mythtv mythtv 3256 May 4 17:30 South.xmltv
>> drwxrwxr-x 2 dpeale dpeale 4096 May 4 16:37 themes
>> drwxrwxr-x 3 dpeale dpeale 4096 May 4 16:37 tmp
>>
>> I did it this way because last time I re-installed linux, the /home/mythtv
>> directory was missing from my backup so I had
>> to re-create all of the xmltv files.
>>
>> This is what the entire /home/mythtv/.mythtv directory looks like:
>>
>> dpeale at BlackBox:~/.mythtv$ ls -ld /home/mythtv/.mythtv/*
>> drwxr-xr-x 2 mythtv mythtv 4096 May 4 16:36 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/3rdParty
>> drwxr-xr-x 4 mythtv mythtv 4096 May 15 21:10 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/cache
>> drwxr-xr-x 2 mythtv mythtv 4096 May 4 16:36 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/channels
>> -rw-r--r-- 1 mythtv mythtv 643 May 4 23:35 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/config.xml
>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 mythtv mythtv 42 May 4 17:41 '/home/mythtv/.mythtv/
>> NorthWest ATSC3.xmltv' ->
>> '/home/dpeale/.mythtv/NorthWest ATSC3.xmltv'
>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 mythtv mythtv 36 May 4 17:39 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/
>> NorthWest.xmltv -> /home/dpeale/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv
>> -rw-r--r-- 1 mythtv mythtv 171 May 16 14:52 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/North.xmltv
>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 mythtv mythtv 32 May 4 17:42 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/
>> South.xmltv -> /home/dpeale/.mythtv/South.xmltv
>> drwxr-xr-x 2 mythtv mythtv 4096 May 4 16:36 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/themes
>> drwxr-xr-x 4 mythtv mythtv 4096 May 4 16:36 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/tmp
>> -rw-r--r-- 1 mythtv mythtv 1691 May 8 21:50 /home/mythtv/.mythtv/ttvdb4.ini
>>
>> I have been messing with Noth.xmltv in an attempt to fix the problem which
>> is why it is not a link like the others.
>>
>>> Try this, from the above:
>>>
>>> tv_grab_zz_sdjson --config-file '/home/mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv'
>>> --output /tmp/just_testing
>>>
>>> You can add the --debug switch to the above, see if that gives any more
>>> hists.
>>>
>> That seems to have worked.
>>
>> dpeale at BlackBox:~/.mythtv$ tv_grab_zz_sdjson --config-file '/home/
>> mythtv/.mythtv/NorthWest.xmltv' --output /tmp/just_testing
>> Initializing...
>> ** POST https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/token ==> 200 OK (1s)
>> ** GET https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/status ==> 200 OK
>> Updating lineups...
>> ** GET https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/lineups/USA-OTA-95127 ==>
>> 200 OK (1s)
>> Indexing channels...
>> Updating schedules...
>> ** POST https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/schedules/md5 ==> 200 OK
>> (2s)
>> ** POST https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/schedules ==> 200 OK (10s)
>> Updating programs...
>> ** POST https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/programs ==> 200 OK (9s)
>> ** POST https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/programs ==> 200 OK (9s)
>> ** POST https://json.schedulesdirect.org/20141201/programs ==> 200 OK (6s)
>> Removing old cache entries...
>> Writing output...
>> Done
>>
>> The just_testing file is huge, so I won't include it, but the contents do
>> look like an xml file
>>
>>
>> I'd break the link and copy the file or make it a hard link then retry.
>>
>
> I have copied the files to /home/mythtv/.mythtv, eliminating the links.
>
> I did not find a way to trigger mythfilldatabase from the web front end, so I
> used the depreciated MythTV backend setup which, after restarting the backend,
> allows me to trigger a mythfilldatabase run.
>
> This appears to be working, but unfortunately it is using the xmltv files in /
> home/dpeale/.mythtv rather than /home/mythtv/.mythtv.
>
> Since I don't know how to trigger the normal mythfilldatabase, I will have to
> wait until tomorrow when it is next scheduled to run to find out if moving the
> files fixes the problem.
>
You don't need to 'trigger' mythfilldatabase, you can just run it. If you do,
you must run it from the same user that the backend runs under to see why it
fails. My guess is that it has permissions to read/write /home/mythtv/.mythtv
(and wherever else it needs) but not to /home/dpeale/*
Why it is still reading the dpeale files instead of mythtv copies? A guess would
be that the file names/paths are taken from the database, or perhaps you ran the
.configure in such a way that the .xmltv file references point to dpeale.
--
Mike Perkins
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