[mythtv-users] Changing from 0.21 to 0.25 using new hardware

[PJR]

On 14/03/12 06:06, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 03/14/2012 01:15 AM, Nick Rout wrote:
>> On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 5:40 PM, Bob Long wrote:
>>> I currently have a reliable 0.21 system (combined FE/BE) running on
>>> Ubuntu 8.04. However, it has some hardware limitations (AGP slot, so not
>>> able to install PCI-e video for high definition/VDPAU; motherboard does
>>> not accept modern larger capacity hard drives; a couple of other things)
>>> so I'm looking to build a new combined FE/BE with new hardware.
>>>
>>> I've done some tests with new hardware with 0.24 and that seems fine.
>>> However, would it be better to me to wait for 0.25 to build the real new
>>> system? That is, will it be better/easier to build a 0.25 system from
>>> scratch rather than try to upgrade from 0.24? There's no rush for the
>>> new system, so I can wait if it's better/simpler/more future-proof.
>>>
>>> And would it also be better to wait for Ubuntu 12.04, rather than use
>>> 11.10? Is upgrading from 11.10 to 12.04 likely to break things?
>>>
>>> Then, with whatever flavour of new system I have built, how to get
>>> recordings/schedules etc from the 0.21 system?
>>>
>>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.25 says it won't upgrade
>>> from before 0.22. But I don't want to try any upgrade on the existing
>>> system anyway - I want to keep it running as is.
>>>
>>> I've read http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Database_Backup_and_Restore but
>>> don't really understand if that is applicable in this case. That warns
>>> about doing partial restores, but would that process do a full restore
>>> of a 0.21 backup anyway? If it did, and as there will be different
>>> tuners/channels, etc, would that restore wipe out or break what had been
>>> newly configured?
>>>
>>> Any pointers, or have I just not read things well enough?
>> Back up your database using the backup and restore functionality as
>> described in the wiki.
>>
>> Install 10.04 (LTS) and use mythbuntu-repos to get to 0.24-fixes. Give
>> it the same hostname as your old backend, or be prepared to do the
>> change of hostname thing as described in the wiki.  Do not configure
>> it (ie don't bother with mythtv setup) as you will throw away that
>> database. Remove the default  database and restore the one you backed
>> up, again as described in the wiki article. The database will get
>> updated to 0.24 format when  the backend starts, and some will get
>> updated when the frontend starts.
>>
>> Then carry on as before until 12.04 (again LTS) is released. Back up
>> your database, then try an LTS to LTS upgrade. If that works, you are
>> sweet. If it doesn't (yes canonical I am talking to you) then do a
>> fresh install of 12.04 and use the backup you made.
>>
>> I am assuming you can separate out all your media (recordings, video,
>> music etc) so that there is no risks of updates screwing it.
> Yeah, you definitely want to go to 0.24-fixes, now--and not try to go 
> directly from 0.21 to 0.25--since 0.25 can only upgrade the database if 
> it's on 0.22 or higher schema version.  So, whether you do it now, or 
> after 12.04 is released, you'll have to upgrade to 0.22+ (my 
> recommendation is 0.24-fixes) before going to 0.25, anyway.
>
> Mike
My recommendation is, it all depends! If you want to keep a running
mythtv system then I suggest you build a completely new h/w system, get
that running on whatever version you want to upgrade to and when you are
satisfied with that then worry about moving across any data from the old
to the new system.  If you try to upgrade in situ h/w & s/w you're more
than likely to regret it, it is more than likely to fail. I've been
running my 'production' 8.10 system for years, never applying any
upgrades to it what so ever as it just works, that includes HDMI out to
an AV amp, X10 remote, WoL and auto shut down and wake up from RTC. If
this system was not to work (say as the result of applying any s/w
upgrade) my WAF would hit negative! As a replacement I'm building
(trying to!) a completely new system: 525 Atom processor, ION2 GPU, 60GB
SSD main disc, 2x 1TB discs in RAID 1 array for myth data storage,
mythtv 0.24.*. The first set of discs, WD Caviar Greens failed, they
were faulty and are probably not suitable for RAID anyway (by the way,
RAID is just a resilience thing, TV recordings can be junked, videos
restored for DVD, music restored for CDs). The RAID disc problem took
weeks to discover and even longer to choose and get replacements.  The
WDs have been replaced by Samsung F3R's and are working very well. Have
I got mythbuntu 11.10 (0.24.x) working?  No! It's been, and still is a
real battle. I've abandoned XFCE and gone to gnome 3 since the under
XFCE the system wouldn't shut down and start reliably, sometimes it
wouldn't shut down, sometimes it wouldn't start (plus numerous other
little issues all of which meant that it would not be suitable for a
'production' system). The move to gnome 3 has made things better (and I
have no idea whether XFCE was the cause of the problems) but the system
still won't reliably shut down and start, it will wake from the RTC,
sometimes (and WoL) and I've still to get shut down from no user logged
in to work. The good side is that it will record TV and that includes HD
TV (the original major reason for the upgrade), from the PC nano Stick
usb decoder and plays it back using VDPAU to the monitor, I've yet to
try the TV via the HDMI connected AV amp but the greyed out sound icon
in the panel is not encouraging (however it does 'say' it knows about
the HDMI output sound device, do I believe it?)  Is 0.24.x ready (in my
case) to run as a production system? Answer, at the moment has to be NO.
When I've finally got 0.24 working and run in parallel with my 8.10
system then I'll work out how to move the data across and the 0.24
system will become the 'production' system - and no updates will be
applied to it, hopefully, like the 8.10 system, it will just work! 
Mythtv is a very impressive system and the developers have to be admired
but it does seem to suffer from the 0.x syndrome, which is not a problem
as long as people understand that it is an experimental system and not
suitable for 'production' work unless it is handled very, very
carefully.  Of course others may have different (better) experiences but
that's mine so far.  I do have an 'office' ubuntu 10.04 system which has
had every update applied to it and it's never failed once. What's my
background? I worked as a software engineer for 40 years and have run
Linux since kernel 0.9x.  My experience is - be cautious if you're
running a production system; if you like solving puzzles, upgrade!
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>