[mythtv-users] modernizing mythtv - and now OT

[Mike Perkins]

On 13/05/14 08:08, Joseph Fry wrote:
>
> Additionally, mythtv-setup kills the backend whenever you run it,
> however many of the settings that I actually tweak in there beyond
> initial setup shouldn't care if the backend is running or not.  For
> example transcoding/job options, channel icons/numbers/names/etc, and
> many other things.  There is no reason that an interface couldn't be
> developed that would queue all of the changes, perhaps by cloning the
> necessary tables, and when your done making changes the settings get
> applied all at once (restarting the BE only if necessary).
>
As a seasoned programmer, I can tell you there's a very good reason for this, 
and it is probably why the switch to a web-based configuration tool hasn't 
happened yet.

Put simply, and without knowing how the code works, I'm guessing that a lot of 
the database values are read into the backend /once/, at startup time. So, if 
you change something, the backend has to be restarted for it to know about the 
new value.

Okay. Now suppose you take your new fancy web configurator and change something 
on the fly. Since every change may affect a different module in the code /every/ 
module will have to be notified that something changed and possibly rebuild 
tables, etc. Not something you really want to do while in the middle of a 
recording, for example. Not something trivial to code, either.

That's why the developers are taking this slow and easy. Changing something 
which to the user seems simple can have far-reaching consequences behind the scenes.

Oh, and "channel icons/numbers/names/etc" can be used as keys during scheduling. 
Do you know exactly when scheduling happens within the backend?
-- 

Mike Perkins