No home directory for hts user, so not epg. Ubuntu 20 and 22

aminer2k

I have used tvheadend for about 10 years and greatly appreciate the work that goes into it.
tldr: tvh in ubuntu has changed from my past install of tvh 4.3 in ubuntu 20. there is no longer a hts home directory created by the installation, therefore, no epg is possible (from my experience).

I have been using Ubuntu 20, with tvh installed from the ppa for the last several years with no issues. historically, my user has a home directory, and hts has a home directory after the install, and the epg scripts all are run in the hts home directory, triggered from tvh, with no problems.

My system crashed, and I am reinstalling.
Ubuntu 22, tvh from the ppa -> tvh runs as hts, but there is no hts home directory
Ubuntu 22, tvh compiled from source-> same
Ubuntu 20, tvh compiled from source -> same
Ubuntu 20, tvh installed from the ppa -> also, no hts home directory. This is the setup I have used successfully for years, but now the installation is different. tvh is running as user hts, but hts is not listed in ubuntu as a user, it is a group. Looks like it is created as a system user, no home directory, no way to run scripts to grab epg data. I can run them from my user fine, and pull epg data, but when tvh runs it, it has an error as if the epg script is not configured (because it has not been configured as hts, because hts is not a user with a home directory). I can find no way to create an hts user and home directory that will work with the installed tvh.
Any advice?

aminer2k

Any feedback on this?

Trying this again, 5th time. Ubuntu 20.04 server, cinnamon desktop, tvh from https://launchpad.net/~mamarley/+archive/ubuntu/tvheadend-git
tvh installs and runs at :9981. No issues in setup until the EPG.
Can not ad epg for tv_grab_zz_sdjson, because "tv_grab_zz_sdjson --configure" needs to be run as user hts. There is no user hts. No home directory. sudo su hts results in:This account is currently not available.
hts is listed in groups. Not a user, not home directory. I've got to get this working, and don't want to go back to mythtv...

Saen Acro

With user run TVH service in your system?

davep

I suggest using the official packages, which can be downloaded using the link at the top of this page.

There have been some recent changes to make Tvheadend install in the way Debian / Ubuntu etc expect, which may be the cause of your problems. If possible start from a 'clean' system without leftovers from the earlier versions (user & group hts, directory /home/hts etc).

aminer2k

Solved. The solution was to run configure as hts in one command, rather than the old way (sudo su hts, then configure in hts's home directory). What works:
sudo -u hts tv_grab_zz_sdjson --configure

Then, I tested it with: sudo -u hts tv_grab_zz_sdjson
The data was pulled from schedules direct.

Then, in tvh, the internal epg system will also pull data, now that tv_grab is configured as hts. hts the "user" without a home directory, who is not listed as a user, but only listed as a group in Ubuntu.

This behavior has changed sometime in the last couple of years from my prior installs in Ubuntu 16, 18, 20...

box

aminer2k

Thanks aminer2k for this info. Works for me.