locale is not set up before mythtv-backend start causing problems in mythvideo with accentuated chars

[Eduard Iten]

Spotted that in 10.04, the locale is not set before mythtv-backend is started. This prevents mythtv-backend to find any file with non-ascii characters in the filename or the path (for example: /var/lib/mythtv/videos/Komödie/Dinner for one.avi is not found).

While starting mythbuntu-backend, the locale is POSIX. I modified "/etc/init/mythtv-backend.conf" for debug purpose:
#############################################
# MythTV Backend service

description "MythTV Backend"
author "Mario Limonciello <email address hidden>"

start on (local-filesystems and net-device-up IFACE=lo)
stop on starting shutdown

#expect fork
respawn

script
        USER=mythtv
        ARGS="--logfile /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log --user $USER"
        locale >/tmp/mythbackendboot.log
        test -f /etc/default/mythtv-backend && . /etc/default/mythtv-backend || true
        LANG=de_CH.utf8 /usr/bin/mythbackend $ARGS
end script
############################################

Result:
############################################
LANG=
LC_CTYPE="POSIX"
LC_NUMERIC="POSIX"
LC_TIME="POSIX"
LC_COLLATE="POSIX"
LC_MONETARY="POSIX"
LC_MESSAGES="POSIX"
LC_PAPER="POSIX"
LC_NAME="POSIX"
LC_ADDRESS="POSIX"
LC_TELEPHONE="POSIX"
LC_MEASUREMENT="POSIX"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="POSIX"
LC_ALL=
############################################

Adding LC_ALL=de_CH.utf8 LANG=de_CH.utf8 in front of /usr/bin/mythtv-backend does the trick, then everything works just perfect....

Where is locale supposed to be set up in this whole upstart-process?

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

Thank you for helping to improve Mythbuntu, not only by opening this ticket, but by suggesting a fix! I am marking this ticket as triaged because it appears to have enough information to help the developers understand the problem. It is possible I am wrong and another more experienced triager or developer may adjust the status of the ticket to "incomplete" and request additional information.

[Eduard Iten (eiten)]

OK, i found a way to fix it for all locales:
####################################################################
# /etc/init/mythtv-backend.conf
####################################################################
# MythTV Backend service

description "MythTV Backend"
author "Mario Limonciello <email address hidden>"

start on (local-filesystems and net-device-up IFACE=lo)
stop on starting shutdown

#expect fork
respawn

script
        USER=mythtv
        ARGS="--logfile /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log --user $USER"
        test -f /etc/default/mythtv-backend && . /etc/default/mythtv-backend || true
        test -f /etc/default/locale && . /etc/default/locale || true
        LANG=$LANG LC_ALL=$LANG /usr/bin/mythbackend $ARGS
end script
####################################################################

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

Thank you for the update Eduard. Did you confirm with the experts in #upstart that this is the best way to do this (i.e., is not just currently supported, but is planned to be in the future)?

[Eduard Iten (eiten)]

Hi Marc,
sorry for my long delay. I tried to, but they also could not help me with this point. In fact, I'm not quite sure if this is an upstart issue. I rather think its a mythtv issue, as other services like samba do not have problems with utf8 without locale set...

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

I couldn't get anyone to answer the question either. Could you please paste your /etc/environment file?

Thank you!

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

One of the concerns was setting LC_ALL in the upstart script. Eduard or Nico, could you please try only setting LANG and leaving LC_ALL unset?

[Nico (nico-rdo)]

LC_ALL can apparently be dropped from the upstart script.

Accentuated chars are seen with just LANG being set.

[Nico (nico-rdo)]

Oh well, just upgraded to the 0.24 dailies, and this issue is back!

[Mario Limonciello (superm1)]

Just added a fix worked out with Nico on IRC to the autobuilds packaging. Should be there for the next autobuilds run.

Thanks!

[Nico (nico-rdo)]

thanks Mario!

[Eduard Iten (eiten)]

Hey Mario,

I can totaly confirm it works. THANKS!

Regards, Edi

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mythtv - 1:0.24.0+fixes27305-0ubuntu1

---------------
mythtv (1:0.24.0+fixes27305-0ubuntu1) natty; urgency=low

  [ Mario Limonciello ]
  * New 0.24 checkout (27305)
  * Modify the upstart script to load the LANG first. (LP: #541042)
  * Modify configure_mythplugins_without_mythtv_installed.patch to remove
    SYSROOT from the mytharchive build process for it's additional support
    files. (LP: #674626)
  * Remove unused package, mythmovies from build process.
  * Clean up the dependencies of a few packages, and harden them to the binary
    version.
  * Disable XvMC as it's causing crashes. VDPAU is better off in these
    situations anyhow (LP: #660833)
  * Remove sparc support.
  * Make sure mysql is pingable before starting the backend (LP: #609402)
  * Fixup some linitians:
    - Extra license files
    - Longer extended descriptions
    - Duplicated synopsis
    - Init.d script
  * Add a new debian/rules rule called 'update-upstream-changelog'.
    This finds all of the most recent svn commit messages and
    creates changelog entries.
  * Add a debian/README.Debian for explaining how to work with the package.
  * In the update-upstream-changelog rule, search for the word mythbuntu
    in the version string. If found, find the latest version on the PPA
    to compare against.
  * Get rid of the newest-revision rule in favor of one that will actually
    update the changelog/checkout to the new version.
  * Add a new helper script debian/do-new-release.sh that will run all of
    these common tasks in preparation for an upload to ubuntu.

  [ Thomas Mashos ]
  * Set backend to not respawn if it dies 2 times in 1 hour (LP: #654846)
  * Move metadata scripts and internetcontent to mythtv-common
  * Fixed Replaces for mythtv-common
  * Added python and perl bindings as recommends for BE/FE
  * Fixes replaces in control.in for mythtv-common (LP: #676791)
  * Added bindings as recommends to FR and BE in control.in
  * Added Breaks mythtv-backend to mythtv-common (LP: #677206)
  * Added conflicts/replaces for mythplugins-dbg to mythtv-dbg
  * Added script to find latest mythtv svn revision in PPA
 -- Mario Limonciello <email address hidden> Sat, 20 Nov 2010 13:19:58 -0600