Basic Linux V9 Build and Walkthrough - First Draft

SageWizdom · #1 11-25-2015, 06:24 PM

Seeing all the great work on Sage v9, I wanted to try and document a basic Linux install and setup. Its not complete, but I thought I would share what I have. I am going to try and re-run this tonight to verify it, and I will be making ongoing updates to this post. Suggestions, fixes, ideas are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

Note: A posting about basic linux commands is available here (here)

Note2: This has now been surpassed by a V2 install page and an automatic install script, available here (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=585773)

** Important Note: At present, I can not get the SageTV client working on the linux host (no sound). This has not been an issue for me as I do not use my server as a playback system. If you have fixed this or need help, please post.

1) Backup your current install
Backup anything you want to save on your computer (insert link to the upgrade sage thread). This is typically your entire sagetv directory, your media directory and any custom configurations (ir remote install, primenet encoder, sagedct, etc).

2) Install Linux
See the post below for how (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...92&postcount=2)

3) Configure the base OS
If you installed the server version like I did, there is some extra work you have to do to install some basic gui support. If you've used the Desktop version, skim this, but you probably can skip most of this. As these are all apt-get commands, even if you have the desktop version, it should not hurt your install to run any of these commands.

Log in as the user you created as part of the install process. You will be presented with a command line interface

Install a basic GUI
Execute the following command to install a very minimal gui

Code:

sudo apt-get install xorg gnome-core gnome-system-tools gnome-app-install

You will be asked to type in your password to validate your sudo privileges.

To explain the command:
sudo or "superuser do" executes the following command as a super user. You must have sudo privileges to do this. by default the user created during install will have sudo privileges.

apt-get is the ubuntu package manager. This command allows you to install, manage or remove linux software packages in linux. In this command, we are using the install keyword to install several packages. apt-get will automatically identify and install any missing dependancies for the software you ask it to install. It will also validate with you, after it has figured out what it needs to do, but before it installs anything.

xorg: the xwindows base application
gnome-core: the gnome window manager core packages
gnome-system-tools: basic gnome system tools
gnome-app-install: basic gnome applications

Install a firewall config widget

Code:

sudo apt-get install firewall-applet

Install a system information widget

Code:

sudo apt-get install sysinfo

Reboot the computer

Code:

sudo reboot

Upon reboot, you should be presented with a Gnome logon GUI. Click on your username and login. Note that when the screen saver kicks in, the current version wants you to click and drag the screen upward to give access to the logon prompt.

4) Check for updates
Before going further, have your system check for updates. The OS install images are updated only for specific releases and as expected there patches and updates for your system that should be installed.

Click "Activities" in the top left corner to show the activities side bar.
Select the 3 x 3 grid at the bottom of the list to "Show Applications."
Scroll down and find the "Software Updater" widget

Its icon is a circular arrow in front of 4 cardboard boxes. Do not confuse this with the either the "Software Update" widget (with unfortunately the exact same icon), the "Software" icon (4 boxes) or the "Software & Updates" icon (a globe and a box).

When you run this, you may get an error saying that it failed. Close the error window, the applet normally will keep running anyway. You will then get a progress window which will install updates and tell you as it does so.

Command Line Alternative

Code:

sudo apt-get update           # Fetch the list of available updates
sudo apt-get upgrade         # Upgrade current packages
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade  # Installs updates (new ones)

Once complete, the system wants you to reboot again, to ensure all changes take effect.

4b) Configure your network settings
If you were not prompted to configure your network settings during Linux install, you should configure it now.

Open a terminal
Select "Activities" -> "Show Applications" -> "Byobu Terminal"

First get the current Network configuration by running the ifconfig command

Code:

ifconfig

This will display all the network connections on your computer. Your connection is most likely labeled as eth0.

Open the network interfaces configuration file in a simple editor

Code:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Mine looks like this

Code:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

change the bottom to look like this. I've set my ip to .27

Code:

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
    address 192.168.0.27
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 192.168.0.1
    dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1 8.8.4.4

Next press ctrl-o to save and ctrl-x to exit

Validate IP in hosts file
Validate your computers IP. When using a static IP, Ubuntu expects your IP to be set correctly in the /etc/hosts file. This must be done for java to be able to auto detect your computers ip. Your local host should be listed second with your static ip. If it is not, you need to edit this file and set it.

Code:

user@computer:~$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1	localhost
192.168.1.12	sagetvserver  <-- edit this line if it = 127.0.1.1
...

To edit the file, "sudo nano /etc/hosts" and edit it to match your static IP.
Reboot so everything takes effect

5) Install Java
Following directions from the Linux SageTV thread, install Java
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62324

Open a terminal
Select "Activities" -> "Show Applications" -> "Byobu Terminal"

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y oracle-java8-installer

The first command adds the java repository to your computer so that apt-get knows how to get files from it.

Add Java Environment Variables
Installing Java does not appear to add the needed environment variables. This will add them to your ".bashrc" file. The ".bashrc" file is automatically run every time you create a new bash shell (it is your default login shell). If you use currently or choose to use a different logon shell, you should add these commands to a startup script for that shell.

Code:

echo "" >> .bashrc
echo "export JDK_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/" >> .bashrc
echo "export JAVA_ARCH=amd64" >> .bashrc
echo "" >> .bashrc

if you have installed a 32 bit version of linux, then you should run the following instead of the above

Code:

echo "" >> .bashrc
echo "export JDK_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/" >> .bashrc
echo "export export JAVA_ARCH=i386" >> .bashrc
echo "" >> .bashrc

6) Install Sage Dependancies
Install ubuntu SageTV Dependancies
(From the linux build thread http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62324)

Code:

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxt-dev libraw1394-dev libavc1394-dev 
sudo apt-get install libiec61883-dev libfreetype6-dev yasm autoconf libtool 
sudo apt-get install build-essential libaudio-dev libpulse-dev libasound-dev
sudo apt-get install madplay libasound2 xorg libfaad-dev

Reboot again to make sure all the libraries load appropriately

Code:

sudo reboot

7) Install Sage

Create a directory for sage

Code:

mkdir sagetv
cd sagetv

Download the SageTV binary from the download thread by running the below command.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62422
NOTE: The below link is correct as of 22Nov2015. If a new version has come out, simply check the above thread for the lastest download.
Download SageTV 9 JAR

Code:

wget https://bintray.com/artifact/download/opensagetv/sagetv/sagetv/9.0.3.178/sagetv-server_9.0.3_amd64.tar.gz

Unzip and extract the files

Code:

tar vfxz sagetv-server_9.0.3_amd64.tar.gz

*1/1/16 - Edited to remove extra download and replace of SageTV7.xml and Sage.Jar - Thanks lgkent!

Unzip and extract the files

Code:

unzip SageJar-9.0.3.178.zip

say yes to replace both Sage.jar and SageTV.xml

8) Install an updated Lucene Jar
(From the windows install thread http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...056#post578056)

Code:

cd JARs
wget https://github.com/google/sagetv/raw/master/third_party/Lucene/lucene-core-3.6.0.jar
mv lucene-core-3.6.0.jar lucene-core-3.6.0.jar.old
mv lucene-core-3.6.0.jar.1 lucene-core-3.6.0.jar
cd ..

9) Use an existing SageTV Key for guide updates
If you have a valid Window or Linux SageTV license key, create a file named "activkey" in the sagetv folder containing your key
(from the following thread http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...406#post577406)

Code:

echo "your key" > activkey

for example (but not a valid key) (5 sets of six letters and numbers)

Code:

echo "DF68I5-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX" > activkey

10) Open network ports
(UPDATED) Dec 6, 2015 - Command Line Firewall Config
(UPDATED) Jan 1, 2016 - Notes
(UPDATED) Jan 28, 2016 - iptables UDP Source Port

To allow the client to talk to the server, you need to open ports on the server. Ubuntu is using the firewalld control for iptables. The following commands will use "firewall-cmd" to add ongoing exceptions to your firewall. Once complete, you will need to restart to ensure all changes have taken.

Code:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=31100/udp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=31099/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8018/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=7818/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

The below command should allow the "hdhomerun_config discover" command to work by accepting packets on the correct source port (thanks Boolah, see post below for info)

Code:

sudo iptables -I INPUT -p udp -m udp --sport 65001 -j ACCEPT

* Note: The above does not have a fix to allow incoming UDP. This matters because "hdhomerun_config discover" to find your HDHR devices needs this to work. lgkent used gufw (a basic gui for the "uncomplicated firewall" to get things working. He also noted that you can install HDHomerun using the "sudo apt-get install hdhomerun-config hdhomerun-config-gui" command.

Alternate/previous Way to Modify the firewall

Quote:

Open the firewall manager Activities->Show Applications->Sundry->Firewall
You will be asked to enter your password

At the "Configuration" drop down, select "Permanent"

Select the "Ports" tab
Click the "Add" button and add the following
31099/tcp
8018/tcp
7818/tcp

From the "Options" menu, select "Reload Firewall"

11) Start Sagetv Server
Start the Sagetv Server

Code:

sudo ./startsage

12) Install the Sagetv Client
NOTE: I have not yet succeeded in getting the client to work consistently. Currently I am using the legacy (known working) clients as they are all compatible with the v9 server. Still working it....

Go back to your base directory

Code:

cd ..

you should be in your base login directory.

Now create a sage client directory and switch to it.

Code:

mkdir sageclient
cd sageclient

Download the client app

Code:

wget https://bintray.com/artifact/download/opensagetv/sagetv/sagetv/9.0.3.178/sagetv-client_9.0.3_amd64.tar.gz

Extract the client

Code:

tar vfxz sagetv-client_9.0.3_amd64.tar.gz

13) Run the Sagetv Client
Run the miniclient

Code:

./sageclient.sh

if you encounter errors, the logs are stored in /tmp/miniclient.log

Code:

cat /tmp/miniclient.log

You should now be able to connect to the sage server and start setting it up.

A draft walkthrough of installing an HDHomeRun Prime with PrimeNetEncoder is available in the following post
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...267#post581267

TODO: Figure out other ports that need to be opened for streaming or other (please holler in comments)

SageWizdom · #2 11-26-2015, 05:05 AM

Basic Linux Install

This is a walkthrough of a basic Debian Server Installation.

Download Ubuntu Linux
Reading through the forum, Ubuntu appears to be the desired OS for SageTV. Ubuntu is a Debian flavored distribution (version) of Linux which uses the ".deb" packages and the "apt-get" package manager. It is separate and different from the Red Hat flavor of Linux which uses ".rpm" packages and the "YUM" package manager. I mention this so that if you are looking for package dependancies, try to download the *.deb versions as it will be much easier to install.

This will install a very minimal linux installation using "Ubuntu Server 14.04.3 LTS" version. LTS stands for Long Term Support (April 2019). This walk through should also work for the Ubuntu Desktop install. I would recommend installing the same version so that all the dependancies and build steps are/should be the same.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Before Starting:
Download the base image and burn to disk
Have your system connected online
Know your desired IP (if you want it to be static)

An important note: In Linux, everything is case sensitive. This includes directory names, application names, host names, etc.

Begin the Install:
Boot with the install disk
Select your Language
Select "Install Ubuntu Server"
Select your Install Language
Select your Location
Detect or Select your keyboard Layout

Provide your system hostname: (ex. sagebox)
Create a new user
- Enter a full name: (ex. your name)
- Enter a user name: (ex. your first name)
- Enter a password:
- ReEnter your password:
- Do you want to encrypt your home directory: (Probably No)

Select your time zone
Set up your drive and partitions
- You will be asked if you want to unmount any currently mounted partitions. This is where you are about to destroy anything currently on your computer. To be able to resize or adjust your system you need to say yes.

Partition Disks
- If you will be changing your disk layout in the future, use LVM (Logical Volume Management).
- In this case use "Guided - use entire disk and set up LVM"
- Select your primary disk "SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 1.0 TB ATA Hitachi HDS72101)"
- You will be prompted to verify that you want to proceed
-- Read carefully and proceed only when you are comfortable. If you are not sure wait and post questions first.
- You will be asked if you are ready to write the changes to disk
- Decide how much of the drive you want to use: we will use the entire drive (999.9 GB)
- Select yes to write changes to disk

The system will run for several minutes while installing and copying data

You will be prompted if your computer sites behind a web proxy. This is uncommon enough that you should know if you do. If you are behind an http proxy, enter it now and continue

The system will configure apt and begin to install software

Do you want automatic updates?
- I recommend yes

Choose Software to Install: (Some good basics are)
- OpenSSH
- Samba file server

The system will now install for a while ...

Install the GRUB boot loader: Yes

There will be some final installation and then the system will prompt for reboot. Remove the install disk and hit continue.

After reboot, you will be prompted to login.

** There is now an automated install script for Sage and OpenDCT here (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=585773)

Fuzzy · #3 11-26-2015, 08:31 AM

Looks good so far. I will add that the license key information is not entirely correct - in that you can use ANY SageTV server key, not just a SageTV Linux key - this key is only used to identify the server to the SageTV EPG server, so you can use Linux and/or Windows server keys interchangeably for this purpose.

SageWizdom · #4 11-26-2015, 08:51 AM

TODO : Walkthrough for installing network tuners

SageWizdom · #5 11-26-2015, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Looks good so far. I will add that the license key information is not entirely correct - in that you can use ANY SageTV server key, not just a SageTV Linux key - this key is only used to identify the server to the SageTV EPG server, so you can use Linux and/or Windows server keys interchangeably for this purpose.

Thanks! I fixed it.

SageWizdom · #6 11-26-2015, 08:56 AM

I've run this a couple of times now, I believe I have caught and fixed most of the bugs. There are a couple steps that have a user use the GUI (most notably firewall config) in this case, I could not figure out how to make the command line process anything other than very confusing.

SHS · #7 11-26-2015, 04:09 PM

To me this just confusing for some one who may only want install the Sagetv Client only

jusjoken · #8 11-26-2015, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageWizdom

I've run this a couple of times now, I believe I have caught and fixed most of the bugs. There are a couple steps that have a user use the GUI (most notably firewall config) in this case, I could not figure out how to make the command line process anything other than very confusing.

I just want to say thanks for putting this together. I have been planning to build a Linux based server and will certainly use this as a guide.

Excellent detail.

Thanks
k

JustFred · #9 11-26-2015, 10:01 PM

Here's another big "thanks!".

It's been awhile since I've done a fresh Linux install, so I really appreciate a straight-forward, step by step, set of instructions. The plan is to install this on a VM, primarily so I can verify that the Linux binaries can be built after I've made a change to native code.

stuckless · #10 11-27-2015, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustFred

Here's another big "thanks!".

It's been awhile since I've done a fresh Linux install, so I really appreciate a straight-forward, step by step, set of instructions. The plan is to install this on a VM, primarily so I can verify that the Linux binaries can be built after I've made a change to native code.

FYI... if you are looking for vms to test that sort of stuff, on linux, then you might want to look at the vagrant project.

https://github.com/stuckless/sagetv-vagrant

There are 4 auto-configuring vms in that project for 32/64bit, console and ui. I each of those vms to test SageTV from time to time depending on the needs.

bigbill · #11 11-27-2015, 11:43 AM

@sagewizdom BooYaa! Followed you howto. Awesome thread. I knew just enough about linux to be dangerous. This was perfect!

Thanks Again!!

SageWizdom · #12 11-27-2015, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHS

To me this just confusing for some one who may only want install the Sagetv Client only

Are you interested in a new linux build with only a client on it, or just installing the client on an existing linux box?

I don't mind making it "choose your own adventure style" if that could help, or I can just make a client only version.

SageWizdom · #13 11-27-2015, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustFred

Here's another big "thanks!".

It's been awhile since I've done a fresh Linux install, so I really appreciate a straight-forward, step by step, set of instructions. The plan is to install this on a VM, primarily so I can verify that the Linux binaries can be built after I've made a change to native code.

I'm not a particularly good Java programmer, so whatever I can do to help this great project. Let me know if I can help with other documentation or debugging. Breaking stuff? Now that is a skill I've got plenty of.

SageWizdom · #14 11-27-2015, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbill

@sagewizdom BooYaa! Followed you howto. Awesome thread. I knew just enough about linux to be dangerous. This was perfect!

Thanks Again!!

Would there be any interest in a general linux command walkthrough?

Things like:

df -h (available space on all your partitions on the HD?)

or other?

SHS · #15 11-27-2015, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageWizdom

Are you interested in a new linux build with only a client on it, or just installing the client on an existing linux box?

I don't mind making it "choose your own adventure style" if that could help, or I can just make a client only version.

Just reg a Ubuntu Desktop ver with fresh install OS

JustFred · #16 11-27-2015, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuckless

FYI... if you are looking for vms to test that sort of stuff, on linux, then you might want to look at the vagrant project.

https://github.com/stuckless/sagetv-vagrant

There are 4 auto-configuring vms in that project for 32/64bit, console and ui. I each of those vms to test SageTV from time to time depending on the needs.

Thanks for the reminder. Since I'm already running VirtualBox, I'll give this a test-drive.

SageWizdom · #17 11-28-2015, 04:08 PM

I've made several updates to the original post, including fixing the expected key format and adding some more pre-requisites to the step where they are installed. Note that with apt-get, you can always ask it to re-install the full list, and it will only install what you need.

SageWizdom · #18 12-06-2015, 10:00 PM

Hopefully in the near, near future, I'm going to update this walkthrough to include...

Install Linux (link to other post)
Configure Ubuntu (all via terminal)
Install Sage (from .deb files)
Configure server autostart at boot
Install PrimeNetEncoder (link to other post)
Configure PNE autostart at boot
Install WebClient/MobileWebClient/Sagex
Install SageClient

My goal is to have a walkthrough that works every time...

Please comment if there are any additional features that folks would like to see included in the walkthrough (ex. commands / other)

SageWizdom · #19 12-07-2015, 08:14 PM

I'm writing up v2 of this guide (using the .deb files... etc). Is there a preference of how to post? Should I replace the current guide? Put the current in a reply? Create a new thread and and just name it v2. Let me know if there is a preference. Thanks.

Galaxysurfer · #20 12-08-2015, 10:18 PM

Can you add links for non ubuntu deb directories. I personally use LMDE2 & I think there are others that use Linux Mint flavor of Linux over Ubuntu.

Keep up the good work. Cheat sheets are always welcome.

Galaxysurfer

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