This is part one of a series about MythTV and using Ubuntu as a HTPC. In this article we’ll explain the easiest (or hardest, to some people) step of the process of installing MythTV on Ubuntu Gutsy.
We’ll be installing MythTV using the svn source, which is the latest bleed-edge version of the source code. There is a chance that the SVN version of MythTV may not be stable. Be Careful!
Lets start by downloading the source code:
- Install subversion
sudo aptitude install subversion
- Checkout the mythv* trees
cd ~
mkdir src
cd src
svn co http://svn.mythtv.org/svn/trunk/mythtv
svn co http://svn.mythtv.org/svn/trunk/mythplugins
svn co http://svn.mythtv.org/svn/trunk/myththemes
Install the extra libraries and tools we need
sudo apt-get install checkinstall fakeroot debhelper libglut3-dev libxvmc-dev libmysqlclient15-dev libtiff4-dev libexif-dev libmad0-dev libid3tag0-dev libvorbis-dev libflac-dev libcdaudio-dev libcdparanoia0-dev fftw3-dev libfaad2-dev libsmpeg-dev libmp4v2-dev libtag1-dev
#we also need this header file for MythMusic
sudo wget http://faac.cvs.sourceforge.net/*checkout*/faac/faad2/common/mp4ff/mp4ff_int_types.h -P /usr/local/include
If you get any errors from the above two commands; leave a comment here and I’ll try to see if I’ve left something out.
Before we actually compile and install the svn version of MythTV; Remove the previous installation(if there is one)
aptitude remove ubuntu-mythtv-frontend mythtv-transcode-utils mythtv-common mythtv-frontend mythtv-themes mythtv-backend mythtv mythtv-frontend mythtv-database mythtv-backend-master
Change remove to purge if you want to delete the configuration files as well, not just upgrade.
Configure the Source
./configure --prefix=/usr
cd ../mythplugins
./configure --prefix=/usr
cd ../myththemes
./configure --prefix=/usr
Compiling the Source
Letting make run it’s course is the most time consuming part of the process, so if you have something else to do while it’s compiling. Go do it.
cd mythtv
make -j2
cd ../mythplugins
make -j2
Installation
Simply run checkinstall and answer a few questions
cd ~/src/mythtv; sudo checkinstall
When it promts you, simply enter Mythtv or whatever you want for the description. The package name should automatically be mythtv. By using checkinstall we are still using Ubuntu/debian’s package system to install Mythtv and everything will be a lot easier to uninstall or upgrade in the future.
IMPORTANT: Change the version field to something like 20071226 (todays date) so that we don’t get an error building the package.(see screenshot below)

If everything went well you should get something similiar to this:
**********************************************************************
Done. The new package has been installed and saved to
/home/bawls/src/mythtv/mythtv_999999-1_amd64.deb
You can remove it from your system anytime using:
dpkg -r mythtv
**********************************************************************
Do the same thing for mythplugins
cd ~/src/mythplugins
sudo checkinstall
Upgrading
Alright so now you want to upgrade to the latest and greatest again. Here’s how:
- Update the source
cd ~
cd src/mythtv
svn update
cd ../mythplugins
svn update
cd ../myththemes
svn update
- Configure
cd ~/src/mythtv
./configure --prefix=/usr
cd ../mythplugins
./configure --prefix=/usr
cd ../myththemes
./configure --prefix=/usr
- Install
cd ~/src/mythtv; sudo checkinstall
cd ~/src/mythplugins; sudo checkinstall
cd ~/src/mythplugins; sudo checkinstall
Only this time when you run checkinstall; increment the Release field. So if it’s 1 now, change it to 2. dpkg will upgrade it to this new package.
Conclusion / Possible Problems
If you already know how to configure and setup mythtv, you should be good to go on your own now (with the latest bleeding-edge features.)
Stay tuned for Part II in the series, but until then if you encounter any problems following this how-to guide; Please post a comment or send me an email with the issue you’re having. We’ll get it resolved!
References:
[1]http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Installing_MythTV_SVN_on_Ubuntu_Breezy
[2]https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythTV_Gutsy_Backend_Frontend_Desktop
[3]http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_Installation#After_Installation
posted by johntash at
5:55 am