Instructions to install SageTV on CentOS

[bastafidli]

Here are instructions how to install SageTV on CentOS. CentOS is recompiled version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is rock solid operating system with great performance and features well suited to build SageTV server (e.g. Software RAID 1,5,6) out of the box unlike Windows. The instructions below were tested with fresh install of CentOS 5.1 with kernel from CentOS Plus.

Install CentOS
http://www.howtoforge.com/installati...tos5.1-desktop

Install Java
(instruction adapted from http://www.howtoforge.com/installati...5.1-desktop-p7 section 7.1.3)
Download Java JRE for Linux from http://java.sun.com.
At this time current version is jre-6u4-linux-i586-rpm.bin

chmod +x jre-6u4-linux-i586-rpm.bin
./jre-6u4-linux-i586.bin
rm -f jre-6u4-linux-i586*

Verify java installation using

java -version

You should see

java version "1.6.0_04"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_04-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 10.0-b19, mixed mode, sharing)

To make java working in your browser (not needed for SageTV)

ln -s /usr/java/latest/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

After you restart your browser if it was opened, you can verify that Java is working in the browser by going to
http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

Follow this post to configure your firewall
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...335#post105335

For HD Media Extender I had to open at least
TCP 7818
TCP 31099
UDP 31100

Install SageTV dependencies

rpm -Uhv http://apt.sw.be/packages/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
yum install mad lame faad2 faac

Install SageTV
Download http://download.sagetv.com/linuxweb/server.tar.gz

If you prefer to only install the latest version

mkdir -p /opt/sagetv/server
tar -xzf server.tar.gz -C /opt/sagetv/server

If you like to have ability to have multiple versions installed at the same time

mkdir -p /opt/sagetv/server_6.3.6
tar -xzf server_6.3.6.tar.gz -C /opt/sagetv/server_6.3.6
ln -s /opt/sagetv/server_6.3.6/ /opt/sagetv/server

Then in either case

mkdir /var/media
mkdir /var/media/tv
mkdir /var/media/videos
mkdir /var/media/pictures
mkdir /var/media/music

cd /opt/sagetv/server
./keygen.sh

you should see

Please enter your activation key.

Enter the key and hit Enter

Your license key will be activated. Press enter to continue

License Key File: activkey
Public/Private Key Generation Directory: .
Loaded SageTV's global public RSA key.
Public/private key files do not exist. Generating RSA public/private keys for local SageTV install...
Wrote out private key to file:./SageTV.public.key
Wrote out public key to file:./SageTV.private.key
Establishing network connection to the SageTV License Activation Server...
Connected...data was sent...reading back activation key...
SUCCESS!
Activation key was written to file: key

/opt/sagetv/server/startsage

In a text editor open file /etc/rc.d/rc.local and at the end insert line

/opt/sagetv/server/startsage

to ensure server restarts in case the computer is rebooted.

[jpappas]

bastafidli, That is fantastic documentation. Good baseline for installs!

Thanks!
John

[bastafidli]

Thanks a lot. I personally prefer CentOS for my servers rather then Ubuntu due to the infrequent updates and stability therefore I thought it would be worth it would be nice to record my notes in case I have to do another install.

[bastafidli]

Here are instructions how to upgrade to a newer version:

Stop the server by going to /opt/sagetv/server and execute

./stopsage

Copy following files to a safe location, in my case /data/SageTV. This needs to be done only once during the first upgrade:

cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/clients /data/SageTv/clients/  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/ChannelLogos /data/SageTv/ChannelLogos/  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/GeneratedThumbnails /data/SageTv/GeneratedThumbnails/  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/activkey /data/SageTv/activkey  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/key/data/SageTv/key  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/SageTV.private.key /data/SageTv/SageTV.private.key  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/SageTV.public.key /data/SageTv/SageTV.public.key  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/SageTVLocator.private.key /data/SageTv/SageTVLocator.private.key  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/SageTVLocator.public.key /data/SageTv/SageTVLocator.public.key  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/weather_cache.properties /data/SageTv/weather_cache.properties

Copy following files to a safe location, in my case /data/SageTV. This needs to be done during every upgrade!!!

cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/Wiz.bak /data/SageTv/Wiz.bak  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/Wiz.bin /data/SageTv/Wiz.bin  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/Sage.properties /data/SageTv/Sage.properties  
cp -R /opt/sagetv/server/Sage.properties.autobackup /data/SageTv/Sage.properties.autobackup

Now open the Sage.properties in an editor

gedit /data/SageTv/Sage.properties  &

and replace any reference to

/opt/sage/server_6.3.6

(the previous version) with

/opt/sage/server

This needs to be done due to the way Sage generates the property files when it used the full cannonical path rather the symbolic path where it was launched.

Install the new version

mkdir -p /opt/sagetv/server_6.3.7
tar -xzf server_6.3.7.tar.gz -C /opt/sagetv/server_6.3.7
rm /opt/sagetv/server
ln -s /opt/sagetv/server_6.3.7/ /opt/sagetv/server

Create links to the backuped up files

ln -s /data/SageTv/clients/  /opt/sagetv/server/clients
ln -s /data/SageTv/ChannelLogos/  /opt/sagetv/server/ChannelLogos
ln -s /data/SageTv/GeneratedThumbnails/  /opt/sagetv/server/GeneratedThumbnails
ln -s /data/SageTv/activkey  /opt/sagetv/server/activkey 
ln -s /data/SageTv/key  /opt/sagetv/server/key
ln -s /data/SageTv/SageTV.private.key  /opt/sagetv/server/SageTV.private.key
ln -s /data/SageTv/SageTV.public.key  /opt/sagetv/server/SageTV.public.key
ln -s /data/SageTv/SageTVLocator.private.key  /opt/sagetv/server/SageTVLocator.private.key
ln -s /data/SageTv/SageTVLocator.public.key  /opt/sagetv/server/SageTVLocator.public.key
ln -s /data/SageTv/weather_cache.properties  /opt/sagetv/server/weather_cache.properties

Unfortunately you CANNOT link these files, because the way SageTV handles them the links are deleted and the files are recreated
ln -s /data/SageTv/Wiz.bak /opt/sagetv/server/Wiz.bak
ln -s /data/SageTv/Wiz.bin /opt/sagetv/server/Wiz.bin
ln -s /data/SageTv/Sage.properties /opt/sagetv/server/Sage.properties
ln -s /data/SageTv/Sage.properties.autobackup /opt/sagetv/server/Sage.properties.autobackup

Therefore after every upgrade you need to restore them from the backup

cp -R /data/SageTv/Wiz.bak /opt/sagetv/server/Wiz.bak  
cp -R /data/SageTv/Wiz.bin /opt/sagetv/server/Wiz.bin 
cp -R /data/SageTv/Sage.properties /opt/sagetv/server/Sage.properties
cp -R /data/SageTv/Sage.properties.autobackup /opt/sagetv/server/Sage.properties.autobackup

Start the server by going to /opt/sagetv/server and execute

./startsage

[Zervun]

Quick question - how were you able to use the centosplus kernel with xfs support on install - the only documentation I can find is that you can only use the centosplus rpm's after install

[bastafidli]

I think that is exactly what I did, but I do not remember it exactly. Fresh install from downloaded media, then enabled Plus repository and downloaded and switched to the patched kernel, since I needed support for ntfs to access some of my disks.

[korstad]

Great instructions.

I went ahead and compiled a vanilla kernel 2.6.27.8 in my CentOS to get the newest support. I am using a 64bit OS, so I grabbed the jdk for 32 bit and added;

PATH=/opt/jdk1.6.0_11/bin:$PATH
export PATH

to my startsage file. Everything went great. I have a pvr-150 and pvr-500 card. It sees all three tuners (videos). I want to use the pvr-150 to connect to my cable box, tv tuner channel 3, and IR blast to the set top box. When I go into tuning option for video0 (the pvr-150) and select external cable or satellite receiver, I am presented with two options;
-DirectTV serial control (my set top box does not have a serial interface)
-Infrared Blaster (this is what I want to get working)

When I select Infrared Blaster, I am given a list of ports (0-9) and all of them say failed when selected.

Any advice on how to get this last step working? I have tried compiling the latest lird lirc-0.8.4a, even played around with lirc-0.8.5-CVS-pvr150. It is loading modules fine. What am I missing?

I also have a serial IR200L that I was using with the windows box. If this is a possible path…

[cenwesi]

how did you get the pvr-500 working with 64bit Centos. I can't seem to get sage to use my cards on 64bit Intrepid. Drivers and Firmware loads fine at the OS level with no errors.

PS: my kernel is 2.6.27.2.

[korstad]

It did not show up in my stock kernel. That is 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5.centos.plus for CentOS.

I after I went out and grabed the source and compiled 2.6.27.8, they showed up in sage. But I can't imagine there would that much different in hardware support from your 2.6.27.2 and my 2.6.27.8.

Attached is my .config for options I used to compile...