thnmnt
2004-06-05, 14:27
problem solved -
if you're happily running slimserver on a linux box this isn't for you - you'll be bored and i'll just look silly.
i thought i'd post my own follow-up because so many new new linux users seem to want to run slimserver on their linux boxes - or, like me, figure that running slimserver is a good reason to dust off an old computer and stick linux on it. hopefully this will go into the archives and come up in searches to help noobie linux users like myself. in fairness to the slimserver team i know it's hard to write install documentation for software like slimserver when even the most basic concepts like file permissions aren't in the vocabulary of the average windows user. i'm using mandrake 10 which i had heard was good for newbies so i can't really comment on whether this will work everywhere but i'll bet it will help.
the 3 things i didn't do originally that i finally figured out (with lots of help from this list) were:
1. create a user called slimserver and give that user permissions for the slimserver directories so it could execute the program.
2. (because my music isn't on my linux box) create an NFS share that lets my linux box see my network stored music files
3. create an account on that box (a snap server in this case) that let the user slimserver have access to it's files via NFS.
but the number one problem across the board was permissions. if something isn't working for you trying to get slimserver running on your linux box - i'll bet it's a permissions problem. remember - the "user" called slimserver needs permissions to.
so - on install for some reason, the rpm - while installing fine - didn't create a user called 'slimserver' with the appropriate permissions for the appropriate directories. i heard it works like this on mandrake 9 but it didn't on 10 (at least for me) once i managed to create this user (i used the GUI userdrake) and then create a group (also called slimserver just in case) i could go to /usr/local/slimserver and type perl slimserver start which would start the server. i could also type perl slimserver status to see the status of the user. i think i may have also had to change the permissions on the slimserver directory to allow the group users of slimserver to run this but i can't remember - check that if you're having problems.
i then went to the mandrake system configuration and clicked on system>services and scrolled down until i found slimserver and clicked the box that let it start on boot. on my next boot it loaded fine and i could access it from a webpage by typing http://localhost:9000
my next problem was creating the NFS share which is basically a shortcut (i'm talking to us newbies here - back off!) to my files on another computer. these were in the directory /mnt - using the mandrake control panel (again, i'm sure the command line is "better" somehow but this worked for me) go to mount points>nfs mount points (apparently samba mount points don't work because i tried that first) and click search servers. your box should come up if it's on the network. click on the ip address and then click on the share and select mount. if it fails - it's a permissions thing. i kept forgetting that there was the user "me" and the 'user' "slimserver" that both needed access.
so i thought i had everything worked out but then when i went to the slimserver server settings and tried to tell it to go to /mnt/share_music/Music which is the name of my NFS mount point, it said it was not a valid server name. this was very confusing to me because i thought my problem was somehow syntax based - i tried every conceivable combination of slashes and escapes to no avail. then i realized that if i went to a shell and switched users to actually BE slimserver (stop laughing this was huge for me) i could find out what the problem was. as soon as i became the user slimserver and cd'd to my mounted nfs drive i got a permission denied error - again - it was the permissions thing. i wish Slimserver had told me permission denied when i told it the path to my music instead of 'not a valid directory name 'but i'm not sure if that's possible.
anyway, once i realized it was permissions again i had to go to the snap server config screen (this is probably where i differ from most people) and create a user called slimserver (i got the UID from userdrake). and give that user access to those files.
typing the path into slimserver this time it worked right away and started scanning the files.
hope this helps somebody and if you were bored reading it - well good for you - you're a linux dork!
-t
----- Original Message -----
From: thnmnt
To: Slim Devices Discussion
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 8:55 AM
Subject: music folder as nfs share path question
i've almost got slimserver running under linux thanks to people here mailing me off list. thanks so much! one final piece of the puzzle remains. my mp3's are all stored on a snap server on my network. i'v got it mounted as /mnt/share_music/Music and confirmed that the linux box can see it, browse it etc. however, when, in the server settings/music folder area i tell slimserver that my files are in /mnt/share_music/Music it gives me an 'Oops, this does not appear to be a valid directory" or something like that. so, is my syntax just wrong? i've checked this for case sensitivity and all the dumb stuff - well, most of the dumb stuff anyway.
also, i'm rapidly running out of room on this snap server so i'm going to need to spread the music to a second. how would i create some sort of link on the first snap server that would point to a second one that slimserver would understand?
thanks list.
--t
if you're happily running slimserver on a linux box this isn't for you - you'll be bored and i'll just look silly.
i thought i'd post my own follow-up because so many new new linux users seem to want to run slimserver on their linux boxes - or, like me, figure that running slimserver is a good reason to dust off an old computer and stick linux on it. hopefully this will go into the archives and come up in searches to help noobie linux users like myself. in fairness to the slimserver team i know it's hard to write install documentation for software like slimserver when even the most basic concepts like file permissions aren't in the vocabulary of the average windows user. i'm using mandrake 10 which i had heard was good for newbies so i can't really comment on whether this will work everywhere but i'll bet it will help.
the 3 things i didn't do originally that i finally figured out (with lots of help from this list) were:
1. create a user called slimserver and give that user permissions for the slimserver directories so it could execute the program.
2. (because my music isn't on my linux box) create an NFS share that lets my linux box see my network stored music files
3. create an account on that box (a snap server in this case) that let the user slimserver have access to it's files via NFS.
but the number one problem across the board was permissions. if something isn't working for you trying to get slimserver running on your linux box - i'll bet it's a permissions problem. remember - the "user" called slimserver needs permissions to.
so - on install for some reason, the rpm - while installing fine - didn't create a user called 'slimserver' with the appropriate permissions for the appropriate directories. i heard it works like this on mandrake 9 but it didn't on 10 (at least for me) once i managed to create this user (i used the GUI userdrake) and then create a group (also called slimserver just in case) i could go to /usr/local/slimserver and type perl slimserver start which would start the server. i could also type perl slimserver status to see the status of the user. i think i may have also had to change the permissions on the slimserver directory to allow the group users of slimserver to run this but i can't remember - check that if you're having problems.
i then went to the mandrake system configuration and clicked on system>services and scrolled down until i found slimserver and clicked the box that let it start on boot. on my next boot it loaded fine and i could access it from a webpage by typing http://localhost:9000
my next problem was creating the NFS share which is basically a shortcut (i'm talking to us newbies here - back off!) to my files on another computer. these were in the directory /mnt - using the mandrake control panel (again, i'm sure the command line is "better" somehow but this worked for me) go to mount points>nfs mount points (apparently samba mount points don't work because i tried that first) and click search servers. your box should come up if it's on the network. click on the ip address and then click on the share and select mount. if it fails - it's a permissions thing. i kept forgetting that there was the user "me" and the 'user' "slimserver" that both needed access.
so i thought i had everything worked out but then when i went to the slimserver server settings and tried to tell it to go to /mnt/share_music/Music which is the name of my NFS mount point, it said it was not a valid server name. this was very confusing to me because i thought my problem was somehow syntax based - i tried every conceivable combination of slashes and escapes to no avail. then i realized that if i went to a shell and switched users to actually BE slimserver (stop laughing this was huge for me) i could find out what the problem was. as soon as i became the user slimserver and cd'd to my mounted nfs drive i got a permission denied error - again - it was the permissions thing. i wish Slimserver had told me permission denied when i told it the path to my music instead of 'not a valid directory name 'but i'm not sure if that's possible.
anyway, once i realized it was permissions again i had to go to the snap server config screen (this is probably where i differ from most people) and create a user called slimserver (i got the UID from userdrake). and give that user access to those files.
typing the path into slimserver this time it worked right away and started scanning the files.
hope this helps somebody and if you were bored reading it - well good for you - you're a linux dork!
-t
----- Original Message -----
From: thnmnt
To: Slim Devices Discussion
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 8:55 AM
Subject: music folder as nfs share path question
i've almost got slimserver running under linux thanks to people here mailing me off list. thanks so much! one final piece of the puzzle remains. my mp3's are all stored on a snap server on my network. i'v got it mounted as /mnt/share_music/Music and confirmed that the linux box can see it, browse it etc. however, when, in the server settings/music folder area i tell slimserver that my files are in /mnt/share_music/Music it gives me an 'Oops, this does not appear to be a valid directory" or something like that. so, is my syntax just wrong? i've checked this for case sensitivity and all the dumb stuff - well, most of the dumb stuff anyway.
also, i'm rapidly running out of room on this snap server so i'm going to need to spread the music to a second. how would i create some sort of link on the first snap server that would point to a second one that slimserver would understand?
thanks list.
--t