Announce : Global Player (UK) Plugin (Classic FM, Capital, Smooth, Heart, LBC etc.)

[expectingtofly]

I'd like to follow up on this issue. I rebuilt LMS on a new SD card with RaspiOS. Using either LMS 8.3 or 8.4, GlobalPlayer still fails in the same way. I also built a piCore based server, and that doesn't work either.

I think I would normally conclude from this that I am being geo blocked for being outside the UK. Except that the link you provided works on my laptop, both at startup and after pressing the rewind. I did have to create an account to get access, so that makes me wonder if non-UK listeners now have to log in before a stream will initiate.

Might it be possible to investigate this a little further?

In your case, it is the api that is failing. This particular API doesn't use the standard http protocol, but something called web sockets which I had to include specific libraries for that to work in the plugin. This plugin has lots of installs, and I would have thought I would have had more reports of it not working outside the UK, if it was being geo-locked. I wonder if it is to do with the web socket traffic being blocked on your network for some reason, you don't have something non-standard like a proxy or firewall installed on you network do you?

[slartibartfast]

I have tried Classic FM and Capital this morning and noticed frequent gaps in playback. Is that normal?

[AngloCuencano]

In your case, it is the api that is failing. This particular API doesn't use the standard http protocol, but something called web sockets which I had to include specific libraries for that to work in the plugin. This plugin has lots of installs, and I would have thought I would have had more reports of it not working outside the UK, if it was being geo-locked. I wonder if it is to do with the web socket traffic being blocked on your network for some reason, you don't have something non-standard like a proxy or firewall installed on you network do you?

The only non-standard thing I have is pi-hole running on another pi. But turning that off makes no difference.

[AngloCuencano]

Another non-standard thing is that I run an Apache server on the same Pi as LMS. I notice that Apache and the GlobalPlayer websockethandler component both want to use the same ports (80, 443). Is it possible that this is creating a conflict? If so, something must have changed recently, since they have lived together happily for a few years.

Although, Apache was not present when I set up the Picore server, so maybe this is a red herring.

[Paul Webster]

The WebSocket capability is a very recent addition to any LMS - I think that expectingtofly is the first person to seriously try to implement it and it is only in the last few weeks.
It is not a core LMS capability (although it may well be useful if it does become core in the future).

[expectingtofly]

Another non-standard thing is that I run an Apache server on the same Pi as LMS. I notice that Apache and the GlobalPlayer websockethandler component both want to use the same ports (80, 443). Is it possible that this is creating a conflict? If so, something must have changed recently, since they have lived together happily for a few years.

Although, Apache was not present when I set up the Picore server, so maybe this is a red herring.

That shouldn't cause any issues. I'll have a good dig around and see if I can put some more logging in that can help us diagnose the problem.

[Yatsushiro]

Hi

I've been using your plugins for a while now, with your GlobalPlayer the one I use most. I've been trying to hunt down a problem I have with my LMS system in that it slowly grinds to a halt in response to mouse clicks etc. Upon rebooting my server, I am asked to login to mysqueezebox.com and redefine the location of my music and playlist files. Thinking it was a hardware problem, I built a new server on an RPi4 (was using a Dell 3040) but ended up with the same problem.

After a bit of digging around, I found that the 'server.log' file was absolutely huge, populated mostly as below:

[23-02-23 11:51:26.6468] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6471] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6473] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6476] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6479] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6481] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6484] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6487] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6490] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6493] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6495] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6498] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6501] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6503] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6506] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6509] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6512] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
​

The above is but a small excerpt. Any suggestion as to the issue, or the next step in finding the source of the problem?

Thanks

[expectingtofly]

Hi

I've been using your plugins for a while now, with your GlobalPlayer the one I use most. I've been trying to hunt down a problem I have with my LMS system in that it slowly grinds to a halt in response to mouse clicks etc. Upon rebooting my server, I am asked to login to mysqueezebox.com and redefine the location of my music and playlist files. Thinking it was a hardware problem, I built a new server on an RPi4 (was using a Dell 3040) but ended up with the same problem.

After a bit of digging around, I found that the 'server.log' file was absolutely huge, populated mostly as below:

[23-02-23 11:51:26.6468] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:26.6471] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
​

The above is but a small excerpt. Any suggestion as to the issue, or the next step in finding the source of the problem?

Thanks

That's a bit odd, streaming should end if it hits that error. I am a bit puzzled why a player is repeatedly trying to get audio when streaming has stopped. Have you got a player stuck trying to play a live stream in a strange state?

[Yatsushiro]

Not that I'm aware of. I have 3 players, one of which is hardly ever used. The one in the kitchen is mostly on BBC. It's my workshop one that is used to listen to LBC. For various reasons, this player is just switched off at the power with the lights, no gentle shutdown.

Is there anything I can do on the logging front to help diagnosis?

[expectingtofly]

Not that I'm aware of. I have 3 players, one of which is hardly ever used. The one in the kitchen is mostly on BBC. It's my workshop one that is used to listen to LBC. For various reasons, this player is just switched off at the power with the lights, no gentle shutdown.

Is there anything I can do on the logging front to help diagnosis?

Aha!, found the bug. Thanks for reporting, I'll get a release out.

[EDIT]. Sorry haven't found the bug, red herring.

[expectingtofly]

Not that I'm aware of. I have 3 players, one of which is hardly ever used. The one in the kitchen is mostly on BBC. It's my workshop one that is used to listen to LBC. For various reasons, this player is just switched off at the power with the lights, no gentle shutdown.

Is there anything I can do on the logging front to help diagnosis?

I'm struggling to find what caused this. Did the logging carry on, even after restarting LMS?

[Yatsushiro]

The logging continues until the SD card fills up! Not knowing, initially, what was happening, I reloaded LMS onto the Dell Wyse 3040 until the same thing happened. Still not realising why, I gave up on the Dell (thinking perhaps it was a problem with Alpine Linux) and loaded LMS onto an RPi4. AFter a few days the problem re-occurred and that's when I noticed the large and growing server.log file.

Would it help if I can isolate the log entries immediately before and perhaps after the reported error?

[expectingtofly]

The logging continues until the SD card fills up! Not knowing, initially, what was happening, I reloaded LMS onto the Dell Wyse 3040 until the same thing happened. Still not realising why, I gave up on the Dell (thinking perhaps it was a problem with Alpine Linux) and loaded LMS onto an RPi4. AFter a few days the problem re-occurred and that's when I noticed the large and growing server.log file.

Would it help if I can isolate the log entries immediately before and perhaps after the reported error?

Yes, that would be helpful. Are you able to turn on debug logging for global player before? that would be useful.
Do you have just standard players, or do you have any upnp players or the like as well?

[Yatsushiro]

Here's the start of the error period:

[23-02-23 10:22:43.9061] Plugins::BookmarkHistory::Plugin::newsongCallback (1561) Trigger for newsong exists but is to old (to be expected when you press  
play after reconnect). client:Slim::Player::SqueezePlay=ARRAY(0x7f3ae5b5feb8) time: 1677144163 trigger value:1677144070 request:playlist newsong url:globa
lplayer://_live_116
[23-02-23 11:02:03.7125] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:02:03.7158] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:02:03.7164] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
​

And these are the last 3 lines:

[23-02-23 11:51:27.1483] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:27.1486] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream
[23-02-23 11:51:27.1489] Plugins::GlobalPlayerUK::ProtocolHandler::__ANON__ (707) Failed to stream

​

Here is the inidcation of the file size:

dell3040:/var/opt/lms/log$ ls -l
total 2870360
-rw-r--r--    1 lms      lms              0 Jan 27 16:07 perfmon.log
-rw-r--r--    1 lms      lms           1472 Feb 27 14:58 scanner.log
-rw-r--r--    1 lms      lms      2939236521 Mar  1 13:20 server.log
​

[Yatsushiro]

Do you have just standard players, or do you have any upnp players or the like as well?

Just standard players, all RPi based, running pCp.

These are the plugins in use:

Plugins

• Additional Browse Modes 1.0
• BBC Sounds 2.28.3
• Bookmarks 1.2.22
• Date and Time 1.0
• Don't Stop The Music 1.0.0
• DSDPlayer 1.09
• Global Player (UK) 2.2.0
• LastMix 2.3.0
• Material Skin 3.1.4
• Music and Artist Information 1.8.2
• Music Information Screen 4.4.12
• mysqueezebox.com services handler 1.0
• Play Windows Media 1.1
• Podcast Extensions 0.23.1
• Podcasts 2.0
• Presets Editor 1.0
• Radio France 0.4.3
• Radio Paradise 3.1.1
• RadioNet 2.2
• ShairTunes2 (fork) 0.205.3
• SqueezeESP32 0.353
• UK Radio Player 1.1.1
• Virgin Radio (UK) 2.2.3