(resolved) MiniDLNA not running on rPi2 Jessie

General Discussion
1

I’m getting this message when checking the status of minidlna on the Jessie image:

root@DietPi2:/etc# service minidlna status
● minidlna.service - MiniDLNA is a DLNA/UPnP-AV server software
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service; disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2015-11-08 18:08:51 EST; 3min 11s ago
  Process: 1331 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/minidlnad -S (code=exited, status=255)
  Process: 1327 ExecStartPre=/bin/chown $USER /var/run/minidlna (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 1325 ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /var/run/minidlna (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 1331 (code=exited, status=255)

Nov 08 18:08:50 DietPi2 systemd[1]: Started MiniDLNA is a DLNA/UPnP-AV server software.
Nov 08 18:08:51 DietPi2 minidlnad[1331]: [2015/11/08 18:08:51] minidlna.c:611: error: Media directory "A,/root/Music" not accessible [Permission denied]
Nov 08 18:08:51 DietPi2 minidlnad[1331]: [2015/11/08 18:08:51] minidlna.c:611: error: Media directory "P,/root/Pictures" not accessible [Permission denied]
Nov 08 18:08:51 DietPi2 minidlnad[1331]: [2015/11/08 18:08:51] minidlna.c:611: error: Media directory "V,/root/Video" not accessible [Permission denied]
Nov 08 18:08:51 DietPi2 minidlnad[1331]: [2015/11/08 18:08:51] utils.c:277: warn: make_dir: cannot create directory '/root/.MiniDLNA_Cache'
Nov 08 18:08:51 DietPi2 minidlnad[1331]: [2015/11/08 18:08:51] minidlna.c:655: fatal: Database path not accessible! [/root/.MiniDLNA_Cache]
Nov 08 18:08:51 DietPi2 systemd[1]: minidlna.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=255/n/a
Nov 08 18:08:51 DietPi2 systemd[1]: Unit minidlna.service entered failed state.

It looks like a permission issue, but I am running as root so I’m not sure what permission I would need to grant. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

2

Looks like minidlna isnt running as root. The weird thing is, i did a test install on my RPiv2 + Jessie just now, and, service runs fine.

Can you try the following:

sed -i '/USER=m/c\USER=root' /etc/init.d/minidlna
systemctl daemon-reload
service minidlna restart

Checks its running:

systemctl status minidlna.service

If it still says failed, can you post the contents of:

cat /etc/init.d/minidlna
cat /lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service
ls -lha /root

EDIT:
It looks like your system is using a systemd service instead (/lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service) of the LSB (/etc/init.d/minidlna) which gets installed. Did you install minidlna via dietpi-software?

Also, are you running the RPi v1 or v2:

cat /DietPi/dietpi/.hw_model
3

I can try the code you suggested when I get home and see if that works.

I am running with Jessie on a Raspberry Pi 2. Currently, it’s installed from the dietpi-software on a fresh image. I noticed that it broke after an apt-get update/upgrade on a previous image and then tried to re-image but it still didn’t work.

4

Thanks mootch,

It may also be worth sending a

dietpi-bugreport

if you get the time. No need to fill out the text file, I only need the generated reference CODE:.

5

Here is the output of the commands you asked about after I tried it with your changes. It still failed due to the same error.

root@DietPi2:~# cat /etc/init.d/minidlna
#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          minidlna
# Required-Start:    $network $local_fs $remote_fs
# Required-Stop:     $network $local_fs $remote_fs
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start minidlna at boot time
# Description:       Manage the minidlna daemon, a DLNA/UPnP-AV media server.
### END INIT INFO

unset USER

# PATH should only include /usr/* if it runs after the mountnfs.sh script
PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
DESC="DLNA/UPnP-AV media server"
NAME=minidlna
DAEMON=/usr/sbin/minidlnad
DAEMON_ARGS="-f /etc/minidlna/minidlna.conf"
PIDFILE=/var/run/minidlna/minidlna.pid
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/minidlna
DEFAULT=/etc/default/$NAME

# Exit if the package is not installed
[ -x $DAEMON ] || exit 0

# Read configuration variable file if it is present
[ -r $DEFAULT ] && . $DEFAULT

# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
. /lib/init/vars.sh

# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.0-6) to ensure that this file is present.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

# Do not start the daemon if NO_START is enabled in DEFAULT
if [ "$START_DAEMON" != "yes" ] && [ "$1" != "stop" ]; then
        log_warning_msg "$NAME: Not starting $DESC."
        log_warning_msg "$NAME: Disabled in $DEFAULT."
        exit 0
fi

# Set the default configuration file
if [ -z $CONFIGFILE ]; then
        CONFIGFILE=/etc/minidlna.conf
fi

# Set the default log file
if [ -z $LOGFILE ]; then
        LOGFILE=/var/log/minidlna.log
fi

# Run as `minidlna' if USER is not specified or is `root'
if [ -z $USER ]; then
USER=root
fi

# If no group is specified, use USER
if [ -z $GROUP ]; then
        GROUP=$USER
fi

if [ ! -d /var/run/minidlna ]; then
        mkdir /var/run/minidlna
        chown $USER:$GROUP /var/run/minidlna
fi

DAEMON_ARGS="-f $CONFIGFILE -P $PIDFILE $DAEMON_OPTS"

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
do_start()
{
        # Return
        #   0 if daemon has been started
        #   1 if daemon was already running
        #   2 if daemon could not be started
        touch $LOGFILE && chown $USER:$GROUP $LOGFILE || return 2

        start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE \
                --chuid $USER:$GROUP --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
                || return 1
        start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE \
                --chuid $USER:$GROUP --exec $DAEMON -- \
                $DAEMON_ARGS \
                || return 2
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
do_stop()
{
        # Return
        #   0 if daemon has been stopped
        #   1 if daemon was already stopped
        #   2 if daemon could not be stopped
        #   other if a failure occurred
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
        RETVAL="$?"
        [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
        # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
        # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
        [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
        # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
        rm -f $PIDFILE
        return "$RETVAL"
}

#
# Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service
#
do_reload() {
        start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
        return 0
}

case "$1" in
  start)
    [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC " "$NAME"
    do_start
    case "$?" in
                0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
                2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
        esac
  ;;
  stop)
        [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
        do_stop
        case "$?" in
                0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
                2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
        esac
        ;;
  status)
       status_of_proc -p "$PIDFILE" "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $?
       ;;
  restart|force-reload)
        log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
        do_stop
        case "$?" in
          0|1)
                if [ "$1" = "force-reload" ]; then
                        # Rescan the collection
                        DAEMON_ARGS="$DAEMON_ARGS -R"
                fi
                do_start
                case "$?" in
                        0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
                        1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
                        *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
                esac
                ;;
          *)
                # Failed to stop
                log_end_msg 1
                ;;
        esac
        ;;
  *)
        #echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}" >&2
        echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
esac

:
root@DietPi2:~# cat /lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service
[Unit]
Description=MiniDLNA is a DLNA/UPnP-AV server software
After=local-fs.target network.target

[Service]
User=minidlna
Group=minidlna
Type=simple
# drop root just before ExecStart to allow ExecStartPre to run as root
PermissionsStartOnly=true
# create PID directory
ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /var/run/minidlna
ExecStartPre=/bin/chown $USER /var/run/minidlna
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/minidlnad -S

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
root@DietPi2:~# ls -lha /root
total 52K
drwx------  9 root root 4.0K Nov  8 19:23 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4.0K Nov  8 17:52 ..
-rw-------  1 root root  782 Nov  9 14:07 .bash_history
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  723 Nov  8 17:13 .bashrc
drwx------  3 root root 4.0K Feb 15  2015 .config
drwxrwxr-x  2 root root 4.0K Nov  8 17:50 downloads
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 4.0K Nov  8 19:23 .java
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4.0K Nov  8 17:50 .MiniDLNA_Cache
drwxrwxr-x  2 root root 4.0K Nov  8 17:50 Music
-rw-------  1 root root   57 Nov  8 18:10 .nano_history
drwxrwxr-x  2 root root 4.0K Nov  8 17:50 Pictures
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  140 Nov 19  2007 .profile
drwxrwxr-x  2 root root 4.0K Nov  8 17:50 Video
root@DietPi2:~#

I submitted a bug report, CODE b827ebf315ec-0

6

I ended up re-imaging the device and minidlna seems to be working now. Not sure what I did differently last time. Thanks for looking into this.

7

Yep, looks like you had both LSB and SystemD init scripts. The systemd script was set to user=minidlna /lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service, that was causing the issue.
As for why you have both scripts, no idea lol :slight_smile: Regardless i’ll update the installation code to support both scripts, just incase the minidlna package decides to update to systemd scripts in the future.