[geolemon]

I used to have XBMC on my old XBOX... back when it was XBOX Media Center.
Now years later, I put an HTPC together, and wanted to check out XBMC.
I read the wiki, saw Arch Linux had the XBMC integrated as a package, and that seemed like the wisest route to go because of that.

So, I've installed Arch Linux, and [I believe] successfully installed XBMC after two attempts where I received errors - third time must have been the charm, completed with no error.
And I've created a user "xbmc" in addition to my root login, noting the autostart instructions in the wiki require specification of a user under which XBMC will run.

Two problems:

1)
It doesn't appear in the wiki that there are there instructions or information for starting or running XBMC from the command line. (note: Quick Start Guide, FAQ, how-to, online manual)
I did find a command in the section for configuring autostarting, a command to be included in a file:
exec ck-launch-session xbmc
...this doesn't work, I get an error-
-bash: exec ck-launch-session: not found
So first - how do you start XBMC?

2)
In the autostart section of the wiki (below the Arch Linux package installation instructions), it references a file that doesn't appear to exist anywhere.
[Note the instructions read 'tested in Arch linux']
After editing /etc/inittab to the instructions, the following instruction appears:
"...In ~/.xinitrc add the following to the end of the file..."
I assumed ~ meant root, but this file doesn't exist. I've also looked in /etc.
Where does this file exist?
Has anyone successfully configured XBMC to autostart using Arch linux?

Ultimately, this is my goal. The purpose for this HTPC is to be a standalone, dedicated XBMC box, so I'm hoping to just turn it on and boot into XBMC.

I'm concerned there may not be many people who have gone this route, there doesn't seem to be much information there - or here. It may be that I'm not finding it simply because searching for "start XBMC Arch linux" or similar returns a ton of results simply because these are such common words in the forum threads.

Please advise, thanks.

[.:B:.]

1) Ck-launch-session is part of consolekit.

2) .xinitrc, if not present, is meant to be created.

Don't take this the wrong way, but Arch is gonna break all the time. Both of the things above are pretty basic knowledge for a DYI distro. And that's just setting up; that's not fixing things that broke. If you do not master the process of troubleshooting and fixing it yourself, that means you'll waste a lot of time on this.

The Arch forum has a few threads on getting Xbmc going with autologin and the likes.

[whukes]

I put this in /etc/inittab near the bottom and set the runlevel to default to 5:
x:5:respawn:/bin/su xbmc -l -c "/bin/bash --login -c startx >/dev/null 2>&1"

And this in /home/xbmc/.xinitrc:
exec ck-launch-session xbmc

Works like a charm! PC boots and immediately launches xbmc. If you notice in the inittab entry I'm using the username xbmc. You should change that if your user is something different.

[geolemon]

Don't take this the wrong way, but Arch is gonna break all the time. Both of the things above are pretty basic knowledge for a DYI distro. And that's just setting up; that's not fixing things that broke. If you do not master the process of troubleshooting and fixing it yourself, that means you'll waste a lot of time on this.

Thanks for the help.
You might detect from my efforts prior to starting this thread, that what you've quoted is in a secondary way, my point as well. Being basics, you would expect those aspects to be well documented. Information typically becomes more sparse as you get out into the weeds, one-off problems, custom requests, and the like.

I've been involved in IT (specifically in software development) for over 20 years now, and I've been approached with some unique, advanced problems over that time. What I'm looking to do doesn't fall into the category of advanced - I want a basic, vanilla XBMC install, and I can tweak from there.

To that end, my selection of the Arch linux package over the others (I'm personally familiar with Ubuntu) was specifically for the starting point that gave me the most as-designed, integrated, pre-packaged solution possible - the goal being the cleanest starting point.

Note this thread wasn't started until I stumped a Linux developer - a close friend, who develops custom solutions similar to the company that I work for (we are a .NET shop) but in a different market space (logistics vs. finance). Granted, he doesn't ever work in Arch, but if he couldn't help, and I couldn't find it - that seemed an especially pointed sign of missing documentation.

I appreciate the help - if my feedback can help return the favor, I don't know if anyone in charge of the Wiki sections will note this thread, but you are correct - this is basic information. For someone like myself (and a second-opinion Linux developer) to not find [basic] information, it does likely point to critical gaps in the documentation.

I'll return to this later this afternoon and see if this gets me over the hurdle - thanks again!

[geolemon]

I put this in /etc/inittab near the bottom and set the runlevel to default to 5:
x:5:respawn:/bin/su xbmc -l -c "/bin/bash --login -c startx >/dev/null 2>&1"

And this in /home/xbmc/.xinitrc:
exec ck-launch-session xbmc

Works like a charm! PC boots and immediately launches xbmc. If you notice in the inittab entry I'm using the username xbmc. You should change that if your user is something different.

Hmm. Very interesting.

This is part of my problem. I can't confirm if xbmc installed properly, and that makes me uncomfortable. I can't start it, and directories that seem they should exist don't.

cd /home/xbmc
results in
"-bash: cd /home/xbmc: No such file or directory"

That was part of my original inquiry - "So first - how do you start XBMC?"

I need to confirm this is installed - at least can start up.

Believe me, it's the opposite of a newbie approach to validate steps as you go along. However, that requires information. Frustrated that this information is very sparse or missing.

For your installation, did the Arch linux pacman installation create these directories for you? There's no /xbmc inside of /home (and therefore no .xinitrc).

[Mus_]

You simple haven't created the xbmc home folder. This doesn't happen by default when creatung a new user (I assume you used useradd). The -m switch would have done this for you:

Code:

useradd -m xbmc

If you already created the xbmc user, just create the directory yourself (as root):

Code:

mkdir /home/xbmc
chown xbmc:xbmc /home/xbmc

And btw, I have to agree with .:B:. here, this is very basic stuff and I'm not sure if Arch Linux is the right distribution for you (at least not yet). If you want to use Arch Linux you should really know what you are doing and not just blindly follow Wiki instructions without understanding what the commands actually do, otherwise you will run into a lot of problems.
Don't get me wrong, we've all been Linux beginners at some point, but imho Arch is something you shouldn't touch if you don't consider yourself an "advanced" Linux user. I've been using Arch for over a year now and I love it, but you really have to take care of the system and understand what is going on or you won't get happy with it.

[geolemon]

I did use useradd to create an "xbmc" user. I didn't use the -m switch but will this go-around:

With some troubleshooting, it appeared that either X server wasn't installed or not running (based on the .xinitrc not existing - I suspected not installed).
I manually installed X server and all recommended/suggested packages from the Arch linux wiki on Xserver, and startx resulted in another message indicating something else was missing (I don't recall specifically which).

To be safe, I decided to reinstall the Arch package entirely, this time during the installer trying to make unqualified judgements on which packages to initially install, I selected all of them.
I'll then repeat the X server install and with luck will have an X server that will start.

Then I'll proceed with adding an xbmc user and tackling the XBMC package.


However-
Again, my goal here was to get the 'cleanest' starting point. The Arch entry point was selected because XBMC is a package that's updated with the platform, following the recommendation of the wiki.
However, if it is a fundamentally more difficult environment than ________ version, I may want to reconsider. The goal is to have a simple, stand-alone XBMC install that just boots up on my dedicated HTPC. Essentially, as close to a Boxee or Roku as I can as the media source for a new theater I've built in a new room in my basement.

What is recommended, if the general concensus is to stay away from the Arch version?
And what are the tradeoffs/benefits of going that route?

Thanks for the advice.

[Mus_]

.xinitrc is contained in the package xorg-xinit. This will create the default /etc/skel/.xinitrc .
If you then create a user with useradd -m, useradd copies the content of /etc/skel/ to the home directory, including .xinitrc. But as already said, you usually create the file yourself, a package will never create stuff in your home directory for you!

[markfiend]

If you want a standalone HTPC box running XBMC and nothing else, you're probably better off going down the XBMC Live / XBMCbuntu route. Arch Linux is not a beginner's distro.

[markfiend]

Further to my last post:

Tradeoffs / benefits:
I've been running XBMC Live on my HTPC for about 6 months now, and it took maybe 20 minutes to get up and running, start to finish. Compared with Arch Linux, there is very little to do in the way of configuration, settings, etc. You can quite happily install and run XBMC Live with no prior Linux experience, whereas Arch is very much not recommended for Linux beginners.

The only downside is that you won't necessarily be bang up-to-date with the latest bleeding-edge software. Frankly, for an HTPC, I don't think that matters.

[.:B:.]

You can just start with an empty .xinitrc, it shouldn't really matter.

I run Xbmc as my own user, solves a lot of permission issues on setup. Either on a standalone box or on a system that doubles as your regular desktop, I do not see any reasons why you'd need a separate user...

I also have to agree with markfiend - who reiterates my point, albeit more clearly and explicitly. You need to know the bits and pieces that keep together a modern Linux system (the HAL replacements like consolekit, upower, and the likes) and that takes time (both to delve into and to keep that knowledge up to date).

So e.g. Ubuntu or some other setup that works out of the box would probably be better - that is no judgement on what you know/can do with a Linux system, it's just an assessment. If I wouldn't want to spend the time on a rolling release distro like Arch that likes to break when it's least convenient, I'd be running Debian probably.

There is an official Xbmc Ubuntu live CD, it might be a good starting point.

[geolemon]

Thanks for all the tips.

I did the reinstall, haven't had a chance to try to start things up to see if all is in order or if further config/troubleshooting exists...
And I may not.

Really the big goal of the version I selected was to try to have the most reliable version available - that was the main goal for picking Arch with the integrated package. I may have misunderstood why it was recommended on the Wiki.

I'll take a look at both the Debian and Ubuntu versions. I'm familiar with Ubuntu, personally.
Any pros/cons for the Debian over Ubuntu versions? I'll do some looking into each.

Thanks again.

[geolemon]

I've installed XBMC live, which was easy - but wondering if this might be too limiting. I don't have much local content, the purpose for this was really to explore having an alternate to my FiOS box upstairs - to see how much content is available through a media center on the web... things like Hulu, network-specific content, maybe some YouTube, etc. I don't even know all of what yet, since this is my first baby step away from a cable tuner box. Looking to explore that.

I think there are third-party repositories to do these things, but I'm not sure if the XBMC Live version supports connecting to third party repositories.
And for some reason, the search just stops on a whitescreen now (search down?)

[.:B:.]

Xbmc has a lot of add-ons that should help you with that (YouTube and Hulu for example). You could even try OpenELEC if you want.

Between Arch + Xbmc and Xbmc Live, there is no difference in functionality. You'll get a better out of the box experience with the latter.