Replace mt-daapd with forked-daapd

Replace mt-daapd with forked-daapd

Nicolas Lagalaye (guest) 17 Apr 2012 03:40

I'd like to have forked-daapd instead of the provided mt-daapd. At least development for this branch is still active and it has some interesting features, among them the capacity to handle TV shows as such, to transcode FLAC and OGG, support for iOS Remote app and support for AirPlay. Sadly, this software is not available on ipkg repositories nor I found a precompiled version, so I tried to compile it on the NAS… with no luck: I firstly installed optware-devel and try to compile an older version, with no luck. The newer ones require the clang compiler from llvm project, and I don't realise how to install it.
Could anyone give me some advice? Is someone interested in the idea?

Re: Replace mt-daapd with forked-daapd

sidtheduck 04 May 2012 17:46

I've been looking into this as well for awhile, but have only gotten so far. I've actually installed Debian Squeeze on the ix2-200 and updated to the 3.0.30 kernel by following nigelr's excellent blog (blog [dot] nobiscuit [dot] com) in order to have more control over the apps as I was having issues with the stock CUPS and wanted to play with strongswan and OpenVPN which was not possible with the stock iomega kernel. Since then, I've installed the most recent forked-daapd (v0.19) via the squeeze backports source and it is working to share media to iTunes. However, it fails when I try to use the iOS Remote app. By checking the logs, it fails due to a missing audio driver (and perhaps no audio chip on the board?) not being able to stream the media via local audio card (unless I have my configuration set up incorrectly or am missing some lib).

My next step is to purchase a cheap usb sound card (search Google for "usb sound card" for example) to test and see if that fixes the issue. I'll let you know what I find out.

Sadly, this software is not available on ipkg repositories nor I found a precompiled version

I didn't get around to trying it before updating the OS, but I did find a post over at the QNAP NAS forum (search Google for "forked-daapd arm" and it should be the first post) where ADoko has spent considerable time cross-compiling forked-daapd to run in /opt on his QNAP device which is an ARMv5 chip (similar to the ix2-200). It looks like his install script will have to be modified slightly as the directory structure for the QNAP devices is slightly different than the ix2-200 stock firmware. You can look into it, but you may run into the same audio driver image I posted about above. He has up to v0.18 which he says is the last one to not use clang/llvm (though see below).

The newer ones require the clang compiler from llvm project, and I don't realise how to install it.

I am running v0.19 (which is the latest) and I believe this is the last one to NOT use clang/llvm. If you look at the forked-daapd tarballs linked from the github project readme (alioth [dot] debian [dot] org /~jblache/forked-daapd/), those denoted by -GCD use the Grand Central Dispatch (clang/llvm), but there are non -GCD tarballs up to and including v0.19 (but from Julien's blog, it looks like v0.19 will be the last to be non -GCD).

Good luck and let me know if you have any success with it!

p.s. sorry about the links, but it appears I'm not allowed to post full links since I just newly joined (and was signed in as a Guest before)

Last edited on 04 May 2012 17:48 by sidtheduck Show more

Nicolas Lagalaye (guest) 22 May 2012 23:57

Thanks for answering ! I've tried compiling inside the NAS (via ssh) but I get stuck at an error relating to the glibc version. I couldn't find a newer ipkg source.
I've also tried running the binaries compiled for the QNAP, but I get this error:
forked-daapd: client.c:791: avahi_client_errno: Assertion ‘client’ failed.
Relating the audio driver problem, did you try laudio_enable=false in forked-daapd.conf ? I've compiled alsalib to satisfy the dependency, but as I didn't get far with compiling forked-daapd itself I didn't run into the error.
I have
ipkg nslu2-linux org/feeds/optware/cs08q1armel/cross/stable
ipkg nslu2-linux org/feeds/optware/cs08q1armel/cross/unstable
Do you know any compatible ipkg source apart from those ? I'd like to have glibc or elibc 2.13 in order to compile properly.
Thanks again!

sidtheduck 25 May 2012 00:28

I've tried compiling inside the NAS (via ssh) but I get stuck at an error relating to the glibc version.

ADoko seemed to have the same issue with the glibc that is shipped with the QNAP. You can view a writeup of his cross-compile setup to utilize a eglibc 2.14 here -> wiki[dot]qnap[dot]com/wiki/User:AnthonyDoko

I've also tried running the binaries compiled for the QNAP, but I get this error:
forked-daapd: client.c:791: avahi_client_errno: Assertion ‘client’ failed.

From what I can tell, this error is due to the dbus daemon needing to be started or restarted. Did you install dbus from ipkg / optware? If not, that is one of the prerequisites of the ADoko binaries.

Relating the audio driver problem, did you try laudio_enable=false in forked-daapd.conf

Yeah, see my post below. ADoko installed his own patch to allow disabling of local audio in the config file (debian apt version does not have laudio_enable option available). I just need to patch a current version of the forked-daapd libevent branch (as ADoko's has a workaround for disabled hi-res timers in kernel where my kernel has them enabled) with ADoko's patches for local audio disabling and try to compile on the ix2-200 to see if it will work. Now all I need is the time to sit down and do it! :D

ipkg nslu2-linux org/feeds/optware/cs08q1armel/cross/stable
ipkg nslu2-linux org/feeds/optware/cs08q1armel/cross/unstable

Those are the feeds that I used before I updated, but I'm not sure if there are any different ones that work.

Good luck!

Re: Replace mt-daapd with forked-daapd

sidtheduck 17 May 2012 16:22

You can look into it, but you may run into the same audio driver image I posted about above.

Just an update that ADoko has patched his version of forked-daapd for ARM to disable local audio by setting laudio_enable=false in forked-daapd.conf, so you will not run into the same local audio issue that I'm currently hitting. If you would like, ADoko has a Github repository for his patched forked-daapd (github[dot]com/AntDok/forked-daapd).