How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

yochaigal · 2011-03-13 08:06:11

I thought I'd post a log of how one gets boxee-source working as of version 0.9.23.15885-2.

I recently built myself a new media center/apache server/seedbox and thought I would put arch on it. The Install was a breeze --- as far any arch install is concerned.
The only trouble I really had was with boxee --- usually available as a precompiled package, but (as is often the case) in either the AUR or an unofficial repo.
There wasn't very much useful (up-to-date) information in the boxee wiki page; I tried the repo listed but it required the python24 dependency to install, with which there are problems. See below.
There are a lot of problems with compiling boxee in arch at the moment, so I thought I'd list each one and what I did to get around them.

The three AUR packages in question:

http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=24206
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=9898
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16355

What I did:

* Downloaded boxee-source package (not the depreciated boxee package) from AUR (I used yaourt).
* Ran makepkg -si; saw what dependencies were required (also available in AUR web interface). Downloaded python24 and db4.5 dependencies.
* I noticed that db4.5 is an older version; my installed version is 5.1 !!!!

* To get python24 to compile, I had to edit the PKGBUILD script in python24:

1) First, remove this line:

[ -e /usr/lib/libdb.so ] && echo "make sure you have no other db* pkg installed" && return 1

2) Then, delete the "db4.5" dependency from "depends"

* After python24 compiled and installed (I deleted the db4.5 package source folders) I was able to being the boxee compilation process. However, I hit another roadblock when the compilation aborted at:

fatal error linux/smbno.h no such file

Based on comments in the AUR, I downloaded: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5636456/smbno.h and put it in /usr/include/linux --- then the compilation would continue!

Finally, boxee was installed. However, one problem remained: boxee would not play videos. Literally nothing would happen when I chose a file to play.

I was able to fix this (again with the help of the AUR commentators) by editing the run-boxee-desktop file found in /opt/boxee/. I had to add this line:

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libva.so

I had to add it in the same area the rest of the "exports" are in the file; which seemed odd to me. But after that, I was able to use boxee to maximum enjoyment.

Last edited by yochaigal (2011-03-17 06:52:04)

n4h0j · 2011-03-16 21:16:57

Thank you. The same worked for me, however I have a very disturbing problem.

Boxee does not show any "downloadable content", such as Thumbnails for tv-shows, movies etc. Nor can I change my location or download subtitles. Anyone else having this problem and perhaps a solution?

I can still play movies and music fine, no problem there.

EDIT: Seems like subtitles work after all.

Last edited by n4h0j (2011-03-16 21:36:05)

yochaigal · 2011-03-16 21:20:01

I can't change my location either, though thumbnails for local content are fine.
Have you deleted your boxee settings?

n4h0j · 2011-03-16 21:36:43

No. I have not deleted any settings. It was a clean install just today, so no old config files around.

yochaigal · 2011-03-16 21:38:18

Mine was a clean install as well, but it gave me weird problems after a few hours of use that were remedied by cleaning by thumbnail cache/database.

n4h0j · 2011-03-16 22:55:35

Deleting my cache did not solve this problem. Still no thumbnails (or image when using youtube or other flash apps). Starting to think if it has something to do with flash and the fact that I use x64.

yochaigal · 2011-03-17 06:13:32

The only peristent problem I'm having is that boxee randomly freezes when I play a video. I get audio but boxee freezes. if the window is maximized i can't unmaximize; i have to kill from tty or ssh. however, if it freezes with the window unmaximized, i can still move the mouse and do other things.
boxee log says this:
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705168896 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705181184 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2834795376 M:1705181184 WARNING: CHttpCacheManager::UpdateRefMap negative reference count for url http://app.boxee.tv/applications/popularity (hcm)
23:10:45 T:2830584688 M:1705181184 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2751892336 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1704927232 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705181184 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2837953392 M:1705054208 WARNING: CHttpCacheManager::UpdateRefMap negative reference count for url http://app.boxee.tv/titles/sources (hcm)
23:10:45 T:2830584688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2751892336 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: Texture manager unable to load file:
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705054208 ERROR: Texture manager unable to load file:

yochaigal · 2011-03-17 06:17:47

Obviously the above is not related to my issue; I thought I'd also mention that once this happens, it happens consistently till it all of sudden stops happening.

debug log is useless except for:
23:31:49 T:3058206560 M:1802276864 DEBUG: GL: Requested render method: 0
23:31:49 T:3058206560 M:1802276864 NOTICE: GL: Selecting Single Pass YUV 2 RGB shader
23:31:49 T:3047136112 M:1802264576 DEBUG: no gui sound for 2 seconds. pausing device
23:31:50 T:2769001328 M:1802264576 DEBUG: Thread 2769001328 terminating (autodelete)
23:31:50 T:2722077552 M:1802264576 DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Discontinuty - was:1027765.846991, should be:1007272.774843, error:-20493.072148

edit: see above.

Last edited by yochaigal (2011-03-17 06:32:52)

dryce · 2011-03-21 16:22:21

n4h0j wrote:

Deleting my cache did not solve this problem. Still no thumbnails (or image when using youtube or other flash apps). Starting to think if it has something to do with flash and the fact that I use x64.

I am having this exact issue. Did you ever manage to solve this? I tried switching from the x64 version of flash, but there are still no thumbnails or images. I've read of a few others experiencing this, but have yet to see a solution.

n4h0j · 2011-03-21 21:58:56

dryce wrote:

n4h0j wrote:
Deleting my cache did not solve this problem. Still no thumbnails (or image when using youtube or other flash apps). Starting to think if it has something to do with flash and the fact that I use x64.
I am having this exact issue. Did you ever manage to solve this? I tried switching from the x64 version of flash, but there are still no thumbnails or images. I've read of a few others experiencing this, but have yet to see a solution.

No, have not found a solution. And I have not found anyone not running Arch having the same problem. So it should be Arch-related or related to one of the deps. I tried installing xbmc to see if any of the deps to it solved it. But no, nothing.

No thumbnails (except for those generated by the system), no connection to change the weather location and no flash video working. Smells like flash is related.

I have tried older versions of flash as well as the latest beta from AUR. No difference there. Running x64 I might add.

Last edited by n4h0j (2011-03-21 22:03:34)

dryce · 2011-03-21 22:14:31

n4h0j wrote:

dryce wrote:
n4h0j wrote:
Deleting my cache did not solve this problem. Still no thumbnails (or image when using youtube or other flash apps). Starting to think if it has something to do with flash and the fact that I use x64.
I am having this exact issue. Did you ever manage to solve this? I tried switching from the x64 version of flash, but there are still no thumbnails or images. I've read of a few others experiencing this, but have yet to see a solution.
No, have not found a solution. And I have not found anyone not running Arch having the same problem. So it should be Arch-related or related to one of the deps. I tried installing xbmc to see if any of the deps to it solved it. But no, nothing.
No thumbnails (except for those generated by the system), no connection to change the weather location and no flash video working. Smells like flash is related.

Oddly enough, I installed xbmc to serve that same purpose and noticed that boxee would play files normally sometimes, but xbmc played nothing. Probably unrelated as I was getting curl errors on xbmc and random crashes. Boxee worked to a point but the lack of thumbnails is a bit of a pain. My thought was that it was an issue with a dependency as well. The flash video didn't function at all in yours? I found that youtube wouldn't work properly, but the apps in boxee functioned as expected in regard to playing video from some other apps. Of course, I didn't try every single one though.

n4h0j · 2011-03-21 22:27:03

The few apps I have tried shows no picture, but they do play sound. Honestly, I just tried Youtube.

I still think it's the best htpc-like program even if the thumbnails does not work for now. This is one of the times when coding skills would be of use. I hate to stumble upon a problem and being unable to give back a solution to the community.

EDIT: Oh yes, btw: I am using KDE 4.6. Don't know if that could have something to do with this problem.

Last edited by n4h0j (2011-03-21 23:47:35)

dryce · 2011-03-30 04:17:28

yochaigal wrote:

The only peristent problem I'm having is that boxee randomly freezes when I play a video. I get audio but boxee freezes. if the window is maximized i can't unmaximize; i have to kill from tty or ssh. however, if it freezes with the window unmaximized, i can still move the mouse and do other things.
boxee log says this:
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705168896 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705181184 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2834795376 M:1705181184 WARNING: CHttpCacheManager::UpdateRefMap negative reference count for url http://app.boxee.tv/applications/popularity (hcm)
23:10:45 T:2830584688 M:1705181184 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2751892336 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1704927232 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705181184 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2837953392 M:1705054208 WARNING: CHttpCacheManager::UpdateRefMap negative reference count for url http://app.boxee.tv/titles/sources (hcm)
23:10:45 T:2830584688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2751892336 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705054208 ERROR: CFileCurl::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream. HTTP CODE: 0
23:10:45 T:3047160688 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2839542640 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2804353904 M:1705054208 ERROR: Texture manager unable to load file:
23:10:45 T:2960128880 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705054208 ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png
23:10:45 T:2770783088 M:1705054208 ERROR: Texture manager unable to load file:

I didn't notice this before. We are getting the same error messages in debug. Out of curiosity, do you have all pacman updates installed? I contacted the AUR maintainer for boxee-source, but his system is operating normally. Googling this " ERROR: CreateThumbnailFromMemory: exception with fileType: .png" I get a laundry list of php related stuff. My installed version of php is 5.3.6-1. Maybe it's somehow related?

yochaigal · 2011-03-30 20:41:02

I do have the most recent pacman updates installed, although package-query is from AUR and caused some yauort issues I had to mess with to get working again.
Recently, boxee broke completely because msyqlclient (compiled against an earlier version for boxee) got upgraded; but AUR fixed this.
I started using XBMC since boxee was freezing nearly every time I played a video; oddly enough XBMC ALSO froze once, so who the hell knows what's going on at this point.

I have the same php version (from extra) installed.

yochaigal · 2011-04-01 05:40:00

FYI, I fixed the freezing issue (at least, I think I did) by reinstalling libva.

dryce · 2011-04-02 02:23:52

yochaigal wrote:

FYI, I fixed the freezing issue (at least, I think I did) by reinstalling libva.

XBMC didn't freeze on my box, but I did have to go into the PKBUILD and re-enable the external codecs in order to get it to play anything. At the time, I thought it was a little unusual. Did you have to do that too? I'm still messing with the boxee debug logs. I've yet to see what the cause of the no thumbnails thing is. Boxee seems to be a little better at streaming than XBMC, especially with Navi-x. It would be nice to get it back to normal.

yochaigal · 2011-04-02 02:27:23

I actually get the freezing almost excusively with boxee, but xbmc froze for me twice so far --- both times, the logfile listed two errors:

ERROR: VAAPI - unable to initialize display -1 - unknown libva error
ERROR: GetDelay - snd_pcm_delay, alsa error: -32 - Broken pipe
I installed xbmc from the repos, so i didn't need to edit any PKBUILDs.
btw, boxee is still freezing (I know my previous report said differently), even after the recent libva update.

yochaigal · 2011-04-02 02:57:05

vainfo shows:

libva: libva version 0.32.0
libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/r600_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns -1
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit

dryce · 2011-04-02 18:15:12

yochaigal wrote:

vainfo shows:
libva: libva version 0.32.0
libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/r600_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns -1
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit

What video card are you using on that machine? Driver version? Did you configure an xorg.conf file or are you using stock? Hmm also found this https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/642907
Looks like there is a bug in libva, but I wonder why yours is acting up and mine isn't? Looks like it's affecting more than one distro as well.

*Found this too http://lists.sabayon.org/pipermail/deve … 06311.html
My card is an Nvidia GT240. Looks like VAAPI is broken under ATI's Catalyst, but working under Nvidia right now. I would try disabling acceleration in xbmc/boxee and see if you still experience freezing to test the issue.

Last edited by dryce (2011-04-03 00:11:07)

yochaigal · 2011-04-07 07:03:21

i installed the propriatery ATI driver and the freezes went away (vaapi seemed to work).

However I now have this problem:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=116280

yochaigal · 2011-04-15 16:23:04

Ok so the freeze-ups happened on the FOSS driver 'cause I still had VDPAU/VAAPI enabled (duh). Just for the record.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-13 08:06:11

How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#2 2011-03-16 21:16:57

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#3 2011-03-16 21:20:01

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#4 2011-03-16 21:36:43

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#5 2011-03-16 21:38:18

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#6 2011-03-16 22:55:35

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#7 2011-03-17 06:13:32

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#8 2011-03-17 06:17:47

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#9 2011-03-21 16:22:21

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#10 2011-03-21 21:58:56

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#11 2011-03-21 22:14:31

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#12 2011-03-21 22:27:03

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#13 2011-03-30 04:17:28

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#14 2011-03-30 20:41:02

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#15 2011-04-01 05:40:00

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#16 2011-04-02 02:23:52

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#17 2011-04-02 02:27:23

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#18 2011-04-02 02:57:05

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#19 2011-04-02 18:15:12

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#20 2011-04-07 07:03:21

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

#21 2011-04-15 16:23:04

Re: How I Got Boxee Working On A New Arch Install -- 3/12/2011

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