My Story - Syncing XBMC's completely (including addons)
#16
(2013-10-14, 00:09)stevedawg85 Wrote: I am attempting to sync my XBMC Video and Program addons via pathsubstitution but it is not working. If I browse the directory, I am able to access the network drive, so it is looking at the right place, but under Video> Addons, no addons show up.

I tried the pathsubstitution route with Frodo, but unfortunately it does not work. I ended up just mounting a common, remote, filesystem via nfs (for both the addons themselves, the addon.db and addon data). Works fine for me!

/D
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#17
(2013-10-14, 15:49)dodoadoodoo Wrote:
(2013-10-14, 00:09)stevedawg85 Wrote: I am attempting to sync my XBMC Video and Program addons via pathsubstitution but it is not working. If I browse the directory, I am able to access the network drive, so it is looking at the right place, but under Video> Addons, no addons show up.

I tried the pathsubstitution route with Frodo, but unfortunately it does not work. I ended up just mounting a common, remote, filesystem via nfs (for both the addons themselves, the addon.db and addon data). Works fine for me!

/D

Is this more or less what I need to learn/read?:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=NFS

If so, ouch, looks like a lot to learn, i suppose i should get started. If you have a shortcut version, please share.
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#18
(2013-10-14, 17:41)stevedawg85 Wrote:
(2013-10-14, 15:49)dodoadoodoo Wrote: I tried the pathsubstitution route with Frodo, but unfortunately it does not work. I ended up just mounting a common, remote, filesystem via nfs (for both the addons themselves, the addon.db and addon data). Works fine for me!

/D

Is this more or less what I need to learn/read?:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=NFS

If so, ouch, looks like a lot to learn, i suppose i should get started. If you have a shortcut version, please share.

Although non-trivial, it is not that complicated. I have a linux server, and all my clients run Ubuntu 10.04 (xbmc-live).
1a. Set up nfs on your server (or the machine that will hosts addon and data)
1b. Export the addons directory, a directory containing the addon.db and the addons_data directory
2a. On your client mount the exported directories (if you use a linux client, look into autofs) somewhere.
2b. Symlink the mounted directories into the correct paths in .xbmc.
2c. Replace the addon.db in .xbmc with a symlink to the exported version.

(All paths approximate)

/D
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#19
awesome thanks, i'll check it out!
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#20
Does anyone have instructions on how they setup everything?

I copied the userdata folder to my network server and then created a symbolic link on the clients I am having issues with profiles though

The clients normal boot with just master profile but don't overwrite my profiles.xml file but if I hit exit and let xbmc reload all profiles load
The same happens again after system reboot
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#21
(2014-01-16, 20:54)superxbmc Wrote: Does anyone have instructions on how they setup everything?

I copied the userdata folder to my network server and then created a symbolic link on the clients I am having issues with profiles though

The clients normal boot with just master profile but don't overwrite my profiles.xml file but if I hit exit and let xbmc reload all profiles load
The same happens again after system reboot

This probably is one of the reasons we tell people not to do this, in addition to risking corrupt databases and getting funky settings.
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#22
So is there a solid way to keep all your XBMC devices sync'd?
right now i have 2 RASPBMC devices, and 2 windows 8 laptops running XBMC.
i would LOVE to be able to have them all have exactly the same content. i dont care about the GUI so much. it is the content such as addons, and file libraries (where my movies, and TV shows are stored) that i am concerned about. it would even be nice if there was a way to pause a show on one device and resume it on another (true live sync).

any thoughts?
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#23
Bumping an old thread here to see if things have changed or not as I don't seem to be able to replicate the original posters setup. Are there more restrictions on the substitution now?

Firstly I tried to substitute the "Profiles" directory for an SMB share location. It all works other than dbs. Is there no way to get them to copy across? I know there's the potential for corruption but I'm willing to risk it even just to experiment.

As that didn't work I tried individually sharing each of the folders....
Code:
<pathsubstitution>
  <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/favourites.xml</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/favourites.xml</to>
  </substitute>
  <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/sources.xml</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/sources.xml</to>
  </substitute>
  <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/addon_data/</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/addon_data/</to>
  </substitute>
  <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/Thumbnails/</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/Thumbnails/</to>
  </substitute>
  <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/playlists/</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/playlists/</to>
  </substitute>
  <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/library/</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/library/</to>
  </substitute>
  <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/keymaps/</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/keymaps/</to>
  </substitute>
    <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/Database/</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/Database/</to>
  </substitute>
      <substitute>
    <from>special://profile/Database/Addons19.db</from>
    <to>smb://DESKTOP/Media (F)/Kodi/profile1/Database/Addons19.db</to>
  </substitute>
  </pathsubstitution>

As you can see from the last one, I tried an experiment with the "Addons19.db" file. Even individually listing it didn't move it over.

I'm feeling a bit restricted with it. I understand these are safeguards put in place to help aid people from corrupting their databases but I just want to experiment with it all, if it corrupts so be it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Currently running the following over a mysql db....

Android Phone
Android Tablet x2
Android TV Box x2
Windows Laptop

I would really like to be able to share absolutely everything inside the .kodi folder.

Thanks
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#24
(2012-02-16, 16:36)bradvido88 Wrote: I have read http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...ts_of_XBMC
(nice job on the wiki update by the way)

I want my multiple XBMC's (6 in my house) to all by synchronized as much as possible (inlcuding installed add-ons).
Syncing the library content was easy since MySQL takes care of that. But there are many other parts of XBMC that need to by sync'd.

The wiki recommends syncing these from your userdata folder:
Thumbnails
Playlists
addon_data
keymaps
sources.xml
RssFeeds.xml


I also sync:
addons (next to the userdata folder)
userdata/Database (yes, that's right, I'm syncing SQLite .db's)
userdata/peripheral_data
userdata/favourites.xml
userdata/LCD.xml
userdata/playercorefactory.xml
userdata/profiles.xml

I do NOT synchronize:
guisettings.xml - Although it would be nice to sync this, it has too many components that are specific to the device running XBMC. Most of my XBMC devices are different make/model...
upnpserver.xml - This contains a UUID, so it shouldn't be shared.


The main thing you may find odd (or not recommended) is that the actual addon's directory is synchronized. This means that if I install or update an addon on any of my XBMC's, it's installed and updated on all the other ones.
I also have to synchronize my userdata/Database directory because that includes the AddonsXX.db file that tracks which addons i have. It also includes other databases such as texturesX.db and viewmodesX.db that are nice to have synchronized.

Since I use the PVR branch of XBMC (Eden B2), syncing the .db's also keeps all my channels, guide data, and recordings synchronized.

This has been working flawlessly for me for the past month or so.
I always run the same build on all my XBMC instances, which is essential if you are going to share things the way I am. They all use the same (default) skin.


I know that sharing the SQLite db's in not recommended, but in my scenario, it has been working flawlessly. If all your XBMC's are eseentially clones, I don't see any reason why you can't share SQLite DB's.

Also, I run all my XBMC's with the -p switch (portable mode). It just keeps everything inside the XBMC installation directory. I believe this could be done without that, but I've never tried it.
Lastly, I use symbolic links to synchronize all of my folders, so don't ask me what the correct pathsubstitution xml to use is Smile


Team-XBMC: Am I asking for trouble synchronizing this much stuff? Like I said, this has been working flawlessly for a month or so... I thought I'd share in case anyone else is in a similar situation.


@bradvido88 May I ask you how did you get your addons sync'ed ?
'cause i'm trying to do the same kind of installation for all my devices, but I can't get addons to be synchronized...

Maybe you can share your advancedsettings.xml ?

Thanks in advance Cool
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#25
I think he syncs not from inside Kodi but with a script or something.

I use mysql and pathsub. for Thumbnails folder. Also syncing Addons and Userdata folder completely. Have to be carefull not to mix Binary-Addons for different architectures.
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#26
Any chance I can bump this thread? I'm needing some advice. I'm trying to path sub across devices, profiles, etc. I can't get the other devices or profiles to shake hands with mysql. Main profile works great from the main pc (win10) which the server is running on. No other profiles on main pc or other devices are linking together. I've installed plugins, addons, traktv, whatnot. Main profile/pc works great, nothing else. Meaning. when logging into other profiles either from main pc or other devices, nothing is showing up, no installed plugins, settings, etc. I'm interested to see what advancedsettings path you guys use since you seem to have it working.

I want each user to have their own set of plugins, but pull them from the main profile at first. The goal is to have an easy setup on each device, for each profile, and not having to set up all settings, profiles, addons, plugins, etc for nearly 10 devices (phones, tablets, fire tv, laptops, etc), so.....
- For the path sub settings, should my main pc network share name the ip?
- if I have a profile Z user, which the folder location is on main pc/server in userdata/profiles/userA/addon_data/... is that path used for the <to> tag?
- for the from tag... should it still be masterprofile/addon_data/? and what about syncing the addons themselves, does the from tag need to go straigt to the main profiles folder = special://addons/
- what can i do to make sure profile Z can sign onto any device and have their settings loaded when they sign in without individual copying/setting? Do I need script/query onto mysql, if so, i've tried BigMong's Database Version 99 and it didn't seem to do anything (I modified all names and database numbers to match my setup, i.e. video_99 to video_107, etc)


Krypton RC2
Wampserver 3.0.6
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#27
(2014-01-21, 17:11)Keebler Wrote: So is there a solid way to keep all your XBMC devices sync'd?
right now i have 2 RASPBMC devices, and 2 windows 8 laptops running XBMC.
i would LOVE to be able to have them all have exactly the same content. i dont care about the GUI so much. it is the content such as addons, and file libraries (where my movies, and TV shows are stored) that i am concerned about. it would even be nice if there was a way to pause a show on one device and resume it on another (true live sync).

any thoughts?

Your "good to have" is actually the easiest to achieve.  " would even be nice if there was a way to pause a show on one device and resume it on another"
You would need to 1) Have your content accessible to all devices. 2) Setup sources so that the content is available on all kodi instances and 3) setup and change to using a central mysql server.
The last step is explained better than i can at http://kodi.wiki/view/MySQL
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#28
You just replied to a post that's almost 4 years old.
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