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XBMC "Server" - centralized XBMC management for multiple XBMC devices/platforms?
#16
That exactly how i used it until now, but now there is a new scrapper that get info in my language so I prefer use it over XBMC Media Companion.
So I need another idea to work around it.
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#17
I'm using also multiple XBMC instances and it would be great if i could put the library on a shared network location.
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#18
I'm not sure what will happen if you fire 2 instances of XBMC and each one will try to lock any of the library files at the same time. But you can edit userdata\profiles.xml and change the location of <directory/>, ie.:
<directory>E:\Whatever you want</directory>
This would make XMBC to save \Database, \Playlist, \Thumbnails and \Visualisations folders at the given location. You can put there advancedsettings.xml, favourites.xml and sources.xml files as well.
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#19
Problem with the current way things are handled in instances like; start XBMC0, start XBMC1, update XBMC0, XBMC1 won't see updates cause it doesn't know anything. Problems become increasingly problematic with stuff like watched. There would have to be a centeral server that handles the transactions and pushes and pulls as necessary. There is another thread about this, search "OFDB".

EDIT: "ODBC" not "OFDB"
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#20
Question 
If XBMC already had ODBC support then perhaps "Miniconf" could be implemented as a base to manage the other requirements?

Huh

http://moblin.org/projects/miniconf
Quote:Miniconf a lightweight version of a gconf style key management system which trims out all features that are unnecessary for the mobile environment. Mobile platforms tend to be decentralized multi-user system with users logging in one at a time. Global administration is usually fixed by the OEM with administrative control of the user environment shifted to the user him/herself.

Miniconf operates from the perspective that each user's environment is unique and separate. It satisfies the following basic requirements:

1) Settings Key/Value pairs: An application running on the system should be able to create an unlimited number of settings keys which support all the basic types that DBUS supports: integer, unsigned integer, string, boolean, double, and arrays of the preceding.

2) Notifications on change: Keys should support registering callbacks which send notifications on changes to the key, reads, writes, or deletes.

3) Readable Database: All the keys, their owners, actions, and permissions should be stored in a database for retrieval on boot or applications settings manager restart. The database will reside in the user's home directory.

4) Key Ownership: The application which creates a key should be recorded as the owner of the key (by recording its binary path) and should be able to set notify, read, write, and delete its keys at will.

5) Key Permissions: An owner application should be able to establish permissions on whether other applications can register for change notify, read, write, or delete a key.

6) Control Keys: An owner can designate a key as controlled, which disables writes/deletes for apps other than the owner. When a caller changes the key, the owner is notified with the requested change, and decides whether to allow the change by either returning fail (which sends a fail to the caller), or by returning pass (resulting in the change and notifications for reg'd apps).

The first three requirements are also satisfied by gconf, but with gconf the database is stored centrally in /usr/share and is mirrored to every user's home directory. For our purposes we will maintain a single database in the user's home directory, one that is visible only to that user. The last three requirements are additions to gconf functionality that improve security and expand the functionality of key/value pairs.
PS! Checkout this other related but still off-topic feature suggestion => http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=24415
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#21
Ok i know alot of people here only use XBMC on one machine or two. But my problem is im currently in the middle of building a 5 bedroom house and have 6 LCD screens (1 in each room + the lounge room) and they all are going to have small computers connected to them for the kids internet/games/etc. But what i was wondering that instead of setting each one up with a separate XBMC i was wondering if there is a way that i can setup my lounge room XBMC as the main one and then on each of the other computers can just extend it to them.
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#22
You already can connect them all together via UPnP. You will, however, still need to setup XBMC on each one and store games locally on each one since the games can only be played from the local drive.
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#23
the internet and games are fine stored locally they can just exit xbmc and load there games but the main thing is letting them access XBMC but without the chance of them changing/deleting/moving something.
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#24
I don't have any experience in this so I won't act like I do.But couldn't The Gemini server(for xbox) be implemented as a application somehow to run beside XBMC?Like I said I have no Idea if any of what it was or is can even be used in this situation.If I am way off please ignore me.Smile
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#25
Question 
Hi there everyone.

I did a little poking around but couldn't really find anything that fit what I wanted to do.

I have a main HTPC installation with XBMC on it and it it running beautifully. What I want to do is install it on my bedroom PC and share the database/fanart across the two PCs. Is this at all possible ?

Thanks
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#26
There are several threads on this. ATM, the only *way* to do this would be to put the profile data on some network share and point all installs to this. However, you will likely run into the obvious latency and concurrency problems. If you want more detail on what's been discussed before just search the forums for things like "share database" and you should finds all sorts of info.
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#27
Maybe a case could be made for making a sort of API interface between the data store and the rest of XBMC, it would not change the way XBMC works right now but it would offer further development posibilities.
As soon as there is an API between the data store and the rest of the system one could take out the datastore and replace this by a system that is able to handle multiple users and multiple locations.

I have no idea how hard it might be to do something like that in the code (never looked at that part of it before) but I think it would be a worthy investment of time and effort that could open up a whole new realm of posibilities for displaying and using the data stored in the DB.
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#28
rcoops Wrote:Maybe a case could be made for making a sort of API interface between the data store and the rest of XBMC, it would not change the way XBMC works right now but it would offer further development posibilities.

As soon as there is an API between the data store and the rest of the system one could take out the datastore and replace this by a system that is able to handle multiple users and multiple locations.
Yes I believe that something like ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) database abstraction layer would be needed to allow multiple client connections to the same database at the same time, this has been discussed before, see:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=37449
and
http://forum.xbmc.org/tags.php?tag=synchronize

The problem is, as usual, getting a developer with the time, interest, and skill to code this and submit a patch.

PS! I am not a programmer/coder myself Confused
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#29
As a first step, I am looking at providing an option to use a networked mysql database for videos (and later music). My idea to add an setting that allow you to chose either the current local database scheme, or specify a server address/name, userid, password for a mysql server. The databases would be created based on the user profile selected in xbmc. If the same user profiles are setup in each frontend, then the database would be shared. Mysql has no issue with multiple database connections. This is the way mythtv works and I have a fair amount of experience with the mythtv side.

I've just started looking at the code, but it doesn't look to bad since sqllite and mysql are pretty similar.
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#30
Exclamation 
Why don't you just split database (library) to remote (read only) part and local (full access) part? And let the XBMC merges them all together on every power on.
Because XBMC clients may have their own HDDs and some media files on it. So local media will be scanned to local database, which will be stored on the local HDD or USB Flash Drive.
In the same way you can split profiles to the remote and local parts, which will be merged on every power on. The local part may contain, for example, hardware information (like screen resolution, audio output and so on).
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XBMC "Server" - centralized XBMC management for multiple XBMC devices/platforms?0