NextPVR/Docker on a RPi 5

[GlowTube]

For years I've happily run NextPVR/Docker on an RPi 4, and just having received a new RPi 5, I've tried to port over my working configuration. I think I've copied and configured all the pieces, but the container exits almost immediately after it starts. If I allow it to auto-restart, it will repeat the start/exit activity forever. There are a LOT of differences between the new RPi 5 runtime environment and the old one - machine architecture, OS version, package versions. Two questions - (1) have folks gotten the current nextpvr/nextpvr_arm32v7:latest container to work on an RPi 5 with the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS (64)?  And (2) is there a logfile that I can view inside the container (or map to a directory on the host) that I can maybe see what's causing the exit and debug it further?

One additional clue is that docker-proxy is not starting up, but that might be because the container exits so quickly. I do see the Docker bridge network in the routing table.

Thanks!

[mvallevand]

If NextPVR is starting up and failing /config/logs might have some entries.

If you don't figure it out I can probably give it a try, native is running fine though at 64 bit don't see any reason to use Docker.

Martin

[mvallevand]

Did you ever run the 32 bit Docker image on Raspberry Pi OS 64 before on your RPi4. I tried and it didn't work on the RPi5, but trying a 32 bit OS image it worked right away.

Martin

[GlowTube]

Happy New Year Martin,

I've been running the 32-bit Docker image on my Pi4 for about two years. That Pi is currently running the OS Raspbian 11 (aarch64). Works great, very stable. I keep up to date with the latest containers (every few months) by comparing the SHA values.

Bringing up the new Pi5 from scratch I chose the latest 64-bit release from the Pi folks, now named Raspberry Pi OS (64) and identifying itself as release 12 (bookworm). From uname there is about an 8-month difference in date between these two OS's. Not wanting to destroy a good thing, I haven't tried to install the latest Pi OS back to the Pi4.

On the Pi5 after many restart loops I didn't find any files in the host tree that I mapped to /config. The container lives for a few seconds and then exits, and the daemon restarts it.

And when you mention "native" I'm not aware of any NextPVR distribution for Pi's other than the Docker container... there's nothing in the Raspbian package tree other than the NextPVR plugin for Kodi. Are there native Pi builds at a ppa I don't know about? I'm happy to forego Docker if I can get NextPVR on the Pi5 in another manner... though the Docker container is a nice, self-contained distribution mechanism.

Thanks!

[mvallevand]

I think the issue is 32 bit Dockers don't run on 64 bit OS, if you reinstall 32 RPi OS bit you should will work like before. Alternatively it is not in the PPA but the deb file method https://github.com/sub3/NextPVR/wiki/nextpvr-helper works fine on RPi OS and updates are trivial, you don't need to a run command or config files and tuners are easier to install.

Martin

[GlowTube]

Thanks Martin,

I didn't know about nextpvr-helper, but it seemed the right way to go, as I want to continue with the latest 64-bit OS on the Pi5. I installed it, and presto, NextPVR up and running fine, in just a few minutes. So easy. Super!

Q: In the NextPVR/helper world, what file(s) should I check to keep up with updates? With the container it was easy to see when a new release happened.

And thanks again for the advice, that 'helper' is very well-named. Cheers.

[mvallevand]

Great glad it worked.

For updating the Linux updates will just happen when you do normal apt update in Linux. To get NextPVR announced updates just run (as shown on the wiki)

sudo dpkg -i nextpvr-helper.deb

This will also allow .netcore updates before a NextPVR release.

Updates are superior to the container since Linux and the dependencies will be behind inside the Docker

Martin

[KyleKrajcik]

Thanks for answering, you made my day. If I want to know more, I will ask by starting my own thread.

[magix]

Hello there,

I am also trying to get NextPVR running on a Raspberry Pi 5, however I want to use Docker and running a 64 bit version. So I tried to build an own image with a Dockerfile and compose.yaml.

I am trying something like this, but struggling with the Entrypoint. What should I choose as Entrypoint?

Extracting nextpvr-helper.deb shows me the following:

Code:

extracted/
├── etc
│   ├── init
│   │   └── nextpvr-server.conf
│   └── nextpvr-server.conf
├── nextpvr-helper
├── opt
│   └── nextpvr
│       ├── nextpvr-helper
│       └── shell
│           ├── nextpvr-recording.sh
│           ├── nextpvr-update.sh
│           └── server.sh
└── usr
    ├── lib
    │   └── systemd
    │       └── system
    │           └── nextpvr-server.service
    └── share
        └── dvb
            └── atsc
                └── atsc-072020-repack-recommended

That is my code that I am currently trying:

Code:

FROM arm64v8/ubuntu:20.04
# Set environment variables
ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
# Update and install dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    wget \
    libssl1.1 \
    libcurl4 \
    libgdiplus \
    && apt-get clean
# Copy the NextPVR .deb file to the container
COPY nextpvr-helper.deb /tmp/
# Install the NextPVR .deb package
RUN dpkg -i /tmp/nextpvr-helper.deb || apt-get -f install -y
# Ensure the destination directory exists
RUN mkdir -p /usr/share/nextpvr
COPY extracted/opt/nextpvr/shell/server.sh /usr/share/nextpvr/nextpvr-helper
#COPY extracted/opt/nextpvr/nextpvr-helper /usr/share/nextpvr/nextpvr-helper
# Make sure the script is executable
RUN chmod +x /usr/share/nextpvr/nextpvr-helper
# Expose necessary ports (update as per your NextPVR configuration)
EXPOSE 8866 16891 16892
# Set the entrypoint to start NextPVR
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/share/nextpvr/nextpvr-helper"]

And my compose.yaml

Code:

version: '3.8'
services:
  nextpvr:
    build: .
    container_name: nextpvr
    ports:
      - "8866:8866"
      - "16891:16891"
      - "16892:16892"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
    restart: unless-stopped

Even if the build works, nextpvr is not running properly and instantly crashing. Any ideas? Can I find the Dockerfile somewhere that were used to create the existing images?

[mvallevand]

Sub probably should create an aarch64 Docker not that 32bit is dying away for the next release.

Why not just run native it's much easier to configure and this is an RPi overall all not really up to running many Docker images.

Martin