Installing the MiniDLNA media streaming server in Ubuntu

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 20 December 2011 01:03

This tutorial is now outdated - Thanks to input from Mad Penguin, there is now a better way of installing/configuring the MiniDLNA media streaming server.

Those starting the tutorial from scratch, please use the new tutorial here:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=9822.msg70397#msg70397

Those that have already completed the tutorial in this posting … see here:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=9822.msg70396#msg70396

If you are running Ubuntu 11.10, you can skip the section about adding the PPA … 11.10 has minidlna in the default repositories, earlier versions of Ubuntu don’t.

If your Ubuntu box doesn’t have a static IP address … give it one now … and remember it, you’ll need it later.

Theoretically this should work without a static IP, but if you decide NOT to give your Ubuntu box a static IP … when you get to the section about editing the /etc/minidlna.conf file, comment out this line -

presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/
so it reads
#presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/

Adding the PPA repository

For Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty), open a terminal and enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nathan-renniewaldock/ppa

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic), 10.04 (Lucid), and 10.10 (Maverick) users can use this PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stedy6/stedy-minidna
And the rest of the instructions should be the same, but I haven’t tested them with anything other than Natty and Oneiric

Now update the package list with:

sudo apt-get update

This section is for ALL Ubuntu versions (9.10 → 11.10) …

Install the minidlna package with:

sudo apt-get install minidlna gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg

This section is for 11.04 (Natty) users …

We’re now going to disable the PPA as it contains a lot of other packages which may cause issues at your next system update.

Open a terminal and enter:

sudo software-properties-gtk

When the “Software Sources” window opens … select the Other Software tab, and UNtick the lines -

Index of /nathan-renniewaldock/ppa/ubuntu natty main
and
Index of /nathan-renniewaldock/ppa/ubuntu natty main (Source Code)

Click the “Close” button.

Back in the terminal run:

sudo apt-get update

(9.10 → 10.10 users don’t need to disable the PPA, as it only contains minidlna … but you can if you wish)

This section is for ALL Ubuntu versions

Configuring the MiniDLNA Server

Open the /etc/minidlna.conf file for editing:

sudo gedit /etc/minidlna.conf

At this point it would probably be easiest to show you MY /etc/minidlna.conf file contents.

It will share your -

Music
Pictures
Videos

directories.

[spoiler]# port for HTTP (descriptions, SOAP, media transfer) traffic
port=48200

network interfaces to serve, comma delimited

network_interface=eth0

set this to the directory you want scanned.

* if have multiple directories, you can have multiple media_dir= lines

* if you want to restrict a media_dir to a specific content type, you

can prepend the type, followed by a comma, to the directory:

+ “A” for audio (eg. media_dir=A,/home/jmaggard/Music)

+ “V” for video (eg. media_dir=V,/home/jmaggard/Videos)

+ “P” for images (eg. media_dir=P,/home/jmaggard/Pictures)

media_dir=A,/home/mark/Music
media_dir=P,/home/mark/Pictures
media_dir=V,/home/mark/Videos

set this if you want to customize the name that shows up on your clients

friendly_name=Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server

set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its database and album art cache

#db_dir=/var/cache/minidlna

set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its log file

#log_dir=/var/log

this should be a list of file names to check for when searching for album art

note: names should be delimited with a forward slash (“/”)

album_art_names=Cover.jpg/cover.jpg/AlbumArtSmall.jpg/albumartsmall.jpg/AlbumArt.jpg/albumart.jpg/Album.jpg/album.jpg/Folder.jpg/folder.jpg/Thumb.jpg/thumb.jpg

set this to no to disable inotify monitoring to automatically discover new files

note: the default is yes

inotify=yes

set this to yes to enable support for streaming .jpg and .mp3 files to a TiVo supporting HMO

enable_tivo=no

set this to strictly adhere to DLNA standards.

* This will allow server-side downscaling of very large JPEG images,

which may hurt JPEG serving performance on (at least) Sony DLNA products.

strict_dlna=no

default presentation url is http address on port 80

presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/

notify interval in seconds. default is 895 seconds.

notify_interval=900

serial and model number the daemon will report to clients

in its XML description

serial=12345678
model_number=1

use different container as root of the tree

possible values:

+ “.” - use standard container (this is the default)

+ “B” - “Browse Directory”

+ “M” - “Music”

+ “V” - “Video”

+ “P” - “Pictures”

if you specify “B” and client device is audio-only then “Music/Folders” will be used as root

#root_container=.[/spoiler]

You may need to change the eth0 to YOUR network interface.

You will need to change the mark entries to YOUR username.

You will need to change the 172.16.0.2 IP address to the static IP of your Ubuntu box.
(or comment this line out altogether if your Ubuntu box is getting its IP via DHCP)

SAVE the file and exit gedit.

Test the MiniDLNA server

Reboot, and see if there is a device listed on your Xbox or Network TV called Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server

if there is … you’re done

if there isn’t … and there wasn’t on either of mine (Natty and Oneiric) … read on

This section is for 11.10 Oneiric ONLY (with minidlna installed from the default repos)

Open a terminal, and run:

sudo killall minidlna

then

minidlna

then

minidlna -R

Now check the Xbox, or Network TV (you may have to restart the Xbox or TV)

If there is a device listed called Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server …

Back in the terminal enter:

sudo update-rc.d -f minidlna remove

Now create an entry in Startup Applications with these settings -

Name: MiniDLNA Server
Command: minidlna
Comment: Media Streaming Server

SAVE it … make sure it’s ticked … REBOOT … done.

This section is for ALL OTHER versions of Ubuntu (9.10 → 11.04) with minidlna installed from a PPA

Open a terminal, and run:

sudo killall minidlna

then

sudo chmod 777 /var/cache/minidlna/files.db

then

minidlna

then

minidlna -R

Now check the Xbox, or Network TV (you may have to restart the Xbox or TV)

If there is a device listed called Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server …

Back in the terminal enter:

sudo update-rc.d -f minidlna remove

Now create an entry in Startup Applications with these settings -

Name: MiniDLNA Server
Command: minidlna
Comment: Media Streaming Server

SAVE it … make sure it’s ticked … REBOOT … done.

galaxytdm · 20 December 2011 03:13

Excellent tutorial there Mark, haven’t tried the xbox yet but it’s working well with my Samsung LC580D TV

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 20 December 2011 03:18

Glad to hear it worked for you … it took me a while to work out how to get the damn thing to autostart, bit of a hack really, but it works

Works perfectly on my Xbox 360’s ;D

If I manage to work out why the init.d script is failing (requiring the startup hack) I’ll post more info.
(seems to be a permission issue … I’m guessing it’s really designed for servers or NAS boxes, etc. where you’d set up a user called minidlna, and share all the media from that account)

BTW, thanks for quoting your TV make/model … it will may help others searching the interweb

madpenguin · 20 December 2011 15:43

Ok, I’ve just set this up on my new Samsung HT-D5550 … works but there are some things to tweak. I had to change the owner and group in /etc/default/minidlna to be “me” so it could read my files … then I had to set the db_dir=/var/cache/minidlna and chown it to “me”.

On registering the box with “DivX” it seems to play previously ripped .avi files no problem, and plays “some” mp3’s depending on the format … won’t play .ogg’s tho’ which is a pain as my main collection is mostly .ogg.

pacpl --delete -t MP3 *.ogg

For example doesn’t produce playable MP3’s on either Samsung or XBox 306.
If you follow it however with;

lame -t MP3 <file>.mpg <file>-1.mp3

That does yield a playable file.

… Still working on it … :o

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 20 December 2011 15:51

@ Mad Penguin

Which version of Ubuntu you running it on ?

Did the edit to /etc/default/minidlna mean that it starts with it’s own scripts now ?

For .ogg have you got all the dependencies installed … when I tried building from source, they were listed as -

zlib
libexif
libjpeg
libid3tag
libogg
libFLAC
libvorbis
ffmpeg
libuuid
SQLite3

Haven’t tried an .ogg yet though.

Further info that might help ? … when I tried building minidlna from source (on 11.10) it was refusing to build, telling me things like libogg were missing, even though they were clearly installed (libogg0).

apt-cache search told me that libogg was also in the libogg-dev package

So I installed libogg-dev it recognized it as installed and built.

there were actually quite a few from the above list that it said were missing (even though they were installed), so I had to install the -dev packages as well.

It MAY be a good idea to download the source and attempt make and see what it says is missing ??

there’s also a webmin module:

madpenguin · 20 December 2011 16:18

apt-get build-dep minidlna

madpenguin · 20 December 2011 16:20

I believe the issue is that neither Samsung nor XBox support the Open Source .ogg format … but if someone can prove me wrong it’ll save me a lot of time re-ripping CD’s …

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 20 December 2011 16:25

apt-get build-dep minidlna

Heh … OK, quicker way

I think I read somewhere that rygel can transcode .ogg on the fly … could that be of use ?

Tramlink · 20 December 2011 16:58

OK set up TV Phillips 6000 series OK TV can see computer office2:userone. I can not access the folder music, video or pictures these folders are not seen by the TV. The only folders seen by the TV are Bit Defender and libreoffice.

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 20 December 2011 17:42

Gimme a bit … thanks to input from Mad Penguin, there’s a better way of getting it running.

I’m about to type them up

Tramlink · 20 December 2011 17:48

OK will call back later…

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 20 December 2011 18:40

This posting is ONLY for users that followed the instructions at the top of this topic. … it will put the MiniDLNA installation back to the way it was meant to be installed, and fix the permission issue that prompted the startup hack in the original tutorial.

You have 2 options …

Option 1 - is to COMPLETELY uninstall minidlna with:

sudo killall minidlna

then:

sudo atp-get remove --purge minidlna

Then delete the MiniDLNA Server entry you created in Startup Applications

Then to start again from scratch with the new tutorial in the next posting:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=9822.msg70397#msg70397

Option 2 - is to follow these instructions to “fix” the current installation …

Delete the MiniDLNA Server entry you created in Startup Applications
Stop minidlna with:

sudo killall minidlna

Add the rd.d startup scripts (that we removed) back:

sudo update-rc.d minidlna defaults

Open /etc/default/minidlna for editing:

sudo gedit /etc/default/minidlna

and make it read:-

# Defaults for minidlna initscript
# sourced by /etc/init.d/minidlna
# installed at /etc/default/minidlna by the maintainer scripts

# These options can be set to modify the behavior of the minidlna init script.
# The options commented out show the default values.

# Start the daemon if set to "yes"
START_DAEMON="yes"

# Path to the configuration file
#CONFIGFILE="/etc/minidlna.conf"

# Path to the log file
LOGFILE="/var/log/minidlna.log"

# User and group the daemon should run as
USER="mark"
GROUP="mark"

# Additional options that are passed to the daemon
DAEMON_OPTS=""

obviously you need to change the -
USER=“mark”
GROUP=“mark”
lines yo YOUR username.

SAVE the file and exit gedit.

Open /etc/minidlna.conf for editing:

sudo gedit /etc/minidlna.conf

and make it read -

# port for HTTP (descriptions, SOAP, media transfer) traffic
port=48200

# network interfaces to serve, comma delimited
network_interface=eth0

# set this to the directory you want scanned.
# * if have multiple directories, you can have multiple media_dir= lines
# * if you want to restrict a media_dir to a specific content type, you
#   can prepend the type, followed by a comma, to the directory:
#   + "A" for audio  (eg. media_dir=A,/home/jmaggard/Music)
#   + "V" for video  (eg. media_dir=V,/home/jmaggard/Videos)
#   + "P" for images (eg. media_dir=P,/home/jmaggard/Pictures)
media_dir=A,/home/mark/Music
media_dir=P,/home/mark/Pictures
media_dir=V,/home/mark/Videos

# set this if you want to customize the name that shows up on your clients
friendly_name=Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server

# set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its database and album art cache
db_dir=/var/cache/minidlna

# set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its log file
log_dir=/var/log

# this should be a list of file names to check for when searching for album art
# note: names should be delimited with a forward slash ("/")
album_art_names=Cover.jpg/cover.jpg/AlbumArtSmall.jpg/albumartsmall.jpg/AlbumArt.jpg/albumart.jpg/Album.jpg/album.jpg/Folder.jpg/folder.jpg/Thumb.jpg/thumb.jpg

# set this to no to disable inotify monitoring to automatically discover new files
# note: the default is yes
inotify=yes

# set this to yes to enable support for streaming .jpg and .mp3 files to a TiVo supporting HMO
enable_tivo=no

# set this to strictly adhere to DLNA standards.
# * This will allow server-side downscaling of very large JPEG images,
#   which may hurt JPEG serving performance on (at least) Sony DLNA products.
strict_dlna=no

# default presentation url is http address on port 80
presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/

# notify interval in seconds. default is 895 seconds.
notify_interval=900

# serial and model number the daemon will report to clients
# in its XML description
serial=12345678
model_number=1

# use different container as root of the tree
# possible values:
#   + "." - use standard container (this is the default)
#   + "B" - "Browse Directory"
#   + "M" - "Music"
#   + "V" - "Video"
#   + "P" - "Pictures"
# if you specify "B" and client device is audio-only then "Music/Folders" will be used as root
#root_container=.

You may have to change the:-
network_interface=eth0
to YOUR network interface.

You will have to change the:-
media_dir=A,/home/mark/Music
media_dir=P,/home/mark/Pictures
media_dir=V,/home/mark/Videos
to YOUR username

You will want to change the:-
presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/
to YOUR Ununtu box’s IP address
(or if Ubuntu is getting its IP via DHCP, comment out this line by putting an # at the beginning of the line)

SAVE the file, and exit gedit.

Create a directory (if it doesn’t already exist) at /var/cache/minidlna

sudo mkdir -v /var/cache/minidlna

(if you’re running anything other than 11.10 this command may fail with an “already exists” warning, but that’s OK, just carry on).

Stop the minidlna service:

sudo service minidlna stop

8.) Recreate the database (where it should be:

minidlna -R

give this a while to complete.

Recursively change owner:group of the /var/cache/minidlna directory, and its contents:

sudo chown -R mark:mark /var/cache/minidlna

in the above command you’ll need to change BOTH instances of mark to YOUR username.

REBOOT.

when your system comes back up, check the Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server is listed and that the shared files are “seen” on your Xbox and/or Network TV.

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 21 December 2011 00:09

Below is a modified version of the instructions at the top of this topic … it sets up the MiniDLNA media server the way it was meant to be set up, rather than using the startup hack that was in the original instructions.

If you are running Ubuntu 11.10, you can skip the section about adding the PPA … 11.10 has minidlna in the default repositories, earlier versions of Ubuntu don’t.

If your Ubuntu box doesn’t have a static IP address … give it one now … and remember it, you’ll need it later.

Theoretically this should work without a static IP, but if you decide NOT to give your Ubuntu box a static IP … when you get to the section about editing the /etc/minidlna.conf file, comment out this line -

presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/
so it reads:-
#presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/

Adding the PPA repository

For Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty), open a terminal and enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nathan-renniewaldock/ppa

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic), 10.04 (Lucid), and 10.10 (Maverick) users can use this PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stedy6/stedy-minidna

Now update the package list with:

sudo apt-get update

This section is for ALL Ubuntu versions (9.10 → 11.10) …

Install the minidlna package with:

sudo apt-get install minidlna gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg

and make sure all the dependencies are installed with:

sudo apt-get build-dep minidlna

This section is for 11.04 (Natty) users …

We’re now going to disable the PPA as it contains a lot of other packages which may cause issues at your next system update.

Open a terminal and enter:

sudo software-properties-gtk

When the “Software Sources” window opens … select the Other Software tab, and UNtick the lines -

Index of /nathan-renniewaldock/ppa/ubuntu natty main
and
Index of /nathan-renniewaldock/ppa/ubuntu natty main (Source Code)

Click the “Close” button, and close Synaptic.

Back in the terminal run:

sudo apt-get update

(9.10 → 10.10 users don’t need to disable the PPA, as it only contains minidlna … but you can if you wish)

This section is for ALL Ubuntu versions (9.10 → 11.10) …

Configuring the MiniDLNA Server

Open the /etc/minidlna.conf file for editing:

sudo gedit /etc/minidlna.conf

At this point it would probably be easiest to show you MY /etc/minidlna.conf file contents.

It will share your -

Music
Pictures
Videos

directories.

# port for HTTP (descriptions, SOAP, media transfer) traffic
port=48200

# network interfaces to serve, comma delimited
network_interface=eth0

# set this to the directory you want scanned.
# * if have multiple directories, you can have multiple media_dir= lines
# * if you want to restrict a media_dir to a specific content type, you
#   can prepend the type, followed by a comma, to the directory:
#   + "A" for audio  (eg. media_dir=A,/home/jmaggard/Music)
#   + "V" for video  (eg. media_dir=V,/home/jmaggard/Videos)
#   + "P" for images (eg. media_dir=P,/home/jmaggard/Pictures)
media_dir=A,/home/mark/Music
media_dir=P,/home/mark/Pictures
media_dir=V,/home/mark/Videos

# set this if you want to customize the name that shows up on your clients
friendly_name=Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server

# set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its database and album art cache
db_dir=/var/cache/minidlna

# set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its log file
log_dir=/var/log

# this should be a list of file names to check for when searching for album art
# note: names should be delimited with a forward slash ("/")
album_art_names=Cover.jpg/cover.jpg/AlbumArtSmall.jpg/albumartsmall.jpg/AlbumArt.jpg/albumart.jpg/Album.jpg/album.jpg/Folder.jpg/folder.jpg/Thumb.jpg/thumb.jpg

# set this to no to disable inotify monitoring to automatically discover new files
# note: the default is yes
inotify=yes

# set this to yes to enable support for streaming .jpg and .mp3 files to a TiVo supporting HMO
enable_tivo=no

# set this to strictly adhere to DLNA standards.
# * This will allow server-side downscaling of very large JPEG images,
#   which may hurt JPEG serving performance on (at least) Sony DLNA products.
strict_dlna=no

# default presentation url is http address on port 80
presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/

# notify interval in seconds. default is 895 seconds.
notify_interval=900

# serial and model number the daemon will report to clients
# in its XML description
serial=12345678
model_number=1

# use different container as root of the tree
# possible values:
#   + "." - use standard container (this is the default)
#   + "B" - "Browse Directory"
#   + "M" - "Music"
#   + "V" - "Video"
#   + "P" - "Pictures"
# if you specify "B" and client device is audio-only then "Music/Folders" will be used as root
#root_container=.

You may have to change the:-
network_interface=eth0
to YOUR network interface.

You will have to change the:-
media_dir=A,/home/mark/Music
media_dir=P,/home/mark/Pictures
media_dir=V,/home/mark/Videos
to YOUR username

You will want to change the:-
presentation_url=http://172.16.0.2:48200/
to YOUR Ununtu box’s IP address
(or if Ubuntu is getting its IP via DHCP, comment out this line by putting an # at the beginning of the line)

SAVE the file, and exit gedit.

Open /etc/default/minidlna for editing:

sudo gedit /etc/default/minidlna

and make it read:-

# Defaults for minidlna initscript
# sourced by /etc/init.d/minidlna
# installed at /etc/default/minidlna by the maintainer scripts

# These options can be set to modify the behavior of the minidlna init script.
# The options commented out show the default values.

# Start the daemon if set to "yes"
START_DAEMON="yes"

# Path to the configuration file
#CONFIGFILE="/etc/minidlna.conf"

# Path to the log file
LOGFILE="/var/log/minidlna.log"

# User and group the daemon should run as
USER="mark"
GROUP="mark"

# Additional options that are passed to the daemon
DAEMON_OPTS=""

obviously you need to change the -
USER=“mark”
GROUP=“mark”
lines to YOUR username.

SAVE the file and exit gedit.

Create a directory (if it doesn’t already exist) at /var/cache/minidlna

sudo mkdir -v /var/cache/minidlna

(if you’re running anything other than 11.10 this command may fail with an “already exists” warning, but that’s OK, just carry on).

Stop the minidlna service (if it’s running):

sudo service minidlna stop

(this command may fail if the minidlna service is not running, but that’s OK, just carry on).

Recreate the database (where it’s supposed to be):

minidlna -R

give this a short while to complete.

Recursively change owner:group of the /var/cache/minidlna directory, and its contents:

sudo chown -R mark:mark /var/cache/minidlna

in the above command you’ll need to change BOTH instances of mark to YOUR username.

Now REBOOT and go test the Xbox, or Network TV (you may have to restart the Xbox or TV) … there should be a device listed as Ubuntu MiniDLNA Server, and you should be able to access any supported media files you put in the:-

~/Music
~/Pictures
~/Videos

directories on the Ubuntu box.

Tramlink · 21 December 2011 19:45

working fine on my Philips 6000 series TV.

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 21 December 2011 21:02

Thanks for that … it’s bound to help someone “Googling” for a similar solution

galaxytdm · 21 December 2011 23:49

Your original method is working fine for me, so is there any real need to change it?

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 22 December 2011 00:00

Not really … any update to the minidlna package in the repo’s may break your MiniDLNA installation … but you’re OK to fix it IF/WHEN that happens if you want … up to you

BkS · 30 July 2012 15:09

I’m getting parsing errors when trying to rebuild the database.

bally@bally-laptop:~$ minidlna -R parsing error file /etc/minidlna.conf line 11 : + "A" for audio (eg. media_dir=A,/home/bally/Downloads) parsing error file /etc/minidlna.conf line 12 : + "V" for video (eg. media_dir=V,/home/bally/Downloads) rm: cannot remove `/var/lib/minidlna/files.db': Permission denied

Here’s what my /etc/minidlna.conf looks like:

[spoiler]# port for HTTP (descriptions, SOAP, media transfer) traffic
port=8200

network interfaces to serve, comma delimited

#network_interface=wlan0

set this to the directory you want scanned.

* if have multiple directories, you can have multiple media_dir= lines

* if you want to restrict a media_dir to a specific content type, you

can prepend the type, followed by a comma, to the directory:

“A” for audio (eg. media_dir=A,/home/bally/Downloads)
“V” for video (eg. media_dir=V,/home/bally/Downloads)

+ “P” for images (eg. media_dir=P,/home/jmaggard/Pictures)

media_dir=/opt

set this if you want to customize the name that shows up on your clients

friendly_name=BALLY-LAPTOP

set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its database and album art cache

#db_dir=/var/cache/minidlna

set this if you would like to specify the directory where you want MiniDLNA to store its log file

#log_dir=/var/log

this should be a list of file names to check for when searching for album art

note: names should be delimited with a forward slash (“/”)

album_art_names=Cover.jpg/cover.jpg/AlbumArtSmall.jpg/albumartsmall.jpg/AlbumArt.jpg/albumart.jpg/Album.jpg/album.jpg/Folder.jpg/folder.jpg/Thumb.jpg/thumb.jpg

set this to no to disable inotify monitoring to automatically discover new files

note: the default is yes

inotify=yes

set this to yes to enable support for streaming .jpg and .mp3 files to a TiVo supporting HMO

enable_tivo=no

set this to strictly adhere to DLNA standards.

* This will allow server-side downscaling of very large JPEG images,

which may hurt JPEG serving performance on (at least) Sony DLNA products.

strict_dlna=no

default presentation url is http address on port 80

presentation_url=http://192.168.0.2

notify interval in seconds. default is 895 seconds.

notify_interval=900

serial and model number the daemon will report to clients

in its XML description

serial=12345678
model_number=1

use different container as root of the tree

possible values:

+ “.” - use standard container (this is the default)

+ “B” - “Browse Directory”

+ “M” - “Music”

+ “V” - “Video”

+ “P” - “Pictures”

if you specify “B” and client device is audio-only then “Music/Folders” will be used as root

#root_container=.[/spoiler]

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 30 July 2012 15:13

How did you install minidlna ?

The ereason I ask is becuase when I instaled it a while ago from the default repos … it didn’t work.

Let me know which distor/version/architecture and I’ll take another looksee.

[EDIT]

Looks like wherever you got it from, the version you’re running stores the files.db file at a different location
/var/lib/minidlna/files.db
instead of
/var/cache/minidlna/files.db

Try this:-

sudo minidlna -R

then

sudo chown -R bally:bally /var/lib/minidlna

then try:

minidlna -R

and let me know if it now works.

BkS · 30 July 2012 16:07

I install it from the default repos, in Ubuntu 12.04 x64.

Output from commands:

bally@bally-laptop:~$ sudo minidlna -R parsing error file /etc/minidlna.conf line 11 : + "A" for audio (eg. media_dir=A,/home/bally/Downloads) parsing error file /etc/minidlna.conf line 12 : + "V" for video (eg. media_dir=V,/home/bally/Downloads) bally@bally-laptop:~$ sudo chown -R bally:bally /var/lib/minidlna bally@bally-laptop:~$ minidlna -R parsing error file /etc/minidlna.conf line 11 : + "A" for audio (eg. media_dir=A,/home/bally/Downloads) parsing error file /etc/minidlna.conf line 12 : + "V" for video (eg. media_dir=V,/home/bally/Downloads) rm: cannot remove `/var/lib/minidlna/files.db': Permission denied bally@bally-laptop:~$