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Need help running mplayer in the background

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  Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-18 03:01 +0000
    Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Kevin Snodgrass <kdsnodgrass@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-18 03:14 +0000
      Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2011-05-18 03:41 +0000
        Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-18 13:39 +0000
          Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-18 16:24 +0000
            Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Bill Marcum <bill@lat.localnet> - 2011-05-19 10:05 -0400
              Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-19 17:41 +0000
                Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2011-05-20 03:43 +0000
          Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Huibert Bol <huibert.bol@quicknet.nl> - 2011-05-18 18:49 +0200
            Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-18 18:15 +0000
      Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> - 2011-05-18 05:56 +0000
      Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Chris Davies <chris-usenet@roaima.co.uk> - 2011-05-19 22:54 +0100
    Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Chris Davies <chris-usenet@roaima.co.uk> - 2011-05-19 23:11 +0100
      Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-20 01:44 +0000
        Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Aragorn <aragorn@chatfactory.invalid> - 2011-05-20 07:30 +0200
          Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-20 11:46 +0000
        Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Chris Davies <chris-usenet@roaima.co.uk> - 2011-05-20 09:19 +0100
          Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-20 11:56 +0000
            Re: Need help running mplayer in the background Chris Davies <chris-usenet@roaima.co.uk> - 2011-05-20 15:36 +0100
              Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-20 18:28 +0000
          Re: Need help running mplayer in the background General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> - 2011-05-20 12:09 +0000

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#1142 — Need help running mplayer in the background

I can't run mplayer in the background. This command works fine if I execute it without the redirect
but it gets suspended if I do a >& log &. My real goal is to run it as a cron job, but it's getting 
killed when cron executes it which I assume is the same problem as that I'm seeing when I put it in
the background. What am I missing?

mplayer -dumpstream http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile /home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3 >& log &

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#1143

On Wed, 18 May 2011 03:01:28 +0000, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

> I can't run mplayer in the background. This command works fine if I
> execute it without the redirect but it gets suspended if I do a >& log
> &. My real goal is to run it as a cron job, but it's getting killed when
> cron executes it which I assume is the same problem as that I'm seeing
> when I put it in the background. What am I missing?
> 
> mplayer -dumpstream http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac
> mp3lacm -dumpfile /home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3 >& log
> &

I do, functionally, the exact same thing and mplayer puts itself into the 
background.

My command line is something like:
mplayer -prefer-ipv4 -dumpstream -dumpfile foobar.wma 
mms://foo.bar.akamaistream.net/some/directory/struct/that/is/really/deep/

This command, when run from the command line, puts itself in the 
background and returns me to the command prompt.  I don't have to use a 
'&' to achieve this, it is automagic.  Also, from a single script, I do 6 
of this at a time, one right after the other and they all start and run 
in parallel.

BTW, I don't use cron, I use at.  cron runs things as root, whereas at 
runs as the user that submitted the job.  Could that have something to do 
with it?

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#1144

On 2011-05-18, Kevin Snodgrass <kdsnodgrass@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 18 May 2011 03:01:28 +0000, General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>
>> I can't run mplayer in the background. This command works fine if I
>> execute it without the redirect but it gets suspended if I do a >& log
>> &. My real goal is to run it as a cron job, but it's getting killed when
>> cron executes it which I assume is the same problem as that I'm seeing
>> when I put it in the background. What am I missing?
>> 
>> mplayer -dumpstream http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac
>> mp3lacm -dumpfile /home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3 >& log
>> &
>
> I do, functionally, the exact same thing and mplayer puts itself into the 
> background.
>
> My command line is something like:
> mplayer -prefer-ipv4 -dumpstream -dumpfile foobar.wma 
> mms://foo.bar.akamaistream.net/some/directory/struct/that/is/really/deep/
>
> This command, when run from the command line, puts itself in the 
> background and returns me to the command prompt.  I don't have to use a 
> '&' to achieve this, it is automagic.  Also, from a single script, I do 6 
> of this at a time, one right after the other and they all start and run 
> in parallel.
>
> BTW, I don't use cron, I use at.  cron runs things as root, whereas at 
> runs as the user that submitted the job.  Could that have something to do 
> with it?

You might try "setsid" before the command.  That might help.

Another possibility is that in some areas, different shells will
behave differently.  For example, a process put into the
background by csh will keep running when the parent shell exits,
but I understand sh/bash behave differently unless you give do a
nohup or something like that.

-- 
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@jacob21819.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

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#1150

 
> You might try "setsid" before the command.  That might help.


setsid fixes the background problem but not the cron problem. I suspect 
the problem is that mplayer is getting a few errors before starting

MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.4.4 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote 
control.

Playing http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC.
Resolving 2783.live.streamtheworld.com for AF_INET...
Connecting to server 2783.live.streamtheworld.com[208.80.52.138]: 443...
Website: http://www.wlsam.com
Bitrate: 48kbit/s
Cache size set to 320 KBytes

ICY Info: StreamTitle='';

I've installed the lirc libraries but it doesn't seem to eliminate the LIRC 
error. I'm not sure whats causing the socket problem, it does make the 
connection and capture the stream.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
at seems to work. I haven't used at before, what's the syntax for a 
repeated event?

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#1154

On Wed, 18 May 2011 13:39:18 +0000, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

>> You might try "setsid" before the command.  That might help.
> 
> 
> setsid fixes the background problem but not the cron problem. I suspect
> the problem is that mplayer is getting a few errors before starting
> 
> MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.4.4 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team mplayer: could not
> connect to socket
> mplayer: No such file or directory
> Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote
> control.
> 
> Playing http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC. Resolving
> 2783.live.streamtheworld.com for AF_INET... Connecting to server
> 2783.live.streamtheworld.com[208.80.52.138]: 443... Website:
> http://www.wlsam.com
> Bitrate: 48kbit/s
> Cache size set to 320 KBytes
> 
> ICY Info: StreamTitle='';
> 
> I've installed the lirc libraries but it doesn't seem to eliminate the
> LIRC error. I'm not sure whats causing the socket problem, it does make
> the connection and capture the stream.
> 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> at seems to work. I haven't used at before, what's the syntax for a
> repeated event?

I've added a line to my script that reschedules itself at now + 1 week 
which takes care or the repeat. However if there is a standard way of 
specifying a repeated task I'd like to know it.

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#1168

On 2011-05-18, General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I've added a line to my script that reschedules itself at now + 1 week 
> which takes care or the repeat. However if there is a standard way of 
> specifying a repeated task I'd like to know it.

With at the only way to repeat a task is by rescheduling it. But it's
curious that your command doesn't work with cron. Does the command line
contain a % sign, or does it depend on environment variables?


-- 
Linux and Windows both win.
Best Documentary Feature: March of the Penguins
Best Picture: Crash

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#1173

On Thu, 19 May 2011 10:05:54 -0400, Bill Marcum wrote:

> On 2011-05-18, General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> I've added a line to my script that reschedules itself at now + 1 week
>> which takes care or the repeat. However if there is a standard way of
>> specifying a repeated task I'd like to know it.
> 
> With at the only way to repeat a task is by rescheduling it. But it's
> curious that your command doesn't work with cron. Does the command line
> contain a % sign, or does it depend on environment variables?
This is the script I'm calling, the only env variable that I'm calling is 
set in the script

#!/bin/csh -f
set DAY=`date +%B_%d_%Y_%H_%M`
setsid mplayer -prefer-ipv4 -nolirc -dumpstream 
http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile /
home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3

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#1181

On 2011-05-19, General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 19 May 2011 10:05:54 -0400, Bill Marcum wrote:
>
>> On 2011-05-18, General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I've added a line to my script that reschedules itself at now + 1 week
>>> which takes care or the repeat. However if there is a standard way of
>>> specifying a repeated task I'd like to know it.
>> 
>> With at the only way to repeat a task is by rescheduling it. But it's
>> curious that your command doesn't work with cron. Does the command line
>> contain a % sign, or does it depend on environment variables?
> This is the script I'm calling, the only env variable that I'm calling is 
> set in the script
>
> #!/bin/csh -f
> set DAY=`date +%B_%d_%Y_%H_%M`
> setsid mplayer -prefer-ipv4 -nolirc -dumpstream 
> http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile /
> home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3

As an experiment, you could make a wrapper script that just calls
this one but puts stdout and stderr from this script into a log
file.  You might also want to direct stdin from /dev/null.  That
may reveal some error message that's happening when this script
is run from cron.

(It's good to see somebody else uses a shell with decent syntax.)

-- 
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@jacob21819.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

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#1158

General Schvantzkoph wrote:

>  
>> You might try "setsid" before the command.  That might help.
>
>
> setsid fixes the background problem but not the cron problem. I suspect 
> the problem is that mplayer is getting a few errors before starting
>
> MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.4.4 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
> mplayer: could not connect to socket
> mplayer: No such file or directory
> Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote 
> control.
>
> Playing http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC.
> Resolving 2783.live.streamtheworld.com for AF_INET...
> Connecting to server 2783.live.streamtheworld.com[208.80.52.138]: 443...
> Website: http://www.wlsam.com
> Bitrate: 48kbit/s
> Cache size set to 320 KBytes
>
> ICY Info: StreamTitle='';
>
> I've installed the lirc libraries but it doesn't seem to eliminate the LIRC 
> error. I'm not sure whats causing the socket problem, it does make the 
> connection and capture the stream.

Can't help you with the socket, but you can get rid of the lirc warning
by putting a "nolirc = yes" in your .mplayer/config

-- 
Huibert
"Okay... really not something I needed to see."  --Raven

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#1162

On Wed, 18 May 2011 18:49:42 +0200, Huibert Bol wrote:

> General Schvantzkoph wrote:
> 
> 
>>> You might try "setsid" before the command.  That might help.
>>
>>
>> setsid fixes the background problem but not the cron problem. I suspect
>> the problem is that mplayer is getting a few errors before starting
>>
>> MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.4.4 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team mplayer: could not
>> connect to socket
>> mplayer: No such file or directory
>> Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote
>> control.
>>
>> Playing http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC. Resolving
>> 2783.live.streamtheworld.com for AF_INET... Connecting to server
>> 2783.live.streamtheworld.com[208.80.52.138]: 443... Website:
>> http://www.wlsam.com
>> Bitrate: 48kbit/s
>> Cache size set to 320 KBytes
>>
>> ICY Info: StreamTitle='';
>>
>> I've installed the lirc libraries but it doesn't seem to eliminate the
>> LIRC error. I'm not sure whats causing the socket problem, it does make
>> the connection and capture the stream.
> 
> Can't help you with the socket, but you can get rid of the lirc warning
> by putting a "nolirc = yes" in your .mplayer/config

Thanks, there is a -nolirc switch that does the same thing.

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#1147

In comp.os.linux.misc, Kevin Snodgrass  <kdsnodgrass@yahoo.com> wrote:
> BTW, I don't use cron, I use at.  cron runs things as root, whereas at 

s/as root/as the user whose cron file has the job/

Elijah
------
HTH, HAND

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#1177

Kevin Snodgrass <kdsnodgrass@yahoo.com> wrote:
> BTW, I don't use cron, I use at.  cron runs things as root, whereas at 
> runs as the user that submitted the job.

Huh?

If you put things into root's cron, it will indeed run as root.
However, if you put stuff into a user's cron it'll run as that
user. Further, if you put entries into the system cron you get
a field to declare what account should run the script.

Chris

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#1178

General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I can't run mplayer in the background.
> mplayer -dumpstream http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile /home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3 >& log &


This works for me (it's a bit cludgy but I can't see a way to turn off
keyboard input "properly"):

mplayer -quiet -slave -input nodefault-bindings:file=/dev/null:conf=/dev/null -dumpstream http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile bob.mp3 >& log &

Chris

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#1180

On Thu, 19 May 2011 23:11:11 +0100, Chris Davies wrote:

> General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I can't run mplayer in the background. mplayer -dumpstream
>> http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile
>> /home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3 >& log &
> 
> 
> This works for me (it's a bit cludgy but I can't see a way to turn off
> keyboard input "properly"):
> 
> mplayer -quiet -slave -input
> nodefault-bindings:file=/dev/null:conf=/dev/null -dumpstream
> http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile
> bob.mp3 >& log &
> 
> Chris

Doesn't seem to help the cron problem, at and putting it in the background 
still work with the additional switches and there no error messages when I 
execute it from a shell.

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#1182

On Friday 20 May 2011 03:44 in comp.os.linux.misc, somebody identifying
as General Schvantzkoph wrote...

> On Thu, 19 May 2011 23:11:11 +0100, Chris Davies wrote:
> 
>> General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> I can't run mplayer in the background. mplayer -dumpstream
>>> http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm
>>> -dumpfile /home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3 >& log &
>> 
>> 
>> This works for me (it's a bit cludgy but I can't see a way to turn
>> off keyboard input "properly"):
>> 
>> mplayer -quiet -slave -input
>> nodefault-bindings:file=/dev/null:conf=/dev/null -dumpstream
>> http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm
>> -dumpfile bob.mp3 >& log &
>
> 
> Doesn't seem to help the cron problem, at and putting it in the
> background still work with the additional switches and there no error
> messages when I execute it from a shell.

One of the most frequent problems when an attempt to run something from
cron fails while the regular command does seem to work is due to the
fact that cron does not source your environment and only works with a
very minimal $PATH.  

Try putting the full path to the executable in your crontab and see
whether it makes a difference.

-- 
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

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#1186

 
> One of the most frequent problems when an attempt to run something from
> cron fails while the regular command does seem to work is due to the
> fact that cron does not source your environment and only works with a
> very minimal $PATH.
> 
> Try putting the full path to the executable in your crontab and see
> whether it makes a difference.

That's not it. I added the path to the script

#!/bin/csh -f
set path=(/usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin /usr/bin /sbin /usr/sbin /bin /
usr/X11R6/bin)
set DAY=`date +%B_%d_%Y_%H_%M`
setsid mplayer -quiet -slave -input default-bindings:file=/dev/null:conf=/
dev/null -prefer-ipv4 -nolirc -dumpstream 
http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC -ac mp3lacm -dumpfile /
home/foobar/s_drive/mp3/stream/bob_${DAY}.mp3


Here is the log file,

MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.4.4 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team

Playing http://2783.live.streamtheworld.com:443/WLSAM_SC.
Resolving 2783.live.streamtheworld.com for AF_INET...
Connecting to server 2783.live.streamtheworld.com[208.80.52.138]: 443...
Website: http://www.wlsam.com
Bitrate: 48kbit/s
Cache size set to 320 KBytes

ICY Info: StreamTitle='';


MPlayer interrupted by signal 15 in module: dumpstream
Core dumped ;)

Exiting... (End of file)

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#1183

General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Doesn't seem to help the cron problem

1. What cron entry have you got, in which cron file, and how did you
put it there?

2. What does cron say it's trying to execute? (check in /var/log/syslog
and friends, depending on distro)

3. What error message do you get emailed to you from cron when it appears
to fail?

Cheers
Chris

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#1187

On Fri, 20 May 2011 09:19:40 +0100, Chris Davies wrote:

> General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Doesn't seem to help the cron problem
> 
> 1. What cron entry have you got, in which cron file, and how did you put
> it there?
> 
> 2. What does cron say it's trying to execute? (check in /var/log/syslog
> and friends, depending on distro)
> 
> 3. What error message do you get emailed to you from cron when it
> appears to fail?
> 
> Cheers
> Chris

I created the cron job with gnome-schedule. 

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#1190

General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Doesn't seem to help the cron problem

On Fri, 20 May 2011 09:19:40 +0100, Chris Davies wrote:
> 1. What cron entry have you got, in which cron file, and how did you put
> it there?
> 
> 2. What does cron say it's trying to execute? (check in /var/log/syslog
> and friends, depending on distro)
> 
> 3. What error message do you get emailed to you from cron when it
> appears to fail?

General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I created the cron job with gnome-schedule. 

OK. That's the third part (and some of the second part) of Q1: you're
editing a per-user crontab rather than the system one. The other answers
would help, though, please.

To answer Q2, try this command: grep CRON /var/log/*

For Q3, you'll find that cron emails the owner of the crontab, so if
you're putting stuff in root's crontab, that's who will get emailed. (But
note that on some distributions, root's email is forwarded to the
initial/default non-root.)

Chris

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#1191

On Fri, 20 May 2011 15:36:28 +0100, Chris Davies wrote:

> General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Doesn't seem to help the cron problem
> 
> On Fri, 20 May 2011 09:19:40 +0100, Chris Davies wrote:
>> 1. What cron entry have you got, in which cron file, and how did you
>> put it there?
>> 
>> 2. What does cron say it's trying to execute? (check in /var/log/syslog
>> and friends, depending on distro)
>> 
>> 3. What error message do you get emailed to you from cron when it
>> appears to fail?
> 
> General Schvantzkoph <schvantzkoph@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I created the cron job with gnome-schedule.
> 
> OK. That's the third part (and some of the second part) of Q1: you're
> editing a per-user crontab rather than the system one. The other answers
> would help, though, please.
> 
> To answer Q2, try this command: grep CRON /var/log/*
> 
> For Q3, you'll find that cron emails the owner of the crontab, so if
> you're putting stuff in root's crontab, that's who will get emailed.
> (But note that on some distributions, root's email is forwarded to the
> initial/default non-root.)
> 
> Chris

I don't see anything that looks like an error in /var/log/cron. I also 
haven't been able to find where it put the job, it's not in /etc/crontab 
or anywhere else under /etc.

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