HS3 Linux Find.HomeSeer.com issues

[pcgirl65]

When I installed this I didn't have a choice where to install it. It just unzipped and installed. Maybe I should have put the file into /user/local/ directory. Anyways, I was reading somewhere that you can move the HomeSeer to any directory. Is this true?

[drhtmal]

That is correct, the HomeSeer install can be in any directory you want.

As you observed wherever you unzip the file is where it is installed. You can move it from your home directory to /usr/local if you want. I find it easiest to install it as the root user in /usr/local directory. The choice is up to you.

My HomeSeer server is dedicated to HomeSeer and home automation exclusively and no other users log into it so I can keep it locked down as much as possible for security purposes, so running as root is not that big of a concern for me.

[xlucent]

Just tested your scenario and discovered something. Apparently ./go won't run properly in background - the process goes into 'Stopped' state due to the process requesting input from the keyboard.

[1]+ Stopped ./go

which explains why it wasn't working for you. If you enter the 'fg' command, it'll resume running in foreground.

What you want to do now is to set it up to autostart. There are several ways to do this...

1) set up to run as a service. This is the 'safest', as it can automatically perform an orderly shutdown when the system is shut down.
2) start from /etc/rc.local - this is how HomeSeer does it
3) start from cron

Easiest is (2)

edit the file /etc/rc.local, and right before the last line 'exit 0', insert

/root/HomeSeer/autostart_hs

where /root/HomeSeer/ is your install directory

For (1), see https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...taller-package
This is likely more than you need right now.

I've been working through the process of cleaning up my HomeTroller SEL Pro and have had mixed success. I installed Ubuntu Server 22.04.3 and the mono packages without any issues and then got HS4 installed in /usr/local/HomeSeer without problems. Now I've been trying to get HomeSeer to start automatically when I boot up the HomeTroller and I'm having lots of problems.

I created and activated the homeseer.service file and have verified that it is in /etc/systemd/system. But when I restart the HomeTroller, it still just starts ubuntu and then quits because it is waiting for a username and password.

I thought I might give your Forum option a try and edit the etc/rc.local file except there is no rc.local file in my /etc directory. So now I'm really at a loss for what to do. As things stand, I'm going to have to manually start HomeSeer any time I have a power failure and not wanting to have to do that is exactly why I moved from Homeseer3 on a PC to the HomeTroller SEL Pro back in 2019.

Any help would be really appreciated!
Bill

[zwolfpack]

Note when the system boots up, services start in the background. If services don't start there are other issues. It's not waiting for a username and password for that; the username/password prompt is to start the interactive session.

The systemd unit file shown earlier in the thread has some issues. I'll recommend downloading the latest zip archive from here: https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...taller-package

Transfer the zip to your SEL then run these commands

unzip hs-linux-installer-r7.zip
sudo make install-service

Reboot to test.

[xlucent]

Note when the system boots up, services start in the background. If services don't start there are other issues. It's not waiting for a username and password for that; the username/password prompt is to start the interactive session.

The systemd unit file shown earlier in the thread has some issues. I'll recommend downloading the latest zip archive from here: https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...taller-package

Transfer the zip to your SEL then run these commands

unzip hs-linux-installer-r7.zip
sudo make install-service

Reboot to test.

Had some issues with permissions on my linux installation so I wiped everything and started over. I,m thinking I could use your installer for a complete installation. My linux scripting (and Makefile) skills are non-existent but I'll give it a try.

I want to use HS4 so I downloaded the r6 zip files since the r7 one you specified above is for Raspberry Pi, isn't it? Does it matter where I put/unzip the file on my linux installation? And do I need to uncomment a bunch of stuff in the Makefile or do I just unzip it and run it? I'm using Ubuntu 22.04.3 so mono stable-focal is what I had been using.

I'm assuming that to install HS4 version 4.2.13.0, I just run either the command 'sudo make install-all hs version=4.2.13.0' or 'sudo make install-all linux_4_2_13_0.tar.gz'. Is that right? Or would it be better to specify a mono version and not worry about specifying a particular version of HS4?

EDIT:

So that didn't work. I'm not sure why. I created a directory in /usr called "hs4_installer" and unzipped r6 there. I changed into that directory and tried to run the command:

sudo make install-all linux_4_2_13_0.tar.gz

and just get an error "sudo: make: command not found".

Tried running the same command from $ and got the same result. There doesn't actually seem to be a file called "make" in the zip, of course. Am I supposed to do something to the file called "Makefile" first?

Bill

[zwolfpack]

Location of the zip file isn't critical. I put it in a folder under the 'pi' login.

Unzip and run. Makefile doesn't need editing.

If version isn't specified, it'll install the current release version, determined from the HS website.

The r7 version will work for Ubuntu. Main difference between that and r6 is easier ability to specify an alternate mono repo, as there isn't one for raspberry bullseye. I'd go with r7 as it has a couple of minor extra features.

pi@HS4Pro:~/hs-linux-installer $ make
usage:
- full install: sudo make install-all
- upgrade existing install: sudo make upgrade-hs
- for a specific HS3 build, add: build=nnn
- for a specific HS3/4 version, add: version=n.n.n.n
- if local login is required, add: login=username:password
- start HSx: sudo make start-hs
- stop HSx: sudo make stop-hs
- status of service: make status-hs

If you already have a running instance though, just install the service. It'll find the existing installation.

sudo make install-service

[xlucent]

Location of the zip file isn't critical. I put it in a folder under the 'pi' login.

Unzip and run. Makefile doesn't need editing.

If version isn't specified, it'll install the current release version, determined from the HS website.

The r7 version will work for Ubuntu. Main difference between that and r6 is easier ability to specify an alternate mono repo, as there isn't one for raspberry bullseye. I'd go with r7 as it has a couple of minor extra features.

pi@HS4Pro:~/hs-linux-installer $ make
usage:
- full install: sudo make install-all
- upgrade existing install: sudo make upgrade-hs
- for a specific HS3 build, add: build=nnn
- for a specific HS3/4 version, add: version=n.n.n.n
- if local login is required, add: login=username:password
- start HSx: sudo make start-hs
- stop HSx: sudo make stop-hs
- status of service: make status-hs

Thanks! I'll use the r7 zip. And I just finished installing make so that shouldn't be a problem anymore. I'll give it a try again.

[zwolfpack]

Thanks, I'll add a note to install make if it's not already there!

[xlucent]

Thanks! I'll use the r7 zip. And I just finished installing make so that shouldn't be a problem anymore. I'll give it a try again.

well, it's getting a little better. Something ran that time but it stopped when it got to the mono install. So I did get a copy of the HS4 tar.gz file copied into the directory I'm running your Makefile in. But then it just gave me an error saying:

"E: The repository 'https://download.mono-project.com/repo/ubuntu stable-jammy Release' does not have a Release file.
make: *** [Makefile:170: install-mono] Error 100"

I guess I'll probably install mono manually since I understand how to do that. I've tried editing the settings file and/or the makefile and all it did was make things worse. I know that the stable-focal version of mono works but I can't figure out how and where to tell it to use that.

Bill

[zwolfpack]

That sounds like the same issue as for raspbian bulleye. At the end of the 01settings file, try uncommenting the 'codename=' line and set the value to focal.

If that doesn't work, install mono manually and just install/upgrade HS:

sudo make upgrade-hs

[xlucent]

That sounds like the same issue as for raspbian bulleye. At the end of the 01settings file, try uncommenting the 'codename=' line and set the value to focal.

If that doesn't work, install mono manually and just install/upgrade HS:

sudo make upgrade-hs

I think I'll have to do just the HS installation. I changed the 01settings file to show 'codename=focal' but now, when I use 'sudo make install-all', I just get:

wget -N [URL]https://homeseer.com/updates4/linux_4_2_14_0.tar.gz[/URL]
--2022-07-26 13:28:30-- [URL]https://homeseer.com/updates4/linux_4_2_14_0.tar.gz[/URL]
Resolving homeseer.com (homeseer.com) ... 149.28.228.84
Connecting to homeseer.com (homeseer.com) |149.28.228.84|:443...connected
HTTP request sent. awaiting response... 304 Not Modified
File 'linux_4_2_14_0.tar.gz not modified on server. Omitting download.

test ubuntu is "raspbian || apt-get -qy install wiringpi
apt-get -qy install flite
E: Malformed entry 1 in list file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list (Component)
E: The list of sources could not be read.
make: *** [Makefile:183: install flite] Error 100

I'm not sure where the "malformed entry" is coming from. Before I ran it this time, I cleared out all the installer files and copied clean ones onto my Hometroller so the only thing changed in them should have been the change to codename in 01settings.


Bill

[zwolfpack]

The malformed entry is in file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list, which is built as part of the mono installation. It looks like it is corrupted from a previous run.

Please post the contents

more /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list

You can remove the file and try again

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list

If the error persists, install mono manually and just do the upgrade-hs.

[xlucent]

The malformed entry is in file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list, which is built as part of the mono installation. It looks like it is corrupted from a previous run.

Please post the contents

more /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list

You can remove the file and try again

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list

If the error persists, install mono manually and just do the upgrade-hs.

I can't upload the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list since it turned out the file wasn't actually there. So I did the manual install of mono and flite and then just ran the upgrade-hs command which seems to have worked. It installed homeseer and it does seem to start and stop automatically when I reboot the HomeTroller. As far as I can tell, everything is working correctly now. I'll play around with it while I install plugins and make sure.

Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it.

Bill

[xlucent]

I can't upload the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable-list since it turned out the file wasn't actually there. So I did the manual install of mono and flite and then just ran the upgrade-hs command which seems to have worked. It installed homeseer and it does seem to start and stop automatically when I reboot the HomeTroller. As far as I can tell, everything is working correctly now. I'll play around with it while I install plugins and make sure.

Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it.

Bill

Okay, one last (I hope) question:

One of the plugins I use (Jon00Occupancy) requires me to add a line to startup.vb in the HomeSeer/scripts directory. However, there isn't a file called startup.vb in that directory anymore. Which seems very odd since I know that the file existed in my previous installation of HomeSeer. I checked and the /scripts directory doesn't exist in the current HomeSeer release for linux ( linux_4_2_14_0.tar.gz) that was used to install HomeSeer. So that must just get created during the installation process, I guess.

Does the fact that startup.vb is missing mean that something went wrong with the installation and I have to do all this over again? Or could I just create a blank startup.vb file and stick it in that directory manually?

[zwolfpack]

Okay, one last (I hope) question:

One of the plugins I use (Jon00Occupancy) requires me to add a line to startup.vb in the HomeSeer/scripts directory. However, there isn't a file called startup.vb in that directory anymore. Which seems very odd since I know that the file existed in my previous installation of HomeSeer. I checked and the /scripts directory doesn't exist in the current HomeSeer release for linux ( linux_4_2_14_0.tar.gz) that was used to install HomeSeer. So that must just get created during the installation process, I guess.

Does the fact that startup.vb is missing mean that something went wrong with the installation and I have to do all this over again? Or could I just create a blank startup.vb file and stick it in that directory manually?

You're right, the tar file doesn't contain a scripts folder. It's in the 4.1.x.x series but not 4.2.x.x.

You can create the startup folder and populate it with your own startup.vb.