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I have successfully compiled MythTV .deb packages on Devuan and have run
mythfrontend for a couple of weeks with no issues. I have not installed
a MythTV backend, and have no intentions to do so at this time.

Below is my experience. Any errors/omissions are solely mine. What, if
anything one does with this information is on them. I do everything from a
terminal.

A second experiment is listed under 'SYSTEMD' below. Other than some add-on
expected breakages, other issues are unknown. With the listed changes, the
.deb packages were compiled, but not installed by me. I make absolutely no
guarantee as to what might happen with your machine if you try this
second experiment (or the first experiment for that matter).

Suggest a backup be made before proceeding. Have another means of booting your
computer should something go wrong. Try not to do this on a production
computer.
...

Environment: Devuan Excalibur with only the default repositories enabled and
used. Work was done within the XFCE environment.

Instructions for compiling MythTV on Debian from mythtv.org are assumed, and
only changes I made are noted here.
https://wiki.mythtv.org/wiki/Installing … _on_Debian
last edited "3 May 2026"

Problem: error below returned and compile halted.
conflict between libsystemd0 and ...elogin...

I ran:

`DEBIAN_SUFFIX='devuan' ./build-debs.sh fixes/36`

   Note: this will include 'devuan' in the package names. I suggest adding your
   initials as well (Ex. devuanABC).

build-debs.sh runs `dpkg-checkbuilddeps` against debian/control. A 'zero'
return indicates all dependencies are met. We can run the above manually from
the directory we executed `build-debs.sh`

dpkg-checkbuilddeps

dpkg-checkbuilddeps: error: unmet build dependencies: build-essential:native ccache default-libmysqlclient-dev | libmysqlclient-dev
...

For me, lower down in this list is 'libsystemd-dev'. I manually installed
files listed above as user 'root' or with `sudo` in several steps until
libsystemd-dev was about the only unmet dependency left.
Note that the '|' in the output means to install either the .deb left of
the '|' or the .deb package right of '|'

I made a list of installed .deb packages to help with this task.

dpkg-query -l > myinstalled.debs.txt

I can for instance run: `grep libmysqlclient myinstalled.debs.txt`
Note the '-dev' is omitted in the search.

For '-dev' dependencies needed, this might tell you which '-dev' packages you
need. If nothing is returned, you can try to install both, and `apt` will
complain about one .deb not being found. Remove that .deb package from your
'apt install' command and try again. This is the main reason I install
dependencies slowly and resolve libsystemd-dev last; it avoids confusion.

I ran:

apt install libsystemd-dev

...
Installing:
  libsystemd-dev

Installing dependencies:
  dummy-logind  libcap-dev  libsystemd0

REMOVING:
  desktop-base  libelogind-compat  libpam-elogind  task-desktop  task-xfce-desktop

preceeded by over one hundred packages that were 'no longer required'. Note that
*desktop* files are minimal .deb packages that install other .deb packages.
Removing, for instance, task-xfce-desktop does not delete the XFCE desktop.

Note the .deb packages listed below 'Installing:', 'Installing dependencies:', and
'REMOVING:' as these changes will be later reversed.

I accepted install of libsystemd-dev. Do not log out or reboot once
libsystemd-dev is installed.

I ran `dpkg-checkbuilddeps` until its only output was a prompt return.

Now we are ready to retry the ./build-debs.sh command (See above).
This command successfully created .deb packages in the packaging/deb/
directory.

Follow the MythTV instructions for creating a repository listing and install
you desired packages. Note MythTV urges ...mythtv.list should be removed
once the packages are installed.

Reverse the changes we made to allow MythTV to compile. In my case:

apt install desktop-base  libelogind-compat  libpam-elogind  task-desktop \
 task-xfce-desktop

REMOVING:
  dummy-logind  libsystemd-dev  libsystemd0

I accepted this change, to revert changes to the computer made earlier.
-----

I ran:

apt install mythtv-frontend

(my MythTV backend runs on a systemd enabled operating system at this time).

When I first ran `mythfrontend`, it complained that the user did not have
'mythtv' in the user's groups listing. Following the prompting of the
pop-up window, this was attempted, but failed. The complaint was not
being able to run `systemctl daemon-reload`. I had to manually add 'mythtv'
to the users group (Ex. usermod -a -G mythtv myuser # subbing for myuser),
then log out for the change to be committed.

Done!
-----
SYSTEMD
I ran:

grep systemd packaging/deb/mythtv/mythtv/configure

and it listed:
--disable-systemd_notify
--disable-systemd_journal

as possible inputs to the configure script. These can be added to
'packaging/deb/debian/rules' before beginning the compile (backup the
'rules' file before changing).

Searching the 'control' file, there are two mentions of systemd:
libsystemd-dev  is within the base 'Build-Depends:'
python3-systemd is within 'Package: libmyth-python'
"This package contains files needed for some python MythTV add-ons."

So can we not build the libmyth-python package and accept loss of some MythTV
add-ons? Can we simply remove 'libsystemd-dev' as a dependency?
'libmyth-python' is listed as a dependency of 'Package: mythtv-frontend'
Lets try it!!

Backup the control file. Within the 'control' file:
Delete the 'libsystemd-dev' dependency
Delete the 'Package: libmyth-python' section (we have made a backup!)
Delete 'libmyth-python' dependency within 'Package: mythtv-frontend'
and 'Package: mythtv-backend'

Run `build-debs.sh` as indicated above

The compile ran to completion and created .deb packages. As expected,
a 'libmyth-python' .deb package was not created. I have not installed this
compile, and will not install at this time.

-----

MythTV seems tied to systemd (at least weakly). I intent to file a feature
request to add a '--disable-systemd' to the `configure` script and see if the
MythTV developers deem this something worth their time to pursue.

If the feature is accepted, I will test and report back on this post.