Getting sasc-ng to work properly with systemd service files [SOLVED]

Question

This thread is intended for getting the following AUR packages to work with each other with systemd service scripts:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/open-sasc-ng-dkms/
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/open-sasc-ng/
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/oscam-svn/   (this is a related package as it must properly execute prior to sasc-ng)
So my server is now on a fresh Arch install with systemd. All is well (& very fast) except I cannot get sasc-ng to function with systemd service init files. Prior to systemd the system worked fine with the rc initscripts & was very stable with the following setup:
rc.local
/etc/rc.d/oscam start
sleep 15
/etc/rc.d/sasc-ng start
sleep 4
/etc/rc.d/mythbackend start
/etc/conf.d/sasc-ng.conf
SASCNG_ARGS="-j 0:3 -j 1:4 -j 2:5" -b 16M --sid-allpid --sid-nocache --cam-budget"
DVBLOOPBACK_ARGS="num_adapters=3"
LOGDIR="/home/mythtv/logs/"
CAMDIR="/etc/camdir"
/etc/camdir/cardclient.conf
camd35:localhost:15050:1/0000/0000:mythtv:mythtv
I'll leave out the oscam stuff as that loads fine and doesn't appear to be a part of the problem
I've tried this with the systemd service file that comes with the open-sasc-ng-dkms package and when it was not sucessful I tried a bunch of variants including using "Type=simple" ect. "Type=Forked" seems to be only option that actually tries to start the processes. I also "hardcoded" the service files for the 2 sasc-ng components to find a few issues with the EnvironmentFile variables. The log variable has been removed for now as this seems to cause a fatal error but the rest of the variables load fine now. I also tested spliting up the DVB loopback module from the sasc-ng binary but this also gives similar results as the following script stands now. Running them manually with systemctl start commands doesn't make a difference but that is not surprising. The service file I'm fiddling with now which I feel has the best potential become working is:
sasc-ng.service
[Unit]
Description=Sasc-ng
After=oscam.service
[Service]
Type=forking
EnvironmentFile=/etc/conf.d/sasc-ng
ExecStartPre=/sbin/modprobe dvbloopback $DVBLOOPBACK_ARGS
TimeoutSec=2
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sasc-ng -D $SASCNG_ARGS --cam-dir=$CAMDIR
TimeoutSec=4
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Mythbackend always runs fine (even without DTV via sasc-ng) with the following mythbackend.service:
[Unit]
Description=MythTV_backend
After=sasc-ng.service
[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=MYTHCONFDIR=/etc/conf.d/mythbackend
Environment=HOME=/usr/share/mythtv
User=mythtv
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mythbackend --logpath /var/log/mythtv
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
oscam.service taken mostly from AUR package also seems fine. I added the TimeoutSec=15 to give time for oscam to load the SC and client protocol before moving on or else sasc-ng fails
Unit]
Description=An Open Source Conditional Access Module software
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=forking
EnvironmentFile=/etc/conf.d/oscam
ExecStart=/usr/bin/oscam $OSCAM_ARGS
TimeoutSec=15
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Below is the output of the systemctl status commands. Despite the noise in the sasc-ng binary status, it is the loopback module that is " inactive (dead)" and there are no virtual DVB devices being created:
[mythtv@server ~]$ sudo systemctl status oscam.service
oscam.service - An Open Source Conditional Access Module software
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/oscam.service; enabled)
Active: active (running) since Tue, 2012-11-27 21:10:17 CET; 1min 7s ago
Process: 338 ExecStart=/usr/bin/oscam $OSCAM_ARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 377 (oscam)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/oscam.service
├ 377 /usr/bin/oscam -b -c /etc/oscam
└ 378 /usr/bin/oscam -b -c /etc/oscam
Nov 27 21:10:17 server systemd[1]: Started An Open Source Conditional Acces...e.
[mythtv@server ~]$ sudo systemctl status loopback.service
loopback.service - Sasc-ng DVB Loopback Module
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/loopback.service; enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Tue, 2012-11-27 21:10:28 CET; 1min 27s ago
Process: 907 ExecStart=/sbin/modprobe dvbloopback num_adapters=3 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/loopback.service
Nov 27 21:10:28 server systemd[1]: Started Sasc-ng DVB Loopback Module.
[mythtv@server ~]$ sudo systemctl status sasc-ng.service
sasc-ng.service - Sasc-ng
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/sasc-ng.service; enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue, 2012-11-27 21:10:47 CET; 1min 45s ago
Process: 913 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sasc-ng -D -j 0:3 -j 1:4 -j 2:5" -b 16M --sid-allpid --sid-nocache --cam-budget --cam-dir=/etc/camdir -l /home/mythtv/logs/sasc-ng.log (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 921 (code=exited, status=255)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/sasc-ng.service
Nov 27 21:10:39 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] failed open /etc...ry
Nov 27 21:10:40 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] failed open /etc...ry
Nov 27 21:10:40 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] failed open /etc...ry
Nov 27 21:10:40 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.info] loading cardclien...nf
Nov 27 21:10:42 server sasc-ng[921]: [1062] Netwatcher thread started (pid=...6)
Nov 27 21:10:42 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] no keys loaded f...m!
Nov 27 21:10:46 server sasc-ng[921]: [1098] SC housekeeper thread started (...2)
Nov 27 21:10:47 server sasc-ng[921]: [1062] Netwatcher thread ended (pid=92...6)
Nov 27 21:10:47 server systemd[1]: sasc-ng.service: main process exited, co.../a
Nov 27 21:10:47 server systemd[1]: Unit sasc-ng.service entered failed state
[mythtv@server ~]$ sudo systemctl status sasc-ng.service
sasc-ng.service - Sasc-ng
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/sasc-ng.service; enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue, 2012-11-27 21:10:47 CET; 2min 9s ago
Process: 913 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sasc-ng -D -j 0:3 -j 1:4 -j 2:5" -b 16M --sid-allpid --sid-nocache --cam-budget --cam-dir=/etc/camdir -l /home/mythtv/logs/sasc-ng.log (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 921 (code=exited, status=255)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/sasc-ng.service
Nov 27 21:10:39 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] failed open /etc/camdir/smartcard.conf: No such file or directory
Nov 27 21:10:40 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] failed open /etc/camdir/cardslot.conf: No such file or directory
Nov 27 21:10:40 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] failed open /etc/camdir/SoftCam.Key: No such file or directory
Nov 27 21:10:40 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.info] loading cardclient config from /etc/camdir/cardclient.conf
Nov 27 21:10:42 server sasc-ng[921]: [1062] Netwatcher thread started (pid=921, tid=140074379712256)
Nov 27 21:10:42 server sasc-ng[921]: [921] [general.error] no keys loaded for softcam!
Nov 27 21:10:46 server sasc-ng[921]: [1098] SC housekeeper thread started (pid=921, tid=140074371319552)
Nov 27 21:10:47 server sasc-ng[921]: [1062] Netwatcher thread ended (pid=921, tid=140074379712256)
Nov 27 21:10:47 server systemd[1]: sasc-ng.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=255/n/a
Nov 27 21:10:47 server systemd[1]: Unit sasc-ng.service entered failed state
[mythtv@server ~]$
Any ideas?
Last edited by wdirksen (2012-12-10 19:54:43)

Answer 1

After some head scratching it seems to be all good now. Considering there have been no replies to this I've come to wonder if I might be the only one with this issue. I could get it working somewhat using service files but never ideal, ex. sasc-ng only using a few of the entitlements from oscam because it started too quick etc. Anyway this might help a few and I'm hoping the linux savvy who find what I'm writing here painfully newbie like or flawed will reply and educate me a bit if what's provided here needs some sharpening up:
1) Systemd was confusing the sasc-ng binary shorthand arguments with Linux init arguments and a few were misinterpreted if they were not nested into the environment specifiers. So the -l (log) was causing problems and -b (buffer) wasn't loading. To be safe I'm using only the sasc-ng longhand specifiers from now on (two "--" and more verbose) so that they can never be confused even if safely nested in an environment parameter. That means that /etc/conf.d/sasc-ng will also need to be changed to reflect this. I also decided to simplify the LOGFILE parameter to include the whole argument syntax.
2) Oscam.service needs to be initiated with oneshot and RemainAfterExit=yes to make sure the delay (15 seconds in my config) gets counted out before sasc-ng initiates.
[EDIT 12/12/2012: Initially I had a second TimeoutSec=2 after ExecStart in sasc-ng.service but this had no function. Turns out that it almost always does work without this delay but not always with my setup. Adding TimeoutSec=2 to mythbackend.service prior to ExecStart command does function and makes things init more consistant]
sasc-ng.service
[Unit]
Description=Sasc-ng
After=oscam.service
[Service]
Type=simple
EnvironmentFile=/etc/conf.d/sasc-ng
ExecStartPre=/sbin/modprobe dvbloopback $DVBLOOPBACK_ARGS
TimeoutSec=2
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sasc-ng $SASCNG_ARGS --cam-dir $CAMDIR --log $LOGFILE
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
/etc/conf.d/sasc-ng
SASCNG_ARGS="--join 0:3 --join 1:4 --join 2:5 --buffer 16M --sid-allpid --sid-nocache --cam-budget"
DVBLOOPBACK_ARGS="num_adapters=3"
LOGFILE="/home/mythtv/logs/sasc-ng.log"
CAMDIR="/etc/camdir"
oscam.service
[Unit]
Description=An Open Source Conditional Access Module software
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=oneshot
EnvironmentFile=/etc/conf.d/oscam
ExecStart=/usr/bin/oscam $OSCAM_ARGS
TimeoutSec=15
RemainAfterExit=yes
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
mythbackend.service
[Unit]
Description=MythTV_backend
After=sasc-ng.service
[Service]
Type=simple
TimeoutSec=2
Environment=MYTHCONFDIR=/etc/conf.d/mythbackend
Environment=HOME=/usr/share/mythtv
User=mythtv
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mythbackend --logpath /var/log/mythtv
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
I will make the related changes to the open-sasc-ng AUR package which I currently maintain
Last edited by wdirksen (2012-12-23 14:40:43)