Mpd frustration

Question

I have been using arch for over a year, but recently I reinstalled with x86_64 rather then i686 that I was using before. Now Im trying to get mpd up and running again with sonata but the wiki seems to be missing some important steps or something.
Im following the standard "arch way" instructions from the wiki which use the user mpd. The problem seems to be that my music is kept in my home directory /home/tj/Music/.  I dont see why the instructions for doing this wouldn't be in the wiki considering the wiki examples show the same scenario. I did find this but that method just doesn't seem very secure to me.
I run sudo mpd --create-db and get this
[tj@arch ~]$ sudo mpd --create-db
failed to stat music directory "/home/tj/Music": Permission denied
output: No "audio_output" defined in config file
output: Attempt to detect audio output device
output: Attempting to detect a alsa audio device
output: Successfully detected a alsa audio device
[tj@arch ~]$
I have tried everything I can think of to get this working. I have changed permissions on /home/tj/Music to allow group users read/write/execute permission and still nothing. I have changed permissions to allow everyone read/write/execute but still nothing. I have tried symlinking /home/tj/Music to /var/lib/mpd/Music/ with the full permission and changing my mpd.conf accordingly, but still nothing. I have tried making a new group called music, adding user mpd to it, and giving that group full permission but still nothing.
The only thing I can think of that could be causing this is that my /home/tj/ directory it self doesn't allow read access to anybody except user tj, but I really don't want to change that for security reasons. To get around this I tried just giving the permissions to only /home/tj/Music and symlinking it to /var/lib/mpd so I wouldn't need to navigate through /home/tj/ but it doesn't work that way either. I really would like to have only /home/tj/Music to have permissions and nothing else.
Short of giving up my home directory permissions, or changing mpd's user to tj, how can I make this work?
/etc/mpd.conf
# An example configuration file for MPD
# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.
# Files and directories #######################################################
# This setting controls the top directory which MPD will search to discover the
# available audio files and add them to the daemon's online database. This
# setting defaults to the XDG directory, otherwise the music directory will be
# be disabled and audio files will only be accepted over ipc socket (using
# file:// protocol) or streaming files over an accepted protocol.
music_directory "/home/tj/Music"
# This setting sets the MPD internal playlist directory. The purpose of this
# directory is storage for playlists created by MPD. The server will use
# playlist files not created by the server but only if they are in the MPD
# format. This setting defaults to playlist saving being disabled.
playlist_directory "/var/lib/mpd/playlists"
# This setting sets the location of the MPD database. This file is used to
# load the database at server start up and store the database while the
# server is not up. This setting defaults to disabled which will allow
# MPD to accept files over ipc socket (using file:// protocol) or streaming
# files over an accepted protocol.
db_file "/var/lib/mpd/mpd.db"
# These settings are the locations for the daemon log files for the daemon.
# These logs are great for troubleshooting, depending on your log_level
# settings.
# The special value "syslog" makes MPD use the local syslog daemon. This
# setting defaults to logging to syslog, otherwise logging is disabled.
#log_file "/var/log/mpd/mpd.log"
# This setting sets the location of the file which stores the process ID
# for use of mpd --kill and some init scripts. This setting is disabled by
# default and the pid file will not be stored.
pid_file "/var/run/mpd/mpd.pid"
# This setting sets the location of the file which contains information about
# most variables to get MPD back into the same general shape it was in before
# it was brought down. This setting is disabled by default and the server
# state will be reset on server start up.
state_file "/var/lib/mpd/mpdstate"
# General music daemon options ################################################
# This setting specifies the user that MPD will run as. MPD should never run as
# root and you may use this setting to make MPD change its user ID after
# initialization. This setting is disabled by default and MPD is run as the
# current user.
user "mpd"
# This setting sets the address for the daemon to listen on. Careful attention
# should be paid if this is assigned to anything other then the default, any.
# This setting can deny access to control of the daemon.
# For network
#bind_to_address "any"
# And for Unix Socket
#bind_to_address "~/.mpd/socket"
# This setting is the TCP port that is desired for the daemon to get assigned
# to.
#port "6600"
# This setting controls the type of information which is logged. Available
# setting arguments are "default", "secure" or "verbose". The "verbose" setting
# argument is recommended for troubleshooting, though can quickly stretch
# available resources on limited hardware storage.
#log_level "default"
# If you have a problem with your MP3s ending abruptly it is recommended that
# you set this argument to "no" to attempt to fix the problem. If this solves
# the problem, it is highly recommended to fix the MP3 files with vbrfix
# (available from <http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.php>), at which
# point gapless MP3 playback can be enabled.
#gapless_mp3_playback "yes"
# This setting enables MPD to create playlists in a format usable by other
# music players.
#save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "no"
# This setting defines a list of tag types that will be extracted during the
# audio file discovery process. Optionally, 'comment' can be added to this
# list.
#metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
# Symbolic link behavior ######################################################
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links outside of the configured music_directory.
#follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links inside of the configured music_directory.
#follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
# Zeroconf / Avahi Service Discovery ##########################################
# If this setting is set to "yes", service information will be published with
# Zeroconf / Avahi.
#zeroconf_enabled "yes"
# The argument to this setting will be the Zeroconf / Avahi unique name for
# this MPD server on the network.
#zeroconf_name "Music Player"
# Permissions #################################################################
# If this setting is set, MPD will require password authorization. The password
# can setting can be specified multiple times for different password profiles.
#password "password@read,add,control,admin"
# This setting specifies the permissions a user has who has not yet logged in.
#default_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
# Input #######################################################################
input {
plugin "curl"
# proxy "proxy.isp.com:8080"
# proxy_user "user"
# proxy_password "password"
# Audio Output ################################################################
# MPD supports various audio output types, as well as playing through multiple
# audio outputs at the same time, through multiple audio_output settings
# blocks. Setting this block is optional, though the server will only attempt
# autodetection for one sound card.
# See <http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration#Audio_Outputs> for examples of
# other audio outputs.
# An example of an ALSA output:
#audio_output {
# type "alsa"
# name "My ALSA Device"
## device "hw:0,0" # optional
## format "44100:16:2" # optional
## mixer_device "default" # optional
## mixer_control "PCM" # optional
## mixer_index "0" # optional
# An example of an OSS output:
#audio_output {
# type "oss"
# name "My OSS Device"
## device "/dev/dsp" # optional
## format "44100:16:2" # optional
## mixer_device "/dev/mixer" # optional
## mixer_control "PCM" # optional
# An example of a shout output (for streaming to Icecast):
#audio_output {
# type "shout"
# encoding "ogg" # optional
# name "My Shout Stream"
# host "localhost"
# port "8000"
# mount "/mpd.ogg"
# password "hackme"
# quality "5.0"
# bitrate "128"
# format "44100:16:1"
## protocol "icecast2" # optional
## user "source" # optional
## description "My Stream Description" # optional
## genre "jazz" # optional
## public "no" # optional
## timeout "2" # optional
# An example of a httpd output (built-in HTTP streaming server):
#audio_output {
# type "httpd"
# name "My HTTP Stream"
# encoder "vorbis" # optional, vorbis or lame
# port "8000"
## quality "5.0" # do not define if bitrate is defined
# bitrate "128" # do not define if quality is defined
# format "44100:16:1"
# An example of a pulseaudio output (streaming to a remote pulseaudio server)
#audio_output {
# type "pulse"
# name "My Pulse Output"
## server "remote_server" # optional
## sink "remote_server_sink" # optional
## Example "pipe" output:
#audio_output {
# type "pipe"
# name "my pipe"
# command "aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or if you're want to use AudioCompress
# command "AudioCompress -m | aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or to send raw PCM stream through PCM:
# command "nc example.org 8765"
# format "44100:16:2"
## An example of a null output (for no audio output):
#audio_output {
# type "null"
# name "My Null Output"
# This setting will change all decoded audio to be converted to the specified
# format before being passed to the audio outputs. By default, this setting is
# disabled.
#audio_output_format "44100:16:2"
# If MPD has been compiled with libsamplerate support, this setting specifies
# the sample rate converter to use. Possible values can be found in the
# mpd.conf man page or the libsamplerate documentation. By default, this is
# setting is disabled.
#samplerate_converter "Fastest Sinc Interpolator"
# Volume control mixer ########################################################
# These are the global volume control settings. By default, this setting will
# be detected to the available audio output device, with preference going to
# hardware mixing. Hardware and software mixers for individual audio_output
# sections cannot yet be mixed.
# An example for controlling an ALSA, OSS or Pulseaudio mixer; If this
# setting is used other sound applications will be affected by the volume
# being controlled by MPD.
#mixer_type "hardware"
# An example for controlling all mixers through software. This will control
# all controls, even if the mixer is not supported by the device and will not
# affect any other sound producing applications.
#mixer_type "software"
# This example will not allow MPD to touch the mixer at all and will disable
# all volume controls.
#mixer_type "disabled"
# Normalization automatic volume adjustments ##################################
# This setting specifies the type of ReplayGain to use. This setting can have
# the argument "album" or "track". See <http://www.replaygain.org> for more
# details. This setting is disabled by default.
#replaygain "album"
# This setting sets the pre-amp used for files that have ReplayGain tags. By
# default this setting is disabled.
#replaygain_preamp "0"
# This setting enables on-the-fly normalization volume adjustment. This will
# result in the volume of all playing audio to be adjusted so the output has
# equal "loudness". This setting is disabled by default.
#volume_normalization "no"
# MPD Internal Buffering ######################################################
# This setting adjusts the size of internal decoded audio buffering. Changing
# this may have undesired effects. Don't change this if you don't know what you
# are doing.
#audio_buffer_size "2048"
# This setting controls the percentage of the buffer which is filled before
# beginning to play. Increasing this reduces the chance of audio file skipping,
# at the cost of increased time prior to audio playback.
#buffer_before_play "10%"
# Resource Limitations ########################################################
# These settings are various limitations to prevent MPD from using too many
# resources. Generally, these settings should be minimized to prevent security
# risks, depending on the operating resources.
#connection_timeout "60"
#max_connections "10"
#max_playlist_length "16384"
#max_command_list_size "2048"
#max_output_buffer_size "8192"
# Character Encoding ##########################################################
# If file or directory names do not display correctly for your locale then you
# may need to modify this setting. After modification of this setting mpd
# --create-db must be run to change the database.
#filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
# This setting controls the encoding that ID3v1 tags should be converted from.
#id3v1_encoding "ISO-8859-1"
Also before anybody asks /var/log/mpd.log and /var/log/mpd.error are both empty, and yes I followed the wiki exactly and touched all the necessary files.
Last edited by tjwoosta (2009-12-09 07:29:47)

Answer 1

Why do ppl only change 1 line in the config without bothering with the rest and wonder why it does not work. You havent even defined an audio output and you surely know that you need audio to hear music, dont you?
No, actually I never defined an audio output on perpose because it automatically detects it. It says that in the wiki. See my first code block?
"output: Successfully detected a alsa audio device"
anyway.. your problem is none at all. Since you didnt bother to change the default user in mpd.conf (default is "mpd"), it cannot access your music, which is in /home/tj. Only user "tj" has access to that folder and you dont want it to be any different for security reasons. So the easiest way to solve this is to change the mpd_user to "tj"
Did you even read my post before you started giving attitude? I followed the wiki pages recommendations and used the user mpd for a reason.
"Keeps the setup in /var and uses "mpd" as default user instead of cluttering up ~/. This is the way the arch package is installed. "
I want user mpd to have access to my Music directory, just not its parent directories. Is this not possible?
My guess is you are the only user on this computer. If this is the case i advise you to create a ~/.mpd folder and inside of this a "playlists" folder. Then change the paths in mpd.conf accordingly. Restart mpd and it should work.
Again I would like to avoid this if possible. If its not, then why is everything recommending the user mpd and /var/lib/mpd, when 90% of people are going to have their music in their regular home directory? The wiki page seems pretty misleading if you ask me.
Another thing: there are useful options in the config, read it! E.g. replaygain and gapless playback are some things nearly everyone probably wants.
Yes, believe it or no I did read it, and I have successfully setup mpd before. I also read the entire wiki page. I was planning to get things working in the first place before I go playing around with optional features.
And one last bit: The --create-db option is deprecated, dont use it! use your client to update your library
Have not heard that before, its never mentioned in the wiki, or in any of the various forum threads I read before posting. Either way --create-db should still work shouldn't it? Sonata's library update doesn't work either.
Change group for your musicfolder to mpd.
That was the first thing I tried, but it still doesn't work and returns the same permission error.
Try "mount --bind".
It worked!  Thank you kind sir