[SOLVED] setting an environment variable

mstrimel · 04-24-2021, 06:17 AM

I'm trying to configure the lirc remote control software, but I'm hoping someone can help me even if they are not familiar with lirc.

My lirc commands are failing because they are pointing to an interface called /usr/local/var/run/lirc/lircd, when in fact the program is listening on /var/run/lirc/lircd (without the /usr/local prefix)

The manpage has this entry:

ENVIRONMENT
LIRC_SOCKET_PATH
The lircd socket to connect to, defaults to a hardcoded default value /usr/local/var/run/lirc/lircd

So the hard coded value is obviously my problem. The manpage made me think I could change an environment variable called LIRC_SOCKET_PATH to point in the correct place, and I would be good to go.

So I edited /etc/environment to add a line "LIRC_SOCKET_PATH=/var/run/lirc/lircd".

I logged out and back in, and I get:
mary@mythbox:~$ printenv | grep lir
LIRC_SOCKET_PATH=/var/run/lirc/lircd

so it looks like it worked. But then when I run the lirc program (irsend, if it matters), it still fails because it is trying to point to the hard-coded interface of /usr/local/var/run/lirc/lircd

Is there something about the manpage that I am misunderstanding? If something is hard-coded, am I SOL and if so, what is the point of having an environment variable for it?

Thank you in advance!

hazel · 04-24-2021, 06:32 AM

Usually you set environmental variables either on the command line from which you launch your program or on a per-session basis in one of your login files (usually .profile or .bash_profile). The second method is probably better because it works for graphically launched programs too.

Try putting that line in your personal profile, then log out and log in again.

teckk · 04-24-2021, 07:37 AM

https://www.lirc.org/html/lircd.conf.html
https://www.lirc.org/html/index.html
https://www.lirc.org/

https://www.lirc.org/html/irsend.html

Code:

OPTIONS

-h --help
    Display usage summary. 
-v --version
    Display version. 
-d --device=device
    Use given lircd socket [/usr/var/run/lirc/lircd]. 
-a --address=host[:port]
    Connect to lircd at this address. 
-# --count=n
    Send command n times.

The docs talk about that it looks like.

rnturn · 04-24-2021, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mstrimel

I'm trying to configure the lirc remote control software, but I'm hoping someone can help me even if they are not familiar with lirc.

My lirc commands are failing because they are pointing to an interface called /usr/local/var/run/lirc/lircd, when in fact the program is listening on /var/run/lirc/lircd (without the /usr/local prefix)

What do you mean by "failing"? "File not found?" Permissions? Are there error messages you can post?

Quote:

LIRC_SOCKET_PATH
The lircd socket to connect to, defaults to a hardcoded default value /usr/local/var/run/lirc/lircd

So the hard coded value is obviously my problem. The manpage made me think I could change an environment variable called LIRC_SOCKET_PATH to point in the correct place, and I would be good to go.

Rather than editing and creating s system-wide environment variable (unless other users will need it, then go ahead), I would write a quick-n-dirty wrapper script (in, say, "$HOME/bin") that either uses the information that 'teckk' suggested:

Code:

irsend [-d /var/run/lirc/lircd|--device=/var/run/lirc/lircd]

or runs the command you want as:

Code:

LIRC_SOCKET_PATH=/var/run/lirc/lircd irsend

If neither of those work, post whatever error messages you are receiving. It's, uh, pretty hard to tell what's going wrong when you can't see the failure.

HTH...

lvm_ · 04-25-2021, 01:49 AM

Offhand I cannot tell what is wrong, but if it doesn't work, try a different approach: create a link to this socket at the desired location or remount /var/run/lirc at /usr/local using mount --bind

mstrimel · 04-25-2021, 05:01 PM

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions. A piece of information I should have provided is that another user, "mythtv," needs to be able to run the lirc commands to change channels for my linux PVR system, that is why I was seeking a universal environmental variable. Luckily for me, the mythtv channel change script has a config file where you can set a device to override the hard-coded one. So, problem solved, once I realized I should look there, although I'm still baffled as to why setting an environment variable as described in my first post did not work. (For those who asked ... the error was 'no device found' on /usr/local/var/run/lirc/lircd, and the logs clearly showed that lircd was listening on /var/run/lirc/lircd).

Marking this solved. Thanks again!