[LCDProc] - Could not read config file

stephenw10

I would suggest it's a bug in the pbi, some path is incorrectly specified. So either we can go away learn about PBIs, find the bug and submit a patch or find someone who already knows and ask them nicely. ;)

Rebooting the box is the easiest way to get the lcd functioning after an update but you can also just run the commands manually. I found it easier to read having the client and server as two separate commands but they could be strung together. What would be nice would be a button on the Shellcmd screen to run the command now.

I think the lcdproc-dev package will still crash. It may start better, I've not tried it. It would be better to merge the dev back into the original at this point. No point maintaining two packages. Since the dev package was forked an update in php meant that php processes had a limited run time. There is a workaround for that but I don't think it went into the package. In 2.2 php has changed quite a bit so I don't know if that still holds.

Steve

jjstecchino

Hello Steve a quick question for you as I guess you may have encountered this before.
I setup lcdproc-dev as we previously discussed with the config file in /conf and LCDd+lcdproc stared in shellcmd. The lcdproc service is disabled in the gui and the com port is set to none as you described in your post.
At startup pfsense still try to load LCDd so it get loaded twice, messing up the start up process. It hangs as lcdproc gets run.
when I pgrep for LCDd and lcdproc I see 2 instances of LCDd (2 pids)and none for lcdproc (I do this while the startup proces is hung but fortunatelly sshd has started already) When I kill the first instance of LCDd the second instance get killed as well. if I pgrep for lcdproc now I see one pid for it which was not present while the 2 LCDd were running. As I kill the lcdproc pid the startup scripts continues until it displays the menu and the beeps on the serial console.
Now if I restart LCDd and lcdproc from the command line using the /conf path the lcd works ok with all the screens I setup previously.

It looks like pfsense despite having the lcdproc service disabled still runs LCDd and then I end up with 2 instances of it.
I found a lcdproc.sh in /usr/local/etc/rc.d but removing that still does not prevent the double LCDd. Is there another place where LCDd could be started? I looked in the obvious places like /etc/rc but unless I missed I did not see anything useful there. Any suggestions?

Thanks

stephenw10

Hmm. I found that in 2.2 the start up file in usr/local/etc/rc.d was not removed even when the webgui was configured to remove it. I had to remove it manually. That worked for me.
Another option that works is to uninstall lcdproc-dev, reinstall it and then don't ever enable it or set the driver. The Shellcmd lines will still run and start it using the lcdd.conf in /conf.

Steve

Topper727

I helped improve this package with my limited skills and time back in 2.1 but now in 2.2 it will only work somewhat if I do those commands you did to get it working. Specify a config in the /conf folder that I moved not in the normal location. Glad to see it doing something but not 100% normal looking.

I run a crystal fonts 735 display

jjstecchino

@Steve and Topper, maybe we can put our heads together and fix this package

Topper727

I am not that good at fixing it.. I need to relearn since I forgot a few things over the years
I don't know the new php stuff they just changed to in new version .. never used before..

stephenw10

What did you update from/to? What method were you using to start lcdd?

Steve

Borage

The lcdproc_client.php does not even start after the last three updates. It looks like the client is unable to connect, but this is bullshit because the other client /usr/pbi/lcdproc-i386/bin/lcdproc works like a treat.

Hm, it looks like i also found a bug in the php file. :)

[2.2-RC][admin@pfsense.localdomain]/root: /usr/bin/nice -20 /usr/local/bin/php -f /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php

Warning: fsockopen(): unable to connect to localhost:13666 (Operation timed out) in /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php on line 915

Warning: stream_set_timeout() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php on line 916

stephenw10

Using the lcdproc or lcdproc-dev package? What hardware?

Steve

Borage

I use lcdproc-dev and my hardware is a Watchguard X1000. I found something strange in the file LCDd.conf, the path to the drivers seem to be wrong.

LCDd.conf

[server]
DriverPath=/usr/local/lib/lcdproc/
Driver=sdeclcd
Bind=127.0.0.1
Port=13666
ReportLevel=3
ReportToSyslog=yes
User=nobody
Foreground=no
ServerScreen=no
GoodBye="Thanks for using"
GoodBye="    pfSense     "
WaitTime=5
PrevScreenKey=Down
NextScreenKey=Up
[menu]
MenuKey=Left
EnterKey=Right
UpKey=Up
DownKey=Down
[sdeclcd]

It seems to work after I changed the path to the following. I rebooted my firewall several times and no problem whatsoever with the lcdproc_client.php.

DriverPath=/usr/pbi/lcdproc-i386/local/lib/lcdproc/

stephenw10

I'm using /usr/local/lib/lcdproc/ and it's working fine. I'm not using the php client though.
The path to the driver cannot affect the client directly but it could stop the daemon running. Did you see the lcdproc server start?

Steve

Borage

I have no drivers in this path, only in /usr/pbi/lcdproc-i386/local/lib/lcdproc/. The lcdproc started, I can see that in the LCD display and with the ps command.

stephenw10

I have no drivers there either. It shouldn't matter because the PBI system is supposed to take care of that. When you call the LCDd executable it is actually a link to file within the PBI subdirectories. From there the relative path results in the location you are entering.

Was LCDd starting before you changed the driver path?

Steve

Borage

My LCD started every time before i changed the path, except that the display showed zero screens (the LCD screen showed only LCDproc Server Cli: 0 Scr: 0).

The only problem for now, if the service dies I cannot simply restart it to get the displays back. In the previous pfSense version, I just ran the following script to solve the problem. Now I only get the message unable to connect to localhost:13666.

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcdproc.sh restart

stephenw10

Have you read the rest of this thread where I talked about having to use a different startup procedure? I suspect that if you're still using the package method you probably have two copies of LCDd running on different ports one of which isn't responding.

Steve

Borage

Only one process when i ran this command.

[2.2-RC][admin@pfsense.localdomain]/root: pgrep -anx LCDd
70130

Something changed in one of the latest updates, now I cannot restart the service like before. The only way to get the screens back is to reboot pfsense.

[2.2-RC][admin@pfsense.localdomain]/root: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcdproc.sh restart
[2.2-RC][admin@pfsense.localdomain]/root: 
Warning: fsockopen(): unable to connect to localhost:13666 (Operation timed out) in /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php on line 915

Warning: stream_set_timeout() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php on line 916

Borage

I disabled the firewall with the following command, but it is not possible to connect to localhost.

'pfctl -d

Everything works as expected after that I changed the LCDd daemon to listen on the LAN IP address and the client to connect to the same address.

Edit:

I permanently fixed the problem by editing the following file.

/usr/local/pkg/lcdproc.inc

	define('LCDPROC_HOST','localhost');
	define('LCDPROC_PORT','13666');

My changes: See line 36

	define('LCDPROC_HOST','127.0.0.1');
	define('LCDPROC_PORT','13666');

Topper727

I made those code changes in /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc.inc and changes in the LCDd.conf file.

I am using LCDproc-dev

DriverPath=/usr/pbi/lcdproc-amd64/local/lib/lcdproc

This is where my drivers are in the 64 bit version.

When I start the service I get
Could not read config file: /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf
Critical error while processing settings, abort.

but I have the file there. It has 644 permissions to the Proxy group

I get nothing back when I run pgrep -anx LCDd

I ran the service by
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcdproc.sh restart

and got
Could not read config file: /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf
Critical error while processing settings, abort.

Warning: fsockopen(): unable to connect to 127.0.0.1:13666 (Operation timed out) in /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php on line 915

Warning: stream_set_timeout() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php on line 916

If someone gets me the fix code I will put it into the version and have it merged so it will be updated for everyone

Borage

@Topper727:

When I start the service I get
Could not read config file: /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf

For some reason the conf file must be located in the following path.

32-bit

/usr/pbi/lcdproc-i386/local/etc/

64-bit

/usr/pbi/lcdproc-amd64/local/etc

stephenw10

More accurately you can put the conf file anywhere but /usr/local/etc because if you do LCDd will look in the wrong place. This appears to be an issue with the pbi packaging.

Steve