Building¶

Prerequisites¶

Before you can build Tvheadend you will need several packages installed on your development machine.

The specific details will vary between distributions so we only cover the major ones here.

Debian/Ubuntu¶

$ sudo aptitude install build-essential git

Optional:

$ sudo aptitude install libavahi-client-dev

Redhat¶

TODO: this needs adding

Gentoo¶

TODO: this needs adding

Get Source¶

Next you must obtain the source code, this is hosted on github.

To clone the repository simple run the command:

$ git clone https://github.com/tvheadend/tvheadend.git

Configuring¶

TVHeadend comes with a configuration script that allows you to enable/disable optional components and set install paths, etc.

Most people will be fine with the defaults and can run:

$ ./configure

However for more advanced options, please run the following:

$ ./configure --help

And then re-run configure with the required options, i.e.:

$ ./configure --enable-transcoder --disable-dvbscan

Compiling¶

To compile Tvheadend run:

$ make

Installing¶

It is possible to install Tvheadend using make, based on the ./configure options, by running:

$ sudo make install

However it's recommend that you run from the build directory for development/testing:

$ ./build.linux/tvheadend

And that you build a package if you wish to install Tvheadend permanently and hook into the system start scripts etc.

Use of make install is not very traceable and so removal can sometimes be painful, and it might overwrite an existing installation.

Packaging¶

For more information about packaging Tvheadend please see here

Reporting Problems¶

If you have problems with a custom compiled version of Tvheadend its important that any issue reports include details of the specific version of source you used. For more details please see here.