[Techtalk] zoneminder, motion fail on ubuntu 13.10 - solved

[Rudy Zijlstra]

The devil is in the details...

On 03-02-14 07:14, Carla Schroder wrote:
> Oh ffs, cgi was not enabled in Apache.
>
> sudo a2enmod cgi
>
> Carla
>
> On Sun, 2 Feb 2014 15:31:41 -0800
> Carla Schroder <carla at bratgrrl.com> wrote:
>
>> Motion wants /dev/video0 even for the remote feed, so who knows what
>> is up with that. I shall ignore Motion for the time being, as it was
>> just another way to test getting the live camera feed.
>>
>> The feed from the camera is simply over HTTP. Just like any other
>> wireless node on the network, so Ubuntu doesn't need any special
>> support. I finally got smart and copied the URL of the ZM video feed
>> on Mint 13 into a browser, and it worked there too, a nice live feed
>> with a timestamp and everything. It looks like this:
>>
>> http://localhost/cgi-bin/zms?mode=jpeg&monitor=1&scale=100&maxfps=5&buffer=1000&connkey=860224&rand=1391382691
>>
>> When I try it on Kubuntu it does this:
>>
>> Not Found
>>
>> The requested URL /cgi-bin/zms was not found on this server.
>>
>> So...that seems to indicate an Apache config error. I've waded through
>> the config files and everything looks OK:
>>
>> ##/etc/apache2/conf-enabled/serve-cgi-bin.conf
>>
>> <IfModule mod_alias.c>
>> 	<IfModule mod_cgi.c>
>> 		Define ENALBLE_USR_LIB_CGI_BIN
>> 	</IfModule>
>>
>> 	<IfModule mod_cgid.c>
>> 		Define ENALBLE_USR_LIB_CGI_BIN
>> 	</IfModule>
>>
>> 	<IfDefine ENALBLE_USR_LIB_CGI_BIN>
>> 		ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
>> 		<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
>> 			AllowOverride None
>> 			Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews
>> 	+SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Require all granted
>> 		</Directory>
>> 	</IfDefine>
>> </IfModule>
>>
>>
>> And the files are all present and in the right places:
>>
>> $ ls usr/lib/cgi-bin
>> nph-zms  zms
>>
>> Users and owners are all correct, permissions look good, services have
>> been restarted a paskillion times.  So I have NFI what is going on.
>>
>> Carla
>>
>> On Sun, 02 Feb 2014 21:55:43 +0100
>> Rudy Zijlstra <rudy at grumpydevil.homelinux.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Carla,
>>>
>>> The /dev/video0 will only be used by a local connected (USB) webcam.
>>> For the IP based webcam, the config of the tools (zoneminder,
>>> Motion) needs to point to a URL.
>>> The bug might be that the ubuntu build does not support remote
>>> webcam?
>>>
>>> Not using Ubuntu, so cannot test
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>>
>>> Rudy
>>>
>>> On 02-02-14 21:50, Carla Schroder wrote:
>>>> I'm nearly certain that the key here is the missing /dev/video0.
>>>> Does anyone know how Ubuntu 13.10 creates it? On my older Mint
>>>> system (based on Ubuntu 12.04) it is created at boot, so it is
>>>> always available. I have no idea how 13.10 handles this, other
>>>> than poorly. Is this my welcome to the fun new ever-encroaching
>>>> world of Upstart?
>>>>
>>>> This is how I created it manually:
>>>>
>>>> mknod /dev/video0 c 81 0
>>>>
>>>> NFI why that doesn't make buntu happy.
>>>>
>>>> Carla
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, 2 Feb 2014 11:31:36 -0800
>>>> Carla Schroder <carla at bratgrrl.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> hey all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I swear the more I use computers the more I swear at them. I
>>>>> have a Foscam FI8905W wireless IP camera.
>>>>> Just a nice outdoor cam with its own embedded Web server and wifi
>>>>> so I can spy on my driveway from any Web browser.
>>>>>
>>>>> Theoretically.
>>>>>
>>>>> I can log in directly to the Foscam via Web browser, see the live
>>>>> stream, and access the admin panel from any of my computers and
>>>>> smartphones. Easy peasey.
>>>>>
>>>>> So the next step is to set up Zoneminder or Motion for recording
>>>>> and alerts. There is something batshit screwy with Ubuntu 13.10--
>>>>> I have an old Linux Mint 13 installation, and with both
>>>>> Zoneminder and Motion it's ten minutes from installation to
>>>>> viewing the live stream from the camera in a browser. But not
>>>>> Ubuntu 13.10.
>>>>>
>>>>> Motion gives the error message 'Failed to open video
>>>>> device /dev/video0: No such file or directory' So I
>>>>> created /dev/video0 with good old mknod. Same error message. So I
>>>>> deleted the dratted thing.
>>>>>
>>>>> I can plug in a USB webcam, which creates /dev/video0, and then
>>>>> Motion picks up the webcam images. (Cheese and luvcview also
>>>>> display the webcam stream.) But still no live view, only a series
>>>>> of jpgs in /tmp.
>>>>>
>>>>> Naturally the motion, Zoneminder, and Ubuntu forums are full of
>>>>> sad posts with the same problem, but no solution. I'm not even
>>>>> sure where to start troubleshooting. Bright ideas anyone?
>>>>> Besides going on a killing spree until all computers are
>>>>> eradicated and we can live happy and free in an agrarian
>>>>> paradise?
>>>>>
>>>>> Carla
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
>
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