Cannot set name attribute in shairport-sync.conf

[Conner-Killian]

Whenever I try enabling the name attribute in the shairport-sync.conf, it spits out a fatal error message.

Job for shairport-sync.service failed because a fatal signal was delivered to the control process. See "systemctl status shairport-sync.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

Heres the systemctl status report:

● shairport-sync.service - ShairportSync AirTunes receiver
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: signal) since Fri 2019-07-05 23:55:38 SAST; 1s ago
     Docs: man:shairport-sync(7)
           file:///usr/share/doc/shairport-sync/README.md.gz
           https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync
  Process: 4810 ExecStart=/usr/bin/shairport-sync --daemon $DAEMON_ARGS (code=killed, signal=ABRT)

Jul 05 23:55:38 connerpi systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Service RestartSec=100ms expired, scheduling restart.
Jul 05 23:55:38 connerpi systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Jul 05 23:55:38 connerpi systemd[1]: Stopped ShairportSync AirTunes receiver.
Jul 05 23:55:38 connerpi systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jul 05 23:55:38 connerpi systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Failed with result 'signal'.
Jul 05 23:55:38 connerpi systemd[1]: Failed to start ShairportSync AirTunes receiver.

Is this an error on my end? All I did was remove the comment tag and replace %H with the name "Conner's Speaker"
I ensured that the attribute ended with a semicolon and that the quotations weren't lost. All in the config file should be all correct.

It would be very appreciated if someone can please help.

[mikebrady]

Thanks for the post. Hmmm, this is working perfectly for me.

// Sample Configuration File for Shairport Sync
// Commented out settings are generally the defaults, except where noted.
// Some sections are operative only if Shairport Sync has been built with the right configuration flags.
// See the individual sections for details.

// General Settings
general =
{
        name = "Conner's Speaker"; // This means "Hostname" -- see below. This is the name the service will advertise to iTunes.
//              The default is "Hostname" -- i.e. the machine's hostname with the first letter capitalised (ASCII only.)
//              You can use the following substitutions:
//                              %h for the hostname,
...

Is it possible that you are editing the configuration file using a Windows editor? (Windows line endings are different to Unix line endings.)

[Conner-Killian]

That's exactly how my configuration looks at the moment.
I'm using one of the default Linux text editors on the Raspberry Pi: Geany.
It's weird though. It worked before.
I upgraded my Raspbian OS to Raspbian Buster. Could it maybe be an issue with the new operating system? The previously used OS was Raspbian Stretch.

[mikebrady]

It’s unlikely, TBH, but I am not able to actually test that for a few days.

[mikebrady]

Hello again. I just did this – installed and updated a fresh copy of Raspbian Buster Lite, updated everything, edited the configuration file with vi – my favourite unix command-line text editor – and installed Shairport Sync according to the INSTALL.md guide. I changed the name to "Conner's Speaker" and everything works...

pi@raspberryPi3BP:~ $ sudo systemctl status shairport-sync
● shairport-sync.service - Shairport Sync - AirPlay Audio Receiver
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Tue 2019-07-09 09:20:03 IST; 6s ago
 Main PID: 625 (shairport-sync)
    Tasks: 5 (limit: 2200)
   Memory: 2.4M
   CGroup: /system.slice/shairport-sync.service
           └─625 /usr/local/bin/shairport-sync

Jul 09 09:20:03 raspberryPi3BP systemd[1]: Started Shairport Sync - AirPlay Audio Receiver.
pi@raspberryPi3BP:~ $ 
``

[mikebrady]

Just to follow up on the line-ending thing and not having used Geany, this might be useful.

[bootc]

This is likely the same bug that's fixed in #879.

[Conner-Killian]

Hi! Sorry for my absence. I solved the problem. Sort of 😂

So. I did a clean reinstall of Shairport-sync. Removed all of the folders that the which command found. Removed the shairport-sync.conf file and then reinstalled.

So my only issue now is that I've enabled it as a systemctl service, it always gets an error when starting up. BUT, if I execute the service via the cloned executable, it works perfectly. (/home/pi/shairport-sync/shairport-sync)

This is the error I receive when running sudo systemctl start shairport-sync

pi@connerpi:~ $ sudo systemctl start shairport-sync
Job for shairport-sync.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status shairport-sync.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

Jul 21 15:11:40 connerpi systemd[1]: Stopped ShairportSync AirTunes receiver.
-- Subject: A stop job for unit shairport-sync.service has finished
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- A stop job for unit shairport-sync.service has finished.
-- 
-- The job identifier is 2591 and the job result is done.
Jul 21 15:11:40 connerpi systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jul 21 15:11:40 connerpi systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
-- Subject: Unit failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- The unit shairport-sync.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Jul 21 15:11:40 connerpi systemd[1]: Failed to start ShairportSync AirTunes receiver.
-- Subject: A start job for unit shairport-sync.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- A start job for unit shairport-sync.service has finished with a failure.
-- 
-- The job identifier is 2591 and the job result is failed.

I have run sudo systemctl disable shairport-sync and sudo systemctl enable shairport-sync

[mikebrady]

Thanks Conner. A fix for #879 which is in the development branch now might be relevant.