musicpd doesn't create the database file

[hikineet0]

I had to uninstall my existing musicpd to compile it with soxr support and I haven't been able to start it ever since. I have not changed any of the configs.
I keep getting this error trying to start musicpd:

exception: Failed to open "/var/mpd/database": No such file or directory
exception: MPD died from signal 6: No such file or directory

I don't remember the last time I started a new mpd server, but didn't it create the server despite showing "no database", which was created after an mpc update?

config file:

music_directory         "/var/mpd/music/"
playlist_directory      "/var/mpd/playlists"
db_file                 "/var/mpd/database"
log_file                "/var/mpd/log"
pid_file                "/var/mpd/pid"
state_file              "/var/mpd/state"
sticker_file            "/var/mpd/sticker.sql"

user                    "mpd"

bind_to_address         "/var/run/mpd/mpd.sock"
connection_timeout      "3600"

default_permissions     "read"
host_permissions        "127.0.0.1 read,add,player,control,admin"
local_permissions       "read,add,player,control,admin"

input_cache {
        size    "100 MB"
}

playlist_plugin {
    cue         "no"
}

audio_output {
        type            "pipe"
        format          "48000:16:2"
        name            "FFMPEG PIPE"
        command         "/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg -f s16le -ar 48000 -ac 2 -re -i - -c:a libopus -b:a 128k -vbr on -ar 48000 -ac 2 -content_type audio/ogg -f ogg icecast
}

Here are the perms for /var/mpd:

drwxr-xr-x   4 mpd     mpd      4 Jun  9 17:40 mpd/

and the files inside it:

drwxr-xr-x  5 mpd mpd 5 Jun  8 18:49 music/
-rw-r--r--  1 mpd mpd     0 Jun  9 18:22 log
-rw-r-----  1 mpd mpd  1306 Jun  9 18:31 musicpd.conf
drwxr-xr-x  2 mpd mpd     2 Jun  9 17:41 playlists/
-rw-r--r--  1 mpd mpd     0 Jun  9 18:22 state
-rw-r--r--  1 mpd mpd 12288 Jun  9 17:42 sticker.sql

Here's musicpd --version's output:

Music Player Daemon 0.24.12 (0.24.12)
Copyright 2003-2007 Warren Dukes <warren.dukes@gmail.com>
Copyright 2008-2025 Max Kellermann <max.kellermann@gmail.com>
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Database plugins:
 simple proxy

Storage plugins:
 local curl


Decoder plugins:
 [vorbis] ogg oga
 [oggflac] ogg oga
 [flac] flac
 [opus] opus ogg oga
 [dsdiff] dff
 [dsf] dsf
 [wavpack] wv
 [ffmpeg] 264 265 266 302 3g2 3gp 4xm 722 aa aa3 aac aax ac3 ac4 ace acm act adf adp ads adx aea afc aif aiff aix al alias_pix alp amr amrnb amrwb anm ans apc ape apl apm apng aptx aptxhd apv aqt argo_asf argo_brp argo_cvg art asc asf asf_o ass ast au avc avi avif avr avs avs2 avs3 bcstm bethsoftvid bfi bfstm bin
bink binka bit bitpacked bmp_pipe bmv boa bonk brender_pix brstm c2 c93 caf cdata cdg cdxl cgi cif cine codec2raw concat cri_pipe dash dat data daud dav dds_pipe dfa dff dfpwm dif dirac diz dnxhd dpx_pipe dsf dsicin dss dst dtk dts dtshd dv dvbsub dvbtxt dvdvideo dxa ea eac3 ec3 evc exr_pipe f32be f32le f4v f64be
f64le fap ffmetadata film_cpk fits flac flic flm flv frm fsb fwse g722 g723_1 g726 g726le g728 g729 gdv gem_pipe genh gif gif_pipe gsm gxf h261 h263 h264 h265 h266 h26l hca hcom hdr_pipe heic heif hevc hls hnm iamf ice ico idcin idf idx iff ifv ilbc image2 image2pipe imf imx ipmovie ipu ircam ism isma ismv iss iv8
 ivf ivr j2k j2k_pipe jacosub jpeg_pipe jpegls_pipe jpegxl_pipe jpegxs_pipe jv jxl kux kvag laf lc3 lmlm4 loas lrc lvf lxf m2a m4a m4b m4v mac mca mcc mgsts microdvd mj2 mjpeg mjpg mk3d mka mks mkv mlp mlv mm mmf mods moflex mov mp2 mp3 mp4 mpa mpc mpc8 mpeg mpegts mpegtsraw mpegvideo mpl2 mpo msbc msf msnwctcp ms
p mtaf mtv musx mv mvi mxf mxg nfo nist nsp nsv nut nuv obu ogg oma omg opus osq paf pam_pipe pbm_pipe pcx_pipe pdv pfm_pipe pgm_pipe pgmyuv_pipe pgx_pipe phm_pipe photocd_pipe pictor_pipe pjs pmp png_pipe pp_bnk ppm_pipe psd_pipe psp psxstr pva pvf qcif qcp qdraw_pipe qoa qoi_pipe r3d rco rcv rcwt rgb rka rl2 rm
roq rpl rsd rso rt rtp rtsp s16be s24be s24le s32be s32le s337m sami sap sb sbc sbg scc scd sdns sdp sdr2 sds sdx ser sf sga sgi_pipe shn sln smi smk smush sol son sox spdif sph srt ss2 stl str sub sunrast_pipe sup svag svg_pipe svs sw swf tak tco tedcaptions thd thp tiertexseq tiff_pipe tmv tta txd txt ty ty+ u16
be u24be u24le u32be u32le ub ul usm uw v v210 vag vb vbn_pipe vc1 vidc viv vividas vmd voc vpk vqe vqf vql vt vtt vvc w64 wa wav way wc3movie webm webm_dash_manifest webp_pipe webvtt wma wsaud wsd wsvqa wtv wv wve xa xbin xbm_pipe xl xmd xmv xpm_pipe xvag xwd_pipe xwma y4m yop yuv yuv10 rtp:// rtsp:// rtsps://
 [sndfile] wav aiff aif au snd paf iff svx sf voc w64 pvf xi htk caf sd2
 [pcm]

Filters:
 soxr

Tag plugins:
 id3tag

Output plugins:
 null fifo pipe oss httpd snapcast recorder

Encoder plugins:
 null vorbis opus lame wave flac

Archive plugins:
 [bz2] bz2

Input plugins:
 file archive curl ffmpeg

Playlist plugins:
 extm3u m3u pls xspf asx rss flac cue embcue

Protocols:
 file:// ftp:// ftps:// gopher:// http:// https:// mmsh:// mmst:// rtmp:// rtmpe:// rtmps:// rtmpt:// rtmpte:// rtmpts:// rtp:// rtsp:// rtsps:// scp:// sftp:// smb:// srtp://

Other features:
 icu ipv6 tcp un

[yudin-s]

MPD is failing on the file named by db_file, not on /var/mpd itself. In your config, that is /var/mpd/database, and the directory listing shows that file is missing.

mpc update can create/populate the database only after MPD has started far enough to accept client commands. Right now startup is blocked before that point, so I would bootstrap the file as the same user MPD runs as and then start MPD in the foreground once:

sudo install -o mpd -g mpd -m 0755 -d /var/mpd /var/mpd/playlists
sudo install -o mpd -g mpd -m 0644 /dev/null /var/mpd/database
sudo -u mpd musicpd --no-daemon --stderr --verbose /var/mpd/musicpd.conf

If that starts, run the update through the Unix socket from your config:

MPD_HOST=/var/run/mpd/mpd.sock mpc update

Also double-check the pasted config: the audio_output command line appears to be missing its closing quote after icecast. If that is missing in the real file too, fix it before trusting later startup errors.

So this looks like a first-start/bootstrap issue rather than a soxr rebuild problem. If creating the database file gets MPD to start cleanly, marking that result as the answer would make the startup blocker clear.

[hikineet0]

Fixed it.
It was an error in the config file, specifically:

playlist_plugin {
    cue         "no"
}

I was trying to get musicpd to ignore .cue files in the music directory, guess I should've known better than to trust LLMs.
A PEBCAK, but also very non-descriptive/misleading error message, I would say.

[MaxKellermann]

exception: MPD died from signal 6: No such file or directory

This is a crash due to a bug in MPD (or in one of the libraries). This is the real error. The failure to open the database is not a problem (because MPD creates it) - it's only a warning, and does not prevent MPD from starting.

So MPD crashes right after starting. This bug needs to be fixed. See https://mpd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/user.html#mpd-crashes for how to obtain the information necessary in a bug report.

[hikineet0]

Here's what I get from the basic gdb in that link, sadly recompiling would take too much time for my device:

(gdb) bt
#0  thr_kill () at thr_kill.S:4
#1  0x00000008037be894 in __raise (s=s@entry=6) at /usr/src/lib/libc/gen/raise.c:48
#2  0x00000008038706f9 in abort () at /usr/src/lib/libc/stdlib/abort.c:61
#3  0x0000000803661fb8 in terminate_with_diagnostics () at /usr/src/contrib/libcxxrt/exception.cc:366
#4  0x00000008036600e9 in std::terminate () at /usr/src/contrib/libcxxrt/atomic.h:66
#5  0x0000000803660b6a in __gxx_personality_v0
    (version=<optimized out>, actions=6, exceptionClass=<optimized out>, exceptionObject=0x80c8cf760, context=0x7fffffffb720)
    at /usr/src/contrib/libcxxrt/exception.cc:1227
#6  0x00000008036c7ee2 in unwind_phase2
    (uc=uc@entry=0x7fffffffb678, cursor=cursor@entry=0x7fffffffb720, exception_object=exception_object@entry=0x80c8cf760)
    at /usr/src/contrib/llvm-project/libunwind/src/UnwindLevel1.c:283
#7  0x00000008036c7ce5 in _Unwind_RaiseException (exception_object=0x80c8cf760) at /usr/src/contrib/llvm-project/libunwind/src/UnwindLevel1.c:464
#8  0x00000008036605a5 in throw_exception (ex=<optimized out>) at /usr/src/contrib/libcxxrt/exception.cc:795
#9  0x00000008036604e9 in __cxa_throw (thrown_exception=<optimized out>, tinfo=0x6, dest=0x0) at /usr/src/contrib/libcxxrt/exception.cc:830
#10 0x000000000029839a in ??? ()
#11 0x00000000002fc13c in ??? ()
#12 0x000000000025e2c3 in ??? ()
#13 0x000000000025e7f9 in ??? ()
#14 0x000000080379337f in __libc_start1 (argc=5, argv=0x7fffffffd868, env=0x7fffffffd898, cleanup=<optimized out>, mainX=0x25e7e0)
    at /usr/src/lib/libc/csu/libc_start1.c:180
#15 0x000000000025dc04 in ??? ()

Not sure if this helps.
I was also able to recreate the problem by adding the following to the config file:

playlist_plugin {
    cue         "no"
}

The whole config file I used for test:

bind_to_address         "/var/run/mpd/test.sock"
playlist_plugin {
cue "no"
}
audio_output {
        type            "null"
        name            "FFMPEG PIPE"
}

[MaxKellermann]

It helps a bit, but you ran this on a stripped MPD binary, i.e. there are no debug symbols and therefore we get "???" where the interesting part would be. Try again with debug symbols.

[MaxKellermann]

btw. when I try this, MPD stops with message:

2026-06-09T13:12:07 exception: block without "name" in line 96

Of course, your configuration is invalid. I see this error message, as expected with a broken configuration, but no crash.

[hikineet0]

I can't seem to rebuild it with the debug options on FreeBSD. Get stuck on libmms not being available for installation either through ports or through pkg (I don't have it as a requirement in make config).

I was also able to recreate the problem by adding the following to the config file:

playlist_plugin {
    cue         "no"
}

The whole config file I used for test:

bind_to_address         "/var/run/mpd/test.sock"
playlist_plugin {
cue "no"
}
audio_output {
        type            "null"
        name            "FFMPEG PIPE"
}

See if you can as well.

[MaxKellermann]

But do you want to use libmms? It's an optional feature.