Stderr: panic: runtime error: index out of range [1] with length 1

[aphex_242]

Hello,

My channels service on Ubuntu is in a restart loop due to a panic. A suggestion in the past was to rebuild the database but I am not sure how that is done without access to the web interface. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

$ sudo systemctl status channels-dvr
● channels-dvr.service - Channels DVR
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/channels-dvr.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2026-01-29 21:10:56 EST; 725ms ago
Process: 79523 ExecStart=/home/jack/channels-dvr/latest/channels-dvr (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 79523 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
CPU: 168ms

$ tail -n 200 /home/jack/channels-dvr/data/channels-dvr.log
2026/01/29 20:51:48.960191 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2026/01/29 20:51:49.893903 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2026/01/29 20:51:50.170905 [DVR] Waiting 20h8m10s until next job 1769810400-5 Alaska State Troopers
2026/01/29 20:52:00.449712 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2025.12.28.0239 (linux-x86_64 pid:58082) in /home/jack/channels-dvr/data
2026/01/29 20:52:00.463968 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2026/01/29 20:52:01.396927 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2026/01/29 20:52:01.640614 [DVR] Waiting 20h7m58s until next job 1769810400-5 Alaska State Troopers
2026/01/29 20:52:11.949134 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2025.12.28.0239 (linux-x86_64 pid:58414) in /home/jack/channels-dvr/data
2026/01/29 20:52:11.963703 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2026/01/29 20:52:12.894713 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2026/01/29 20:52:13.133842 [DVR] Waiting 20h7m47s until next job 1769810400-5 Alaska State Troopers
2026/01/29 20:52:23.442502 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2025.12.28.0239 (linux-x86_64 pid:58749) in /home/jack/channels-dvr/data
2026/01/29 20:52:23.456338 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2026/01/29 20:52:24.388241 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2026/01/29 20:52:24.613560 [DVR] Waiting 20h7m35s until next job 1769810400-5 Alaska State Troopers
2026/01/29 20:52:34.942901 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2025.12.28.0239 (linux-x86_64 pid:59077) in /home/jack/channels-dvr/data
2026/01/29 20:52:34.956687 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2026/01/29 20:52:35.890026 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2026/01/29 20:52:36.112116 [DVR] Waiting 20h7m24s until next job 1769810400-5 Alaska State Troopers
2026/01/29 20:52:46.445269 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2025.12.28.0239 (linux-x86_64 pid:59405) in /home/jack/channels-dvr/data
2026/01/29 20:52:46.459292 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2026/01/29 20:52:47.392412 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2026/01/29 20:52:47.618749 [DVR] Waiting 20h7m12s until next job 1769810400-5 Alaska State Troopers
2026/01/29 20:52:47.714011 stderr: panic: runtime error: index out of range [1] with length 1
2026/01/29 20:52:47.714032 stderr:
^^^^^^^^
2026/01/29 20:52:57.945639 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2025.12.28.0239 (linux-x86_64 pid:59733) in /home/jack/channels-dvr/data
2026/01/29 20:52:57.961609 [SYS] Started HTTP Server on 8089
2026/01/29 20:52:58.893303 [HDR] Found 1 devices
2026/01/29 20:52:59.137938 [DVR] Waiting 20h7m1s until next job 1769810400-5 Alaska State Troopers
2026/01/29 20:53:09.443053 [SYS] Starting Channels DVR v2025.12.28.0239 (linux-x86_64 pid:60064) in /home/jack/channels-dvr/data

[mackid1993]

Have you tried restoring from a backup by chance?
http://YOUR_IP:8089/restore

[aphex_242]

I did not have a backup. I had just set this up about a month ago after Channels on my RPi also died. The RPi is fine, and given its no longer supported I moved onto an Intel NUC/i5's on Ubuntu and hadn't taken that wise precaution yet to backup. I looked at the shell history and the setup was followed correctly so something happened after to Channels, perhaps a solar flare. Perms and accounts were correct. Nuke'd from orbit and reinstalled its working fine again now. Only variation is no internal disk, external usb only. Thanks for the idea!