HomeBridge starting problem

I am in the process of installing HomeBridge on a Raspberry Pi B+ for the first time. The only plugin I have installed is homebridge-smartthings. When attempting to start HomeBridge I get the following warning & error messages:

Warning: *** WARNING *** Please fix your application to use the native API of Avahi!

Error:

events.js:141
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: listen EADDRINUSE :::51826
    at Object.exports._errnoException (util.js:837:11)
    at exports._exceptionWithHostPort (util.js:860:20)
    at Server._listen2 (net.js:1231:14)
    at listen (net.js:1267:10)
    at Server.listen (net.js:1363:5)
    at EventedHTTPServer.listen (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/node_modules/hap-nodejs/lib/util/eventedhttp.js:58:19)
    at HAPServer.listen (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/node_modules/hap-nodejs/lib/HAPServer.js:155:20)
    at Bridge.Accessory.publish (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/node_modules/hap-nodejs/lib/Accessory.js:480:16)
    at Server._publish (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/lib/server.js:92:16)
    at Server.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/homebridge/lib/server.js:351:14)

Any advice on how to proceed?

[ozaoral]

I ran into this problem as well, after reinstalling my Pi with a fresh homebridge configuration. I was able to install and set-up everything and it worked well. Then I followed the tutorial to set-up the autostart (https://timleland.com/setup-homebridge-to-start-on-bootup/) as as soon as I rebooted the Pi for the first time, I started to get this error. I tried many things and then removed the bootup services. Since then, Homebridge worked well again. So I created the boot services again and paid a little more attention this time 😃)

Problem 1: wrong folders

• stick to the instructions and gists here: https://gist.github.com/johannrichard/0ad0de1feb6adb9eb61a/
• pay attention to the folders in which you installed homebridge: if you followed the easier node installation using apt.get as described in the main tutorial in this repo (https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge/wiki/Running-HomeBridge-on-a-Raspberry-Pi#running-homebridge-on-bootup), you need to change the homebridge.service contents as described in the gist (leave out “local” in ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/homebridge $HOMEBRIDGE_OPTS)

Problem 2: permissions

• when launching homebridge as a service (not manually), it is necessary to pay more attention to the permissions
• I had iKettle plugin for CMDswitch2 installed to the home folder of Pi user … I moved it manually, changed the config.json and it works now

Problem 3: issues related to plugins

• on top of all of this, I had an issue with one of the plugins as well
• when multiple issues cross in your home setup, it is not always easy to find the solution (mainly in cases when a problem with plugin is able to influence homebridge so badly, that also other things quit working)

Hope this helps at least to some of you guys!

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity, and will be closed if no further activity occurs. If this issue was overlooked, forgotten, or should remain open for any other reason, please reply here to call attention to it and remove the stale status. Thank you for your contributions.