Help needed, how to install plug-ins on Ubuntu 19?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: Latest
Player Version#: Multiple

Hey all,

This is going to be long, so TL:DR how do I install plug-ins on Linux?

I am new to Linux, having previously run my Plex server from a Windows machine for a little over a year; and am having an issue getting plug-ins manually installed. I’ll give a little bit of background in case it identifies where I might have made a mistake.

Initially, I wanted to move my server over from Windows as it was. So I copied the contents of the Plex Media Server folder on Windows onto a USB drive. I then installed the server onto the Linux by going to the Plex website and downloading the package directly from there. I got it all up and running, with the server being viewable on devices but having only one piece of media in it. So since it was active, I tried to replicate the server by coping the Windows copy on the USB drive into its equivalent folder on Linux, located at /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/.

However, after doing this, the server would not load. Whenever I tried to access it either on device or web app, I got a error message saying the local host was unavailable. In a panic to revert it to a useable state I used the command “sudo rm –r /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server” which removed everything from that folder. This did not resolve the issue, so I uninstalled the server using the sudo command and then reinstalled it from the Ubuntu Software Store.

Once the server was back up and running I attempted to copy just the plug-ins folder into /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/ but found that that folder was still empty. The new fresh install had not repopulated it with the folders that had been there before. The folders I can remember were there included:
• Cache
• Media
• Metadata
• Plug-ins
• Plug-ins supports

I also found that I did not have permission to copy folders and files to that location anymore, and the folders were owned by a mix of root and Plex. So I used sudo commands to copy the plug-ins to the plug-ins folder and following a guide change the owner of all the folders to Plex.

But still no plug-ins are shown in Plex. I have tried restarting the server, but the terminal command for it said there was no such service; yet if I queried the service it would say it was active/running.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can get plug-ins to work on this new Linux server? The actual server is working fine, but I can’t get it to recognize the plug-ins at all.

I’m really hoping I don’t have to start from scratch, as I spent ages sorting my collections and collection art.

Thanks in advance.

2

It has been a year since they announced their impending death, not many clients can even access them.

3

My understanding was, as the article states, that was just with regards to the built in plug-ins directory channel.

I was under the impression that you could still manually install them via folder insertion and restarts. :no_mouth: After all, plug-ins still show on the dashboard and settings areas.

I was able to manually add plug-ins on the Windows server long after they announced and actioned the removal of the plug-ins “channel”.

4

They will either work or not after you create the directory and install them.

/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201187656-how-do-i-manually-install-a-plugin/

5

Yeah, that is where I placed the plug-in folders and files. But none of the 3 I installed are showing within the Plex Server Web UI.

I don’t understand why they would work fine on a Windows machine but not on Ubuntu. The Github entries all state they work on Ubuntu, and most of them have a recent version release.

6

Everything under /var/lib/plexmediaserver is to be owned by user plex:plex or the customized username you have PMS running as.

If root or other usernames are found there, something / someone has been playing without remembering that username plex is an unprivileged user and will fail when it doesn’t have access to its files.

7

When I look at the permissions, it only shows an entry for “group” which is shown as Plex.

At this point I think I am just going to uninstall Plex and do a fresh install. :cry: As in all my messing around to try and sort it, I can’t even remember what I have done.

So once all the folders are installed again from fresh install, everything should be set up right and then i can just copy the contents of the plug-in zips and everything should hopefully be ok.

8

none of them are going to show up, since plugins are deprecated and no longer supported.

any plugin you add, will need its own separate web page/UI for settings.

9

Is this a Linux/Ubuntu thing?

As I have just turned the old Windows server back on, and the same 3 plugins are showing under the standard web UI on that server.

10

it sounds like you have an old version installed, what pms version is running? settings > general (not the web client version)

are you accessing via Plex Web or direct server ip ?

11

Server Version: 1.16.6.1592
Web Client: 3.108.2

Accessing via localhost:32400/web/index.html

12

Please keep Windows out of the discussion and thinking for now.

Windows runs under your username and in your data areas.
Linux runs under the username plex:plex (note the lower case name) which is a system service without a login account.

Your Plex.tv account is the ‘owner’ of the server from the Plex.tv perspective and is local host implementation independent.

Plug-ins are now deprecated. This is why they don’t show in the UI anymore.
They will soon be completely removed and no longer functional in any form.

13

The only functionality I am trying to replicate is the ability to get subtitles.

Previously, I was using “Sub-Zero”, which was great for downloading both a standard subtitle track and a ‘forced’ subtitles track.

Is there any built in functionality that allows for me to still keep doing this, if the plugin will indeed no longer work?

14

To make a plug-in work , for now, the sequence is:

sudo sh
mkdir "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins"
--copy your plugin's ".bundle" directory into the Plug-ins directory
chown -R plex:plex "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins"
systemctl restart plexmediaserver

The above does :

  1. Elevate your username to root privilege
  2. Creates the Plug-ins directory (if not already existing)
  3. Copy the Plug-in’s “.bundle” directory tree there (the plug-in exists below that point)
  4. Change permissions so the Plug-in is owned by user plex
  5. Restart plex

Plex has its own Subtltles retrieval agent under Settings - Server - Agents. Have you given a look there?

15

I will give those commands a go now and see what happens.

Although, as an aside I did just try and uninstall Plex in order to do a fresh install to ensure everything was where it was meant to be, but something wierd happened.

I used “sudo dpkg -r plexmediaserver” but I got the message “dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove plexmediaserver, only the config files of which are on the system; use --purge to remove them too”.

Any ideas whats going on there?

I tried using the Plex’s own subtitles option originally, but it failed more often than not with regards to forced subtitles.

EDIT: The chown command executed, but the systemctl command did not.

Error shown was “Failed to restart plexmediaserver.service: unit plexmediaserver.service not found.”

16

That’s Ubuntu 19 being stupid. Do you want to start over from scratch?

17

The chown command executed, but the systemctl command did not.

Error shown was “Failed to restart plexmediaserver.service: unit plexmediaserver.service not found.”

I don’t wish to start over, as beyond the plugins, everything works functionally.

But I’m now wondering what all this tinkering might have done behind the scenes, since I am getting so many commands fail and it can’t find the service, etc. etc.

I’ve noticed there isn’t even a preferences file in the /var/lib/… folder.

18

Not 100% true…

  • Plugin’s that req. interaction with the user, besides what’s in the preferences of that plugin, are indeed dead!
  • Agents and Scanners are still humming along nicely
  • WebTools, ExportTools and EPG-dk still works, since the dev of it used other methods
  • SubZero is a special case, since it’s a hybrid between an agent and a regular plugin, but author took steps to provide alternative access (GitHub - pannal/Kitana: A responsive Plex plugin web frontend)
1 Like
19

Where did you install Plex from ? The Ubuntu app store or from having downloaded from Plex.tv directly ?

20

Initially from Plex.tv, but when that install failed from me pasting some media and metadata files into it from the old windows install. I used “rm -r” on the contents of the plexmediaserver folder; which killed the server.

So I then downloaded the version from the Ubuntu store. As I figured that would sort everything out correctly without the need for command lines…as I was about 10 minutes into my first ever Linux use.

I assume they are not the same versions then?