Howto prevent plex-desktop from creating ~/Library/Application Support

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

…or how to move/configure this folder structure to another place then home?

I am running Arch Linux and am using the AUR package plex-desktop-1.58.1.

2

We don’t make an AUR package so this would be up to the maker of the package you are using. Also, that version is quite old which may suggest whoever made this third-party package has abandoned it.

3

Thank you for the fast response, I’ll look into that as well!

Can you tell if that ~/Library/Application Support folder structure can be configured at all, with the latest version? And if yes, where is it documented? What is its purpose?
The folder structure is (re)created directly after starting plex-desktop, and stays empty so far…

4

FYI: The AUR package creator says its outdated because of significant changes on Plex side:

[…] They have updated FFMPEG, MPV (and maybe QT) and their forks are no longer binary compatible with the arch packages, requiring the use of the forked versions included in the package. (The same issues are valid for plex-htpc since they’re essentially the same app)

But I believe, the version is probably not the problem here at all, is it?

5

The only packages we distribute on Linux are for flatpak and snap. In these the paths are isolated by the package system. Any other packages are unsupported.

6

Well, that answer pointed me into the right direction:

  • Read about the flatpak and snap put-everything-in-a-blob-container thingy
  • Installed flatpak
  • Used flatpak to install tv.plex.PlexDesktop
  • Had to use flatpak run tv.plex.PlexDesktop to run the shiny new plex player container
  • Et voila: No ~/Library folder poluting my home anymore!

Initial problem solved! Thank you.

  • But all settings are gone…
  • Checked the size of my new player… :exploding_head:
  • 1,4 GiB of additional space required!
  • Wondering about this huge step back (customer POV) from an open source player on GitHub, that compiled to adequate 35 MiBs, to this mega binary blob…

I am uncertain now if just staying with the web player is more sane…

7

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.