/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service is overwritten during upgrade process

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.25.4.5487
OS Version#: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS

Greetings. I customized my /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service to resolve a media permissions issue. I also modified permissions on the file system to correspond to the changes in the plexmediaserver.service file.

After the last two upgrades, I found that the upgrade process is over-writing the /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service. Since the change is small, it is a relatively easy fix to go back in and re-create. But I was wondering if it is possible to not overwrite the plexmediaserver.service file during the upgrade process?

The change I make to the files is:

FROM:

User=plex
Group=plex

TO:

User=media
Group=media

Here is the output from the upgrade process:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  plexmediaserver
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 78.4 MB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/deb public/main amd64 plexmediaserver amd64 1.25.4.5487-648a8f9f9 [78.4 MB]
Fetched 78.4 MB in 7s (11.7 MB/s)
(Reading database ... 193434 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../plexmediaserver_1.25.4.5487-648a8f9f9_amd64.deb ...
PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation.
PlexMediaServer install: Warning:  "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support" isn't owned by "plex", UID: 998.  Found "media", UID: 1000 instead. Continuing.
PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation complete.  Errors: 0, Warnings: 1
Unpacking plexmediaserver (1.25.4.5487-648a8f9f9) over (1.25.4.5468-989df2310) ...
Setting up plexmediaserver (1.25.4.5487-648a8f9f9) ...
PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer-1.25.4.5487-648a8f9f9 - Installation starting.
PlexMediaServer install:
PlexMediaServer install: Now installing based on:
PlexMediaServer install:   Installation Type:   Update
PlexMediaServer install:   Process Control:     systemd
PlexMediaServer install:   Plex User:           plex
PlexMediaServer install:   Plex Group:          plex
PlexMediaServer install:   Video Group:         render
PlexMediaServer install:   Metadata Dir:        /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support
PlexMediaServer install:   Temp Directory:      /tmp
PlexMediaServer install:   Lang Encoding:       en_US.UTF-8
PlexMediaServer install:   Intel i915 Hardware: Found
PlexMediaServer install:   Nvidia GPU card:     Not Found
PlexMediaServer install:
PlexMediaServer install:   OpenCL:              Installed
PlexMediaServer install:   Beignet:             Installed
PlexMediaServer install:
PlexMediaServer install: Completing final configuration.
PlexMediaServer install: Starting Plex Media Server.
PlexMediaServer install: both
PlexMediaServer install: user
PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer-1.25.4.5487-648a8f9f9 - Installation successful.  Errors: 1, Warnings: 1
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.64ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.36.0-1ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.24-1ubuntu3) ...
2

You don’t want to modify the service files as any install would overwrite that.

There is an article here on customizing:

Customizing your Plex configuration - Plex Media Server / Desktops & Laptops - Plex Forum

I use that for my overrides.

3

Perfect. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

sudo mkdir  /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf

#  Override Plex Defaults
[Service]
User=media
Group=media
4

simply sudo systemctl edit plexmediaserver.service next time would be easier. :slight_smile:

5

Great tip. Thanks!

6

Blockquote

Changes made to that file can be lost on the next upgrade. Use the recommended override file instead.

7

When I ran the command, it looks like it went to my override.conf file. Not sure if that was because I had previously created the override.conf file.
image

8

Hi, no it will create if needed, or edit existing override file.

Try it and see. :slight_smile: