Message "The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of plexmediaserver.service changed on disk" After Every Reboot

SJMarty · February 22, 2021, 11:16pm

Hello,

I’m running PMS v1.21.3.4046 on a Raspberry Pi 4B. The Pi is running Buster with all updates. The problem I’m having is that after every reboot, the plexmediaserver service is logging this message…

Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of plexmediaserver.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.

If I run systemctl daemon-reload, then run systemctl status plexmediaserver.service, everything is fine but after a reboot, the warning message above returns.

I have an override.conf present in the /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d folder but other than that, everything is very vanilla.

Thanks for any help figuring this out.

ChuckPa · February 22, 2021, 11:45pm

systemctl daemon-reload should have cleared it.

If it was ever in failed state: systemctl reset-failed.

SJMarty · February 23, 2021, 12:11am

I did the systemctl reset-failed but still get the same message when checking status after a reboot.

Here is the output from systemctl status plexmediaserver.service after a reboot…

Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of plexmediaserver.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
           └─override.conf
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-02-22 18:58:49 EST; 1min 51s ago
  Process: 603 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 607 (Plex Media Serv)
    Tasks: 58 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
           ├─ 607 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
           ├─ 682 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-3c1c83ba4/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.21.3.4046-3c1c83ba4 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/R
           ├─ 998 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.21.3.4046-3c1c83ba4 32600 /waitmutex
           └─1035 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.imdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-3c1c83ba4/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.21.3.4046-3c1c83ba4 /usr/lib/plexmediaser

Feb 22 18:58:49 HOSTNAME_REDACTED systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server...
Feb 22 18:58:49 HOSTNAME_REDACTED systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.

And here is the output from systemctl status plexmediaserver.service after running systemctl daemon-reload…

● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
           └─override.conf
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-02-22 18:58:49 EST; 8min ago
 Main PID: 607 (Plex Media Serv)
    Tasks: 56 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
           ├─ 607 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
           ├─ 682 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-3c1c83ba4/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.21.3.4046-3c1c83ba4 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/R
           ├─ 998 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.21.3.4046-3c1c83ba4 32600 /waitmutex
           └─1035 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.imdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-3c1c83ba4/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.21.3.4046-3c1c83ba4 /usr/lib/plexmediaser

Feb 22 18:58:49 HOSTNAME_REDACTED systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server...
Feb 22 18:58:49 HOSTNAME_REDACTED systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.
Feb 22 19:06:48 HOSTNAME_REDACTED systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Current command vanished from the unit file, execution of the command list won't be resumed.

Does this help?

ChuckPa · February 23, 2021, 12:24am

May I see the contents of the override?

SJMarty · February 23, 2021, 12:38am

Sure…not much to it…

[Service]
User=pi
Group=pi

ChuckPa · February 23, 2021, 12:58am

Now that’s outright dumb on debian’s part to complain about that.
There is nothing I can think of which would be reason for that to complain.

File perms are 644 and owned by root:root ?

I would cry “bug” on Debian.

SJMarty · February 23, 2021, 4:15am

Ownership and permissions appear correct. Here is the ls -l output…

-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 10 Feb 22 19:50 override.conf

I did a new install of PMS on a fresh Buster image on another Raspberry Pi 4B. If I leave the ‘plex’ user id alone and just create an override.conf with nothing in it (literally an empty file), I still get this warning on reboot. If I remove the override.conf file, I don’t get the warning after a reboot.

I found another thread from August, 2020 where the person also reported this issue but he had other problems and I didn’t see where this particular warning was specifically addressed.

Are you saying this is an OS issue and nothing specifically to do with the plexmediaserver service?

ChuckPa · February 23, 2021, 5:56am

I addressed his issue by showing where he had placed PMS (metadata directory) in his music library section which causes an infinite loop of PMS monitoring itself. It eventually explodes.

Yes, I’m saying this has to be an OS issue because if you:

Install the default service file in `/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service ( DPKG deposits the file there per systemd spec)
systemd looks at /etc/systemd/system/<servicename>.service.d/override.conf for service overrides
Specifying

[Service]
User=pi
Group=pi

executing sudo systemctl daemon-reload
systemd should not complain.

The worst which could happen is PMS fail to start on next PMS startup because you forgot to sudo chown -R pi:pi /var/lib/plexmediaserver (or equiv)

SJMarty · February 25, 2021, 5:23am

I opened an issue on GitHub and it was quickly closed. The person stated this isn’t a kernel issue and suggested I post on the raspberrypi.org forums (which I had already done).

@ChuckPa, do you have any suggestions where is best to report the issue?

Thanks.

ChuckPa · February 25, 2021, 6:14am

Either post it for the distro (not the Linux kernel)
or specifically for systemd .

If I were to file it, I would file against systemd and be clear by stating the issue is only seen on the raspbery pi.

Be certain to include the systemd version and exact copy (copy paste) of the error text so it can be tracked down

system · May 26, 2021, 6:15am

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Message "The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of plexmediaserver.service changed on disk" After Every Reboot

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