TailCharacterConflict in PlexMediaServer directory at Synology

[akabyshev]

I’m not sure when this started but today I noticed a bunch of files at PMS root directory:

As per Synology documentation (Why is there file conflict on Synology Drive and what can I do? - Synology Knowledge Center) it’s the way their software handles a conflict:

• TailCharacterConflict: There is a period after the file name. For example, file “test.”.
  Solution: Simply remove the period.

I understand that this is something pretty safe to ignore, but if this keeps going with each PMS update…

Only EN, DE, FR and IT stub-files are affected, Asian languages are OK.
Same thing happening under /PlexMediaServer/AppData

Can anyone confirm those stub-files end with a period on i.e. Linux/Win-based server?
Can we ask devs to remove those periods in filenames?

[ChuckPa]

Where are you finding this?

I’m the maintainer of the DSM packages.

I’ve never seen this error before. Is it confined exclusively to “Synology Drive” product?

There have been no complaints about this since its launch in 2020/2021.

The files, as defined, and approved by synology (in package center) are:

drwxrwxrwx+  4 root            root             4096 Dec 15 11:54  .
drwxr-xr-x  54 root            root             4096 Mar 11 19:12  ..
drwxr-xr-x   4 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer  4096 Mar 12 20:12  AppData
-rwxrwxrwx+  1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer     0 Feb  4 13:23 'Bitte legen Sie hier keine Mediendateien ab.'
---x--x--x   1 root            root            37573 Dec 15 11:54  DBRepair.sh
drwxrwxrwx+  3 root            root             4096 Mar  1 17:14  @eaDir
-rwxrwxrwx+  1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer     0 Feb  4 13:23 'Please do not place any media files here.'
-rwxrwxrwx+  1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer     0 Feb  4 13:23 'Por favor, no coloque ningún archivo multimedia aquí.'
-rwxrwxrwx+  1 chuck           users               0 Dec  2 12:22  testfile
-rwxrwxrwx+  1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer     0 Feb  4 13:23 'Veuillez ne placer aucun fichier multimédia ici.'
-rwxrwxrwx+  1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer     0 Feb  4 13:23  ここにメディアファイルを置かないでください。
-rwxrwxrwx+  1 PlexMediaServer PlexMediaServer     0 Feb  4 13:23  请不要在此处放置任何媒体文件。
chuck@ds418:/volume1/PlexMediaServer$ 

If you’re seeing them in “Synology Drive” app,

1. Either an app bug

2. Synology Drive folks need to talk to DSM app folks and tell us what’s allowed in a Linux Filename

3. The Asian languages aren’t actually using the . (period) character . That’s why it’s not flagging in Syynology Drive.

Frankly. Synology Drive is the likely fault here. Since when are there restrictions on Linux file names in DSM?

[akabyshev]

You are right, I’ve made quick tests and pinned this down to most probably be caused by Synology Cloud Sync software (and it seems it at least shares some filename-handling logic with Synology Drive I guess?). EDIT: Cloud Sync is used to backup my /PlexMediaServer to Google Drive and Synology C2 Object Storage, and it seems the sync engine has a problem with periods in filenames’ end. TBH I don’t see any usefulness in those period chars too, apart from pedantic beauty.

Proposed solution: I just deleted root-level files in /PlexMediaServer and every file but plexmediaserver.pid under /PlexMediaServer/appdata. Will have to repeat after each PMS update.

So case’s closed, thank you.