Temp Directory during dpkg install incorrect

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.18.9.2571-e106a8a91
Player Version#: N/A

Server is Ubuntu 16.04 with all the latest updates installed, no other packages other than plexmediaserver have been installed.

When I update my server with: sudo dpkg -i plexmediaserver_1.18.9.2571-e106a8a91_amd64.deb it outputs some things:

Preparing to unpack plexmediaserver_1.18.9.2571-e106a8a91_amd64.deb ...
PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation.
PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation complete.
Unpacking plexmediaserver (1.18.9.2571-e106a8a91) over (1.18.8.2527-740d4c206) ...
Setting up plexmediaserver (1.18.9.2571-e106a8a91) ...
PlexMediaServer install:
PlexMediaServer install: Now installing based on:
PlexMediaServer install:   Process Control:    Systemd
PlexMediaServer install:   Plex User:          plex
PlexMediaServer install:   Plex Group:         plex
PlexMediaServer install:   Video Group:        video
PlexMediaServer install:   Metadata Dir:       /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support
PlexMediaServer install:   Temp Directory:     /var/lib/plexmediaserver/tmp_transcoding
PlexMediaServer install:   Lang Encoding:      en_US.UTF-8
PlexMediaServer install:   HW transcoding:     Not found
PlexMediaServer install:
PlexMediaServer install: Completing final configuration.
PlexMediaServer install: Starting Plex Media Server.
PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer-1.18.9.2571-e106a8a91 - Installation successful.

Everything works properly… but the “Temp Directory” is wrong… it’s actually /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode. I noticed this on all the 1.18 installations. As far as I can tell, /var/lib/plexmediaserver/tmp_transcoding isn’t actually used for anything.

Is this a bug? Am I misunderstanding?

2

I made a change in the installer, which you will see as of PMS 1.19.0.
PMS 1.18.9 (this release) is the last of the 1.18.x train.

In 1.19.0 , I will show the actual Preference in your Preferences instead of the service defaults.

I added this by popular request. :slight_smile:

If there are any other items from “Preferences.xml” which would be useful, I will consider adding them.

1 Like
3

I do actually like seeing this info, and look forward to the fix in 1.19.

That said, AFAIK /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode is the default, so I’m confused that you seem to imply that /var/lib/plexmediaserver/tmp_transcoding is the default which I changed.

Appreciate your (fast) reply. Thanks!

4

What I have done is to extract TranscoderTempDir="Pathname" from the Preferences.xml file.

If you place your Transcoder temp in /dev/shm, then you will see /dev/shm displayed.

By creating the base capability, I can extract any other Name="value" pairs.

5

The key TranscoderTempDir does not exist in my Preferences.xml file (I’m guessing because I never changed it from the default).

6

Correct.

1 Like
7

Just curious though, where does update script get the value:
/var/lib/plexmediaserver/tmp_transcoding
from?

8

The value it displays is drawn from:

  1. The default service definition
  2. Updated by any value you have for the service (override)
  3. Updated one more time from the Preferences.xml (beginning in 1.19.0)
9

I’m still a little confused about where it’s coming from. I haven’t set any service overrides, and the default is /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode

I don’t mean to be annoying, I’m just trying to figure out where the output /var/lib/plexmediaserver/tmp_transcoding is coming from.

11

Thank you for pointing this out.

I went through the CM source and found the departure from legacy.

The correct default value to report is /tmp.
I am making the change to the packaging scripts now.

I will request these changes be included with PMS A.S.A.P.

12

This is a screenshot from my packaging development environment.
Please ignore that I’m using 1.18.7. Version doesn’t matter; the output does.

Screenshot from 2020-03-29 22-21-58
Screenshot from 2020-03-29 22-21-58842Ă—594 153 KB

1 Like
13

Really appreciate your replies and the details you’ve shared.

Still though, isn’t the default transcoding temporary storage location here?
/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode

14

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