Transcoder hardcodes Conan CI path for amdgpu.ids, ignoring LIBDRM_DATADIR (EL9 / Rocky Linux 9)

General Discussions
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Server Environment:

  • OS: Rocky Linux 9 (RHEL 9 clone)

  • Hardware: AMD GPU (NAVI10)

  • Install Type: Native (RPM/Systemd), not Docker.

Description of Issue: When initiating a hardware transcode, the Plex Transcoder throws multiple “No such file or directory” errors into the system syslog. The transcoder is explicitly searching for the AMD GPU hardware database using an absolute path linked to a continuous integration (CI) build environment:

/home/runner/_work/plex-conan/plex-conan/.conan/data/libdrm/2.4.120-6/plex/main/build/678777ee2ca8706ca90cf805e0dd88235f6d7f05/meson-install/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids

Steps Taken & Observations:

  1. HW Transcoding does eventually succeed. After spamming the logs with the failed /home/runner/ path, the transcoder successfully falls back to the host OS’s proprietary AMD AMF drivers and transcodes the file via the GPU.

  2. The standard amdgpu.ids file exists on the host system at /usr/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids with proper 644 permissions.

  3. Setting the environment variable Environment="LIBDRM_DATADIR=/usr/share/libdrm" inside the systemd service override does not stop the transcoder from attempting the hardcoded /home/runner path first.

  4. Because plexmediaserver.service runs with ProtectHome=true on EL9, the service cannot see /home anyway, making this hardcoded fallback path inherently broken on sandboxed systemd environments.

Impact: While cosmetic, it generates unnecessary log spam on every single transcode initiation. It appears the ffmpeg binary bundled via Conan has hardcoded its build-time paths.

Extract from messages:
Mar 26 13:48:29 server01 sh[389612]: /home/runner/_work/plex-conan/plex-conan/.conan/data/libdrm/2.4.120-6/plex/main/build/678777ee2ca8706ca90cf805e0dd88235f6d7f05/meson-install/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids: No such file or directory
Mar 26 13:48:29 server01 sh[389612]: /home/runner/_work/plex-conan/plex-conan/.conan/data/libdrm/2.4.120-6/plex/main/build/678777ee2ca8706ca90cf805e0dd88235f6d7f05/meson-install/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids: No such file or directory
Mar 26 13:48:29 server01 sh[389612]: /home/runner/_work/plex-conan/plex-conan/.conan/data/libdrm/2.4.120-6/plex/main/build/678777ee2ca8706ca90cf805e0dd88235f6d7f05/meson-install/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids: No such file or directory
Mar 26 13:48:30 server01 sh[389612]: /home/runner/_work/plex-conan/plex-conan/.conan/data/libdrm/2.4.120-6/plex/main/build/678777ee2ca8706ca90cf805e0dd88235f6d7f05/meson-install/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids: No such file or directory
Mar 26 13:48:30 server01 sh[389825]: /home/runner/_work/plex-conan/plex-conan/.conan/data/libdrm/2.4.120-6/plex/main/build/678777ee2ca8706ca90cf805e0dd88235f6d7f05/meson-install/share/libdrm/amdgpu.ids: No such file or directory