SOLVED: Jellyfin Requires chmod -R 777 Periodically for Hardware Transcoding

[Kein]

Hi,

I’m encountering a recurring issue with my Jellyfin setup where hardware transcoding stops working unless I manually adjust permissions for /dev/dri. Here are the details of my setup and problem:

System Details:

Jellyfin Version: 10.8.10

Platform: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS

Installation Method: Docker

Hardware:

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 (with integrated Intel HD Graphics 630)

GPU: Using /dev/dri for Intel iGPU hardware acceleration



Issue Description:
Hardware transcoding works correctly after a fresh setup. However, periodically transcoding fails, and I need to run the following commands to restore functionality:

sudo chmod -R 777 /dev/dri 
docker restart jellyfin

I expect Jellyfin to consistently access /dev/dri for hardware transcoding without requiring manual intervention.

Steps Taken:

1. Mounted /dev/dri in the container using:

--device /dev/dridev/dri


2. Set permissions 660 for /dev/dri to see if there's any difference:

sudo chmod -R 660 /dev/dri 
sudo chown -R root:video /dev/dri


3. Added the Docker user to video and render groups:

sudo usermod -aG video,render $(whoami)



Despite these efforts, the issue reappears after some time. I’m unsure if this is due to Docker, system permissions resetting, or Jellyfin’s handling of /dev/dri.

Logs:
I’ve attached debug-level logs showing what happens when transcoding fails (available upon request).

What I Need Help With:

How can I ensure persistent access to /dev/dri for Jellyfin without needing to run chmod and restart the container?

Is there a better way to configure permissions or system settings to fix this issue?


Thank you in advance for your help!



Does this adhere to the guidelines and clearly explain the problem?

[TheDreadPirate]

You need to pass in the render group into the container.

Code:

group_add:
      - '993' # Intel render group