pgsql-jellyfin/TEMP_DIR_CONFIGURATION_FEATURE.md

Summary: Path Configuration Enhancement

Changes Made

✅ All Paths Are Now Configurable!

All major Jellyfin paths can be configured via command-line options or environment variables:

Path Type	Command Line	Environment Variable	Default
Program Data	-d, --datadir	JELLYFIN_DATA_DIR	%LocalAppData%/jellyfin
Configuration	-c, --configdir	JELLYFIN_CONFIG_DIR	{datadir}/config or XDG
Cache	-C, --cachedir	JELLYFIN_CACHE_DIR	{datadir}/cache or XDG
Logs	-l, --logdir	JELLYFIN_LOG_DIR	{datadir}/log
Temp ⭐	-t, --tempdir	JELLYFIN_TEMP_DIR	{system_temp}/jellyfin
Web Client	-w, --webdir	JELLYFIN_WEB_DIR	wwwroot or jellyfin-web

New Feature: Configurable Temp Directory

Previously: Temp directory was hardcoded to {system_temp}/jellyfin

Now: Fully configurable with:

• Command-line option: -t, --tempdir <path>
• Environment variable: JELLYFIN_TEMP_DIR
• Maintains backward compatibility with sensible default

Files Modified

1. Jellyfin.Server/StartupOptions.cs

   • Added TempDir property with command-line option -t, --tempdir

2. Emby.Server.Implementations/AppBase/BaseApplicationPaths.cs

   • Changed TempDirectory from computed property to stored property
   • Added tempDirectoryPath parameter to constructor

3. Emby.Server.Implementations/ServerApplicationPaths.cs

   • Added tempDirectoryPath parameter to constructor
   • Passes temp directory to base class

4. Jellyfin.Server/Helpers/StartupHelpers.cs

   • Added logic to resolve temp directory from options/env var/default
   • Creates temp directory during initialization
   • Passes temp directory to ServerApplicationPaths constructor

Usage Examples

Command Line

# Linux
jellyfin --tempdir /var/tmp/jellyfin

# Windows
jellyfin.exe --tempdir "D:\Temp\Jellyfin"

# All paths at once
jellyfin --datadir /var/lib/jellyfin --configdir /etc/jellyfin --cachedir /var/cache/jellyfin --logdir /var/log/jellyfin --tempdir /var/tmp/jellyfin

Environment Variables

# Linux/macOS
export JELLYFIN_TEMP_DIR=/var/tmp/jellyfin

# Windows PowerShell
$env:JELLYFIN_TEMP_DIR="D:\Temp\Jellyfin"

Docker Compose

version: '3.8'
services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
    environment:
      - JELLYFIN_TEMP_DIR=/temp
    volumes:
      - /fast-storage/jellyfin/temp:/temp

Benefits

Performance

• Place temp directory on fast SSD/NVMe for better transcoding performance
• Separate I/O load across different disks

Storage Management

• Use different mount points for different types of data
• Easier disk space quota management
• Prevent temp files from filling up data partition

Security

• Follow OS best practices (Linux FHS, Windows Program Data, etc.)
• Set appropriate permissions per directory type
• Separate user data from temporary files

Backup & Maintenance

• Exclude temp directory from backups
• Easier cleanup of temporary files
• Better separation of concerns

Containerization

• Proper volume mapping for ephemeral vs persistent data
• Follow container best practices
• Simplified Docker/Kubernetes configurations

Testing

✅ Build successful ✅ All paths resolve correctly ✅ Backward compatibility maintained (defaults to {system_temp}/jellyfin if not specified) ✅ Directories created automatically during startup ✅ Proper logging of all paths at startup

Documentation

Created comprehensive documentation in PATH_CONFIGURATION_GUIDE.md covering:

• All configurable paths
• Usage examples (CLI, environment variables, systemd, Docker)
• Priority order (CLI > env var > default)
• Permission setup
• Verification steps

Backward Compatibility

✅ Fully backward compatible

• All existing installations will continue to work without changes
• Default behavior unchanged
• New parameters are optional
• No breaking changes to existing configurations

Related Features

This complements existing path configurations:

• Program data path (already configurable)
• Config directory (already configurable)
• Cache directory (already configurable)
• Log directory (already configurable)
• Web directory (already configurable)

Now all major paths are user-configurable! 🎉