How do I update the Plex software on my Linode?

Version 1.18.5.2309 is a beta version for Plex Pass subscribers. You'll need to make a couple of changes from within a terminal application before you can access the Plex repository. That being said, the below instructions will help install the update-to-date, general availability version of the software on Debian-based systems and CentOS 7.

1. Enable Repository Updating

Debian/Ubuntu

• Add the Plex repository to your source list:

echo deb https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/deb public main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plexmediaserver.list

• Add their public key to the list of trusted keys:

curl https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-keys/PlexSign.key | sudo apt-key add

From here, you can run the normal system update and upgrade commands.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

CentOS/RPM-based

Repository configuration is already added to the repo configuration. You will just need to enable it. Follow the steps before for how to do this.

• nano /etc/yum.repos.d/plex.repo
• Change line 4 from enabled=0 to enabled=1

[PlexRepo]
name=PlexRepo
baseurl=https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/rpm/$basearch/
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-keys/PlexSign.key
gpgcheck=1

From here, you can run the normal system update command.

sudo yum update

2. Check Current Version

Debian/Ubuntu

sudo dpkg -l plexmediaserver

CentOS/RPM-based

rpm -q plexmediaserver

3. Confirm Service has restarted

Make sure to restart the service using the below command. This will make sure the update changes are enabled.

sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver

Then, you can check the status to make sure it restarted:

systemctl status plexmediaserver

Common Issues

Debian/Ubuntu

You may come across the below note and error message:

N:Is the package apt-transport-https installed?
E: Failed to fetch https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/deb/dists/public/InRelease

There are a few forum posts regarding the "E"/error message on the official Plex forum. Sometimes, the problem needed to be update on Plex's end. Some solutions involved verifying Plex's public key or removing and re-adding it.

I had an issue where there was a dependency missing that made it impossible for me to access the release link. This can be fixed by installing the package mentioned in the "N"/note.

sudo apt install apt-transport-https

Additional Resources

• Official Plex Forums

Edit: Added common issues