Why? Not trying to be an ass but there isn’t much in a media server that would warrant it all being written in a lower level language.
Personally I run Plex in a Docker container and basically don’t worry about it at all.
Docker might technically qualify as a fix, but I'd rather that the software be engineered well enough to not need it.
Anyway, there is Docker; You could spend the rest of your life shaking your fist, or you could just run it via Docker and be happy that someone else also developed free software to solve these problems for you.
And yes, I've actually considered starting a project of my own. The main thing that gives me pause is not writing the CRUD and server bits but learning ins and outs of the absolute beast that is FFMPEG.
I'd love to see a modular, but integrated approach, and one that lets me treat the media server itself as fungible. I want a sqlite database that is easily syncable/backup/restorable, I want a small Rust component that does media scanning and writes metadata to the database, and another small server component that has "storage" plugins for accessing the actual media and then uses gstreamer to "simul-cast" it to any WebRTC capable client.
Imagine being able to WHIP your media into an OBS session, or have it cast side-by-side with a webcam feed to an RPi hooked up to a TV. Etc.
If I could clone myself, this is the project Clone #1 would work on.
so stop getting defensive. you could have just said "there is docker" and saved everyone the passive aggression.
This... what's it matter if its hard to get running in linux? you only have to get it running once and bam - you run your server in a container of that.
Could take a rocket scientist working on it... but once it's done? it's done. the container maintainer occasionally releases updated versions doing the same thing that worked previously.
I have Plex running on docker on a QNAP with a dedicated graphics card and rarely have issues (other than my own stupidity).