Optional: auto exec, run plugins from any noexec drive (no setup)

Recommended for a noexec drive. MPC cannot load a plugin from a drive mounted noexec (SSD, USB stick, SD card): it is listed but only shows Load Plugin. This makes the Synths folder of every noexec drive executable through a small boot-time service, with nothing to choose; the drives stay noexec. Tried on a Force with two USB sticks, a plugin loaded and survived a power cycle (not yet tried: an eject without its release command); 0.3.1 also starts after a reboot when an overlay is mounted on /usr (tried on a second Force, two reboots), and 0.3.2 finds drives with a space in the name. Apply updates an installed 0.3.0 or 0.3.1 in place. Replaces drive exec.

Device-verified 2026-10-14 on a Force Gen1 with two USB sticks: install, a plugin loaded from the stick, a power cycle, release. Not yet tried: the SSD, an eject without release. This replaces drive exec (../drive_exec, one named drive), which stays only so it can be uninstalled. Offline tests: tools/test_auto_exec.py.

What the device does (device-verified 2026-10-14, NOTES)

On a Force Gen1 the mount daemon edisksd mounts external drives nosuid,nodev,noexec (a USB stick showed it; the SSD report earlier). It has no config option for that, and MPC shares the shell's mount namespace. So the patch does not change how drives are mounted.

What the patch does

A systemd timer (5 s after boot, then every 5 s) looks at the mounts. For every drive mounted noexec directly under /media (not the internal storage) that has a Synths folder, it makes a private bind mount of that folder and remounts only it with exec. The drive stays noexec. A drive that is already executable, has no Synths folder, or already has a foreign mount there is left alone. Drives plugged in later are picked up on the next pass; a drive that is gone is cleaned up. No folder is ever created. A backup of the mount table and unit files goes to /data/mpc-vst-plugins/backups. MPC is not restarted; fstab and MPC.settings are not touched.

Use

scp tools/mpc_patch/auto_exec/auto-exec-patch.sh root@<device-ip>:/tmp/
ssh root@<device-ip>
sh /tmp/auto-exec-patch.sh status      # changes nothing
sh /tmp/auto-exec-patch.sh install     # asks you to type PATCH
sh /tmp/auto-exec-patch.sh verify      # does MPC itself see the executable folders; lists plugin folders
sh /tmp/auto-exec-patch.sh release     # before ejecting a drive
sh /tmp/auto-exec-patch.sh uninstall   # asks you to type REMOVE

Plugins go into a drive's Synths folder (the installer app: Create Synths folder, then Install to). The verify last line is VERIFY result=ok|not-installed|not-active|mpc-blind|mpc-stopped|no-plugins.

Limits

• Eject: a drive with an executable folder on it is busy until the folder is released. Run release first (the timer then re-applies it on its next pass; stop the timer if you want it to stay off). An unplugged drive is cleaned up by the next pass.
• A plugin loaded from the drive keeps it busy: release/uninstall refuse then (save, stop MPC).
• A drive whose Synths folder is made after the patch is picked up within 5 s; MPC may already have dropped the plugin entries (run the app's Register plugin folders).
• A firmware update may remove the bootstrap unit in the system image: run status, then install again.
• 0.3.1 (2026-10-22; device-verified the same day on a tester's Force: two reboots with a USB stick as the exec drive): the bootstrap unit is written through a bind mount of /, so it lands in the root filesystem even when an overlay is mounted over /usr (seen on a tester's Force). 0.3.0 wrote it into that overlay, which systemd cannot see at boot, so the patch never started after a reboot there. status now says reason=bootstrap-missing when the unit is not in the root filesystem.
• 0.3.2 (2026-10-22, offline; BusyBox awk checked in Docker): drives whose name has a space (/media/Force SSD) are found. BusyBox awk, the device's, read the old pattern [^\/] as "no backslash", so a mount point written Force\040SSD in mountinfo was skipped. Updating (2026-10-22, offline): 0.3.2 updates 0.3.0 and 0.3.1 in place: status says state=old-patch, and install (or Apply in the installer app) removes the old version with its own uninstaller, then installs. uninstall also removes those versions.
• It cannot be installed next to drive exec or the original ForceHD VST Exec (status says so); uninstall those first.
• 32-bit ARM (Gen1) only. Credit: mount logic and rollback after "ForceHD VST Exec 0.1.3" by timomacquis (#150).

Files

src/ has the files that get installed; build_script.py embeds them into script.template.sh and writes auto-exec-patch.sh. Tests: sudo python3 tools/test_auto_exec.py (or DEX_IN_NS=1 unshare -rm --propagation private python3 tools/test_auto_exec.py as a normal user).

All device patches