Optional: drive exec, run plugins from a noexec drive (an MPC/Force's SSD)

Replaced by Auto exec (use that instead; this one is kept so it can still be uninstalled). UNTESTED on a device by this project. MPC cannot load a plugin from a drive mounted noexec: it is listed but only shows Load Plugin. This makes one folder of the drive (Synths) executable, through a small boot-time service; the drive itself stays noexec.

Not specific to one drive or device: it works on any drive MPC mounts noexec under /media/<name>. Its author named it "ForceHD VST Exec" after his own drive (labelled ForceHD); it is called drive exec here. It has only been tried on a Force Gen1 with MPC OS 3.9.1; nothing is known about other devices or firmware.

Replaced by auto exec (2026-10-14): use that. This one stays so it can be uninstalled. UNTESTED on a device by this project. The original (0.1.3) was run by its author on one Force; this adapted version and its uninstall have only been tested offline (real mounts on a tmpfs, see below). Testers wanted (issue #150): a Force with a noexec SSD, comfortable with SSH. Report what status, install, a reboot, loading a plugin from the drive and uninstall printed.

Not part of any plugin release. drive-exec-patch.sh is a standalone script you run on the device yourself, if you want it. The installer app lists it in its read-only "Advanced: device patches" step.

The problem

The Force's SSD (and other drives MPC mounts under /media/<name>) is mounted noexec. MPC cannot load a plugin's .so from such a drive: the plugin is listed under VST but only shows "Load Plugin" (NOTES 2026-10-03). The tests and the contributor's logs show the same thing at the system level: dlopen fails with "failed to map segment from shared object".

What the patch does

One folder on the drive (default Synths, where our plugins install their .so, skin and data together) gets a private bind mount that is remounted with exec. The drive itself stays noexec, so nothing else on it can run. A systemd timer (5 s after boot, then every 5 s) applies it once the drive is mounted; MPC does not wait for it and is not restarted. fstab, MPC's program and MPC.settings are not touched. It adds a unit to the device's system image (/usr/lib/systemd/system, the root filesystem is remounted writable for a moment and restored), the timer and service in /etc/systemd/system, and /etc/drive-exec/. A patch-only backup (mount table, unit files, no projects) goes to /data/mpc-vst-plugins/backups.

Use

Copy it to the device and run it as root:

scp tools/mpc_patch/drive_exec/drive-exec-patch.sh root@<device-ip>:/tmp/
ssh root@<device-ip>
sh /tmp/drive-exec-patch.sh status                      # changes nothing; lists the noexec drives
sh /tmp/drive-exec-patch.sh install --root "/media/<your drive>"      # asks you to type PATCH
sh /tmp/drive-exec-patch.sh uninstall                   # asks you to type REMOVE

status also lists every mount under /media (filesystem, device, exec/noexec). A drive is named by its label (SSD - Force) or, when it has none, by a number (662522); a folder in /media that has no line there is only an empty mount point left behind, not a drive. Patch the one marked noexec. --root can be left out when exactly one drive under /media is mounted noexec. --exec-dir vst makes the contributor's original folder executable instead of Synths. A drive name may have spaces. After installing, install plugins to that drive with the installer app (Install to: the drive) or by hand, and add them to MPC's plugin list (the app's "Register plugin folders").

Before removing it, save your project. uninstall refuses while MPC has a plugin from the folder loaded (stop MPC first); the plugins stay on the drive but will not load until the patch is back. Run status after a reboot to see patched.

Credit and what changed

The mount logic, its checks and the rollback are "ForceHD VST Exec 0.1.3" by timomacquis (issue #150), tested by him on a Force Gen1 with MPC OS 3.9.1: persistent after a full reboot, the parent mount keeps noexec, Dexed and Plaits load from the SSD, no wait added to MPC's start. He contributed it to this project. Changes here (version 0.2.0):

the drive and the folder are chosen (/media/<name>, spaces allowed, plain names only), instead of the fixed /media/ForceHD/vst; the config is shell sourced by a root service, so both names are validated strictly (letters, digits, . _ + ( ) - and spaces, starting with a letter or digit; internal storage and the system folder are refused);
mount points are compared the way /proc/self/mountinfo writes them (a space is \040; his awk compare did not match such a name);
the empty acvs drop-in is gone (his own review notes call it dead weight); the three systemd units are his (only the names changed from force-vst-exec to drive-exec, so it never collides with his original: if his original is installed, status says so and install refuses);
status ends with a STATE line, install/uninstall ask for a typed word (PATCH / REMOVE, or --confirmed), and everything is one file with his scripts embedded as plain text;
the service names acvs or inmusic-mpc are both handled, like the other scripts here.

Not changed: ordering with MPC (none), the timer, the root-bootstrap that adds the unit to the system image, the ownership and parent checks, no forced or lazy unmount.

Check that it works: `verify`

sh drive-exec-patch.sh verify (also run at the end of install). "Installed" is not "works": it checks that the folder is an executable mount, that MPC's own process sees that mount (it reads /proc/<MPC pid>/mountinfo; a service in its own mount namespace, or one that started before the mount, would not), and lists the plugin folders in it. Its last line is VERIFY result=ok|not-installed|not-active|mpc-blind|mpc-stopped|no-plugins. mpc-blind: restart MPC with the drive in. no-plugins: install into this drive's Synths folder (the app's Install to). ok but a plugin still shows only "Load Plugin": register the plugin folders again (installer app step 5) and restart MPC. Offline tests only (tools/test_drive_exec.py); not run on a device yet.

Known limits

One drive, /media/<name> only, 32-bit ARM (Gen1) only. An SD card and a USB stick at once need two installs, which the script refuses; patch the one you keep plugins on, and use the internal drive for the rest.
Boot timing: MPC does not wait for the mount. A project that opens by itself at start can open before the drive is ready; wait for the mount and reload it. MPC drops plugin-list entries whose file is missing at startup: run the app's "Register plugin folders" if entries disappear.
A firmware update may remove the unit in the system image. Run status, then install again.
The timer runs every 5 s while the drive is absent (journal noise, no other effect).
Do not unplug the drive while a plugin from it is loaded.
Untested on a device by this project (the contributor's 0.1.3 was; this adapted version and its uninstall have only been run offline). See NOTES.

Files and tests

src/ holds the files that get installed (the helper, the uninstaller, the bootstrap scripts and the three units); build_script.py embeds them into script.template.sh and writes drive-exec-patch.sh (python3 build_script.py). tools/test_drive_exec.py tests it with real mounts: as root, in a private mount namespace, a tmpfs mounted noexec at /media/SSD - Force stands for the SSD and a small shared library is really dlopened before the patch, with it and after removing it (outside the folder it stays blocked, the parent mount's options never change); also install and removal, repeated apply, an absent drive, a plugin held by a process, a failed install rolling back, the typed words, hostile drive and folder names, and that the embedded files equal src/. Run sudo python3 tools/test_drive_exec.py (as a normal user only the file checks run).

All device patches