Security Enhanced (SE) Linux on Fedora & RedHat : issue and my resolution

[filip]

I noticed Security Enhanced that is on Fedora 42 and RedHat (read more on https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/linux/what-is-selinux ) is not mentionned in the minimserver install notes.

SELinux prevents the service to start, even if the permissions are set properly.

There is a need to create a new SELinux policy to allow the service to start.

I did not bother to do that, I simply turned off SELinux and it worked just fine!

If there are people skilled in SELinux features, I would be interested to know how you create the custom policy.

Here below you will find my problem and my resolution. Happy to hear if you have a better workaround.

Code:

filip@fedora:~$ sudo systemctl start minimserver.service
Job for minimserver.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status minimserver.service" and "journalctl -xeu minimserver.service" for details.

Here's what the service status says:

Code:

filip@fedora:~$ sudo systemctl status minimserver.service
× minimserver.service - MinimServer
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/minimserver.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2025-10-26 12:23:25 CET; 12s ago
Invocation: 6514037ae9c94580a301cfaf2c7a8b32
    Process: 5404 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/su filip -c /home/filip/minimserver/bin/startd init (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)
   Main PID: 5404 (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)
   Mem peak: 1.2M
        CPU: 3ms

Oct 26 12:23:25 fedora systemd[1]: Starting minimserver.service - MinimServer...
Oct 26 12:23:25 fedora (su)[5404]: minimserver.service: Unable to locate executable '/usr/sbin/su': Permission denied
Oct 26 12:23:25 fedora (su)[5404]: minimserver.service: Failed at step EXEC spawning /usr/sbin/su: Permission denied
Oct 26 12:23:25 fedora systemd[1]: minimserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=203/EXEC
Oct 26 12:23:25 fedora systemd[1]: minimserver.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Oct 26 12:23:25 fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start minimserver.service - MinimServer.

My ony action to solve this issue without bothering creating a SELinux policy is to turn off SELinux

Code:

sudo nano /etc/selinux/config

to replace

Code:

SELINUX=enforcing

by

Code:

SELINUX=disabled

I reboot, the service starts properly. Maybe you could add a mention about it, in the installation guide for Linux.

I'm new to minimserver and I must say I'm quite impressed, this is probably one of the best to provide high-res FLAC audio files to your network devices. I have a high end setup with a decent lamp amplifier, good cables and speakers. I never thought about taking care of the bit stream between the server and the DAC. I thought bits are bits but it turns out it matters.

Probably other servers might degrade and interfere with this bit stream? I notice for sure an improved sound quality, while evertyhing else kept identical. So well done minimserver which makes me to rediscover my own speakers and setup! I don't make use of these extra features for tagging, but I purchased the full license to support this great work! I'm glad simple, high-end and efficient things exists!

[simoncn]

I spent some time a while back looking into this and my conclusion was that the only practical solution is to disable SELinux as you have done.

From your post it sounds like SELinux is enabled by default on Fedora 42. Is this correct? If so, I will add a note to the install guide about this.

I am pleased to hear that using MinimStreamer to transcode FLAC files (to WAV, I presume) has improved sound quality for you. This has been my experience and that of a number of other MinimServer users.

[filip]

(26-10-2025 16:18)simoncn Wrote:  I spent some time a while back looking into this and my conclusion was that the only practical solution is to disable SELinux as you have done.

From your post it sounds like SELinux is enabled by default on Fedora 42. Is this correct? If so, I will add a note to the install guide about this.

I am pleased to hear that using MinimStreamer to transcode FLAC files (to WAV, I presume) has improved sound quality for you. This has been my experience and that of a number of other MinimServer users.

That's right, SELinux is enforced by default on Fedora 42 workstation edition.

Edit: in addition, it's a good idea on Fedora to have codecs properly installed, I guess minimserver relies on ffmpeg at some point? https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/Multimedia

[simoncn]

MinimStreamer (an optional extension to MinimServer) uses ffmpeg for most transcoding combinations. This could be an installed ffmpeg package or a downloaded statically linked ffmpeg binary. Is there a problem with this on Fedora? I am not sure what is the difference between ffmpeg and ffmpeg-free.

[filip]

(26-10-2025 22:09)simoncn Wrote:  MinimStreamer (an optional extension to MinimServer) uses ffmpeg for most transcoding combinations. This could be an installed ffmpeg package or a downloaded statically linked ffmpeg binary. Is there a problem with this on Fedora? I am not sure what is the difference between ffmpeg and ffmpeg-free.

Fedora comes by default with ffmpeg-free which supports only royalty-free codecs
the "full" ffmpeg from a third party repository (RPM Fusion) includes additional support for patented codecs

No idea if the full ffmpeg version is required, I did not test/compare both options.

In the doubt, prior using minimserver, I installed the full ffmpeg package to be covered, and that page helped me a lot:
https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/Multimedia

[simoncn]

I have had a quick look at the default ffmpeg in Fedora 41 and it seems to have the format and codec support needed by MinimStreamer. If you or any other Fedora user notices a problem, please post here with the details.