Zackriya-Solutions/meetily · error · anyhow::Error

Could not find system data directory

Error message

Could not find system data directory

What it means

Release-mode fallback when no models_dir was provided: the engine tries dirs::data_dir() and then dirs::home_dir() to build <data>/Meetily/models, and both returned None. The process cannot resolve any user data directory - typically no HOME on Unix and no XDG_DATA_HOME either.

Source

Thrown at frontend/src-tauri/src/whisper_engine/whisper_engine.rs:121

                // Development mode - try frontend and backend directories
                if current_dir.join("models").exists() {
                    current_dir.join("models")
                } else if current_dir.join("../models").exists() {
                    current_dir.join("../models")
                } else if current_dir.join("backend/whisper-server-package/models").exists() {
                    current_dir.join("backend/whisper-server-package/models")
                } else if current_dir.join("../backend/whisper-server-package/models").exists() {
                    current_dir.join("../backend/whisper-server-package/models")
                } else {
                    // Create models directory in current directory for development
                    current_dir.join("models")
                }
            } else {
                // Production mode fallback (shouldn't reach here, caller should provide path)
                log::warn!("WhisperEngine: No models directory provided, using fallback path");
                dirs::data_dir()
                    .or_else(|| dirs::home_dir())
                    .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("Could not find system data directory"))?
                    .join("Meetily")
                    .join("models")
            }
        };
        
        log::info!("WhisperEngine using models directory: {}", models_dir.display());
        log::info!("Debug mode: {}", cfg!(debug_assertions));

        // Log acceleration capabilities
        let gpu_support = Self::detect_gpu_acceleration();
        log::info!("Hardware acceleration support: {}", if gpu_support { "enabled" } else { "disabled" });

        #[cfg(feature = "metal")]
        log::info!("Apple Metal GPU support: enabled");

        #[cfg(feature = "openblas")]
        log::info!("OpenBLAS CPU optimization: enabled");

View on GitHub (pinned to 0281737d87)

Solutions

1. Always pass models_dir explicitly (e.g. the Tauri app_data_dir) instead of relying on this fallback
2. Set HOME=/some/dir (or XDG_DATA_HOME) in the launching environment
3. Run the app in a normal user session rather than a bare service account

let models_dir = match provided_dir {
    Some(d) => d,
    None => std::env::var("HOME").map(|h| PathBuf::from(h).join(".local/share"))
        .or_else(|_| std::env::var("XDG_DATA_HOME").map(PathBuf::from))
        .map(|d| d.join("Meetily/models"))
        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("no data dir: pass models_dir or set HOME"))?,
};

When it happens

Trigger: Constructing WhisperEngine in a release build with models_dir: None inside a stripped environment: a systemd unit, cron job, or container without HOME set, or a Windows service session where the known-folder/appdata resolution fails.

Common situations: Running the packaged binary from a service manager or Docker without HOME/XDG_DATA_HOME; CI smoke tests that launch the release build in a bare environment.

Related errors

• Failed to get current directory: {}
• No audio samples decoded from file
• Whisper transcription failed on segment {}: {}
• Failed to load model '{}': {}
• Whisper engine not initialized

AI-assisted analysis of Zackriya-Solutions/meetily@0281737d87 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8bdc0045833756b6. Report an issue: GitHub.