detect-install

name	detect-install
description	Detect how OBS Studio is installed on a Linux system — native package (apt/dnf/pacman), Flatpak (com.obsproject.Studio), Snap, or AppImage — and return the install type, version, binary path, and config directory. Used by other obs-mgmt skills that need to know where OBS reads config and stores plugins.

Detect OBS Install Type

Returns a structured report so other skills can locate the config dir and plugin dir correctly. Each install type uses a different layout.

Detection order

Check in this order and stop at the first match. A user can technically have more than one — if so, report all and ask which one to operate on.

1. Flatpak

flatpak info com.obsproject.Studio 2>/dev/null

If present:

• Binary: flatpak run com.obsproject.Studio
• Config dir: ~/.var/app/com.obsproject.Studio/config/obs-studio/
• Plugin dir (per-user): ~/.var/app/com.obsproject.Studio/config/obs-studio/plugins/
• Caveat: Flatpak sandboxing restricts filesystem access. Recording paths outside the user's home may need flatpak override --filesystem=....

2. Snap

snap list obs-studio 2>/dev/null

If present:

• Binary: /snap/bin/obs-studio (or just obs)
• Config dir: ~/snap/obs-studio/current/.config/obs-studio/
• Caveat: Snap confinement is even tighter than Flatpak. Plugin install often requires devmode or classic confinement.

3. Native package

command -v obs && obs --version 2>&1 | head -1

Detect package manager backing it:

# Debian/Ubuntu
dpkg -S "$(command -v obs)" 2>/dev/null
# Fedora/RHEL
rpm -qf "$(command -v obs)" 2>/dev/null
# Arch
pacman -Qo "$(command -v obs)" 2>/dev/null

If present:

• Binary: /usr/bin/obs
• Config dir: ~/.config/obs-studio/
• Plugin dirs: ~/.config/obs-studio/plugins/ (per-user) and /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/obs-plugins/ or /usr/lib64/obs-plugins/ (system).

4. AppImage

Look for OBS AppImages in common locations:

find ~/Applications ~/AppImages ~/Downloads -maxdepth 2 -iname '*obs*.AppImage' 2>/dev/null

Treat as native for config purposes (~/.config/obs-studio/) but flag that plugins must match the AppImage's bundled OBS version.

5. Missing

If none of the above match, report missing and suggest distro-appropriate install:

• Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install obs-studio
• Fedora: sudo dnf install obs-studio
• Arch: sudo pacman -S obs-studio
• Universal: Flatpak from Flathub.

Output format

Return a summary like:

OBS install detected:
  Type:        native (apt)
  Version:     30.2.3
  Binary:      /usr/bin/obs
  Config dir:  /home/<user>/.config/obs-studio/
  Plugin dir:  /home/<user>/.config/obs-studio/plugins/

Other skills (backup-config, install-plugin) consume these paths.