Sickchill: delete rar contents doesn't appear to do what I think it is supposed to do.

[JDubbedN]

Before submitting your issue:

Enable debug logging in SickChill settings, reproduce the error (be sure to disable after the bug is fixed)

Branch/Commit: master
OS: Windows 10 64bit
Browser: FireFox 79 64bit
What you did: Selected "delete rar contents" in settings
What happened: extracted content stays un-deleted so that the rar files downloaded from .torrent file plus un-rar'd contents take up space.
What you expected: I thought the rar'd contents, which is the contents that is un-rar'd gets deleted from SickChill after copying process has completed. But instead all contents, download rar files + extracted contents are kept.
Logs:

PASTE LOGS HERE

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[miigotu]

If your process method is copy it doesn't work that way, only if it is move

[JDubbedN]

The wording is confusing then. In the SickChill settings it states...

"Delete RAR contents
delete content of RAR files, even if Process Method not set to move?
note: only working with RAR archive"

To me that says even if process is not set to move, which I have it to set copy, it will still delete rar contents. What am I missing?

[miigotu]

Idk why you would use copy at all. It uses double the drive space. If you use hard link (or reverse symlink when shows and downloads are on different drives) it just uses the space one time and you can keep seeding. For rars then it falls back to move.

[miigotu]

Anyways, I just made some changes to it because I think it is more complicated than it needs to be. No changes will be on master, we are strictly using python3 now and practically a million lines changed there in the develop branch.

[miigotu]

https://github.com/SickChill/SickChill/commit/ba493e916381bc5184cc665c540e0dfc369e46ca

[JDubbedN]

Good question.

I looked into the reverse symlink and and hard link. The problem is that because there is no way to filter out compressed files downloads in SickChill besides the naming convention which my torrent source doesn't seem to follow, SickChill downloads torrent files with rar'd files. Thus I have to leave the rar'd files intact to keep the seeding going otherwise I am flagged with hit and runs. So I need to seed to at least 1:1. Problem is that Plex does not support reading from compressed files. So I have SickChill process and unpack the rar's, and copy the content to the Plex directory. This of course will leave 2 copies. One that is rar'd that will be seeding, and another copy in the Plex directory. No hard linking or reverse symlinking will save me space with this problem because I have two have the rar'd copy for seeding and the unpacked contents for Plex to be able to read the content.

Now. A solution I found is that I have added a physical HDD to my server to handle seeding and unpacking only. This HDD also contains the downloading/completed/torrent files/unpacking directories that utorrent and SickChill will use to watch and process its scripts. Then SickChill unpacks and copies the media content to the other HDD that contains the Plex server. This setup stills creates two copies, but the rar copy as well as the unpacked copy (that for some reason SickChill won't delete after copying over to the Plex server even though I have that option checkmarked) stay on the seed drive and won't take away from my actual active drive I use for my media. I also have all my downloads unpacked in a different directory so I can easily "flush" the unpacked folder every so often since for some reason SickChill isn't doing that(maybe I am misunderstanding that option).

Anyways, hope that makes sense. I guess my setup is a bit on the unusual side but I hope this information helps you make SickChill that much better.

[miigotu]

@JDubbedN with hardlink or symlink it will extract the file and MOVE the CONTENTS, then delete the files left in the extract folder, and leave the rar file for seeding.

[JDubbedN]

@miigotu Thank you for that clarification. I don't think hardlink will work because it doesn't support separate HDD's from what I've read. And I am using a separate HDD for seeding because I do not want rar's taking up space on my Plex server drive. Once SickChill can filter out rar's or my torrent source introduces a naming policy (doubtful) then I can go back to using a single drive I believe.

Symlink seems to support 2 separate drives so I am going to test it and see how it works. Do I still need to checkmark the setting in SickChill "Delete RAR contents"?

[miigotu]

Yes check the box, and then to keep the space used only on your downloads drive you use symlink. To mv it to the Plex drive and then create a symlink to it for your downloader to find it use reverse symlink.

Just depends where you want the space used and if your downloader follows symlinks.

Reverse is probably best, because it leaves rars on the download drive, regular files moved and symlinked back, and contents of rars moved to Plex drive. This way you split the space a little better

[JDubbedN]

@miigotu I tested symlinking and it works with rar's because it has to unpack and then it symlinks the unpacked content then deletes it leaving the untouched rar files intact for seeding with my downloader. However, when SickChill does download a non-compressed (non rar) file SickChill symlinks the original seeding file to my Plex drive making the original seeding file 0 bytes. And my downloader/seeder client cannot handle symlinking. So it gives an error indicating the file is missing or damaged and cannot seed. SickChill does exactly what it is supposed to do. But my seeding client cannot handle seeding symlinked files.

And hard linking won't work bc I am dealing with two drives. And reverse symlinks will work with Plex however I'd rather not have the original files on my seed box which is a much lower capacity then my Plex box. It would just make things icky.

As is I am going back to having SickChill copy. This is the best option for me so far. If only the "delete rar content after unpack" worked with copy it would be a done deal. But I can work with this for right now. It'll just require me to clean my seed box every so often. Not a deal breaker. Here is to hoping for an ignore rar files option in the future.

[miigotu]

So do reverse-symlink option...

Also, I changed the delete rar contents to work with copy also, but you are using twice the space that way.

Third, take questions to IRC/discord/slack/telegram. The issue tracker is not for help it is for bugs.

[JDubbedN]

I mentioned why reverse symlinks wouldn't be ideal in my previous post.

Is this change made to the master version? Do I just run an update in SickChill to apply this change?

I tried looking for a SickChill discord channel. I couldn't find one. Can you supply a link?

Sorry to keep bothering you.

[miigotu]

If the original files are not on your seed box, how can you seed them -.-

[miigotu]

Master is not getting any new updates until develop gets merged to master, which forces everyone to migrate to python3.

[miigotu]

https://discord.gg/U8WPBdf

[JDubbedN]

If the original files are not on your seed box, how can you seed them -.-

Not sure what context of my comment you are replying to. But your statement makes sense. Indeed how can I seed if original files are not in my need box. Symlinking doesn't leave the original file on my seed box if the download is non compressed file. It converts the file to 0 bytes (shortcut) and moves original to the Plex hdd. Making my download client unable to seed because it cannot handle symlinking. I may have a hard time explaining what exactly it is doing. But I tested symlinking and reverse symlinking and neither worked for my situation as I needed it to. I have no problem seeding downloads from my Plex server just so long as the download is not a rar. Otherwise I'll have a rar copy and the contents of the rar. One to seed and one for Plex to play which causes duplicate space on the Plex drive. If I could filter out rar downloads all together problem would be solved. That's how I download manually with without SickChill. I look for a download that doesn't have rar's, select the destination location for my download client for "tv showsname of showseasonepisode" respectively and start. Now the original download is on the Plex drive AND the same file is also being seeded. No duplicates because no rar's.

[JDubbedN]

Master is not getting any new updates until develop gets merged to master, which forces everyone to migrate to python3.

Can't wait! When you release SickChill Python 3 version will that download within the software update within SockChills UI or will I need to migrate manually? Will this include Python 3 or will I need to install manually?

[miigotu]

Reverse symlink leaves the files in the download folder, and creates a shortcut on the TV show folder pointing at the downloaded file. Plex understands symlinks.

[JDubbedN]

Yes i explained why that's not preferred. But thanks for thinking of more ideas.

"And hard linking won't work bc I am dealing with two drives. And reverse symlinks will work with Plex however I'd rather not have the original files on my seed box which is a much lower capacity then my Plex box. It would just make things icky."

On another note it would still create two copies if I reversed symlinked the unpacked content on my seed box so that Plex could read it and had the rar downloaded and seeding on the same box. Maybe I'll find another way to set it up later. But right now after testing symlink/reverse, copying seems to be the best option for my setup right now. Thanks!

[miigotu]

"I'd rather not have the original files on my seed box which is a much lower capacity then my Plex box"

If it is seeding it is on your seed box regardless.
Copying you have 2 copies, one on the seed box and one on the plex box. 2x space used.
RAR will stay on seed box and only contents copied to plex box.

When you stop seeding you just move it from the seed box to the plex server, with a script.

2 copies of anything is never the best solution.

[JDubbedN]

"I'd rather not have the original files on my seed box which is a much lower capacity then my Plex box" I am referring to having the actual .mkv/.avi whatever format the actual video files are. I don't want those on my seed box if I can help it. I want those on my Plex box and would also like to seed it from the same file. Only way to accomplish this that I know of is to select a download that isn't compressed, save it to the respective tv show folder on my Plex box and done. That way my downloader client seeds the same file Plex plays from.

Ya, it sounds like there may be some misunderstanding. I get what you're saying but I may not be explaining my side the best I could.

I agree having copies on two locations is not a good solution. But if SickChill cannot filter out rar's I don't see another way at least for my specific setup. If SickChill downloads a rar, the rar has to stay to seed. That stays on the seed box. Then SickChill unpacks and copies to my Plex box. So right there, if SickChill downloads rars, automatically there has to be a copy because Plex cannot read rars. One rar for seeding and 1 unpacked rar content for Plex. I already have RAID1 setup for my Plex box so it is already duplicating everything for redundancy purposes. I know it slows read speeds down a bit but it doesn't effect playback at all.

I tried symlink and reverse symlink. When I saw the results of what both did it just wasn't going to fit my setup. Only reason why I recently made a separate seedbox from my Plex box was because SickChill cannot handle filtering out compressed downloads which isn't game breaking. I had an extra 4tb drive on hand that I could easily turn into a seed box. I never needed the extra drive though prior to using SickChill because I would just manually download files that were not compressed. So that the actual seeding file was on the Plex server in the tvshows/name folder respectively so Plex could play the same file that was being seeding. No dupes required.

No worries though. I appreciate the thoughts.

[miigotu]

If you just did this all on one drive and used hard links everything would be perfect lol.

" So right there, if SickChill downloads rars, automatically there has to be a copy because Plex cannot read rars. One rar for seeding and 1 unpacked rar content for Plex"
You have rars and unpacked regardless in any processing stage or method =P

[miigotu]

@JDubbedN btw idk if you got this yet: https://discord.gg/U8WPBdf