ALFILLDB(1)

Okay bestie, let's get into alfilldb 💖 It's the section 1 manual page from the User Contributed Perl Documentation crew, and it is SO iconic ✨

🦋 NAME 🦋

alfilldb: add or update info about your music files in the AudioLink database 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

alfilldb [OPTION]... /path/to/songs/...

alfilldb [OPTION]... --file=/path/to/song...

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

Okay so this script is how you add or update info for your music files (MP3 or Ogg Vorbis) in the AudioLink database 🎧 That info is what alsearch(1) uses when you go hunting for particular music. This program is part of the audiolink(1) package, so it's giving teamwork 🫶

Heads up: the path you give for individual files or directories has to be an absolute path. Tilde paths (~) are allowed though! Relative paths are a no-go 🙅 Check the "examples" section for more deets.

You need the user and password options to get into the database 🔑 Peek at the "more information" section in the audiolink(1) man page to see the different ways you can set them.

Options you use over and over (like the user and password ones) can live in the config file so you aren't retyping them every single time 📝 See the audiolink(1) man page for the config file details.

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• --add-only: Only brand-new songs get added to the database. Songs that already exist won't be updated, so they stay exactly as they are ✨
• --file=xxx: Works on just one file instead of a directory. If you use this, the /path/to/dirs bit gets ignored. (You can use it more than once 🦋)
• --help: Shows brief usage info 💁
• --host=xxx: Connects to the MySQL server on the host you name. If you don't set it, it defaults to localhost 🏠
• --no-prompt: No asking questions, bestie 🙅 Songs missing info for mandatory fields (like the song title) won't make it into the database.
• --pass=xxx: The password for getting into the database 🔐
• --prompt=xxx: If a song doesn't have enough info in its ID3 tags or Ogg Vorbis comments, it'll ask you for the missing bits. The values --prompt accepts are:
  • basic: Just asks for the album name and the artist/band name
  • limited: Asks for album, artist/band, genre and year
  • most: Asks for all the fields except the Male and Female Artists and the Track number
  • paranoid: Asks for literally everything, including Male Artist (1/2), Female Artist (1/2), and Track Number 😭
• -s, --na: Simulate / no-act mode. It won't touch the database, just pretends 🎭
• --upd-only: Only entries already in the database get updated, using whatever you type in. Don't pair this with --no-prompt or you'll get absolutely nothing done 💀
• --upd-song: Updates the tags inside the file itself: ID3 for MP3, comments for Ogg Vorbis 🎶
• --user=xxx: Username for getting into the database 👤
• --verbose: Shows some extra info while it's processing files 👀

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🧚 EXAMPLES 🧚

alfilldb --add-only /home/user/tmp/songs/

This one scans /home/user/tmp/songs recursively, but only for new songs. Songs already in the database get ignored 🙈

alfilldb --upd-only --prompt=most ~/tmp/songs/

This one scans $(HOME)/tmp/songs recursively for the current user, looking for incomplete info in the database 🔍

alfilldb ~user/tmp/songs/

This one scans /home/user/tmp/songs for music files. It adds new entries as well as updates the existing ones. Main character energy 👑

alfilldb --file=~/tmp/songs/somefile.ogg
--file=~/tmp/songs/otherfile.mp3

This one just adds (or updates) info for $(HOME)/tmp/songs/somefile.ogg and $(HOME)/tmp/songs/otherfile.mp3 🎀

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🚨 CAVEATS 🚨

Okay, listen up 👂

If --prompt isn't specified, alfilldb will just prompt for the title of the song being processed. The title is only asked for if the ID3 tag or the Vorbis comment doesn't contain it. This can be overridden by --no-prompt, and then the entry for the file won't be made, since the song title is a mandatory field for storing song info in the database.

Using --no-prompt means songs without a title just get skipped. Don't be shocked when your file doesn't show up 😭

If neither --add-only nor --upd-only is specified, the default action is to add new entries as well as update existing ones.

If the ID3 tags or Vorbis comments for a file get updated after entries were made in the AudioLink database, those changes won't show up in the database. If you want to stay consistent, keep the database updated (by using the --upd-only option) and then update the ID3 tag in the MP3 or the comment in the Ogg Vorbis file (by running alfilldb with the --upd-only option). 🫶

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🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

audiolink(1), alsearch(1). The current version of this man page is available on the AudioLink website at http://audiolink.sourceforge.net/ 🌐

🐛 BUGS 🐛

Report bugs related to the AudioLink software or the man pages to the audiolink-devel mailing list at audiolink-devel@lists.sourceforge.net 💌

👩‍💻 AUTHOR 👩‍💻

This manual page is written and maintained by Amit Shah <amitshah@gmx.net> 🧑‍💻

⭐ COPYRIGHT ⭐

The AudioLink package is Copyright (C) 2003, Amit Shah <amitshah@gmx.net>. All the programs and the documentation that come as part of AudioLink are licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPLv2). No cap, that's a legal slay 🌈

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That's the tea, bestie 💅 Source: perl v5.30.3, dated 2020-08-11. Stay iconic 💜🦋