ImportSource Plugin

The importsource plugin adds a source_path field to every item imported to the library which stores the original media files' paths. Using this plugin makes most sense when the general importing workflow is using beet import --copy. Additionally the plugin interactively suggests deletion of original source files whenever items are removed from the Beets library.

To enable it, add importsource to the list of plugins in your configuration (see Using Plugins).

Tracking Source Paths

The primary use case for the plugin is tracking the original location of imported files using the source_path field. Consider this scenario: you've imported all directories in your current working directory using:

beet import --flat --copy */

Later, for instance if the import didn't complete successfully, you'll need to rerun the import but don't want Beets to re-process the already successfully imported directories. You can view which files were successfully imported using:

beet ls source_path:$PWD --format='$source_path'

To extract just the directory names, pipe the output to standard UNIX utilities:

beet ls source_path:$PWD --format='$source_path' | awk -F / '{print $(NF-1)}' | sort -u

This might help to find out what's left to be imported.

Removal Suggestion

Another feature of the plugin is suggesting removal of original source files when items are deleted from your library. Consider this scenario: you imported an album using:

beet import --copy --flat ~/Desktop/interesting-album-to-check/

After listening to that album and deciding it wasn't good, you want to delete it from your library as well as from your ~/Desktop, so you run:

beet remove --delete source_path:$HOME/Desktop/interesting-album-to-check

After approving the deletion, the plugin will prompt:

The item:
<music-library>/Interesting Album/01 Interesting Song.flac
is originated from:
<HOME>/Desktop/interesting-album-to-check/01-interesting-song.flac
What would you like to do?
Delete the item's source, Recursively delete the source's directory,
do Nothing,
do nothing and Stop suggesting to delete items from this album?

Configuration

To configure the plugin, make an importsource: section in your configuration file. There is one option available:

• suggest_removal: By default importsource suggests to remove the original directories / files from which the items were imported whenever library items (and files) are removed. To disable these prompts set this option to no. Default: yes.