Emma ThorpeandClaude Opus 5
177761bb75
Apple's Music app cannot read FLAC, so getting a lossless library onto an iPod requires a converted copy somewhere. This keeps that copy beside the library on a NAS rather than on a laptop, and keeps it current unattended. Walks a source tree and reproduces it path for path as MP3: tags and cover art carried across, already-MP3 sources copied rather than re-encoded, and mirror files whose source has gone deleted along with any directories they emptied. The source library is never written to. Freshness is tracked by modification time -- an encoded file is stamped with its source's mtime, so a file is stale exactly when the two differ. That keeps runs idempotent without a database that could fall out of step with whatever owns the library, which here is Lidarr. Encodes go to a temporary file and are renamed into place, so an interrupted run cannot leave a truncated MP3 that the next run mistakes for finished work. A lock file in the mirror root prevents overlapping passes. Ships as a Python package with a console script, a container image with a TrueNAS Scale compose file, and a Nix flake providing the package, an overlay and a dev shell. The test suite runs real ffmpeg encodes rather than mocks -- the failures worth catching are in what ffmpeg does with tags, cover art and container formats. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
119 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
119 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
# music-mirror
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Maintain a lossy MP3 mirror of a lossless music library.
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Walks a source library and reproduces it, path for path, as MP3 in a separate
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tree. Tags and cover art are carried across; sources that are already MP3 are
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copied rather than re-encoded; mirror files whose source has been deleted are
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removed. **The source library is never written to** — it is mounted read-only
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in the supplied compose file, and nothing in the code opens it for writing.
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The intended use is an iPod. Apple's Music app cannot read FLAC at all, so a
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converted copy has to exist somewhere; this keeps that copy next to the
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library on a NAS instead of on a laptop, and keeps it current without a human
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remembering to do anything.
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## How it decides what to do
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| Situation | Action |
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| -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
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| No mirror file | encode |
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| Source modified since the mirror | re-encode (a Lidarr quality upgrade) |
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| Mirror up to date | skip |
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| Source is already MP3 | copy verbatim |
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| Source gone | delete the mirror file, prune empty dirs |
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Freshness is modification time: an encoded file is stamped with its source's
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mtime, so a file is stale exactly when the two differ. There is no database to
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fall out of step with the library, which matters when something else — Lidarr,
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in this case — is the thing that owns and reorganises it.
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Encodes are written to a temporary file and renamed into place, so an
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interrupted run cannot leave a truncated MP3 that the next run mistakes for
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finished work. A lock file in the mirror root stops two passes overlapping.
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## Usage
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```sh
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music-mirror --source /music --mirror /music-mp3 # one pass
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music-mirror --source /music --mirror /music-mp3 --interval 6h # keep running
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music-mirror --source /music --mirror /music-mp3 --dry-run # report only
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music-mirror --source /music --mirror /music-mp3 --subdir "Artist/Album"
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```
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| Option | Environment variable | Default | Meaning |
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| ------------ | ----------------------- | --------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
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| `--source` | `MUSIC_MIRROR_SOURCE` | — | Root of the lossless library, read-only |
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| `--mirror` | `MUSIC_MIRROR_MIRROR` | — | Root of the MP3 mirror |
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| `--quality` | `MUSIC_MIRROR_QUALITY` | `V0` | LAME VBR level `V0`–`V9`, or kbps e.g. `256` |
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| `--jobs` | `MUSIC_MIRROR_JOBS` | CPU count | Concurrent encodes |
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| `--interval` | `MUSIC_MIRROR_INTERVAL` | unset | Repeat forever, e.g. `45m`, `6h`, `1d` |
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| `--subdir` | — | unset | Limit the pass to one directory; skips pruning |
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| `--no-prune` | — | off | Keep mirror files whose source has gone |
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| `--dry-run` | — | off | Report what would change, write nothing |
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`--subdir` never prunes: a partial pass cannot tell an orphan from a file
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outside its own scope.
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Requires `ffmpeg` and `ffprobe` on `PATH`. The container and the Nix package
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both provide them.
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## Running it on TrueNAS Scale
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`compose.yaml` is a Custom App definition. Build the image on the NAS, adjust
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the two host paths and the `user:` to match your pool, then add it as a custom
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app:
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```sh
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git clone https://code.emmathe.dev/lyrathorpe/music-mirror
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cd music-mirror && docker build -t music-mirror:latest .
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```
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Point the mirror at its own dataset rather than a directory inside the music
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dataset — it is derived data, so it wants its own snapshot policy, its own
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quota, and its own SMB share. The tool refuses to run with a mirror inside the
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source tree.
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New Lidarr imports are picked up on the next pass. With `MUSIC_MIRROR_INTERVAL`
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at `6h` that is the worst case; run `--subdir` by hand if you want an album
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immediately.
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## Nix
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```sh
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nix run .#music-mirror -- --source ./flac --mirror ./mp3
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nix build .#music-mirror # the test suite runs as part of the build
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nix develop # python, pytest and ffmpeg
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```
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`overlays.default` provides `pkgs.music-mirror`.
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## Tests
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```sh
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pytest
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```
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The tests run real ffmpeg encodes rather than mocking them — the interesting
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failures are in what ffmpeg actually does with tags, cover art and container
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formats, and a mock cannot fail that way. They skip if ffmpeg is absent.
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## Getting the result onto an iPod
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The mirror is just a directory of MP3s, so any client will do:
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- **macOS.** Add the mirror's SMB share to the Music app with _Copy files to
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Music Media folder_ and _Keep Media folder organised_ both **off**. The Mac
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then stores a library database and nothing else. Keep the share mounted at a
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stable path — if it is missing when Music opens, every track shows `!`.
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- **Linux.** Rhythmbox links `libgpod` and handles iPod sync. An iPod Video
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(5th generation) predates the models whose database has to be signed, so no
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firmware-hash trickery is needed.
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Neither client transcodes at sync time; they copy finished MP3s.
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Two device-side details worth knowing: the iPod reads cover art from the file's
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tags and ignores `folder.jpg`, which is why art is embedded here; and volume
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levelling on the device uses iTunes' Soundcheck tag, not ReplayGain, so
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ReplayGain tags in the source are not carried over as such.
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