I'm a fairly new user to Amarok. I'm in the process of rating all of the
music that I have and then I will create a number of playlists.

As I do the ratings, I know the data gets stored, but I would like to
protect the time investment that I have put into the Amarok meta database.
I have several questions:

0) Is there a document that I can read to learn about the meta data for Amarok?

1) Is there a single root directory for the meta data, such that I can backup the root directory and all of its subdirectories and know that I have collected all the meta data?

2) Is there a list or spec someplace that identifies what meta data is stored and what the format of the stored data is?

3) Are there import and export routines that will allow me to move the data from one computer to another?

4) Can the meta data be shared between computers if the data is stored on a shared file system?

Jim Anderson

The information is stored as a MySQL database. The data files for this are in ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/mysqle, which can be backed up, moved around, etc to taste. You can also start a regular MySQL daemon with Amarok's database.
You also have the option to have playcounts, ratings and scores written to the file tags.
There is also a provision for connecting to an external MySQL server rather than the default built-in, which allows you to share the db between devices (though note the filesystem with the music on will need to be mounted with the same path on each machine).

Thank you for the information. Using mySQL satisfies my every need. I was
really glad to see your reply. This will require that I brush up on using
mySQL, but I need that anyway.

Jim

On a Fedora 21 installation of Amarok, there is NOT such a path as kde/share/apps/amarok/mysqle/. According to the search function, there isn't a directory named mysqle.

So where is it?

it's not kde/... but .kde/share/apps/amarok/.. The dot is important

Still not there, even with the dot.

then check if it is ~/.kde4/.., some distributions use that instead of .kde, as they were still shipping some KDE3 packages for some time and then never changed the path

I'm not using KDE - I'm using MATE 1.10.2.

marcerickson wrote:I'm not using KDE - I'm using MATE 1.10.2.

That doesn't matter.

But note that most file managers do not display hidden files/directories (the ones starting with a dot) by default. You have to enable the option "Show hidden files/directories" or similar to see ~/.kde(4)/.

Thanks for helping. But that didn't help - there's no directory named .kde or mysqle on that computer of mine.

marcerickson wrote:Thanks for helping. But that didn't help - there's no directory named .kde or mysqle on that computer of mine.

Well, there should (has to) be, if you ever used Amarok or any other KDE application...

What does this give?

Code: Select all

ls -ld ~/.kde*

OK found it - thanks for the help:
/home/marc/.kde/share/apps/amarok/mysqle

So if I copy the mysqle directory - that will backup all usage data? If I replace the mysqle directory in a new Linux installation after adding Amarok to the new installation, the old usage data will be present in the new installation?

marcerickson wrote:So if I copy the mysqle directory - that will backup all usage data? If I replace the mysqle directory in a new Linux installation after adding Amarok to the new installation, the old usage data will be present in the new installation?

Yes, that should work, if the paths of your music files are the same at least.
I haven't ever tried it myself though...

Btw, you could also copy it over *before* you install Amarok.

Thanks very much for the help!