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v1.16.1 — stop media-server re-indexing (#11), Jellyfin TMDB tags (#9)

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@R3XCHRIS R3XCHRIS released this 19 Aug 14:19
· 6 commits to main since this release

Stable bugfix release. In the official Dispatcharr/Plugins catalogue — update in-app via Plugins → Find Plugins, or grab the ZIP below.

Two field-reported fixes

Media servers no longer re-index your whole library on every rescan (#11 — thanks @bruor, who reported this with a working patch and tests)

Since v1.13.0 the refresh paths rewrote every .strm so a changed Dispatcharr URL would propagate. But rewriting bumps the file's mtime, and media servers use mtime to decide "has this changed?" — so every nightly rescan made Emby (and Jellyfin) re-index the entire library despite not a single byte differing.

Now:

  • Identical contents → the file isn't touched at all. A no-change rescan does zero writes (on a 30k-title library that's a lot of pointless I/O saved).
  • URL genuinely changed → the file is written, then its original mtime is restored. The new URL is live immediately — players read the .strm at playback time, not from the index — but your media server has no reason to re-scan.

The run summary now also separates .strm refreshed (URL actually changed) from .strm unchanged, so you can see at a glance whether a rescan did anything.

TMDB folder tags can now use the Jellyfin/Emby format (#9 — thanks @vayan)

Append TMDB ID to folder names only ever wrote Plex/ChannelsDVR-style {tmdb-123}. Jellyfin and Emby ignore that — they expect [tmdbid-123]. Given Plex can't play .strm at all, the setting was effectively a no-op for most of this plugin's users.

New TMDB Folder Tag Format setting:

  • Plex / ChannelsDVR — {tmdb-123} (default, unchanged behaviour)
  • Jellyfin / Emby — [tmdbid-123]switch to this if you use Jellyfin or Emby

⚠ Changing the format writes the new folder names alongside the old ones (the plugin never renames in place). Run [⚠ DANGER] Clean up Movies / Series first, then re-generate, to migrate cleanly.

Compatibility

  • Dispatcharr v0.24.0+ — verified on v0.26.0.
  • Pure Python — Linux amd64/arm64, macOS arm64, Windows.
  • No settings migration; both defaults preserve existing behaviour.

Verification

SHA256: 8bc8d8f48e02b4d67c2a53aa13dafe69756d963689cb3f015776963b5024b1c6

Test coverage

194 unit tests (was 181) — 13 new covering no-op write skipping, mtime preservation, and both TMDB tag formats end-to-end through the folder-path builders.