ytcc - The YouTube channel checker

Command Line tool to keep track of your favourite YouTube channels without signing up for a Google account.

Installation

Arch Linux

Install ytcc from the AUR.

NixOS

Install package ytcc.

Void Linux

Install package ytcc.

Other distros

Ytcc requires python 3.6 or later. Install dependencies: python3-sqlalchemy, python3-lxml, python3-feedparser, python3-setuptools, mpv, youtube-dl, gettext.

git clone https://github.com/woefe/ytcc.git
cd ytcc
sudo python3 setup.py install
sudo install -Dm644 completions/zsh/_ytcc /usr/share/zsh/site-functions/_ytcc
sudo install -Dm644 completions/fish/ytcc.fish /usr/share/fish/vendor_completions.d/ytcc.fish

Without installation

You can start ytcc directly from the cloned repo, if all the requirements are installed.

./ytcc.py --help

Usage

Check for new videos and play them.

ytcc

Check for new videos and play them without asking you anything.

ytcc -y

"Subscribe" to a channel.

ytcc -a "Jupiter Broadcasting" https://www.youtube.com/user/jupiterbroadcasting

Import subscriptions from YouTube's subscription manager export.

ytcc --import-from ~/Downloads/subscription_manager

Download all videos from a channel that were published in July.

ytcc -f "Jupiter Broadcasting" --download --since 07-01 --to 07-31 --include-watched

Mark all videos of a channel as watched.

ytcc -f "Jupiter Broadcasting" -m

Listen to some music without limitations.

ytcc --add "NCS" https://www.youtube.com/user/NoCopyrightSounds --update
ytcc --disable-interactive --list --watch --no-video --include-watched --channel-filter NCS

Configuration

Ytcc searches for a configuration file at following locations:

1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ytcc/ytcc.conf
2. ~/.config/ytcc/ytcc.conf
3. ~/.ytcc.conf

If no config file is found in these three locations, a default config file is created at ~/.config/ytcc/ytcc.conf.

Example config

# General options
[YTCC]
# Path to file where database is stored. Can be used to sync the database between multiple machines ;)
dbpath = ~/.local/share/ytcc/ytcc.db

# Directory where downloads are saved, when --path is not given
downloaddir = ~/Downloads

# Parameters passed to mpv. Adjusting these might break ytcc!
mpvflags = --really-quiet --ytdl --ytdl-format=bestvideo[height<=?1080]+bestaudio/best

# The characters to use for selecting videos in interactive mode.
alphabet = sdfervghnuiojkl

# Defines the order of video listings.
# Possible options: channel, date, title, url, id, watched.
# Every option can be postfixed with :desc or :asc for descending or ascending sort.
# If neither :desc nor :asc are given, it defaults to :asc.
orderby = channel, date, watched:desc

# Default action of interactive mode.
# Possible options: play_video, play_audio, mark_watched, download_audio, download_video
defaultaction = play_video


# Prompt and table colors. Supports 256 colors. Hence, values between 0-255 are allowed.
# See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#8-bit for the color codes.
[color]
promptdownloadaudio = 2
promptdownloadvideo = 4
promptplayaudio = 2
promptplayvideo = 4
promptmarkwatched = 1
tablealternatebackground = 245


# Options for downloads
[youtube-dl]
# Format (see FORMAT SELECTION in youtube-dl manpage). Make sure to use a video format here, if you
# want to be able to download videos.
format = bestvideo[height<=?1080]+bestaudio/best

# Output template (see OUTPUT TEMPLATE in youtube-dl manpage)
outputtemplate = %(title)s.%(ext)s

# If a merge is required according to format selection, merge to the given container format. One of
# mkv, mp4, ogg, webm, flv
mergeoutputformat = mkv

# Loglevel options: quiet, normal, verbose
loglevel = normal

# Limit download speed to the given bytes/second. Set 0 for no limit.
# E.g. limit to one megabyte per second
#ratelimit = 1000000
ratelimit = 0

# Set number of retries before giving up on a download. Use `inf` for indefinitely many retries.
retries = 0

# Subtitles for videos. If enabled and available, automatic and manual subtitles for selected
# languages are embedded in the video.
#subtitles = en,de
subtitles = off

# Embed the youtube thumbnail in audio downloads. Transforms the resulting file to m4a, if
# enabled.
thumbnail = on

# Skips livestreams in download mode
skiplivestream = yes


# Columns printed by --list option, if --columns is not given as well.
[TableFormat]
id = on
date = off
channel = on
title = on
url = off
watched = off

Reporting issues

Create a new issue on the github issue tracker. Describe the issue as detailed as possible. Important: do not forget to include the output of ytcc --bug-report-info in bug reports.

Development

We recommend developing inside a virtualenv.

1. Set up a virtualenv
2. Install development dependencies: pip install -r devrequirements.txt

Run the following commands before every pull request and fix the warnings or errors they produce.

mypy ytcc
nosetests
pylint ytcc
pydocstyle ytcc

Translations

Ytcc uses the GNU gettext utilities to manage localization.

Managing locales

Create a new locale with msginit. The example below creates a new locale for Polish.

cd po
msginit --locale pl

Every time the PO template is changed, the locales have to be updated with msgmerge.

cd po
msgmerge --update de.po ytcc.pot

Every time a PO file is created or updated, new strings have to be translated. There are multiple tools available, see the GNU gettext manual. I prefer GTranslator, e.g:

cd po
gtranslator de.po

Updating the PO tempate

xgettext --output=po/ytcc.pot \
    --language=Python \
    --from-code=utf-8 \
    --copyright-holder="Wolfgang Popp" \
    --package-name="ytcc" \
    --package-version=$(python -c "import ytcc; print(ytcc.__version__)") \
    ytcc/{cli,arguments}.py