epg123 Cache Folder

An evolving, supported alternative to Rovi
Forum rules
★ Download the latest EPG123 here: https://garyan2.github.io/ <> Setup guide here: https://garyan2.github.io/install.html
Post Reply
User avatar
gzarzycki

Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2019 9:44 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ.

HTPC Specs: Show details

epg123 Cache Folder

#1

Post by gzarzycki » Sat Nov 16, 2019 4:10 pm

Gary, I noticed my epg123 cache folder growing every day. I am not sure what these files are for, but will the older files be deleted automatically? If not, can I delete files older file by some aged date?

Thanks,
Gary

User avatar
garyan2

Posts: 7438
Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:23 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#2

Post by garyan2 » Sat Nov 16, 2019 4:24 pm

Files in the cache folder will be deleted when they are no longer relevant. Basically, if the file is not used to generate the current MXF file, it is deleted.

Take a look at you trace.log file and you should see entries similar to the below:

Code: Select all

[11/16/2019 4:22:25 AM] [ INFO] 763 files deleted from the cache directory during cleanup.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

User avatar
gzarzycki

Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2019 9:44 pm
Location: Tucson, AZ.

HTPC Specs: Show details

#3

Post by gzarzycki » Sat Nov 16, 2019 8:44 pm

Thanks Gary, this is what I thought, but wasn't sure.

Space

Posts: 2838
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:44 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#4

Post by Space » Sun Nov 17, 2019 1:21 pm

Gary, do you have a description of how EPG123 works with Schedules Direct anywhere? I just thought it would be interesting to know a little about it.

I would assume (or perhaps you stated this and I forgot about it) that when it initiates a connection to Schedules Direct, it asks to download any changes since a particular date/time (the last time it did a successful download/update). SD then sends you only the stuff that is new or has changed.

Then you combine this new data with the data in the cache (which essentially contains a copy of the data that is in the current WMC guide) and generates a new MXF file (and also updates the cache to reflect the new guide). The MXF contains the complete guide (with the changes), not just the changes that need to be made to the guide. The LoadMXF program compares what is in the WMC guide to what is in the MXF file and only updates the things that have changed.

It seems to me that it might be more efficient to just put the changes in the MXF file instead of the whole guide (in which case you would no longer need the cache, or at least not so large a cache), but then you might run in to problems if you skipped an updated somehow I guess (and I'm not sure if WMC could handle doing it that way or not).

I know that doing incremental updates in this way would probably create headaches to get right, and the current way works fine (and is the way the native WMC update works), so it is probably best not to mess with it, but I was just curious if it is technically possible to just do incremental updates in this way.

The advantage, of course, is that WMC database updates would be quicker and the cache would be much smaller.
One disadvantage would be that if SD goes down temporarily, and your WMC database is subsequently corrupted or deleted, you wouldn't be able to repopulate the WMC database by just loading the latest MXF file like you can now.

I seem to remember having this discussion in the past, but can't quite remember the details.

Post Reply