PyTagFS is a tag-based filesystem written in Python. Instead of directories being 'containers,' they represent attributes, so they can be accessed in any order. It's intended for organizing diverse media collections. You'll never forget whether you put that picture of a sunset with a whale breaching in ~/Pictures/landscapes/sunsets or ~/Pictures/animals/wild again!
This is early beta software. Keep backups of your backend folder. I only put symlinks in, so my actual files stay safe.
This is an unusual file system, which might cause file managers to make more low-level filesystem calls than usual, which may increase disk wear.
Start pytagfs with:
$ pytagfs -m <mountpoint> -d <datastore folder> [-o <comma-separated filesystem args>] [<flag>...]
Make sure that mountpoint and datastore folder refer to folders which exist, that the datastore folder is not inside the mountpoint, and is empty the first time you run the command.
For most usage, you shouldn't need any flags other than maybe -o allow_other and -l <limit> (more on that later) if you are sharing the filesystem over SMB, SSHFS, etc. Please collect logs with the -v -s and then -vv options and raise an issue if you notice something that doesn't work the way it should.
In pytagfs, files are files, and folders are tags. That means I can put a file in mountpoint/peru2018/pictures/landscapes/ and it will be in mountpoint/landscapes (but as a hidden file). Also, when I put a pdf of my ticket receipt in mountpoint/peru2018/paperwork/, mountpoint/paperwork/peru2018/ now is non-hidden and contains that pdf.
Those 'folders,' which I will refer to as tags, must be created as you would normally create folders.
You may not have multiple files anywhere in one tag filesystem with the same name.
File and tag names may not start or end with a .. There is no way to choose whether a file or tag is displayed hidden or not.
Stopping or restarting a FUSE mountpoint locks up any shells currently working inside it.
If you started with version 0.0.1 and are upgrading to version 0.0.2, you'll need to manually add a table constraint. Raise an issue and I'll make a script for this; I don't think anyone other than myself is affected.
New in version 0.0.2 is a -l option for adding a limit to the number of hidden files listed in the outermost directory. This improves performance massively if you use this option. I like -l 20 for 20 hidden items with any tags, but you might prefer to set it to 0 so you aren't wondering where a specific file is.
Hidden Files
A file is hidden when your path does not include all their tags, but all tags in your path do apply to the file. When your path contains exactly the tags of a file, it is shown non-hidden. This is because most file managers let you quickly toggle whether hidden files are shown, so you can use that property to quickly see if you have all the tags you want on a specific file or files.
A tag is hidden when adding it to your path would mean you have no more matching files. However, tags are never hidden directly inside the mountpoint.
Files and tags are hidden by adding a . to the beginning of the name. The names then update as circumstances change, for example, drag mountpoint/peru2018/streetcaricature.jpg into mountpoint/peru2018/.portraits/ and that directory mountpoint/peru2018/ now contains .streetcaricature.jpg (now hidden) and portraits/ (no longer hidden).
Moving a hidden file only adds tags. Moving a non-hidden file changes the tags to exactly the destination path tags. You can rename a file. You can rename and move a file at the same time.
You can rename a tag. Moving a tag inside another tag has no meaning.
Pytagfs supports symlinks. Make sure to make your relative symlinks in the mountpoint directory. You can read them from any path, the read link path will be adjusted based on the number of tags.
Deleting files directly inside the mountpoint deletes them from the filesystem. Deleting them inside tags removes the last tag in your path from the file.
Empty tags can be deleted with rmdir. If your file manager refuses to try to delete a directory with items inside of it, or tries to delete recursively, you can also delete an empty tag by renaming it in the mountpoint to ..deleteme. This is a useful workaround if you are using a file manager or SMB.
Requirements: FUSE. That means pytagfs only supports Unix-like systems.
pip install pytagfs
- Symlinks not always shown in all tag configurations under SMB.
- Basic functionality
- CRUD operations
- Must work with file managers and over SMB
- Odds and Ends
- Consider giving tags their own inodes or otherwise managing permissions, attrs, xattrs
- Consider turning files into sqlite blobs
- If you have experience with SQL, consider checking over my queries.
- Possible reimplementation
- Rust seems like a good target