[mythtv-users] many baskets of eggs

[WJCarpenter]

bb> LVM is almost mandatory for HD since Myth requires you to store
bb> all TV shows in a single directory and a single drive isn't enough
bb> for most people recording HD.

I don't want to sound like one of those people who has a perfect
solution to a problem without having done any homework (but, well, I
haven't done any homework).  Would it be such a big deal to have
MythTV spread it's media files over a list of directories or a
hierarchy of directories or something?

Maybe it's more difficult than my naivte leads me to believe.  I
imagine a model something like this....  MythTV has a database of
metadata about recordings, and one element of that metadata is the
name of the file where the blob of actual content is stored.  In
theory, that file could be anywhere and MythTV wouldn't care.  When
it's time to CRUD it, MythTV just opens it like any other file based
on the filename stored in the catalog.

If the above description in true (or at least close to true), then the
problem is one of picking where to put new files.  If MythTV
supported, say, a hierarchy of directories instead of just one
directory (where the hierarchy could include following symlinks and
crossing mount points), then it could:

1.  Periodically walk the hierarchy to get a complete list of
    directory names.

2.  Randomly select one of those directories as the target location
    for a new file.

3.  (Extra credit) Check the status of the filesystem on which the
    chosen directory (the "real" end if it's a symlink) actually
    resides and re-do step 2 if filled beyond some threshhold
    percentage or whatever.

Besides the "someone would have to do this work" factor, is there any
fundamental architectural reason this couldn't be done?  LVM and it's
suite of tools and concepts is quite fine on sunny days, but it's hard
to beat good old standard file operations, mount points, and symlinks
for sorting things out when things get nutty.
-- 
bill-mythtv at carpenter.ORG (WJCarpenter)    PGP 0x91865119
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