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Hi,

I recently found out that XBMC does not support OSX aliases and I wish it did.

I have some of my video files on the internal mac hard drive "movies" folder, but other videos are in an external USB hard drive. I have created an alias to the USB hard drive folder in the Movies folder on the internal hard drive. However XBMC does not recognize the alias folder.

I know that I could add the USB hard drive as a new source, but it would be much more convenient it XBMC did recognize the folder aliases.

Cheers,

Amadawn
Yeah I've been hoping for alias support since I found out about xbmc for OS X. Still haven't heard any answers as to whether this will ever be added. Seems like a pretty important feature as many OS X users like to use aliases. I'm not really a fan of the "add source" way of doing things since I have hundreds of movies on discs that I want to add to my library but if I do my source menu will be enormous. I'd be much easier to just have a folder with an alias to all my video files from all my many sources.

@amadawn Best thing you can do now is make a comment on this ticket to add your support for the feature so that hopefully it becomes more of a priority and moves up in the Roadmap. Here is the ticket http://dn-0.com/xbmc-trac/ticket/108
amadawn Wrote:Hi,

I recently found out that XBMC does not support OSX aliases and I wish it did.

I have some of my video files on the internal mac hard drive "movies" folder, but other videos are in an external USB hard drive. I have created an alias to the USB hard drive folder in the Movies folder on the internal hard drive. However XBMC does not recognize the alias folder.

I know that I could add the USB hard drive as a new source, but it would be much more convenient it XBMC did recognize the folder aliases.

Cheers,

Amadawn



Agreed but this is not a place for feature request and OSXBMC is still in the early stages of development. Give it time.

For many programs though this would be an issue as you have to look for your files in each source. Many programs (Mac home theather) don't support aliases either. For OSXBMC it doesn't make a difference since it clumps all your source files together in one locations (library view) like an alias would. For file view (who uses that) it might be an issue.

Give it time and file the request if you like.

Personally since I would the OSXBMC I no longer see need for aliases support like was waiting for with xHub. And now I have poster description, artwork (auto load), and a bunch of other stuff.
Why would your source menu be huge? Why not just add a single source that points to both master folders? XBMC wil combine them into one single source - or at least it does on the XBOX and Linux versions. Huh
BLKMGK Wrote:Why would your source menu be huge? Why not just add a single source that points to both master folders? XBMC wil combine them into one single source - or at least it does on the XBOX and Linux versions. Huh

Because I don't have any master folders. I've burned about 100+ movies onto DVD's so the way it is now I would have to insert each dvd and then add that DVD as a source and add it to my video library. Its all fine when I'm in library mode but when I switch to list view so that I can add another source whenever I get another movie it will show me all 100+ sources (each dvd I have). I'd much rather just place an alias of the movie that's on the DVD (as well as aliases of my videos from my external drives) into a folder on my desktop so that THAT becomes my master folder and then I can add THAT as my source. It would make it so much easier for me to manage my movie collection since I have so many sources. I could have one central folder with an alias of each 300+ movies that I have. I'd then be able to manage my movie collection at a glance without having to launch xbmc everytime to see what I have . I could also print out my list from the finder (something I can't do from within xbmc right now). I can list dozens of practical uses for why alias support should be added for mac users. What amazes me is how it actually isn't already a feature. Everytime I explain to a friend how to add files to xbmc they always say "can't I just put a bunch of aliases in one folder and add that as my source?" and everytime I have to tell them that aliases aren't yet supported. And they always say "really? why not?"
I know XBMC doesn't support aliases as of yet. platanito21 has the right answer, open a trac account and comment on the ticket (sorta a voting system) if a ticket gets lots of votes it will be bumped up on the list of todo's.

Now for the time being XBMC DOES support symlinks. I'm not going to go into details nor am I going to coach someone on how to use basic bash commands (that's what google is for) but if you wanted to add a folder on a external drive to your movies folder something like this would be appropriate:

ln -s "/Volumes/External Drive/More Movies" ~"/Movies/More Movies"

Again read up on the ln command or look for a GUI alternative that will make symlinks

(http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13001)
@platanito21

Once adding DVD drive as a source is supported you will be able to just see what's inside the drive at the moment.
@planito21
This could be for you http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=HOW-TO:_Cata...e_files%29
So just make folder to every movie ou have on discs and place empty avi file inside there, they will scrape just fine but ofcourse to play you need to put disc in and play it manually from menu
_tv_ Wrote:@planito21
This could be for you http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=HOW-TO:_Cata...e_files%29
So just make folder to every movie ou have on discs and place empty avi file inside there, they will scrape just fine but ofcourse to play you need to put disc in and play it manually from menu

I'm sorry but this just seems like a backwards way to do something. Why on earth would I want to fill a folder with fake files when I should just be able to fill it with aliases to REAL files. My problem with the way its done now is that I feel like I can't do anything to my library or all my movie info will be lost. If I choose to update it automatically all my movies that aren't currently connected to my computer will be deleted from the library. I've already lost movie info on 3 separate occasions. I just want to be able to have a representation of my ENTIRE movie library in one folder on my desktop and use that as my source. And the only real way to do that seems to be through aliases or reference movies (which quicktime can create but xbmc doesn't support those either).

Having the DVD drive show up on the main menu (regardless of whether its a DVD movie or a DVD with a movie file burned on it) and being able to add it to the library from there without having to add it as a source might get me a step closer to managing my movie collection in an easier way but its still not where I think it should be. The way it is now it just seems like the library is very vulnerable. It feels like it can easily be lost or deleted.

Ideally, it would be nice if xbmc created an alias of every file you entered into its database and put all those aliases in one folder (maybe in subfolders for movies, tv shows). This would be used as its source for its library. And if you manually put a new alias in that folder from your finder the next time you launch xbmc it'll recognize that and ask you if you want to add it to your library. This seems like the more Mac way of doing things.

But that would probably require a lot of work for the developers so all I'd really like is to at least support aliases so that I could do it myself. I know that xbmc is a port from other platforms and I think that is actually where the problems stems from because its not really being created the way a mac program would be created. Its fundamental way of thinking is different. And thats fine, I know it will take time for mac features to work its way into it (and I've already seen in the roadmap that Elan is trying to focus on getting the program on par with all the other versions before going into more mac specific features). Thats the way it should be done since its a port. All I wish for in the near future is for xbmc to be able to at least be able to read alias and/or reference movie files. I have no clue how hard it is to make that happen though. Either way, all the work thats been done already is astounding. I never thought this program would have come this far in such a short period of time.
platanito21 Wrote:*SNIP SNIP SNIP SNIP CHOP*
Having the DVD drive show up on the main menu (regardless of whether its a DVD movie or a DVD with a movie file burned on it) and being able to add it to the library from there without having to add it as a source might get me a step closer to managing my movie collection in an easier way but its still not where I think it should be. The way it is now it just seems like the library is very vulnerable. It feels like it can easily be lost or deleted.
*SNIP CHOP SNIP*

This is how XBMC is SUPPOSED to behave. But as sated DVD Support isn't implemented yet. The roadmap has it slated for version 0.7. As stated below you can use symlinks instead of alias files and they actually work.

http://dn-0.com/xbmc-trac/roadmap
iordonez Wrote:This is how XBMC is SUPPOSED to behave. But as sated DVD Support isn't implemented yet. The roadmap has it slated for version 0.7. As stated below you can use symlinks instead of alias files and they actually work.

http://dn-0.com/xbmc-trac/roadmap

Yes I already knew that it was a feature that was coming. And it is a welcomed feature. I'm only trying to discuss whether the library management is setup the way it should be for mac users. I am a longtime mac user and a graphic designer so I like things to be as simple and as effective as possible. and right now I don't think it is (at least not for the masses). So I'm trying to open up a dialogue to discuss how things might be made better (if at all possible). I've never heard about symlinks but it appears to just be a better way of making an alias so I'll try it out. Again, this isn't something that an mac user will be able to create with a default system so it still doesn't seem like the best option. But I see that aliases can cause issues with remote clients and perhaps thats why it isn't adopted. Perhaps xbmc can be made to create symlinks in order to simplify things. Who knows. I am no programmer.

Anyway, thanks for the symlink suggestion. I'll look into using it and see how it goes. I found a gui for creating symlinks from the finder that is actually free. Here is the link http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10433 Don't know if it works on Leopard though.
Just wanted to confirm that symlinks do work in OSXBMC.

symlinks are also what works for AppleTV.
platanito21 Wrote:I've never heard about symlinks but it appears to just be a better way of making an alias so I'll try it out. Again, this isn't something that an mac user will be able to create with a default system so it still doesn't seem like the best option.

This is very much something that a mac user can created with a default system install. It just requires a little know how. An entire tutorial on symlinks can be found here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?s...0610290643

The GUI part just makes it easy for people who don't know their way around Terminal.
iordonez Wrote:This is very much something that a mac user can created with a default system install. It just requires a little know how. An entire tutorial on symlinks can be found here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?s...0610290643

The GUI part just makes it easy for people who don't know their way around Terminal.

What I meant was an AVERAGE mac user with a default system (sorry about the confusion). 95% of people don't even know what the Terminal is let alone how to use it. The GUI does make it much easier though. I've just created a Sadly, most won't know it exists. Perhaps it should be added to the FAQ?

@iordonez Thanks again for the suggestion
Elan has bumped Alias support to 0.6.0 so might just be best to wait. I don't know if I want to explain symlinks to a bunch of people Wink
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