Unshackle - Modular Movie, TV, and Music Archival Software

[sipho]

You don't have to use uv. Lots of cats to skin.

[deccavox]

This is the advise I got for uv (I've read it or seen it a few times elsewhere in the past).
If you're aiming for smooth, hassle-free upgrades of `uv`. Here's the rundown on each option:

### Using `pipx`
**Pros:**
- Installs `uv` in an isolated virtual environment, so it won’t interfere with your system or global Python packages.
- Upgrading is a breeze with `pipx upgrade uv`.
- Keeps your Python environment cleaner and avoids version conflicts.
- Ideal for command-line tools that aren’t meant to be part of a larger Python project.

**Cons:**
- You need to have `pipx` installed and properly set up beforehand (though that's usually a one-time thing).

### Using `pip`
**Pros:**
- Simple and direct if you're comfortable with managing Python packages manually.
- Easily scriptable if you're installing as part of a larger setup.

**Cons:**
- Installing globally can lead to dependency clashes or permission issues.
- Managing upgrades might require manual steps like `pip install --upgrade uv`, and sometimes dealing with `sudo`.

### Verdict
For your goal—*easy and reliable upgrades*—`pipx` is the way to go. It treats `uv` as a standalone tool and makes updating as simple as typing one command. Think of it as the best of both worlds: flexibility without the fuss.

In other words. If you use `pip` to initially install 'uv' you are installing it globally (which you want, you want to be able to use uv anywhere on your system). When you update uv, at some time in the future the update could add extra dependencies and those dependencies could be used by other Python packages you have already installed globally some time ago. Then you could end up with 'dependency hell' where different packages rely on different versions of dependencies, you've now got the wrong versions and so you can 'break' your system.

By installing uv via pipx, it lives in its own mini environment, with its dependencies contained and isolated. That means:

Upgrading uv only affects uv and its dependencies.
uv still appears to be being used globally which is good, but it's actually being routed through pipx environment.
It makes it nice and neat and secure.
I've been using uv for some time now for all my projects, not just unshackle, so I'm happy with my setup.

But, it's your choice.

[phased]

Thanks. But really do we need another way? To avoid confusion for everyone it is far simpler to do as the unshackle maintainer suggests.
And if anyone wants to run things in an environment with uv, the command 'uv venv' will create it, and it will tell you how to start it too - 'source .venv/bin/activate' .
From there on it is sp4k.y's instructions. Simple - no confusion.

Once voice, one way. Do your thing if you want but probably best not to over-complicate it for others. Just look at the mess in the devine thread.

[deccavox]

Thanks. But really do we need another way? To avoid confusion for everyone it is far simpler to do as the unshackle maintainer suggests.
And if anyone wants to run things in an environment with uv, the command 'uv venv' will create it, and it will tell you how to start it too - 'source .venv/bin/activate' .
From there on it is sp4k.y's instructions. Simple - no confusion.

Once voice, one way. Do your thing if you want but probably best not to over-complicate it for others.

Fair enough. The thread is really about using unshackle anyway and not about using uv. The github assumes that you have uv installed already. It makes no mention as to how to install uv.

[mickmars]

Thanks Deccavox

I now have the
Error: There are no Services added yet


My yaml says

services:
- /path/to/services C:\unshackle\unshackle\services
- /other/path/to/services C:\unshackle\unshackle\services

What am I doing wrong?

Cheers

[WhiskeyJack]

Thanks Deccavox

I now have the
Error: There are no Services added yet


My yaml says

services:
- /path/to/services C:\unshackle/unshackle/services
- /other/path/to/services C:\unshackle/unshackle/services

What am I doing wrong?

You've entered the weirdest file path and unshackle can't find what you've pointed it to. fix it with

services:
    -  C:\unshackle\unshackle\services
    -  C:\unshackle\unshackle\services

If you have only one service file list that, and delete the details to the other one. I've absolutely no idea why this was added, it should have remained as a single line under directories.

services: C:\unshackle/unshackle/services

[mickmars]

Hi

It now says on yaml line #28

services: C:\unshackle\unshackle\services

and I'm still getting the No Services error

Just so I am clear, I got my services from

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/414154-Devine-Modular-Movie-TV-and-Music-Archival-...60#post2778797

I unzipped them and placed them in the Unshackle services folder in my C drive

[deccavox]

try

uv run unshackle env info

that lists where it thinks all your paths are.

[iamghost]

directories:
  services: ./unshackle/services

[mickmars]

try

uv run unshackle env info

that lists where it thinks all your paths are.

No config file found, you can use any of the following locations:
├── 1.
│ C:\Users\palmer\AppData\Roaming\uv\tools\unshackle \Lib\site-packag
│ es\unshackle\unshackle.yaml
├── 2.
│ C:\Users\palmer\AppData\Roaming\uv\tools\unshackle \Lib\site-packag
│ es\unshackle.yaml
└── 3.
C:\Users\palmer\AppData\Roaming\uv\tools\unshackle \Lib\site-packag
es\unshackle\unshackle.yaml

[WhiskeyJack]

try

uv run unshackle env info

that lists where it thinks all your paths are.

No config file found, you can use any of the following locations:
├── 1.
│ C:\Users\palmer\AppData\Roaming\uv\tools\unshackle \Lib\site-packag
│ es\unshackle\unshackle.yaml
├── 2.
│ C:\Users\palmer\AppData\Roaming\uv\tools\unshackle \Lib\site-packag
│ es\unshackle.yaml
└── 3.
C:\Users\palmer\AppData\Roaming\uv\tools\unshackle \Lib\site-packag
es\unshackle\unshackle.yaml

I'm on a *nix set, installed using

uv tool install git+https://github.com/unshackle-dl/unshackle.git

unshackle env info points to

unshackle env info
                                                                                
                ▄• ▄▌ ▐ ▄ .▄▄ ·  ▄ .▄ ▄▄▄·  ▄▄· ▄ •▄ ▄▄▌  ▄▄▄ .                 
                █▪██▌•█▌▐█▐█ ▀. ██▪▐█▐█ ▀█ ▐█ ▌▪█▌▄▌▪██•  ▀▄.▀·                 
                █▌▐█▌▐█▐▐▌▄▀▀▀█▄██▀▐█▄█▀▀█ ██ ▄▄▐▀▀▄·██▪  ▐▀▀▪▄                 
                ▐█▄█▌██▐█▌▐█▄▪▐███▌▐▀▐█ ▪▐▌▐███▌▐█.█▌▐█▌▐▌▐█▄▄▌                 
                 ▀▀▀ ▀▀ █▪ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ · ▀  ▀ ·▀▀▀ ·▀  ▀.▀▀▀  ▀▀▀                  
                   v 3.3.3 Copyright © 2019-2025 rlaphoenix                     
                              v 1.0.1 - unshackle                               
                                                                                
     Config loaded from                                                         
     /home/WhiskeyJack/.local/share/uv/tools/unshackle/lib/python3.12/site-package     
     s/unshackle/unshackle.yaml

it is part of the installation, when freshly installed, the unshackle.yaml will have cursory info that you need to edit for yuor system. It will be likewise if you just downloaded the zip archive from github, or git cloned. Location according to github of the freshly installed unshackle.yaml is

unshackle/unshackle.yaml

[iamghost]

all I did was add new folder under unshackle and add it unshackle.yaml

[Attachment 87927 - Click to enlarge]
no problem so far

[mickmars]

I know where my yaml file is - I just dont know what i need to enter or where I need to enter it to get the env info right and make the services work

my installation method was using the guide in post#6 on this thread

[iamghost]

thats my yaml. all folder is under unshackle folder

[Attachment 87928 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 87929 - Click to enlarge]

[deccavox]

My yaml is more or less the same as iamghosts (apart from my services and WVDs are in .\unshackle\unshackle), except I've used absolute paths instead of relative paths

directories:
  services: D:\unshackle\unshackle\services
  cache: D:\unshackle\cache
  cookies: D:\unshackle\cookies
#  dcsl: DCSL # Device Certificate Status List
  downloads: D:\unshackle\Downloads
  logs: D:\unshackle\Logs
  temp: D:\unshackle\temp
  WVDs: D:\unshackle\unshackle\WVDs

Relative is a much better idea since I can then have multiple installations of unshackle installed on my system (if I wanted) even deep within multiple folder paths and use the same yaml file. So thanks iamghost, an excellent idea. I will change mine

All changed and working fine