Possible to share a library to multiple machines?

[nbast]

I currently have all the Pedias installed on my machine.

I'm setting up a media server, and would like to move the library files to the server. I would also like to allow access to the libraries from multiple machines, specifically, my wife's and maybe my daughter's.

Is it possible to set up the Pedias so that the Library is shared like this? If so, would it be single user at a time, or could both of us be running it at the same time. Would I need additional licenses to do this?

[Conor]

You can share your library to several computers by mounting the server as a hard drive on all of them. You seem to have the setup and are asking about the technical issues. Depending on your file system on the computers you will be able to make change simultaneously and the results will be merged into the database. If you find that one of your Pedias locks up while trying to make simultaneous changes it means that the file systems are not compatible (a PowerPC and an Intel for example). What happens is one of them locks the entire file and the other Pedia is locked up waiting for it to release it to write its changes, of course the other program won't release it until it quits. If this is the case you can designate one version as the editor and the rest use as browse only. All this amazing technology of merging and writing to the same file concurrently is handled by Core Data an Apple technology. Personally concurrent access makes me nervous so be sure to backup your database folder often. With a backup available go ahead and give it a trial setup. You will also find that there is a lot of caching going on (speed reasons), so even though both programs can write to the file simultaneously you might not see the changes appear on another running copy due to caching even though the changes will appear once the program is restarted or it decides to refresh the information from disk.

Our licenses are family licenses so go ahead and install the Pedias all over your house, thank you for asking.

[PauHana658]

Still holding out for that purported Mac Mini upgrade as a home media server, but this issue of sharing a DVDpedia library among multiple computers/users is already one that I'm worried about, mainly because Number One son is now using PocketPedia to browse movies on his iPod touch and wants to be able to sync from the Kid's Computer (an iMac G5) without having to ask me to run up DVDpedia on my MacBook Pro. But I'm deathly afraid of either him or his younger brother or sister running up DVDpedia and making unintentional changes while browsing the library.

Is it possible to put DVDpedia on multiple computers (apparently, yes) and then use permissions to determine which user accounts have read/write access to the database and which have read only access? I suppose I could just try it, but if someone has a definitive answer, it would save me a lot of time and possibly grief.

Thanks!

[Conor]

You can manage access using the permissions built into Mac OS X. In that case you won't have to worry about concurrent changes at all. If the kids do try to make a change they will get an alert from DVDpedia saying that the permissions are not correct. You could even mount the entire server directory on the kids computer as read only, with a special folder having write access for the kids storage area.

Very interesting to find out how families are using the Pedias and Pocketpedia.

[nbast]

One of the things I'd like to do is rip all my daughter's DVDs and set up a library with links to the video files in the template.

That way I could put all her DVDs back on the shelf and considerably extend their life expectancy... I don't mind so much if Elmo or Dora gets a scratch, but I'd prefer to keep movies like Totoro, Cars, and Little Mermaid in useable condition...

[ltcarter47]

This is interesting, I've had this sharing thought in the back of my head now for most of the year as I've been building my media server.

If this is the case you can designate one version as the editor and the rest use as browse only.

Is there actually a function in the application for this, or do you just mean mentally making a note of: "OK, machine A will be my editor and Machines B & C will be browse only" ?

You can manage access using the permissions built into Mac OS X. In that case you won't have to worry about concurrent changes at all. If the kids do try to make a change they will get an alert from DVDpedia saying that the permissions are not correct.

In my case I've been using Dropbox to store my DVDpedia library and access it from other machines. Maybe this could work for this situation as well, locking down the dropbox folder on the "browse" machines to read only. I wonder how that would affect dropbox's syncing... I feel trials coming on....

[Conor]

I meant a mental note as to one being an editor and another a browser, although by using permissions you would avoid having to remember which machine is allowed to make changes. Dropbox is well done and the fact that it appears as just another folder on your Mac means it should work with the permission settings. But there is a lot of just works magic behind DVDpedia and Dropbox, so do make a backup before experimenting as you never know what will happen with two types of magic mix. One of the more useful magics of Dropbox is that it automatically makes a backup of every file in your Dropbox for you, but in this experimental case I would make a separate backup.

[ltcarter47]

Unfortunately, looks like it won't work. When I locked down the Dropbox folder on my browse only machine, Dropbox seemed to try and make the sync to the newer file version but just sat there spinning. Only when I changed back to read/write did it successfully update the file.

Maybe this "browse" functionality could be a potential feature

[btlupin]

I have my library on a nas and use permissions on the nas to lock down the library file so only one user can make changes. Other users can only browse the library, but not make changes.

[boumboum]

i would like also to share database easily and in a secure way. With my wife, we have a lot of books and we like that both our computer are sync. Maybe a public-admin internet interface would be great. (easy to tell of course Or if the database would be split into separate files (like Apple e-mails) it would be easier to sync between to or more folder hosted by different computers on a local server ?

thank you.

[Conor]

Thank you for the suggestion. Separate files for Mail was a move that Apple did in order to make Mail more compatible with Spotlight and Time Machine. However, they don't provide that option with Core Data, this is the technology that we use for storing the data that is fast, robust and more importantly maintainable (Apple does all the work for you). However, we kept the images as separate files instead of incorporating them into the Core Data database to keep the database small. The actual .pediadata database should not be more than a few megabytes and should be easily synced.

[Ted]

It seems to me the only way to do this right is to have new PediaServer app, which does all DB I/O, while the individual Pedia programs talk to the server, instead of performing file I/O directly (obviously, this would be an optional setup).

Count me in as someone who would love to use such a beast. Currently I struggle with copying the *Pedia files back and forth between several Macs to keep them up to date, always running the risk of copying something in the wrong direction by mistake. I tried with one central set of files on my alway on HT Mac, but that lead to too many problems and performance was sluggish compared to local files.

[boumboum]

I have make a try with DropBox app.

I have followed the help explanations of Bruji :

By default the program's data folder is located inside your Home folder under User/Library/Application Support/Bookpedia. If you would rather keep your database in a different location, here's what you need to do:

Quit Bookpedia.

Use the Finder to move the Bookpedia data folder to its new location.

Hold down the option key and start Bookpedia up again.

Press 'Choose database' and navigate to the new data folder.

If you would like to keep more than one Bookpedia library on your computer, you can set up different data folders in the above manner to keep the libraries apart. You can call the data folder whatever you like, it does not have to be 'Bookpedia', but to avoid confusion call it something you will remember at a later date.

To see the location of your current data folder, go into your Bookpedia Preferences/General.

And set BookPedia to seek for the DB in my dropBox folder.

I was wondering what would happen if two people update their DB at the same time :

https://www.dropbox.com/help/36

[Conor]

I was wondering what would happen if two people update their DB at the same time?

The user with the last change would end up never updating information to Dropbox. The conflict would need to be resolved by overwriting the database file with the conflict version to get back in sync and importing any changes in the local version. Luckily, Dropbox informs the date of the conflict and DVDpedia keep track of the modification date for entries that would need exporting and reimporting to be updated. To avoid this issue all together it's recommended that DVDpedia be used by a single user that won't be able to use the program simultaneously from two locations or that one user be more of a read only user.

[boumboum]

Thank you Conor for the points you explain. The first one is explained in the link I have posted under my question.
For the remainder, what do you suggest for :

that one user be more of a read only user

Would you do this with OS X permissions ? I don't think this would be recognize by dropBox, but then.
DropBox'site explains :

All members of a shared folder have full read and write privileges. Setting read-only permissions isn't currently possible, but the feature is on Dropbox's roadmap.
Some permissions systems are incompatible between operating systems. For example, a file with read-only access on your Windows computer may not be protected on your Mac. Dropbox doesn't change a file's permissions when syncing, but can't guarantee the permissions you set in one operating system will work properly when opened from another computer.

In my config, I use two computers (Mac) with the same (free) DropBox's account. So each user have the same right but as they are both Mac maybe they will follow the permissions setting. I'll try it but it would be astonishing if it works as expected because files in the dropbox folder are already with permissions set to "myself" (as a user of the Mac OS X). On my other computer, the user has not the same nick name.

[Sorry for my poor english]