WOW.
why would you do this BEFORE implementing a solution to auto-extract .RARs?
Those of use using torrents and on windows, rely on the drone factory!
MOOOOOMmmmmmmmm!
Have you read the wiki page for the health check? https://github.com/Sonarr/Sonarr/wiki/Health-checks#drone-factory-is-deprecated
The problem with Drone Factory (and why it will be removed) is new users, find it use it then have issues, items stuck in queue, seeding torrents being removed being the top reasons. We understand some people are relying on it, but with the ability to trigger the same functionality through the API, a small script and task scheduler/cron can replace the functionality.
Auto extracting of RARs is still something we plan to do, but itâs not a reason to keep Drone Factory around.
Drone Factory will be removed in v3 of Sonarr, which does not have an ETA, but we want to give ample notice that it will be removed and avoid the common pitfall for new users that set it up.
Markus,
Yes, of course, I read the wiki. And I agree, the drone factory should not be used under normal circumstances. This scenario is exactly where is should be used. And itâs perfectly reliable.
It just blows my mind you would remove such a critical feature for us Windows users.
I KNOW I can manually import at any time, but unfortunately, about 10% of my downloads are RARed. I (and some other users) spend A LOT of time to create a workaround for this - an automated feature around having to manually import by using the drone factory. In fact, to my knowledge there is NO WAY to automatically extract torrents and import them automatically without using the drone factory.
Thanks for the notice, but I respectfully request you consider this.
thx,
SV
Thatâs quite a knee-jerk reaction 
The periodic Drone Factory scan has been deprecated since early 2015, itâs nothing new, but it was high time we started to advertise that more aggressively.
Aa permanent health check warning will do just that. Weâve been telling people about it on countless occasions, on the forum, reddit, our IRC channel, etc. For example this reddit post with a somewhat verbose explanation.
There are practically zero use cases where you need the Drone Factory. People have been misusing it for way too long, unaware of the consequences, and end up making support requests when stuff inevitably goes wrong. So hopefully this persistent Health Check warning will ensure that users are aware of it and start migrating away.
The wiki says: "For custom external imports such as after transcoding, use the API to signal Sonarr to scan a specific directory using the DownloadedEpisodesScan command."
This is whatâs applicable in your scenario.
Donât rely on Sonarr to scan some directory somewhere periodically, tell Sonarr when unrar is completed by calling that api, itâs vastly more reliable than the Drone Factory scan. Event-driven is the magic word.
The decision to remove the periodic Drone Factory was made years ago, and is not debatable, regardless of any other planned feature.
It wonât be automatically removed/disabled since itâs scheduled for v3, not any v2 release. But please, stop using it.
âThere are practically zero use cases where you need the Drone Factoryâ
Except for ALL the windows users who are using torrents and trackers that serve up .rar content.
ââFor custom external imports such as after transcoding, use the API to signal Sonarr to scan a specific directory using the DownloadedEpisodesScan command.ââ
Yeah, I got thisâŚsooooooâŚif you canât point me to a solution where I can make an API call after a rar has been extracted. I"m all ears.
For reference, I wrote this a while backâŚas since I"m sure youâre awareâŚone of the BIGGEST complaints of sonarr/radarr is that there is no auto-extract feature (I see AT LEAST 2-3 posts on reddit a week from users who are trying to figure this out) Thatâs why I wrote this⌠This tutorial I wrote is still valid and works, but depends on the drone factory. Iâd love for your guysâ input. Like Iâve said, Iâve seen no other solution to auto-extract .rar files using torrents.
I do LOVE you guys. I really appreciate your work. Iâm a developer myself, but Iâm SO sick of us Windows people being left out of all the open source stuffâŚitâs like âoh yeah, THOSE guysâ âŚ
Respectfully, Iâm sure youâre aware that 75% of the world is still using Windows. Yes, I know that stat doesnât apply to the majority of users who are using your software, but give us a break.
There is no difference between Windows or Linux when it comes to the Drone Factory, so Iâm wondering where youâre getting the idea that weâre singling out Windows. Also, Sonarr started out as Windows-only, with still almost 50% of our userbase being on Windows. If anything, weâre getting occasionally bashed by linux users coz we use the .Net Framework. AnywayâŚ
The DownloadedEpisodesScan can be POSTed on the API, and has been around for like forever, although the wiki is somewhat lacking on examples. There are quite a few posts about it on the forum.
On windows you could use PowerShell to make the api call, itâs a bit tricky to get the POST payload right on PS but itâs certainly possible.
Ideally the script should be used in conjunction with a torrent client thatâs capable of triggering the script after a download.
On the windows issue - so why on earth would you remove the drone factory IF most of your users rely on it to supplement a feature that (Respectfully) sonarr SHOULD have already?
API Call issue -
Okay, assume I can make my torrent client run a script in PowerShell to make an API callâŚLong shot, but ok, got it.
However, Sonarr will only SCAN the directory correct? It wonât post-process them right?
So, the torrent client would also have to not only make that API call, but then copy the extracted files (which it doesnât do) and THEN move it to final directory in the naming convention Sonarr requires so that Sonarr picks it up after the API call is made?
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The âunrarâ thing isnât specific to Windows, and it doesnât need the Drone Factory. I suspect that the fact that you happen to be using Windows heavily skews your perception of the problem. âWindowsâ is utterly irrelevant in this discussion and I very much prefer we move beyond that.
It will definitely post-process them. It allows you to tell Sonarr âIâve got a temporary directory here, please import.â. So in that sense the DownloadedEpisodesScan is the Drone Factory, just without the periodic scan.
The difference is that you can tell it which directory, how to import (move vs copy) and which Download it was for (hash), and most importantly when to import. That way you can ensure Sonarr doesnât try import files that are still being downloaded, unrarred, transcoded, etc.
If the infohash is specified it also allows Sonarr to understand which download (Completed Download Handling) the import is for and will automatically consider it âimportedâ.
This is what I meant with âevent-drivenâ since it allows an external process tell Sonarr that downloading finished, and that it should now import.
So your process should be:
- have torrent client invoke your script
- Script should unrar to a new temporary directory, preferably named by the torrent name.
- Script should then invoke the Sonarr API, path=temporary directory, importMode=Move, and optionally downloadClientId=Infohash.
- Sonarr will asynchroneously scan the specified path, parse the file/folder name, and attempt to import the result into the series folder (renaming the files if renaming is enabled)
- Optionally Sonarr will also mark the grabbed release as âimportedâ if the Infohash is specified.
The same process should be followed for any kind of âpre-processingâ such as transcoding.
PS: The command that scans the series folder is the RescanSeries command, which takes an optional series ID. But you donât need that one.
Okay, got it.
Iâll check it out.
Really do appreciate you taking the time.
I am a recent convert to CDH. I cannot believe I had missed it for so long. Once you realize that you let Sonarr run the show, you are much better off. I was wasting time trying to get VideoSort to work within nzbget. BOOM Sonarr does it all and even places content in different directories, such as tv and kids_tv.
I cannot think of any circumstance in which I wouldnât always use Sonarr to get TV shows and Radarr to get movies. Why mess with any other way than pure CDH?
My caddy easily facilitates remote access with its reverse proxy skills. No need to use NZB360 nor unity. I just use Sonarr and Radarr for eveything.
It works perfectly for usenet since both sab & nzbget have excellent post-processing scripting support. But for torrents itâs a bit more complicated, due to limitations in a lot of the download clients.
Please dont take Drone Factory away! My current setup with it is perfect and requires no interaction.
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Itâs gonna happen, thatâs absolutely beyond discussion, so deal with it. Use the alternatives.
3 posts were split to a new topic: Import not working without Drone Factory
So, I get that Drone Factory needs to be removed. I wonât argue that point. I am curious, though is there a way to call the API through a batch file (currently have one written that extracts RARed files and moves them (or copies files if they are not compressed), then converts them to MP4, then Moves them to a specific folder. It would be great if I could just add a few lines to invoke the API, but if this is not possible, I can convert to PowerShell. Would just be easier if I didnât have to rewrite the whole thing.
Thanks!
On a side note. It would just make things so much easier, if you could select the folder for Sonarr to search, in lieu of the folder where the downloads go initially. If this sounds like (or is basically exactly like, lol) Drone Factory, then forget what I just said.
I guess I just wanted to say Iâve really enjoyed using sonarr (and radarr) since I got it a couple months ago. I only use torrents and all the private trackers Iâm apart of do use .rar for most tv and movies. The deluge extractor has been broken for a long time and only works sometimes and even if it did work I guess it wouldnât delete the unrard file after being copied by sonarr. Iâm on Windows 10 and Iâve spent around 8 hours straight for the last two nights trying to automate the unrar process and also would like the unrard video file to be deleted after being copied by sonarr and havenât been able to do it. I donât really know how to code n write scripts and things that advanced. I mean I can run sonarr radarr jackett with deluge n plex n share with my friends so Iâm not like retarded.
I just wish there was a nice option inside sonarr (and radarr) where I just enable unrar and it unrars and deletes the extra video file. I just donât think it should be this hard and it seems like itâs easier for you guys to do something than the torrent clients unraring and some how deleting the extra file after its copied.
Anyways Iâve given up for now unless I can get seanvreeâs method working sometime and then Iâll be screwed once the drone factory is gone I guess? Unless somebody can point me to step by step instructions for somebody on windows 10 to create and run these scripts because I havenât found any guides that will unrar and delete the extra video file other than seanvreeâs.
TLDR
Plz add support in sonnar to unrar and delete the extra video file after being copied to sonarr.
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Youâd just need something that can make the call to the API, such as curl or even have the batch file call powershell to make the call.
Thatâs off topic for this thead, but covered by
Well itâs not exactly off topic seeing as that is why Iâm using a drone folderâŚ
In that case no, but that wasnât clear (to me at least), but regardless, itâs on our radar, thought nothing planned on when it will be worked on.
Yea sorry itâs kinda of rambley and not clear Iâm running on 4 hours of sleep in the last 2 days. Thanks for you time <3
edit: kinda of⌠see what i mean lol
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