Root folder -who does what?

Version 3.0.9.1549
Package Version 3.0.9 by Team Sonarr
Mono Version 6.8.0.105
AppData directory /var/lib/sonarr
Startup directory /usr/lib/sonarr/bin
Mode Console

Ubuntu 22.04

I am trying to figure out the root file thing. I did a search, here, and there are, I think, 50 messages on that one.

What I need is really pretty easy - but confusing.

I run and use both Sonarr (TV) and Radarr (movies). I have two down loaders I use: Sabnzbdplus (files) and Transmission (torrents)

Here is the problem. I am not sure who is doing what. What I want to do is to download something which will, eventually make it to the source file for either TV or Movies. My problem is who is doing what, in this regard.

It all starts with Sonarr or Radarr. Both deal with their root files. The root files hold the shows (tv or movie) The TV file holds TV shows which are not in individual folders and the Movie file holds individual folder for each movie. (I have no idea why they are different). Both programs have indexers (which go out the internet and find out where the shows wanted are) In addition each indexer also has the name of the downloader which gets in the information from the program. Here is a confusion. each indexer also knows if its dealing with TV or Movies and this is determined by the downloader chosen. Whether TV or Movie sabnzbd+ is the downloader used. What is interesting is that sabnzbd+ also is the source of the ‘category’ and the ‘category’ has in address, in my case, of the root file. I am not sure if this is right, perhaps it should be where I send stuff not yet fully downloaded (incomplete), or perhaps they should go to ‘complete’, in any case sending files to the root file is wrong but how does the download get there? I actually have places for complete, incompleat, or TV (everything not TV always, in theory go to compete).

So, that was my first confusion. Now we move on to the ‘Downloaders’
I use two Downloaders - One for files and the other for Torrents. Each downloader also contains a ‘category’ so, are the Downloaders the real ones that move the files, that they have downloaded, to the source file or not.

I guess my basic question is that who puts the download, depending of the state of the download, where?

I am sure that somebody can tell me this. It would even be better to do it on a graph that shows who does what. I have been reading stuff for well over a week and it ends up simply confusing my elderly mind. I have a pretty good idea of what each stage does but how the download move is a mystery for me. I need to know, exactly, how to gell each step what to do. I think I haven’t done that which tends to make problems and then I come here with little parts of the problem when what I need to see and know is, exactly, who does what and how they know that.

Oh, my apologies. This was probably too long its my effort to try and clear up a problem.

Thank you…

If you haven’t already, go and take a read through

https://wiki.servarr.com/sonarr
https://trash-guides.info/

They cover full setups including how your paths and programs link. If you still have questions after that come back

TL;DR you have the following app components
*arr
Indexer
Downloader

and the following file locations
Downloads
Media

*arr searches Indexer and sends result to Downloader. Downloader downloads it to Downloads and then *arr moves it to Media.

Categories are used so that when you have multiple *arrs they can tell which one should move the downloaded file.

I have been reading the wiki thing and it confuses. What I need to know is so simple (I think) I just need to know where Sonarr and Radarr put downloads or even if they do anything with them.

At which point, what puts the downloads into the source file. Sonarr, for instance, indexers and downloaders. The downloaders have addresses which, I think, are used to move the downloaded file someplace.
sabnzbd+, for instance, wants to know where the partially downloaded go and where the completed go. All that tends to make me believe that after sabnzbd+ is done sonarr and radarr do the final move but I’m not sure.

I can go on and on but, I suspect, you might understand my confusion.

I provided a basic overview of the sequence and generic components above. More specifically for what you are asking:

Sonarr
Indexer
SAB

Sonarr searches Indexer for episode and sends that information to SAB
SAB downloads the episode and saves in it Downloads
Sonarr moves the episode from Downloads to Media

Thank you for the reply!

so, the Sonarr download client puts the downloaded into either complete or tv (which is in home/greg/Video/complete or TV) which also means that the Sonarr downloads need to change their file address from the source file to those files. Then Sonarr moves the episode to the source file/media. Sonarr downloaders have one address from the category and the address of source/media file comes from? (once I know this I will know how to setup Sab and the downloaders)

Sonarr and Radarr both have defined the root file location. I expect that’s where it gets its last download move? So, donarr downloaders send the downloaded from what is found in the category address and after doing whatever moves the file from the category address to the root/medium/source file.

Per the guides you should be working from two separate folder structures
One for where downloads go (eg. data\Downloads).
And the final destination for where all your media lives (eg. data\Media)

From Trash Guides (I removed Torrent for simplicity for now, and renamed to Downloads since that’s what I’ve been using for the whole thread)

data
├── Downloads
│ ├── movies
│ ├── music
│ └── tv
└── Media
├── movies
├── music
└── tv

Beyond this you shouldn’t really need to deviate from the defaults. Make sure you are using categories in Sonarr and Radarr. Make sure SAB is pointed at Downloads. AFAIK you should not need to change any of the internal settings (like temporary folders etc.)

Sonarr searches Indexer for episode and sends that information to SAB for download, categorized as tv
SAB downloads the episode and saves in it data\Downloads\tv
Sonarr moves the episode from data\Downloads\tv to data\Media\tv\Series\Season\

Trash Guides covers this in quite some detail, including examples of paths and settings for all apps

so, currently my tv and movie categories have the root folders of tv and movies. I should change that to complete for movies and tv for TV. I think all I have to do is to change the categories to downloads (in my system it would be /home/greg/Video/complete or TV (/home/greg/ is really my home directory)). If I do that I should be done.

Just to make sure, Sonarr and Radarr but know where the root folders are. Both of them have downloaders and so they use the categories to tell where to send the downloads and then they move those downloads to the root folders.

I should add that everything is working, right now, just fine but I am downloading the downloads directly to the root folders which several places tell me is a really bad thing to do. So I am going to change my categories to my ‘download’ addresses (tv (sonarr) and movies (radarr))

Thank you for helping me.

Well… yes, but also no.

I commend you for asking questions and wanting to understand, and encourage you to keep going because I think it’s worth getting everything setup properly. It sounds like you have a grasp on how the various components interact and work together now. But at the moment, your paths are still a mess. You don’t want to be in your home directory at all. And as you mentioned, you don’t want to be downloading directly to your root folders.

What I would suggest again is to go and follow what is outlined in Trash Guides. From what I’ve gathered I believe you would want to follow the Native setup instructions, and then the Examples for how to configure your apps. This should get your paths setup properly, which in turn will have your apps working optimally.

https://trash-guides.info/Hardlinks/How-to-setup-for/Native/
https://trash-guides.info/Hardlinks/Examples/

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