Path Processing

Path Logic in Skyscraper

This page describes how Skyscraper processes the different paths and especially how the absolute path is calculated when a you provide a relative path.

Do not get confused by the lenghty flow diagram below. It covers gamelist folder, input folder and media folder handling. You wiil notice that input folder and media folder are processed in the same manner.

Path processing flowchart

Ah, good you made it to the end of the flow.

Pay attention to the connectors A-A, B-B and C-C in the diagram.

Normalization means any surplus ./ and ../ are removed from the path. However, at this stage it is not verified if the filepath does exists. Also, any symbolic links are not resolved.

Remember the precedence of CLI and configuration options when you read through this document.

In a Nutshell

Key takeaway is that a relative input folder and relative media folder are always calculated to an absolute folder in relation to the absolute gamelist folder. When you apply relativePaths="true", they will be generated with the relative path in respect to the gamelist- or metadata-output (in Pegasus terms) path.

Now, let's see how Skyscraper handles relative path configuration options.

Computing the Absolute Path from ...

a relative path provided. The next subsections are summarizing the absolute path calculation of the different path and file options.

Current Working Directory

The current working directory (CWD) is the directory from where you run Skyscraper. The absolute path is computed as <CWD>/<option-value> for these CLI options and their values:

-a <artwork.xml>
-c <configfile>
-g <gamelistfolder>
-d <cachefolder>

This means the first part of the flow diagram (Gamelist folder) also applies to -a and -d options and their configfile counterparts.

In contrast, when you provide these three (<artwork.xml>,<gamelistfolder> and <cachefolder>) in a configuration INI-file the absolute path it determined from the absolute path of the config file. See below.

Skyscraper Built-in Config Directory

This is usually /home/<USER>/.skyscraper/ (base). With XDG it is slightly different. The files provided with these options

--excludeFrom <excludes.txt>
--includeFrom <includes.txt>

are searched in that directory by concatenating the base and for example the exclude file. If not found, Skyscraper tries to access them with the current working directory as base.

the Gamelist Folder

If you define a Gamelist folder either via -g or via gameListFolder= (INI-file) this is the base for the relative paths of

-i <folder> or inputFolder=<folder>
-o <folder> or mediaFolder=<folder>

This is also depicted in the diagram above.

Input Folder (ROM-/gamefile-path)

The files provided with these options

--startAt <game-file-A>
--endAr <game-file-B>

are first searched in the current working directory. If not found, Skyscraper tries to access them in the input folder.

an Option in a Configuration INI File

When you have set one of the following parameters in the default configuration file (/home/<USER>/.skyscraper/config.ini) or in a custom config file defined with -c <configfile> the path is calculated from the absolute path of the location of the config INI-file.

artworkXml=<artwork.xml>
gameListFolder=<gamelistfolder>
cacheFolder<cachefolder> importFolder<importfolder>

Note

The importFolder= parameter has no counterpart on the command line.

Remember, that this path calculation is different than the logic when using CLI options.