Locked files - symptom of deeper problems

anthony.burton4 · 10-08-2013, 10:18 PM

Calibre 1.5 x64

Try to rename a book or change author and I get file locked message. Nothing else is running - check windows processes. Restart calibre to no avail.

I'm getting this A LOT since upgrading to 1.5

I can open explorer, and rename the affected folder and back again, to no avail. Calibre still reckons the file is locked.

I've just opened one of the affected folders on disk and there are duplicate copies of the book - the existing copies had shortened names, but the new ones are the Title field from Calibre.
I run Check Library - wow - lots of duplicate books listed under the "Extra Book Formats" section.
I delete them and I get an error message saying that calibre_recycle has failed.
The books are deleted nontheless.

Now I'm finally able to rename the book within calibre.

Unsure of the precise steps necessary to recreate this though.

Some other odd behaviour which may be related.
calibre_recycle crashes a lot!
On the disk where MyLibrary exists, I have started getting "MyLibrary deleted xhg2e" folders appearing, where the last part of the name is a random 5 character string.

Key question - can I regress - i.e. go back to an earlier version of calibre x64 without corrupting my library?

kovidgoyal · 10-08-2013, 10:39 PM

Sure you can go back if you want, though if I were you I'd find out what the underlying problem is and fix that. THe most common cause of filesystem related problems is putting your calibre library ona networked drive or a in a location synced by a program like dropbox or google drive.

anthony.burton4 · 10-08-2013, 10:42 PM

Of course I'd prefer to fix the underlying problem. I'm trying to work out how to recreate the problem so that it can be investigated, or proven a problem just for me.
Just hoped somebody else was experiencing the same already.

My calibre library has an SSD all to itself at the moment - it's not networked or shared, or synced.

anthony.burton4 · 10-08-2013, 11:02 PM

Looking more closely - I haven't been able to reproduce this bug yet, but I think it occurs when the file names are longer than a certain length.

In each case one of the filenames is truncated by a couple of characters, while the other is complete.

Investigating this, I notice that if I have 2 books on disk with their filenames matching the titles in Calibre, but these titles are longer than a certain length, Calibre 1.5 will shorten the names if you merge the 2 books.
In certain circumstances it looks like it fails to delete the old file.

kovidgoyal · 10-08-2013, 11:10 PM

Yes the filename length restriction has been made more stringent in 1.x. That is not a bug, the question is why is it failling to delete the files.

anthony.burton4 · 10-08-2013, 11:12 PM

OK - I've recreated it.

I have 2 books: an epub and a mobi -the book title is 34 characters, and the author is 23.
On the disc currently, there is no truncation, i.e the book appears as Title - Author.epub and Title - Author.mobi, in separate folders.

I select the epub file first, and then the mobi, and click merge.

When I go look at the epub folder on the disc, now there are 3 books - the original epub, and a copy with a slightly shorter title, and the mobi with a slightly shorter title.

I am unable to rename the book in calibre now.

If I delete the original (longer title) epub in file manager, now I can rename the book successfully in calibre.

kovidgoyal · 10-08-2013, 11:32 PM

Run calibre in debug mode (right click the preferences button to do so) and post the log after recreating the problem.

anthony.burton4 · 10-08-2013, 11:46 PM

calibre Debug log
calibre 1.5 [64bit] isfrozen: True is64bit: True
Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE')
('Windows', '7', '6.1.7601')
Python 2.7.5
Windows: ('7', '6.1.7601', 'SP1', 'Multiprocessor Free')
Starting up...
Started up in 12.46 seconds with 138 books

Also the length of the author field is irrelevant - the title field alone seems to be responsible - I've triggered it with titles of 32 and 34 characters, but not 35 characters.

BetterRed · 10-08-2013, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anthony.burton4

On the disk where MyLibrary exists, I have started getting "MyLibrary deleted xhg2e" folders appearing, where the last part of the name is a random 5 character string.

@anthony.burton4 - I have not been had any file locks or calibre_recycle crashes - but I did get some folders show up in my Libraries folder with the 5 trailing random characters, they were related to my "Test" library so I didn't worry out them, they got shredded. About that time I had been creating some very long author & book titles in that library to investigate another 'problem' reported by an MR member.

I just ran Check Library on Test. The first phase reported everything was OK, but before I got that message I saw another msg come & go that had something about 'vacuuming the database'. And there was an 'extra' author and it was one I'd created with a very long name.

The library is in on a regular internal disk on a Win7 system, that's not network shared or cloud synched.

Thought you'd like to know that you're not entirely alone with this 'issue' but all I saw was the curious folders - no file locks or recycle crashes or other misbehaviour. Let me know if you want me to try to recreate the situation.

ETA : Library Path - "E:\CalibreLibraries\Test"

BR

anthony.burton4 · 10-08-2013, 11:52 PM

29 characters is also ok.

You don't need to merge. Actually simply pressing F2 while on the title field, making no changes to the title, and then clicking on another book, results in a copy being created with a shorter title.

kovidgoyal · 10-09-2013, 12:07 AM

The copy being created is normal. The question is why is the delete of the original with a longer filename failing on your system. What is the complete path to your calibre library?

anthony.burton4 · 10-09-2013, 12:14 AM

currently

D:\Calibre\Test

The files are being mostly deleted normally - only when the title is between 32 and 34 characters are they left behind. It seems to me though that if it was a fault with my system, it would not be limited to this range, but I'd see it for 35 character titles as well.

kovidgoyal · 10-09-2013, 12:40 AM

Since you appear to be using a test library, zip up the library folder (I assume its not very large) with at least one book that you think will recreate the problem and post it here. I will test it on my windows system.

anthony.burton4 · 10-09-2013, 03:39 PM

No more books in the test library that cause the above problem.

I'll have to regress calibre to create some test situations again.

PeterT · 10-09-2013, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anthony.burton4

No more books in the test library that cause the above problem.

I'll have to regress calibre to create some test situations again.

Rather than regress why not install an old copy of calibre portable and use that to create a test library?

10-08-2013, 10:18 PM	#1
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	Locked files - symptom of deeper problems Calibre 1.5 x64 Try to rename a book or change author and I get file locked message. Nothing else is running - check windows processes. Restart calibre to no avail. I'm getting this A LOT since upgrading to 1.5 I can open explorer, and rename the affected folder and back again, to no avail. Calibre still reckons the file is locked. I've just opened one of the affected folders on disk and there are duplicate copies of the book - the existing copies had shortened names, but the new ones are the Title field from Calibre. I run Check Library - wow - lots of duplicate books listed under the "Extra Book Formats" section. I delete them and I get an error message saying that calibre_recycle has failed. The books are deleted nontheless. Now I'm finally able to rename the book within calibre. Unsure of the precise steps necessary to recreate this though. Some other odd behaviour which may be related. calibre_recycle crashes a lot! On the disk where MyLibrary exists, I have started getting "MyLibrary deleted xhg2e" folders appearing, where the last part of the name is a random 5 character string. Key question - can I regress - i.e. go back to an earlier version of calibre x64 without corrupting my library? Last edited by anthony.burton4; 10-08-2013 at 10:20 PM.

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10-08-2013, 10:39 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,564 Karma: 24495948 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Sure you can go back if you want, though if I were you I'd find out what the underlying problem is and fix that. THe most common cause of filesystem related problems is putting your calibre library ona networked drive or a in a location synced by a program like dropbox or google drive.

10-08-2013, 10:42 PM	#3
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	Of course I'd prefer to fix the underlying problem. I'm trying to work out how to recreate the problem so that it can be investigated, or proven a problem just for me. Just hoped somebody else was experiencing the same already. My calibre library has an SSD all to itself at the moment - it's not networked or shared, or synced.

10-08-2013, 11:02 PM	#4
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	Looking more closely - I haven't been able to reproduce this bug yet, but I think it occurs when the file names are longer than a certain length. In each case one of the filenames is truncated by a couple of characters, while the other is complete. Investigating this, I notice that if I have 2 books on disk with their filenames matching the titles in Calibre, but these titles are longer than a certain length, Calibre 1.5 will shorten the names if you merge the 2 books. In certain circumstances it looks like it fails to delete the old file.

10-08-2013, 11:10 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,564 Karma: 24495948 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Yes the filename length restriction has been made more stringent in 1.x. That is not a bug, the question is why is it failling to delete the files.

10-08-2013, 11:12 PM	#6
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	OK - I've recreated it. I have 2 books: an epub and a mobi -the book title is 34 characters, and the author is 23. On the disc currently, there is no truncation, i.e the book appears as Title - Author.epub and Title - Author.mobi, in separate folders. I select the epub file first, and then the mobi, and click merge. When I go look at the epub folder on the disc, now there are 3 books - the original epub, and a copy with a slightly shorter title, and the mobi with a slightly shorter title. I am unable to rename the book in calibre now. If I delete the original (longer title) epub in file manager, now I can rename the book successfully in calibre.

10-08-2013, 11:32 PM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,564 Karma: 24495948 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Run calibre in debug mode (right click the preferences button to do so) and post the log after recreating the problem.

10-08-2013, 11:46 PM	#8
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	calibre Debug log calibre 1.5 [64bit] isfrozen: True is64bit: True Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE') ('Windows', '7', '6.1.7601') Python 2.7.5 Windows: ('7', '6.1.7601', 'SP1', 'Multiprocessor Free') Starting up... Started up in 12.46 seconds with 138 books Also the length of the author field is irrelevant - the title field alone seems to be responsible - I've triggered it with titles of 32 and 34 characters, but not 35 characters.

10-08-2013, 11:52 PM	#10
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	29 characters is also ok. You don't need to merge. Actually simply pressing F2 while on the title field, making no changes to the title, and then clicking on another book, results in a copy being created with a shorter title.

10-09-2013, 12:07 AM	#11
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,564 Karma: 24495948 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The copy being created is normal. The question is why is the delete of the original with a longer filename failing on your system. What is the complete path to your calibre library?

10-09-2013, 12:14 AM	#12
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	currently D:\Calibre\Test The files are being mostly deleted normally - only when the title is between 32 and 34 characters are they left behind. It seems to me though that if it was a fault with my system, it would not be limited to this range, but I'd see it for 35 character titles as well.

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10-09-2013, 12:40 AM	#13
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,564 Karma: 24495948 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Since you appear to be using a test library, zip up the library folder (I assume its not very large) with at least one book that you think will recreate the problem and post it here. I will test it on my windows system.

10-09-2013, 03:39 PM	#14
anthony.burton4 Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPhone	No more books in the test library that cause the above problem. I'll have to regress calibre to create some test situations again.