Playlist - documentation

[jhdedrick]

I'm happy to say that the user guide has a very extensive page on playlists. It discusses even the most arcane details of how MinimServer scans for information, what it does with illegal characters, and many many other topics.

But unfortunately it has nothing to say about a question that seems (based on the many discussions of it here) to give users a lot of trouble: Understanding how paths, especially relative paths, must be constructed so that MinimServer can find the music files they reference.

How do you configure the root of the relative paths in the playlist? (Just including it as a Content Directory clearly isn't sufficient.)
Can the root of playlist paths be different than the root of the music tree?
Must the root of a relative path be in the absolute path to the music files, or can playlist entries contain "\.."?
Can there be more than one relative path root?
Can there be a mix of relative and absolute paths?
...

Any chance someone knowledgeable could contribute a paragraph or two on this?

[simoncn]

The root of a relative path is the directory/folder containing the playlist (the path is relative to the playlist location).

A relative or absolute path can include '..' either at the start of the path or within it.

The playlist file and all audio files in the playlist must be in a content directory or a subdirectory of a content directory (to any depth). The playlist file and the audio files in the playlist don't need to be within the same content directory.

There can be any number of relative path roots, depending on the locations of the playlist files.

There can be any mix of relative and absolute paths.

[jhdedrick]

Thanks Simon! I hope you will add this info to the user guide.
And thanks also for a great piece of software.

[simoncn]

I have updated the user guide section to include this information. Thanks for pointing out that this was needed.