skip a directory during scan

[Jakob Kummerow]

> The real question is what to call the file and whether it'd be hidden. I
> have some ideas related to another project as far as what to call it. As
> for whether it's hidden (i.e. starts with a dot) for Amarok users on
> Windows they could do this within the collection setup directory, so
> that partially eliminates that problem.

True, if there's a GUI option for creating those files, the dot isn't
a problem any more.
Another thought: how about making the dot optional? Then (*nix) users
who like to hide such files can create ".amarok_ignore", whereas
Windows users can simply create "amarok_ignore", and both files fulfil
the same purpose.

> However, the thing I'd be more worried about is that people who aren't
> really aware of how it works might not realize that a hidden file exists
> in that directory and wonder why on earth Amarok isn't scanning that
> directory.

Good point. That means that the GUI option should create non-hidden
files. I can't think of any use case right now where such a file might
have negative side-effects.
I'd still suggest to support dotted files as well. Power users who
care can then hide the files, and they will (hopefully) remember that
they did so.
[This behaviour would perfectly match the general Robustness
Principle, "Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you
accept from others." ;-) ]

> The other thing to figure out is whether to make such exclusions
> recursive or not. I would generally suggest yes, because people can then
> individually add subfolders of such directories to the collection and
> they would still be scanned (since they'd be passed as separate paths
> into the scanner). But I'm interested in thoughts.

+1 for recursive. Makes the most sense, I'd say.


Jakob