Archiving from the Command Line

You can archive and restore material from the command line, using flame_archive, found in/usr/discreet/io/bin.

Note: In flame_archive, Wiretap paths are entered without a trailing "/".

A possible workflow you might try is to archive a project daily, and then restore a specific clip, as required.

Archive the project:

1. cd /usr/discreet/io/bin
2. Create and format the archive daily_archive with the default 1 GB segment. You can use -i to specify a segment capacity, in GB, where 1 GB = 1024 MB.

   ./flame_archive -f -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive

3. List the project hosted on the workstation. This is useful to validate the name of the project to archive.

   ./flame_archive -l

4. Append the ProjectOne project to daily_archive.

   ./flame_archive -a -P ProjectOne -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive

   Once the process completes, you have archived the whole project in the daily_archive.

Restore a single clip from the daily_archive:

1. cd /usr/discreet/io/bin
2. List the contents of daily_archive.

   ./flame_archive -l -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive

3. Using the list from the above command, locate the clip to restore, and build its filepath. This filepath is used in the following command to restore the newNoise clip to the destination described using the Wiretap path.

   ./flame_archive -r -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive -S '/daily_archive/Archive Session - 2014/12/01 14:54:24/projectOne/Workspace (projectOne)/Libraries/Default Library/newNoise' -E /projects/projectOne/988110ac_547cc27f_0005859a/988110ac_547cc27f_0005859c/988110ac_547cc283_000312c0

   Note: Get the Wiretap path using /usr/discreet/wiretap/tools/current/wiretap_print_tree

You an also pass a text file containing the clips to restore to flame_archive. That text file lists one clip to restore on each line.

The above approach is fine for a manual restore, but for a programmatic approach, try using: ./flame_archive -l -x, where -x outputs the archive contents in XML.

Some additional notes:

• Using the -N option forces the archiving of the media from clips, and of the renders. Leave out -N to minimize the size of the archive: only Timeline FX renders and already cached media are archived.
• -p is similar to setting Archive Verification to Verify Source Media in the Flame Premium UI (MediaHub > Archive). When using -g (on pre-verify error resume), consider enabling -v to know what failed.
• -y is similar to setting Archive Verification to Verify Archived Media in the Flame Premium UI (MediaHub > Archive).
• The @UUID method to locate entries within an archive is now deprecated and should be avoided.

About flame_archive Switches

USAGE: flame_archive <operation> <modifiers> <options>

flame_archive -h | --help
flame_archive -a [-N] [-k] [-p] [-y] [-g] -E <WIRETAP_PATH_SOURCE> -F <PATH_TO_FILE>
flame_archive -e [-E <WIRETAP_PATH_SOURCE>] [-F <PATH_TO_FILE] [-m All|MetaData|Video|Audio]
flame_archive -f -F <PATH_TO_FILE> [-n <NAME>] [-t <COMMENT>] [-i <SIZE_IN_GB]
flame_archive -l [-F <PATH_TO_FILE> [-x] [-S <PATH_IN_ARCHIVE>]] [-E <WIRETAP_PATH>]
flame_archive -r -F <PATH_TO_FILE> -S <PATH_TO_ENTRY_IN_ARCHIVE> [-E <TARGET_WIRETAP_PATH>]

Examples:

Format archive file

flame_archive -f -F /usr/tmp/archive1

Add Wiretap path to archivearch1

flame_archive -a -E /projects/TestProject/a38310ac_53a82f6b_0006a1c1/a38310ac_53a82f6b_0006a1c3/a38310ac_53a82f77_000079d7/a38310ac_53a82ff6_000d6100 -F /tmp/arch1

Archive project prj1 in archive arch1

flame_archive -a -P pj1 -F /tmp/arch1

Restore project prj1 from archive arch1

flame_archive -r -F /tmp/arch1 -S '/Archive Session - 2014/03/12 23:43:40/prj1'

Lists the contents of the framestore of the local host

flame_archive -l

List the contents of archive arch1 ; output in XML

flame_archive -l -F /usr/tmp/arch1 -x

List the contents of folder MyFolder from project project1

flame_archive -l -P project1 -E /wksp/Libraries/MyLib/MyFolder

Provide a size estimate for the result of archiving project project1

flame_archive -e -P project1

The different flame_archive operation modes:

• -a, --archive

  Archive clips to a file archive. This requires the Wiretap path to the material to archive, and the file path to the archive file. The archive file must already exist, either created from within Flame, or created using flame_archive. The archiving process is recursive: there are no provisions made for excluding material from the archive. If you need to archive specific clips, you must run flame_archive for each individual clip. -F specifies the file to use, -E the material to archive, as a Wiretap path (without a trailing '/').

• -e, --estimate

  Estimate the space required to store or restore material to and from an archive. The estimate is recursive.

• -f, --format

  Format an archive file, default size being 1 GB (1024 MB).

• -l, --list

  Lists contents of a project or of an archive, depending on the target.

• -r, --restore

  Restore clips from a file archive. Requires the source file archive from which to restore, and the path of the entry to restore. Do not specify a Wiretap path target when restoring a project: flame_archive restores a project so that it is accessible from Flame as a regular project.

Optional modifiers to use with the different flame_archive modes:

• With -l:
  • -x, --xml: Formats in XML the list of contents of the archive file.
• With -f:
  • -n, --name <NAME>: Uses NAME as the name of archive when formatting. Default is 'Archive'.
  • -t, --comment <TEXT>: Uses TEXT as the comment when formatting. Default is empty.
  • -i, --capacity <SIZE>: Uses SIZE (in GB, so if SIZE=10 archive is 10240 MB) for the segment capacity when formatting an archive. Default is 1 GB.
• With -a:
  • -N, --normal: Enables 'Normal' mode, default is 'Compact'.
  • -k, --linked: Enables 'Archive Media as Uncached' mode; default is 'Cache Media on Archive'.
  • -p, --preVerify: Verifies source data before archiving, if missing, stop archiving.
  • -y, --postVerify: Verify archive data after archiving.
  • -g, --ignore: Ignores preVerify failure and continue archiving.
• With -e:
  • -m, --mode <MODE>: One of 'All', 'MetaData', 'Video', 'Audio', for size estimation.

• With any option:

  • -v, --verbose