libretro / libretro/RetroArch

[Feature Request] Manual scanner should have "Overwrite existing playlist" to on by default

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feature request
Dominant language
C
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

The reason this should be on by default is that rescans in the manage playlist menu otherwise need clean playlist before or after to get rid of any stale files from deletions or renames, leading to a iteration checking the files anyway.

If the user could assume that by default the playlist was always recreated, they wouldn't need to bother with clean by habit.

Very very few times do you want a playlist not to clean missing entries (the cases I can think is when the games are temporarily unavailable, a external disk for example), and in those cases you won't be hitting rescan on purpose and would hit clean by habit after anyway (removing all entries anyway)

When you need appending to the playlist ofc you can turn it off, which is why I'm not suggesting removing the setting (and clean).

Ideally a scan could be a single pass in all cases but I understand why this is isn't always possible (or very complicated. I myself had to make a script to create and merge multiple dat files to get a whdload scan using a dat to be a single pass so I could always overwrite and never have to remember clean just for that playlist).

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the Manual Scanner flow and the Manage Playlist menu, then trace the existing “Overwrite existing playlist” setting. Verify how rescans handle missing, deleted, or renamed files and how the current default is selected. Done means new scans overwrite existing playlists by default while users can still disable that behavior for appending.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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