pybinhistory

Because pybinlog was taken™

pybinhistory is a pypi package for the binhistory python library.

binhistory is a python library for programmatically reading and writing Avid bin history log (.log) files in multi-user Avid Media Composer projects.

Caution

binhistory is an unofficial library created for educational purposes. While the .log file format is a very simple one, it is officially undocumented. Use this library at your own risk – the developer assumes no responsibility for any damage to your project, loss of data, or weird snippy drama about who threw the audio out of sync in the latest version of the reel.

About Avid bin logs

An Avid bin log is a .log file that lives alongside an Avid bin (.avb or .avc) file in a multi-user Avid environment. It maintains a history of the most recent modifications made to the contents of the bin. Each time a user saves changes to a bin, its .log is updated with another entry.

By default, the log file contains a maximum of 10 log entries. Each log entry contains:

  • A timestamp of the modification

  • The hostname of the system that made the modification

  • The name of the user profile that made the modification

Here is an example .log file with the maximum 10 entries. Hypothetically, if this were a log for an Avid bin called Sc 12.avb, this log would live beside it as Sc 12.log.

Sc 12.log File Contents
Fri Apr 28 18:46:21  Computer: zJimmy          User: Jimmy Edit
Fri Apr 28 19:07:25  Computer: zJimmy          User: Jimmy Edit
Fri Apr 28 19:39:47  Computer: zJimmy          User: Jimmy Edit
Tue May 02 18:04:03  Computer: zMichael        User: MJ 2021.12.2
Tue May 02 18:18:09  Computer: zMichael        User: MJ 2021.12.2
Thu Jun 01 11:55:36  Computer: zJimmy          User: Jimmy Edit
Mon Jun 12 13:27:10  Computer: zTimmy          User: user
Mon Jun 12 13:36:59  Computer: zTimmy          User: user
Tue Jun 27 17:22:13  Computer: zTootsie_LA     User: toot
Tue Jul 25 10:53:18  Computer: z_Michael       User: MJ 2021.12.2

About binhistory

The binhistory library enables developers to safely create, read, and modify valid bin logs programmatically.

Interesting uses

  • Be a good citizen! Add a bin log entry when modifying a bin programmatically via automation/pipeline-y operations.

  • Snoop around! Easily gather metrics about modifications made by particular machines or users.

  • Makes you look cool! Everyone will be very impressed with you. “Wow!” they’ll say.

See Usage for examples!

binhistory on the World Wide Web!

PyPI Repository

https://pypi.org/project/pybinhistory/

Github Repository

https://github.com/mjiggidy/pybinhistory/

Documentation

https://pybinhistory.readthedocs.io/

See also

  • pybinlock: A python library for locking and unlocking Avid bins

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