Files created by Wacup

[Mits]

(Edit: Ooops, I just discovered we have a new public build as a Xmas present!!! However, I expect this new build will still create these files, so... the question remains.)

Merry Xmas to the developers and users of Wacup!

I was just copying my portable installation of Wacup (July 23 build) to a USB stick and I noticed that it takes too long. After inspection I found:

1. In \Wacup\Settings\Plugins\gen_undo\ there are 443 .m3u8 files having sizes from 11 to 15200 bytes, taking up 1,759,145 bytes (and on SSD disk 2,772,992 bytes)

2. In \Wacup\Settings\Plugins\wavecache\ there are 1403 .cache files all having size of 8192 bytes, taking up 11,493,376 bytes.

If everybody knows, are these necessary for the operation of Wacup, or are they temporary (e.g. debug) files until Wacup reaches final release? Is there any way to prevent wacup from creating them?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Abhijit A]

files in \Wacup\Settings\Plugins\gen_undo\  are used for undoing the playlist changes. (right click in Playlist you will see menu option "undo Changes"). the files are stored to enable undo even after you close winamp and restart it.

Files in \Wacup\Settings\Plugins\wavecache\  are created by Waveform seeker plugin. Thats wave seeker data stored by waveseeker plugin for played audio files.

they are not temporary debug files. but needed for operation of WACUP and waveform seeker.

you can close WACUP and delete these files, but then you will not be able to -

use undo changes in Playlist. (fresh undo files will be created after changes to playlist made)
you will need to create waveform seeker data.

[Mits]

Thanks for the detailed reply.
Just noticed that the new Dec23 build has in Preferences-Playlist-Undo options to manage the feature and delete the files - excellent job. I am sure I'll find a way to disable waveseeker too. Merry Xmas again!

[Abhijit A]

Merry Christmas.

Thanks, you found the reply useful. for disabling the waveform seeker, navigate to preferences->plugins->general Purpose. on right side list scroll down to Waveform seeker, disable it by unchecking the check box. then close preferences window. it will ask for restart. After restarting the WACUP these files will not be created, but then you will not be able to use waveform seeker.

Though I am using Beta build, its same build for preview 6800. And the waveform plugin is exists from long time

[dro]

The undo plug-in should be enforcing a limit on the number of backup playlists that are maintained unless you've been having crash issues. You can use the options on the Playlist -> Undo preference page to quickly clear that folder (which has been there for years with WACUP) as well as making sure that the limit option is enabled. Or you can disable the plug-in but you don't have that backup of the main playlist which might be ok depending on how you use things.

With the waveform seeker cache, those files are fine to remove & just save having to re-create the waveform preview every time you interact with the file. There is via the preferences menu for the plug-in & also on the right-click menu within the waveform seeker window the option to quickly clear the cache without manually having to do it. Maybe the option should be expanded to clear the cache on close as well but it'd have to be a default off as the re-processing of the files is a pain & is why the cache exists to begin with.

-dro

[Mits]

Thank you Abhijit & Dro for the detailed replies. Sometimes I am tempted to make a new installation and disable all the plugins that I won't ever need, but this is not helpful nor fair or ethical when participating in the testing of software which is a Beta build. "Ethical beta testing"^®, as I call it, dictates to use the software under test in its default configuration, otherwise you are not really helping the cause. Bug hunters would be out of work if all users were able to delete the features not needed (remember the miracle that was TinyXP and Tiny7?), this is why they prefer to keep the software as complicated as possible (no greater example of that than Windows 10).

[dro]

There's also a reasonable counter view point to only use what you need as that can also throw up some issues like expected dependencies not being correctly handled (as has been the case with some of the older WACUP builds).

My general view is use it how you would & want to rather than me saying x, y & z must be the enforced testing pattern to follow as that only helps with that specific view & not the wider range of use cases

-dro

[dro]

I've added an option for clearing out the waveform cache on exit for the new build that'll be appearing soon.

-dro