-inspect does not support -temp

[dzuelke]

AFAIK, the RPU can get quite sizeable, which means it would be useful if -temp was supported for -inspect (and maybe also -check?).

[cryptochrome]

The tool is actually piping the RPU data from ffmpeg into dovi_tool during -inspect, so it has very little disk footprint. And since ffmpeg understands RPU, it only really reads the metadata, which is generally anywhere between 25 and 80 MB for a full length movie. So using -temp here would have little to no benefit.

There is an edge-case, though. If you use -safe mode (which is very rarely needed), the entire bitstream of the source video is extracted to disk (as an .hevc file - same as we do during -convert). Here, -temp would actually be beneficial.

But since it's such a rare edge case, I am contemplating if it's worth it (vs. keeping the code lean).

What's your opinion?

[dzuelke]

I think it might actually simplify the code if you have a helper function like get_temp_dir which uses the source dir by default, unless -temp was given (or DOVI_CONVERT_TEMP_DIR :)), and you then just use it anywhere in the code where a temp dir location is needed.

[cryptochrome]

Yea, a helper function could come in handy, if I need -temp anywhere else, but right now, I don't see the benefits of a temp dir outside of -convert and -batch, where it is already available (batch simply loops convert).

Maybe with the upcoming Backup & Restore feature I have in the pipeline.

[cryptochrome]

Decision:

I will refactor -temp into its own helper function and add support for -temp when used in a -inspect -safe workflow as well as the new backup & restore feature. However, this is blocked by the argument parser rewrite, which will come first.