pybinlock

binlock is a python package for programmatically reading and writing Avid Media Composer bin locks (.lck files).

Lock files are primarily used in multi-user Avid environments to indicate that a particular machine on the network (and of course, the user behind it!) has temporary ownership over an Avid bin (.avb file) to potentially write changes to the bin. While one machine holds the lock, others are still able to open the bin, albeit in read-only mode, until the lock is released. In this way, two operators cannot inadvertently make changes to a bin that would step over each other.

The ability to lock, unlock, and otherwise parse a lock file for a bin would be similarly useful for pipeline and automation purposes, and that's where binlock comes in.

Warning

While the .lck lock file format is a very simple one, it is officially undocumented. Use this library at your own risk -- I assume no responsibility for any damage to your project, loss of data, or underwhelming box office performance.

Quick Start

Indefinitely Locking A Bin:

from binlock import BinLock

default_lock = BinLock()                    # The lock name defaults to the machine's hostname, mimicking Avid's behavior
custom_lock  = BinLock("Do Not Touch")      # A custom display name can be given to the lock for special purposes

custom_lock.lock_bin("01_EDITS/Reel 1.avb") # Here, `Reel 1.avb` will appear locked in Avid as "Do Not Touch"

Reading an existing bin lock:

from binlock import BinLock

# You can either directly provide the path to a lock file,
# or provide a path to an Avid bin, and `BinLock` will figure out the appropriate path to the lock file for you
# Ultimately, both of these statements read from the same `01_EDITS/Reel 1.lck`

lock_from_lck = BinLock.from_path("01_EDITS/Reel 1.lck") # Read the .lck file directly at a given path
lock_from_avb = BinLock.from_bin("01_EDITS/Reel 1.avb")  # Read the .lck file corresponding to a given avid bin path

print(f"{lock_from_lck=}  {lock_from_avb=}")

Example Output (assuming the Avid bin Reel 1.avb is currently locked by zMichael):

lock_from_lck=BinLock(name='zMichael')  lock_from_avb=BinLock(name='zMichael')

Locking a bin while you do stuff ("holding" the lock), then releasing it:

from binlock import BinLock

path_bin = "01_EDITS/Reel 1.avb"

# Use a context manager to lock a bin as "Processing Bin..." while you do stuff to the bin
with BinLock("Processing Bin...").hold_bin(path_bin) as lock:
  print(f"Bin has been locked as {lock.name}")
  do_risky_things_to_bin(path_bin)

print("Lock has been released")

That's the gist of it! For more of the nitty-gritty, read on.

---

The binlock.BinLock class encapsulates the information used in a bin lock and provides functionality for reading and writing a bin lock .lck file. It is essentially a python dataclass with additional validation and convenience methods. With binlock.Binlock, lock files can be programmatically created, read from, written to, or "held" with a context manager to indicate ownership and render bins read-only to other users in the shared project.

Working with bin locks can be done either by referring directly to the .lck files themselves, or to the Avid bins .avb they affect. Ultimately this depends on how you like to work and what exacly you're doing, but often the best way is to refer to the Avid bins, which we'll cover first.

Bin-Referred Operations

Many times, it's best to think of bin locking in terms of the bins you're affecting. The binlock.BinLock class provides methods to read, lock, unlock, or temporarily "hold the lock" for an Avid bin.

Reading

Reading the lock info for an Avid bin is possible with the BinLock.from_bin(avb_path) class method, passing an existing .avb file path as a string.

from binlock import BinLock
lock = BinLock.from_bin("01_EDITS/Reel 1.avb")  # Returns a `BinLock` object
if lock:
  print(lock.name)

Here, BinLock.from_bin(avb_path) returns aBinLock object representing the .lck lockfile info for a locked bin, or None if the bin is not locked. We then print the name of the lock, for example:

zMichael

Locking A Bin

To lock an Avid bin (by writing a .lck lock file), we'll create a new BinLock object and use it to lock a bin.

from binlock import BinLock
from binlock.exceptions import BinLockExistsError
new_lock = BinLock("zMichael")
try:
  new_lock.lock_bin("01_EDITS/Reel 2.avb")
except BinLockExistsError as e:
  print(e)
else:
  print("Bin is now locked!")

Once executed, Reel 2.avb will appear locked by zMichael to all users on the project. Custom names can be used for other purposes, such as Locked Picture or Delivered to indicate no further changes are to be made to the bins. If the bin is already locked, a BinLockExistsError will be raised instead.

If a name string is not provided, the machine's host name will be used by default, just as Avid would do. Therefore, a good one-liner to lock a bin for the current machine might be:

from binlock import BinLock
BinLock(avb_path).lock_bin("01_EDITS/Reel 3.avb")

Unlocking A Bin

A bin can be unlocked, but only by a BinLock of the same name.

from binlock import BinLock
from binlock.exceptions import BinLockOwnershipError
try:
  BinLock("zMichael").unlock_bin("01_EDITS/Reel 2.avb")
except BinLockOwnershipError as e:
  print(e)
else:
  print("Bin has been unlocked.")

Because a bin should only be unlocked by the process that locked it in the first place, if the lock names do not match, a BinLockOwnershipError will be raised as a safety precaution, and the bin will not be unlocked.

Caution

Unlocking bins can be extremely risky and result in data loss if done carelessly. A bin should only be unlocked if you were the one who locked it, and you are certain that any changes you have made have been properly committed. Instead of manually locking and unlocking bins, you should instead hold a lock whenever possible, as described below.

Holding A Lock On A Bin

It is often much safer to utilize a context manager to lock a bin only while you perform actions on it, then release the lock immediately after. This is possible with the BinLock.hold_bin(avb_path) context manager:

from binlock import BinLock

path_bin = "01_EDITS/Reel 3.avb"

with BinLock("zAdmin").hold_bin(path_bin) as lock:
  print(f"Bin locked as {lock.name}.  Now doing stuff to the bin...")
  do_stuff_to_bin(path_bin)
print("Lock released.")

Here, a bin will be safely locked, then unlocked on completion.

Lock-Referred Operations

Operations similar to bin-referred operations can be done by referencing the .lck lock files directly. This may be useful for more specialized workflows, but should be used with caution as the are less safe.

Reading A Lock File

Reading from an existing .lck file is possible using the BinLock.from_path(lck_path) class method, passing an existing .lck file path as a string.

from binlock import BinLock
lock = BinLock.from_path("01_EDITS/Reel 1.lck")
print(lock.name)

This would output the name on the lock, for example:

zMichael

Writing A Lock File

Directly writing a .lck lock file works similarly to the BinLock.to_path(lck_path) class method, passing a path to the .lck file you would like to create.

from binlock import BinLock
lock = BinLock("zMichael")
lock.to_path("01_EDITS/Reel 1.lck")

This would lock your Reel 1.avb bin with the name zMichael in your Avid project. You may need to refresh your project, or attempt to open the bin, to immediately see the result.

Caution

Directly writing a .lck file in this way will allow you to overwrite any existing .lck file, which is almost certainly a bad idea. Take care to first check for an existing .lck file, or even better, use the context manager approach by holding a lock file instead.

Holding A Lock File

The strongly recommended way to programmatically lock an Avid bin using binlock is to use BinLock.hold_lock(lck_path) as a context manager. This allows you to "hold" the lock on a bin while you do stuff to it. It includes safety checks to ensure a lock does not already exist (i.e. the bin is locked by someone else), and automatically removes the lock on exit or on fatal error.

This approach should be used whenever possible (in favor of directly writing a .lck, which can be more risky).

import time
from binlock import BinLock
with BinLock("zMichael").hold_lock("01_EDITS/Reel 1.lck"):
  time.sleep(60) # Look busy

Here, the context manager will throw a BinLockExistsError if the lock already exists, and will not continue. Otherwise, it will lock the bin with zMichael for 60 seconds, then release the lock.

Being A "Good Citizen"

I don't mean to toot my own little horn here, but I have also released pybinhistory, which is a python package for writing bin log files. It is highly recommended that any time you modify the contents of a bin, you also add an entry in the Avid bin log, just as Avid would do. Here they are together:

from binlock import BinLock
from binlock.exceptions import BinLockExistsError
from binhistory import BinLog, BinLogEntry

path_bin  = "01_EDITS/Reel 1.avb"

try:

  with BinLock().hold_bin(path_bin):
    # Do custom things
    do_cool_stuff_to_bin(path_bin)
    # Then add an entry to the bin log
    BinLog.touch_bin(path_bin)
except BinLockExistsError:
  print(e)