beet write continuously writes mb_artistid and mb_albumartistid (1.7.0_pre20240501)

[MorgothSauron]

When I execute the beet write command it will try to write mb_artistid and mb_albumartistid tags every single time the program is executed.

It appeared when version 1.7.0_pre20240501 was installed on my Gentoo system. I got this version because I configured portage, the package manager, to install the "unstable" version (media-sound/beets ~amd64).

Previous version was 1.6.0 and it didn't show this behavior.

I will probably downgrade to 1.6.0, but I wanted to submit this bug in case there is something specific with the 1.7.0 version.

Problem

Running this command in verbose (-vv) mode:

$ beet -vv write album:"For All Kings"

Led to this problem:

$ beet -vv write album:"For All Kings" 
overlaying configuration: /home/mcarpentier/Music/.beets/config.yaml
no user configuration found at /home/mcarpentier/.config/beets/config.yaml
data directory: /home/mcarpentier/.config/beets
plugin paths: 
lyrics: Disabling google source: no API key configured.
fetchart: google: Disabling art source due to missing key
fetchart: lastfm: Disabling art source due to missing key
Sending event: pluginload
library database: /home/mcarpentier/Music/.beets/BeetMusicLibrary.blb
library directory: /home/mcarpentier/Music
Sending event: library_opened
Parsed query: AndQuery([SubstringQuery('album', 'For All Kings', fast=True)])
Parsed sort: NullSort()
Anthrax - For All Kings - Impaled
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - You Gotta Believe
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Monster at the End
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - For All Kings
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Breathing Lightning
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Breathing Out
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Suzerain
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Evil Twin
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Blood Eagle Wings
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Defend Avenge
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - All of Them Thieves
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - This Battle Chose Us
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Anthrax - For All Kings - Zero Tolerance
  mb_artistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
  mb_albumartistid:  -> b616d6f0-ec1f-4c69-8a79-12a97ece7372
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Sending event: cli_exit

I filtered on a specific album because I don't want tags to be overwritten on the whole library. I only have FLAC file in my library.

It will repeat every time I run the write command.

The files are modified according to the "stat" output (Modify matches when I ran the beet write command).

$ stat 01\ Impaled.flac 
  File: 01 Impaled.flac
  Size: 11241570  	Blocks: 21960      IO Block: 4096   regular file
Device: 0,36	Inode: 13139015    Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--)  Uid: ( 1000/mcarpentier)   Gid: ( 1000/mcarpentier)
Access: 2022-10-23 19:39:04.298317103 +0200
Modify: 2024-05-27 18:56:38.947141933 +0200
Change: 2024-05-27 18:56:38.947141933 +0200
 Birth: 2022-10-23 19:39:04.298317103 +0200

Same thing happens if I disable plugins (beet -vv --plugins= write album:"For All Kings")

The files are changed because they will be included in the next backup.

Setup

• OS: Gentoo
• Python version: 3.11.9
• beets version: 1.7.0_pre20240501
• Turning off plugins made problem go away (yes/no):

My configuration (output of beet config) is:

lyrics:
    bing_lang_from: []
    auto: yes
    force: yes
    fallback: ''
    bing_client_secret: REDACTED
    bing_lang_to:
    google_API_key: REDACTED
    google_engine_ID: REDACTED
    genius_api_key: REDACTED
    local: no
    synced: no
    sources:
    - google
    - genius
    - tekstowo
    - lrclib
    dist_thresh: 0.1
# --------------- Main ---------------

library: /home/mcarpentier/Music/.beets/BeetMusicLibrary.blb
directory: /home/mcarpentier/Music

ui:
    color: yes
    colors:
        text_success: green
        text_warning: yellow
        text_error: red
        text_highlight: red
        text_highlight_minor: lightgray
        action_default: turquoise
        action: blue

import:
    copy: no
    write: yes
    move: yes

# --------------- Plugins ---------------

plugins: embedart fetchart info lyrics edit
embedart:
    auto: yes
    maxwidth: 0
    compare_threshold: 0
    ifempty: no
    remove_art_file: no
    quality: 0
paths:
    default: $albumartist/$album%aunique{}/$track $title
    singleton: Non-Album/$artist/$title
    comp: Compilations/$album%aunique{}/$track $title
fetchart:
    auto: yes
    minwidth: 0
    maxwidth: 0
    quality: 0
    max_filesize: 0
    enforce_ratio: no
    cautious: no
    cover_names:
    - cover
    - front
    - art
    - album
    - folder
    sources:
    - filesystem
    - coverart
    - itunes
    - amazon
    - albumart
    - cover_art_url
    store_source: no
    high_resolution: no
    deinterlace: no
    cover_format:
    google_key: REDACTED
    google_engine: 001442825323518660753:hrh5ch1gjzm
    fanarttv_key: REDACTED
    lastfm_key: REDACTED
edit:
    albumfields: album albumartist
    itemfields: track title artist album
    ignore_fields: id path

[presentday-presenttime]

I am also having this issue on version 2.0.0 same issue as: #5043

[amogus07]

Any news on this? For me, it wants to change albumtype as well (2.0.0)

[andrewjmetzger]

Looks like this is similar to #4715?

[fullstopslash]

I'm definitely getting this same bug.

[snejus]

Same, on my end it writes mb_artistid, mb_albumartistid and (less often) albumtypes

[andrewjmetzger]

Many thanks @snejus and @JOJ0 for your excellent work, collaboration, and dedication to resolve the albumtypes issue! For a long time, this bug has been my biggest gripe with beets. To see your fixing PR merge today has made my morning (and my music library) so much better! ❤️