qb-dated-move

Prevents qBittorrent's "Set location" from silently overwriting files of an older torrent with a same-named newer one.

Completed torrents whose save path is exactly one of FINAL_DIRS are moved via the WebUI API into a dated subfolder based on their completion date:

/data/a/linux.iso  ->  /data/a/20261015/linux.iso

If any top-level file/folder of the torrent already exists in the target (on disk, claimed by another torrent in qB, or claimed earlier in the same run), the script tries 20261015_1, 20261015_2, ... instead.

Torrents in subfolders of a final dir are left alone, unless that subfolder is listed as a final dir itself.

Requirements

• qBittorrent with WebUI (tested: 5.2.4 in binhex-qbittorrentvpn on Unraid)
• bash, curl, jq, flock where the script runs (all present in the binhex image)

Setup

1. Put qb-dated-move.sh into the container, e.g. /config/scripts/.

2. Copy qb-dated-move.conf.example to qb-dated-move.conf next to it, fill in QB_USER, QB_PASS, FINAL_DIRS (container paths as qB shows them, no trailing slash) and chmod 600 it. It must be readable by the user qB runs as. A different location can be set via CONF_FILE.

3. qBittorrent: Tools → Options → Downloads → Run external program → Run on torrent finished:

   /bin/bash /config/scripts/qb-dated-move.sh
   

   qB doesn't run this through a shell, so env-var prefixes don't work there.

Options (env vars, per run)

Variable	Default	Meaning
DRY_RUN	0	1 = only log what would happen
MIN_AGE_MONTHS	empty	only move torrents completed more than N months ago; empty = all

Example manual run inside the container:

DRY_RUN=1 MIN_AGE_MONTHS=12 /config/scripts/qb-dated-move.sh

Behaviour notes

• Log: /config/scripts/qb-dated-move.log, trimmed automatically.
• At the end of each run, dated folders (YYYYMMDD, YYYYMMDD_N) directly in a final dir that contain no files anymore are removed, unless qB still uses them as a save path.
• Runs are serialised by a lock; each run holds it until qB has finished its moves (max MOVE_TIMEOUT, 1800 s).
• A torrent moved into a final dir by hand stays there until the next finished download triggers the script. Two same-named torrents moved into the same final dir in that window will still overwrite.
• Torrents with Automatic Torrent Management enabled are untested.
• Before big runs, back up /config/qBittorrent/BT_backup (resume data).

Testing the clash handling

mkdir -p /data/a/20261015 && touch /data/a/20261015/linux.iso
DRY_RUN=1 /config/scripts/qb-dated-move.sh   # expect -> 20261015_1
# remove the placeholder afterwards

License

GPL-3.0, see LICENSE.