Using the Command Line¶
Getting Help¶
To get help at any point you can use the –help flag
user@WORKMACHINE123 tripwire % tripwire --help
usage: tripwire [-h] [--version] {get-hash,validate-checksums} ...
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--version show program's version number and exit
subcommands:
{get-hash,manifest-check,validate-checksums}
Tripwire Commands¶
Below is the hierarchy of commands that are available in Tripwire.
tripwire
├── get-hash
├── validate-checksums
├── manifest-check
└── metadata
├── show
└── validate
“get-hash” Command¶
To get the hash value of a file, use the get-hash command. This will return the hash value of the file in the format <filename> –> <hash type>: <hash value>.
user@WORKMACHINE123 % tripwire get-hash somefile.wav
somefile.wav --> md5: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
“validate-checksums” Command¶
To validate checksums for files in a directory, use the validate-checksums command. This search for all files within a given path and search for a checksum file. The checksum file must be in the same directory as the files to be validated. If the checksum does not match the expected value, you will get notified.
user@WORKMACHINE123 % tripwire validate-checksums /path/to/directory
“manifest-check” Command¶
Added in version 0.2.1
To check a manifest file against a directory, use the manifest-check command. This will check the files in the manifest are present in the directory and show any files that are not supposed to be there.
Usage format: tripwire manifest-check <manifest_file> <search_path>
example:
user@WORKMACHINE123 % tripwire manifest-check ./manifest-film.tsv ./sample_package/film
Line: 7. Unable to locate: 2803015_film2of5_UIUCvUSC_FB_Sept1989_label.jpg
Files found that were not included in manifest:
* otherfile.txt
Note
This will not use a excel file as a manifest. You will have to export the Excel file to a tab separated file first.
“metadata” Command¶
Added in version 0.3.3
This command contains two subcommands: show and validate.
“metadata show” command¶
Added in version 0.3.3
This subcommand, show, displays metadata for files using MediaInfo.
example usage:
This example shows how to show metadata for all .wav files in a directory regardless of depth.
user@WORKMACHINE123 % tripwire metadata show "/Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/**/*.wav"
====================================================================================================================
file: /Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/Preservation/28_pres_01.wav
metadata:
{'tracks': [{'audio_channels_total': '2',
'audio_codecs': 'PCM',
'audio_format_list': 'PCM',
'audio_format_withhint_list': 'PCM',
'bext_present': 'Yes',
'bext_version': '1',
'commercial_name': 'Wave',
'complete_name': '/Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/Preservation/28_pres_01.wav',
'count': '351',
'count_of_audio_streams': '1',
'count_of_stream_of_this_kind': '1',
'duration': 1329152,
'encoded_date': '2024-12-23 11:04:02',
'encoding_settings': 'A=ANALOGUE,F=96000,W=24,M=stereo,T=Player:A807-06;Brand:Studer;Model:A807MK2,SN:15118 / '
'A=PCM,F=96000,W=24,M=stereo,T=Converter:MYTEK-02;Brand:Mytek;Model:8X192 ADDA,SN:01504-0906-025 / '
'A=PCM,F=96000,W=24,M=stereo,T=Encoder:MIS-AUDIO-06-05;Brand:;Model:,SN:',
'file_creation_date': '2025-07-29 17:13:15 UTC',
'file_creation_date__local': '2025-07-29 12:13:15',
'file_extension': 'wav',
'file_last_modification_date': '2025-07-29 22:12:00 UTC',
'file_last_modification_date__local': '2025-07-29 17:12:00',
'file_name': '28_pres_01',
'file_name_extension': '28_pres_01.wav',
'file_size': 765592500,
'folder_name': '/Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/Preservation',
'format': 'Wave',
'format_extensions_usually_used': 'act at9 wav',
'format_settings': 'PcmWaveformat',
'internet_media_type': 'audio/vnd.wave',
'kind_of_stream': 'General',
'other_duration': ['22 min 9 s', '22 min 9 s 152 ms', '22 min 9 s', '00:22:09.152', '00:22:09.152'],
'other_file_size': ['730 MiB', '730 MiB', '730 MiB', '730 MiB', '730.1 MiB'],
'other_format': ['Wave'],
'other_kind_of_stream': ['General'],
'other_overall_bit_rate': ['4 608 kb/s'],
'other_overall_bit_rate_mode': ['Constant'],
'other_stream_size': ['948 Bytes (0%)', '948 Bytes', '948 Bytes', '948 Bytes', '948.0 Bytes', '948 Bytes (0%)'],
'overall_bit_rate': 4608006,
'overall_bit_rate_mode': 'CBR',
'proportion_of_this_stream': '0.00000',
'stream_identifier': '0',
'stream_size': 948,
'track_type': 'General'},
{'bit_depth': 24,
'bit_rate': 4608000,
'bit_rate_mode': 'CBR',
'channel_s': 2,
'codec_id': '1',
'codec_id_url': 'http://www.microsoft.com/windows/',
'commercial_name': 'PCM',
'count': '285',
'count_of_stream_of_this_kind': '1',
'delay': '0.000000',
'delay__origin': 'Container (bext)',
'duration': 1329152,
'format': 'PCM',
'format_settings': 'Little / Signed',
'format_settings__endianness': 'Little',
'format_settings__sign': 'Signed',
'kind_of_stream': 'Audio',
'other_bit_depth': ['24 bits'],
'other_bit_rate': ['4 608 kb/s'],
'other_bit_rate_mode': ['Constant'],
'other_channel_s': ['2 channels'],
'other_delay': ['00:00:00.000', '00:00:00.000'],
'other_delay__origin': ['Container (bext)'],
'other_duration': ['22 min 9 s', '22 min 9 s 152 ms', '22 min 9 s', '00:22:09.152', '00:22:09.152'],
'other_format': ['PCM'],
'other_kind_of_stream': ['Audio'],
'other_sampling_rate': ['96.0 kHz'],
'other_stream_size': ['730 MiB (100%)', '730 MiB', '730 MiB', '730 MiB', '730.1 MiB', '730 MiB (100%)'],
'proportion_of_this_stream': '1.00000',
'samples_count': '127598592',
'sampling_rate': 96000,
'stream_identifier': '0',
'stream_size': 765591552,
'track_type': 'Audio'}]}
“metadata validate” Command¶
Added in version 0.3.3
The subcommand, validate, validates metadata of files against a policy file. The policy file is an XML file that defines the rules for validation. The rules can check for various properties of the files such as bit depth, sample rate, resolution, etc. This xml file can be created using the MediaConch GUI application by MediaArea and exported as a policy file.
example usage:
This example shows how to validate all .wav files in a directory regardless of depth and validate them against a policy file that checks for 24 bit depth wav files.
user@WORKMACHINE123 % tripwire metadata validate "./preservation waves are 24-bit.xml" "/Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/**/*.wav"
validating /Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/Preservation/28_pres_01.wav
validating /Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/Preservation/28_pres_01.wav: Fail
==================
Validation Results
==================
File: /Volumes/G-RAID with Thunderbolt/sample data/media/UIUC_0028/Preservation/28_pres_01.wav
Issues:
Rule "24 bit" failed. Expected: 24, Got: 25
failed metadata validation
