[chaley]

I have a question for those of you who edit collections (the 'Preserve device collections' option is checked). As described in previous posts, if there is something in the 'build collections from metadata' box in device customization, calibre will add the necessary collections. If calibre notices that these collections are gone, it will re-add them, thinking that is what it is supposed to do.

One consequence of this implementation (#1) is that you will not have joy if you manually delete a collection that came from metadata. Calibre will put it back at some point in the future. Said another way, you can successfully add and delete collections that are not derived from metadata, because calibre takes no ownership of these. You won't be able to make deletion of collections stick if they are derived from metadata.

An alternate implementation (#2), possible when the preserve device collections option is sent, would be to build collections from metadata *once*, when the book is sent. From that point on, calibre would disclaim all responsibility for them. If the collections are somehow changed, the only way to correct them would be to resend the book. [edit] However, collections would only be added. To delete collections, you would need to first delete the book off the device, then resend it. Or of course, delete them manually. [end edit]

This question arises because of one user's frustration, eloquently described in a ticket. The user very much wants behavior #2. However, I hesitate to change calibre in this way without posing the question to the community.

Which of behavior #1 (the current) or #2 (the alternate) would you prefer?