I have some questions

[tissole]

What is the database for, what values are stored there? Does it take a lot of space? Because most free online databases have limitations. What happens if a user loses that database?

Postgres and Mongo are overkill when used locally, these are for enterprise use mostly, can you give a recommendation for a lighter option for local use?

How does the bot handle ephemeral file systems like Heroku? After 24h when the dyno restarts the bot is able to remember the last message forwarded and continues from there or starts to forward again from the beginning?

These values are stored in the database? Because in that case they are not deleted by Heroku.

Is there a way to increase verbosity in the console? Sometimes the bot stops even if I use the delay option and I want to know why. I want to see if those flood msgs occur.

[m4mallu]

A database by some means is mandatory for this bot.

Case1: So many values need to be stored in the form of string by the bot for its global usage. (Eg: source id, target id, reply message ids, conditions/ status as bools, etc.). These text/string data of each user are stored as different rows with the primary key as their user id. As PostgreSQL having optimal compatibility in DB management, this bot is also using the same.

Case2: Also, a local CSV file is used in the name of the target chat id to store the uinque_id index when cloning the files. This is used to avoid media duplication when cloning from different sources to the same target. The index file will be updated with the new indexes when in each time you use the same target chat. When a different target is used, the bot will repeat the process mentioned above.

As free dynos having time limitations in Heroku, I would personally recommend using a VPS for this bot. Even when a free dyno is restarted at its limit, the DB won't get cleared.

The bot is updating its UI each time when a file is being forwarded. When a flood of less than 30 sec occurs, the bot will automatically handle the same. An alternate mechanism is under development to solve the UI update issues.

[tissole]

I see. So the IDs of forwarded msgs are kept in the database? This means that the bot is not affected by the dyno restart, it will forward from the last msg after the dyno restarts. This is correct?

It is possible to use TG as a database? Why not pull all those keys in a file and use Save Messages or a private chat for storing? The bot could use that file to read/write values like is doing now from a database.
This solution, if possible, has some advantages: is free, has generous space, no traffic limitations, no restrictions for the number of keys stored, like most free databases.

I like the no duplicates feature, but indexing is quite slow for bigger chats. Is this normal behavior or is some delay built in the script? There is something to make it faster? Does the bot remember what was indexed in the previous session? For example, the chat has 30.000 msgs, and the bot has indexed 15.000, then is closed, when is up again it starts from the beginning or starts indexing the rest of the msgs (last 15.000)?

When I first used the bot I encounter some "problems". I have not recognized the specific time when the bot was started, so I believed that I was hacked and killed the session. But was nothing. It was the wrong time built in the script (India/Kolkata). Please make this feature configurable in the bot interface. Is important that users know the correct time when the bot is started so if not recognized to kill the session.

P.S. If the filenames can't be changed, what about captions? Can you add a feature for caption manipulation? Sometimes captions contain annoying stuff that I want to remove. It will be useful to remove words, expressions, links based on a custom template made by the user.

Thank you!