systemd service unit will run on a timer, change unit type to oneshot and supply a timer unit file

config.ini

@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-[DEFAULT]
-self_name = mvw-dl
-tmp_base_dir = /tmp/%(self_name)s
-state_base_dir = /var/lib/%(self_name)s
-state_files_dir = %(state_base_dir)s/state
-state_file_retention = 50
-state_file_name_prefix = state-
-state_file_name_suffix = .log
-mvw_endpoint = http://localhost:8000/api/query
-title_dedup_winner = first
-dl_progress_update_interval = 10
-dl_threads = 2
-dl_filename_pattern = &(channel)s - &(publish_date)s - &(topic)s - &(title)s.&(ext)s
-publish_date_srtftime_pattern = %%Y%%m%%d
-dl_filename_replace_spaces_with =
-dl_filename_all_lowercase = no
-
-[maus]
-min_duration = 1200
-max_duration = 2700
-query = @maus-query.json
-title_not_regex = audiodeskription|gebärdensprache|hörfassung
-# dl_filename_pattern = &(publish_date)s.&(ext)s
-# publish_date_srtftime_pattern = S%%YE%%Y%%m%%d01
-# query = {"queries":[{"fields":["topic"],"query":"die sendung mit der maus"},{"fields":["channel"],"query":"ARD"}],"sortBy":"timestamp","sortOrder":"desc","future":false,"offset":0,"size":50}
-# state_file_name = maus
-# tmp_base_dir = %(tmp_base_dir)s/maus
-dl_dir = ~/maus
-
-#[test]
-#min_duration = 100
-#max_duration = 200
-#query = {"queries":[{"fields":["topic"],"query":"die sendung mit der maus"},{"fields":["channel"],"query":"ARD"}],"sortBy":"timestamp","sortOrder":"desc","future":false,"offset":0,"size":50}
-#dl_dir = test

examples/config.ini.example

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+[DEFAULT]
+self_name = mvw-dl
+tmp_base_dir = /tmp/%(self_name)s
+state_base_dir = /var/lib/%(self_name)s
+state_files_dir = %(state_base_dir)s/state
+state_file_retention = 50
+state_file_name_prefix = state-
+state_file_name_suffix = .log
+mvw_endpoint = http://localhost:8000/api/query
+title_dedup_winner = first
+dl_progress_update_interval = 10
+dl_threads = 2
+dl_filename_pattern = &(channel)s - &(publish_date)s - &(topic)s - &(title)s.&(ext)s
+publish_date_srtftime_pattern = %%Y%%m%%d
+dl_filename_replace_spaces_with =
+dl_filename_all_lowercase = no
+
+[maus]
+min_duration = 1200
+max_duration = 3000
+query = @maus-query.json.example
+title_not_regex = audiodeskription|gebärdensprache|hörfassung
+dl_filename_pattern = &(publish_date)s.&(ext)s
+publish_date_srtftime_pattern = S%%YE%%Y%%m%%d01
+dl_dir = /tmp/kodi-nfo-feeder/maus

examples/maus-query.json.example

@@ -17,5 +17,5 @@
     "sortOrder": "desc",
     "future": false,
     "offset": 0,
-    "size": 100
+    "size": 20
 }

examples/mvw-dl.service.example

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=MediathekViewWeb download helper
+After=multi-user.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=oneshot
+RemainAfterExit=no
+Environment='PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin'
+ExecStart=/opt/miniconda3/envs/mvw-dl/bin/python /opt/python/mvw-dl/dev/mvw-dl.py
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target

examples/mvw-dl.timer.example

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Run MediathekViewWeb download helper
+
+[Timer]
+OnCalendar=0/2:2
+OnCalendar=0/1:20
+Persistent=true
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=timers.target

mvw-dl.py

@@ -46,6 +46,11 @@ from rich.progress import (
 )
 
 # TODO set locale for datetime and others to globally stick to en_US
+# TODO thread log messages display timestamp in systemd journal
+# TODO Increment file name suffix more than once of needed
+# TODO [23:15:14] DEBUG    [thread]
+# TODO Clean mvw-dl.timer
+# TODO Reset maus-query.json
 download_start_time = 0
 download_last_update_time = 0
 total_content_length = 0
@@ -84,6 +89,7 @@ JSONType = t.Union[str, int, float, bool, None, t.Dict[str, t.Any], t.List[t.Any
 # 3: No search results to download
 # 4: State file already exists, has more than 0 bytes size but doesn't contain usable JSON
 # 5: State file lock cannot be acquired within file_lock_timeout
+# 6: Unable to create state directory
 
 
 class CONST(object):
@@ -159,7 +165,7 @@ class ConfigParser(
 ini_defaults = []
 internal_defaults = {default["key"]: default["value"] for default in CONST.CFG_KNOWN_DEFAULTS}
 config = ConfigParser(defaults=internal_defaults)
-config.read(CONST.CFG_DEFAULT_FILENAME)
+config.read(CONST.CFG_DEFAULT_ABS_PATH)
 
 
 def print_section_header(
@@ -227,7 +233,8 @@ def validate_config_sections(
 
 def query_string_from_file(
         filename: str) -> str:
-    with open(filename, "r", encoding="utf-8") as jsonfile:
+    filename_abs_path = os.path.join(CONST.CFG_THIS_FILE_DIRNAME, filename)
+    with open(filename_abs_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as jsonfile:
         query_string = jsonfile.read()
         return query_string
 
@@ -393,8 +400,11 @@ def get_safe_filename(
         shorthand_uuid: str) -> str:
     """https://stackoverflow.com/a/71199182"""
 
+    log.debug(f"{shorthand_uuid} Removing question marks from file name ...")
+    clean_filename = re.sub(r"""[?]""", "", dirty_filename)
+
     log.debug(f"{shorthand_uuid} Replacing unsafe characters in filename with dashes ...")
-    clean_filename = re.sub(r"""[/\\?%*:|"<>\x7F\x00-\x1F]""", "-", dirty_filename)
+    clean_filename = re.sub(r"""[/\\?%*:|"<>\x7F\x00-\x1F]""", "-", clean_filename)
 
     log.debug(f"{shorthand_uuid} New filename: '{clean_filename}'")
     return clean_filename
@@ -456,6 +466,13 @@ def get_state_file_abs_path(
         config_obj: configparser.ConfigParser()) -> str:
 
     state_dir = config_obj.get(section_name, "state_files_dir")
+    try:
+        os.makedirs(state_dir, exist_ok=True)
+    except OSError:
+        log.error(f"Unable to create '[{section}]' state directory '{state_dir}'. "
+                  f"We're not going to be able to log state information. Exiting 6 ...")
+        sys.exit(6)
+    else:
         state_file = \
             config_obj.get(section_name, "state_file_name_prefix") + \
             section_name + \
@@ -529,7 +546,8 @@ def log_successful_download(
 
     with lock:
         state_file_none_or_valid_json(state_file_abs_path)
-        with open(state_file_abs_path, "r+", encoding="utf-8") as state_file:
+        state_file_open_mode = "r+" if os.path.exists(state_file_abs_path) else "w+"
+        with open(state_file_abs_path, state_file_open_mode, encoding="utf-8") as state_file:
             try:
                 json_state = json.load(state_file)
             except json.JSONDecodeError:
@@ -646,7 +664,7 @@ def get_content_length(
 
 def get_json_state(
         state_file_abs_path: str) -> json.loads:
-
+    try:
         with open(state_file_abs_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as state_file:
             try:
                 json_state = json.load(state_file)
@@ -654,6 +672,9 @@ def get_json_state(
                 return []
             else:
                 return json_state
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        log.debug(f"State file does not exist (yet), assuming no previous downloads have ever happened ...")
+        return []
 
 
 def is_already_downloaded(