mbsync not doing anything when called with a query

[nolanbconaway]

Hi! I've been using mbsync for quite some time now (years!). My use pattern has historically been to sync any files which have not been modified in the last 30 days; which is done in an airflow job nightly. This has always run in <60 seconds; which i thought was impressive given the size of my library (~59000 items).

Today i tried running mbsync without a query and noticed that the output looked totally different; and it took more than an hour. This makes me wonder what is actually happening in the case when i call mbsync with a query.

Problem

Today is October 22. So running mbsync with query mtime:1900-01-01..2025-10-23 should theoretically apply to all items.

$ beet -vv mbsync --nomove 'mtime:1900-01-01..2025-10-23'
user configuration: /home/squidward/.config/beets/config.yaml
data directory: /home/squidward/.config/beets
plugin paths:
fetchart: google: Disabling art source due to missing key
fetchart: lastfm: Disabling art source due to missing key
Sending event: pluginload
library database: /home/squidward/.config/beets/musiclibrary.db
library directory: /home/squidward/Music
Sending event: library_opened
Parsed query: AndQuery([DateQuery('mtime', '1900-01-01..2025-10-23', fast=True), NoneQuery('album_id', True)])
Parsed sort: NullSort()
Sending event: mb_track_extract
Sending event: trackinfo_received
Sending event: write
error reading <super: <class 'ReadError'>, <ReadError object>>
Sending event: database_change
Sending event: mb_track_extract
Sending event: trackinfo_received
Sending event: write
...

<about 100 lines of that>
...

Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Parsed query: AndQuery([SubstringQuery('mtime', '1900-01-01..2025-10-23', fast=True)])
Parsed sort: NullSort()
Sending event: cli_exit

That ran in 43 seconds.

But this runs for over an hour, and prints out quite a few updates to my database:

$ beet -vv mbsync --nomove
user configuration: /home/squidward/.config/beets/config.yaml
data directory: /home/squidward/.config/beets
plugin paths:
fetchart: google: Disabling art source due to missing key
fetchart: lastfm: Disabling art source due to missing key
Sending event: pluginload
library database: /home/squidward/.config/beets/musiclibrary.db
library directory: /home/squidward/Music
Sending event: library_opened
Parsed query: AndQuery([NoneQuery('album_id', True)])
Parsed sort: NullSort()
Sending event: mb_track_extract
Sending event: trackinfo_received
Sending event: write
error reading <super: <class 'ReadError'>, <ReadError object>>
Sending event: database_change
Sending event: mb_track_extract
Sending event: trackinfo_received
Sending event: write
error reading <super: <class 'ReadError'>, <ReadError object>>
Sending event: database_change
Sending event: mb_track_extract
Sending event: trackinfo_received
...
Sending event: database_change
Sending event: mb_track_extract
Sending event: trackinfo_received
Sending event: write
error reading <super: <class 'ReadError'>, <ReadError object>>
Sending event: database_change
Sending event: mb_track_extract
...
Sending event: database_change
Sending event: mb_track_extract
Sending event: trackinfo_received
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
Parsed query: AndQuery([TrueQuery()])
Parsed sort: NullSort()
Requesting MusicBrainz release e11fb4c8-8294-4ed0-a4e9-4e82ee266931
Sending event: mb_track_extract
...
Sending event: mb_album_extract
Sending event: albuminfo_received
mbsync: applying changes to .380 - Gangsta Mack
Requesting MusicBrainz release 939add49-680b-4783-928a-b7caf4e8921f
Sending event: mb_track_extract
...
Sending event: albuminfo_received
mbsync: applying changes to 03 Greedo & Kenny Beats - Netflix & Deal
03 Greedo & Kenny Beats - Netflix & Deal - Traffic
  albumstatus: Official -> Withdrawn
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
03 Greedo & Kenny Beats - Netflix & Deal - Paid in Full
  albumstatus: Official -> Withdrawn
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
Sending event: database_change
03 Greedo & Kenny Beats - Netflix & Deal - Maria
  albumstatus: Official -> Withdrawn
Sending event: write
Sending event: after_write
...

I suppose i am wondering whether this is the expected behavior? Am i not thinking about the query correctly?

Setup

➜ beet version
beets version 2.3.1
Python version 3.12.3
plugins: fetchart, lyrics, mbsync

My configuration (output of beet config) is:

plugins: fetchart lyrics mbsync
discogs:
    user_token: ...
lyrics:
    google_API_key: REDACTED
    auto: yes
    translate:
        api_key: REDACTED
        from_languages: []
        to_language:
    dist_thresh: 0.11
    google_engine_ID: REDACTED
    genius_api_key: REDACTED
    fallback:
    force: no
    local: no
    print: no
    synced: no
    sources:
    - lrclib
    - google
    - genius
    - tekstowo
fetchart:
    auto: yes
    minwidth: 0
    maxwidth: 0
    quality: 0
    max_filesize: 0
    enforce_ratio: no
    cautious: no
    cover_names:
    - cover
    - front
    - art
    - album
    - folder
    sources:
    - filesystem
    - coverart
    - itunes
    - amazon
    - albumart
    - cover_art_url
    store_source: no
    high_resolution: no
    deinterlace: no
    cover_format:
    google_key: REDACTED
    google_engine: REDACTED
    fanarttv_key: REDACTED
    lastfm_key: REDACTED