New in using open source

[Agama]

Installed! Now running: bzr branch lp:calibre and could take a few minutes.

Do I need to get a Launchpad ID?

[user_none]

Originally Posted by Agama

Do I need to get a Launchpad ID?

Only if you're going to push your changes to your own Launchpad branch. Basically if your goal is to have your changes accepted into calibre itself then you will want to do this.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Agama

Do I need to get a Launchpad ID?

Only if you want to submit revisions to Kovid by 'push'ing them to a branch on launchpad. Many people submit changes by email, which works fine for low volumes and small changes.

[Agama]

I'm planning on starting with plugins.

By the way, where do all the files go that "bzr branch lp:calibre" is busy downloading? (On a Windows 7 system).

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Agama

I'm planning on starting with plugins.

By the way, where do all the files go that "bzr branch lp:calibre" is busy downloading? (On a Windows 7 system).

Are you using the command line? Then IIRC the branch is a subdirectory of the command box's current directory. If you didn't change it, then it is probably your windows directory.

You can move the created directory.

[Agama]

I just opened a command prompt and typed the command. The command prompt's path is C:\User\username so I guess that's where it's going. Can I just cut and paste it to somewhere else or does Bazaar need to know about its location? On my start menu I now have a Bazaar Explorer. Will this be any use?

There is now a C:\User\username\calibre\.bzr folder with a few sub-folders but no significant volume of data, despite the bzr command having already downloaded over 240MB of data. Any estimate on how much it will download?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Agama

I just opened a command prompt and typed the command. The command prompt's path is C:\User\username so I guess that's where it's going. Can I just cut and paste it to somewhere else or does Bazaar need to know about its location?

You can move the directory that bzr created (probably 'calibre' -- the one containing the 'src' folder). Don't mess with the structure inside 'calibre'.

On my start menu I now have a Bazaar Explorer. Will this be any use?

Depends on you. I use the explorer almost exclusively. Others never touch it.

It might be better to stay with the command line until you understand what bzr is doing. That will help avoid surprises. It is also what most people here are willing/able to help with, and what is documented in the calibre development pages.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Agama

There is now a C:\User\username\calibre\.bzr folder with a few sub-folders but no significant volume of data, despite the bzr command having already downloaded over 240MB of data. Any estimate on how much it will download?

Bzr downloads the repository, then recreates the source tree from that. You won't see any sources until it is very close to finished. IIRC, a new repository download is in excess of 300MB, and growing all the time.

[Agama]

After nearly 500MB this has finished and created a src folder with these sub-folders:

calibre, cherrypy, odf, pyPDF, routes and templite, (?but no python sub-folder?)

Can I move this whole src folder to a different location, or just move the src/calibre folder?

I now need to get up to speed in Python and then I'll try to rewrite my VBScript eBook scripts as calibre plugins.

[chaley]

You move the folder containing .bzr, src, icons, resources, etc. This should be named 'calibre'.

Also, check if there is a .bzr file in the parent folder (\users\username\.bzr). If there is one there, then you created a shared repository. In this case you must create a folder somewhere, then move both the .bzr and the calibre folders to that new folder.

[Agama]

There's just a \users\username\calibre folder, containing .bzr, icons, resources etc. so I'll move this. There is no\users\username\.bzr folder.

Should there be a Python sub-folder somewhere in this structure? The Bazaar installer mentioned a bundled Python 2.6 interpreter.

Is there a document describing the various sub-folders of the calibre source, (customize, db, gui2, library etc.)?

[Agama]

How do I keep this source code up to date with each calibre release?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Agama

Should there be a Python sub-folder somewhere in this structure? The Bazaar installer mentioned a bundled Python 2.6 interpreter.

There is no python subfolder. Python is bundled with the calibre binary, which you must install as well. You will test by setting the environment variable as documented, then using calibre-debug -g to start using your source.

However, as you are building plugins, there is no particular reason to run from source. You could start the normal calibre, then install and test the plugin. Perhaps someone who does more plugin development will provide some best-practice hints.

Is there a document describing the various sub-folders of the calibre source, (customize, db, gui2, library etc.)?

No.

Almost certainly the only folders you are interested in are src/calibre and resources.

How do I keep this source code up to date with each calibre release?

Assuming you are not making changes to the calibre source, cd to the calibre folder (the one containing src) and run bzr pull. That will grab the newest source. If you are making changes, then you will need to commit those changes (bzr commit) then merge the changes from launchpad (bzr merge).

[Agama]

Thanks for all the help, it's been much appreciated!

[Agama]

Originally Posted by chaley

However, as you are building plugins, there is no particular reason to run from source. You could start the normal calibre, then install and test the plugin. Perhaps someone who does more plugin development will provide some best-practice hints.

Before I start on a plugin I am learning Python from the "Dive into Python" book. I have downloaded the sample .py files but I can't work out how to run one. Double-clicking just opens it in my text editor, so do I need to make a new association for .py files or is there a way to run one from a command prompt?