.cbc file not converting error

[sakurasavior]

I have followed all directions provided in the user manual for creating a .cbc file for comics. I have tried more than once with different files, doing the same thing, and I get the same error. I have .zip files for the comic chapters, which are turned into .cbz files. I place all the .cbz files into a folder, with comics.txt at the top. Inside comics.txt is a list of all of the .cbz files, just like the directions say. I zip the folder with comics.txt and the .cbz files into one file, rename it to .cbc and drag it into Calibre. However, when I go to convert the file, I get this error:

Spoiler:

calibre, version 3.2.1 (darwin, embedded-python: True)
Conversion error: Failed: Convert book 1 of 1 (xxxHolic)

Convert book 1 of 1 (xxxHolic)
Conversion options changed from defaults:
output_profile: 'nook_hd_plus'
verbose: 2
dont_grayscale: True
read_metadata_from_opf: u'/var/folders/gh/fq87rhx97rz11n1t2sz1yjh00000gn/C/calibre_3.2.1_tmp_6tOUgc/iNr2Of.opf'
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 3.2.1
{'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0.0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': 'left',
'chapter': None,
'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak',
'colors': 0,
'comic_image_size': None,
'comments': None,
'cover': None,
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': True,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
'despeckle': False,
'disable_font_rescaling': True,
'disable_trim': False,
'dont_add_comic_pages_to_toc': False,
'dont_grayscale': True,
'dont_normalize': False,
'dont_sharpen': False,
'dont_split_on_page_breaks': False,
'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
'embed_all_fonts': False,
'embed_font_family': None,
'enable_heuristics': False,
'epub_flatten': False,
'epub_inline_toc': False,
'epub_toc_at_end': False,
'expand_css': False,
'extra_css': None,
'extract_to': None,
'filter_css': u'',
'fix_indents': True,
'flow_size': 260,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'format_scene_breaks': True,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x113f63190>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': True,
'keep_aspect_ratio': False,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'landscape': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': None,
'level2_toc': None,
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': 0,
'margin_left': 0,
'margin_right': 0,
'margin_top': 0,
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_default_epub_cover': False,
'no_inline_navbars': False,
'no_process': False,
'no_sort': False,
'no_svg_cover': False,
'output_format': u'png',
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.NookHD object at 0x113f63b10>,
'page_breaks_before': None,
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'preserve_cover_aspect_ratio': False,
'pretty_print': True,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': u'/var/folders/gh/fq87rhx97rz11n1t2sz1yjh00000gn/C/calibre_3.2.1_tmp_6tOUgc/iNr2Of.opf',
'remove_fake_margins': True,
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'renumber_headings': True,
'replace_scene_breaks': u'',
'right2left': False,
'search_replace': '[]',
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'sr1_replace': None,
'sr1_search': None,
'sr2_replace': None,
'sr2_search': None,
'sr3_replace': None,
'sr3_search': None,
'start_reading_at': None,
'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'toc_title': None,
'transform_css_rules': '[]',
'unsmarten_punctuation': False,
'unwrap_lines': True,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2,
'wide': False}
Python function terminated unexpectedly: /var/folders/gh/fq87rhx97rz11n1t2sz1yjh00000gn/C/calibre_3.2.1_tmp_6tOUgc/NRHEG7.cbc is not a valid comic collection no comics.txt was found in the file
InputFormatPlugin: Comic Input running
on /var/folders/gh/fq87rhx97rz11n1t2sz1yjh00000gn/C/calibre_3.2.1_tmp_6tOUgc/NRHEG7.cbc
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/Resources/Python/lib/python2.7/site.py", line 154, in main
return run_entry_point()
File "/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/Resources/Python/lib/python2.7/site.py", line 114, in run_entry_point
return getattr(pmod, func)()
File "site-packages/calibre/utils/ipc/worker.py", line 195, in main
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/convert/gui_conversion.py", line 33, in gui_convert_override
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/convert/gui_conversion.py", line 26, in gui_convert
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plumber.py", line 1088, in run
File "site-packages/calibre/customize/conversion.py", line 245, in __call__
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/comic_input.py", line 170, in convert
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/comic_input.py", line 102, in get_comics_from_collection
ValueError: /var/folders/gh/fq87rhx97rz11n1t2sz1yjh00000gn/C/calibre_3.2.1_tmp_6tOUgc/NRHEG7.cbc is not a valid comic collection no comics.txt was found in the file

I have tried this with several separate files and I get the same result. Yes, comics.txt was made in Plain Text UTF-8.

Any insight would be helpful.

Thank you.

[kovidgoyal]

According to that error there is no top level comics.txt in the cbc file. Open one of these cbc files with an unzip program and see if you can find the comic.txt.

[sakurasavior]

Yes, the comics.txt file is there because I made it myself. It should be at the top level. I provided an image with my first post that shows the hierarchy of the files and it should clearly be seen that there is a comics.txt is there.

In the image you can see the .cbc file, the corresponding unzipped file right by it in my desktop folder. Inside the unzipped file you can see comix.txt along with the .cbz files. And I also have the comix.txt file open so you can see the contents of the 4 corresponding .cbz files.

[kovidgoyal]

Shouyld be there is not the same thing as is there. Either check it yourself with an actual unzip app or attach one of these cbc files, and someone here will tell you what the problem is.

[sakurasavior]

I cannot attach a .cbc file because it is an invalid file to upload here, but attached is the zip file before I changed the extension to .cbc. From my understanding, all you do is rename the extension from .zip to .cbc. Thank you.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by sakurasavior

I cannot attach a .cbc file because it is an invalid file to upload here, but attached is the zip file before I changed the extension to .cbc. From my understanding, all you do is rename the extension from .zip to .cbc. Thank you.

I think your problem is that the top level of your cbc file actually contains 2 directories (__MACOSX, xxxHolic) instead of just the comic files (comics.txt, Xxxholic-1.1.cbz, etc). In other words your comic files are buried in the xxxHolic directory instead of being at the top level.

[sakurasavior]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I think your problem is that the top level of your cbc file actually contains 2 directories (__MACOSX, xxxHolic) instead of just the comic files (comics.txt, Xxxholic-1.1.cbz, etc). In other words your comic files are buried in the xxxHolic directory instead of being at the top level.

Thank you for that information.
Is there any way to prevent that from happening? As a .zip file, it is just a single directory and all I've done is rename .zip to .cbc.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by sakurasavior

Thank you for that information.
Is there any way to prevent that from happe,,ning? As a .zip file, it is just a single directory and all I've done is rename .zip to .cbc.

It's hard for me to give advice as I am a Windows user with absolutely no Mac experience. This is how I would do it in Windows I don't know whether you could extrapolate it to 'Mac-world'.

Instead of right-clicking the folder name (xxxHolic) and running my Windows zip program (7-Zip) I would open folder xxxHolic, group-select all the individual comic files (comics.txt etc) with the shift-key then right-click and select the option to zip up all currently selected files. This would automatically create the new .zip file (which you can rename to .cbc) in the same xxxHolic folder. From there you can drag the .cbc to wherever you want it, e.g. onto the calibre library window to import it into calibre.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I think your problem is that the top level of your cbc file actually contains 2 directories (__MACOSX, xxxHolic) instead of just the comic files (comics.txt, Xxxholic-1.1.cbz, etc). In other words your comic files are buried in the xxxHolic directory instead of being at the top level.

- this is what I expected to see, but you got up earlier than me Its a long standing issue with OSX.

And inside the xxxHolic folder there's another Apple artefact .DS_Store, I'm not sure what calibre will make of that.

@sakurasavior - I did a search for create a zip on Mac without __MACOSX and .DSTORE, amongst the results and I found this -->> macos - Compress without .DS_Store and __MACOSX

What you need is a way to get your zips to look like this.



BR

[kovidgoyal]

The problem isn't __MACOSX, which calibre does not care about but that the comics.txt file is not at the top level of the zp file. Instead it is under the xxxHolic sub-directory. Below is the output from running unzip on the attached zip file

Archive:  xxxHolic.zip
  Length      Date    Time    Name
---------  ---------- -----   ----
        0  2017-07-07 07:05   xxxHolic/
     6148  2017-07-07 07:06   xxxHolic/.DS_Store
        0  2017-07-07 07:09   __MACOSX/
        0  2017-07-07 07:09   __MACOSX/xxxHolic/
      120  2017-07-07 07:06   __MACOSX/xxxHolic/._.DS_Store
      111  2017-07-06 10:28   xxxHolic/comics.txt
      498  2017-07-06 10:28   __MACOSX/xxxHolic/._comics.txt
  4030144  2017-07-06 09:36   xxxHolic/Xxxholic-1.1.cbz
      316  2017-07-06 09:36   __MACOSX/xxxHolic/._Xxxholic-1.1.cbz
  1889220  2017-07-06 09:36   xxxHolic/Xxxholic-1.2.cbz
      316  2017-07-06 09:36   __MACOSX/xxxHolic/._Xxxholic-1.2.cbz
  3412924  2017-07-06 09:35   xxxHolic/Xxxholic-1.cbz
      316  2017-07-06 09:35   __MACOSX/xxxHolic/._Xxxholic-1.cbz
  1246802  2017-07-06 09:36   xxxHolic/Xxxholic-2.cbz
      316  2017-07-06 09:36   __MACOSX/xxxHolic/._Xxxholic-2.cbz
---------                     -------
 10587231                     15 files

See the line

111 2017-07-06 10:28 xxxHolic/comics.txt

[sakurasavior]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

The problem isn't __MACOSX, which calibre does not care about but that the comics.txt file is not at the top level of the zp file. Instead it is under the xxxHolic sub-directory. Below is the output from running unzip on the attached zip file

kovidgoyal is correct.

I tried your suggestion @BetterRed, but it did not work.

Sadly, I cannot see what either of you see, because I don't have a PC, only Mac. Even if I unhide the invisible files on my end, those directories do not show up for me. So from following the directions from the user's manual do not work for me.

My question would be what, then, is the solution here? kovidgoyal, you have made me/ us aware of what the underlying issue is... But is there a solution?

[itimpi]

It sounds as if when you try and create the zip file you add a folder to it rather than first opening the folder, and then adding the files that are inside the folder.

[PeterT]

Maybe look for a different zip tool

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[PeterT]

For instance http://www.yellowmug.com/yemuzip/

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by sakurasavior

I tried your suggestion @BetterRed, but it did not work.

I gave you a link with several solutions, which one's did you try? I think it mentioned Keka, I know a couple of MAC owners who use it to produce 'regular' zips.

BR