Calibre Libraries

burbleburble · 12-05-2011, 04:49 AM

Thank you Kovid Goyal for your wonderful Calibre!

I use Calibre Portable, and maintain more than one library on a portable drive. Every time I plug the drive in to a different computer, the drive name changes. So I took to using relative paths for the different libraries, '../../MomsLibrary' for example. This works fine, but every time I open the library, calibre creates a 'new' library path with the full path and drive letter. And the library menu quickly gets very cluttered!

From what I know of programming python, I realize it would be fairly easy to check if the path is relative, and leave it that way, instead of adding every new drive/fullpath. Would it possible to implement this? Thanks in advance!

(And maybe even an option in the 'Switch/create library' to choose a library using a 'relative path'; twould be much easier then coding in and working out all those '../../' etc.!

)

DoctorOhh · 12-05-2011, 05:04 AM

Moderator Notice
Moved the thread to general calibre forum. The development forum is not the place to ask for new features unless you make it clear you are willing to develop the feature yourself. Please read the "PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING - The purpose of this subforum" sticky post from the top of the Development forum.

The forums are good places to seek out interest in new features but to ensure a request doesn't get lost learn how to submit feature requests here.

kovidgoyal · 12-05-2011, 05:23 AM

Libraries must be keyed by absolute paths, using relative paths is unsafe. Relative to what? And how do you ensure there are not duplicates. You can use the calibre-portable.bat file to control exactly which library calibre startswith. Search this forum for examples.

burbleburble · 12-05-2011, 06:50 AM

dwanthny:
Apologies. I just read the forum title 'Development' and assumed it was totally self explanatory.

kovidgoyal:

'using relative paths is unsafe': Excuse my ignorance, but why?
'Relative to what': To calibre's portable executable. Works for me, I do it all the time; but as stated, I get a very cluttered library menu. It keeps the reference by relative path, but creates a double reference by full path, thus I end up with 2+ menu options for accessing the same library.
'And how do you ensure there are not duplicates': Well, they're all starting from the same point, the calibre-portable executable. os.path does contain methods for checking if two paths are equivalent, even relative ones.
'You can use the calibre-portable.bat file...starts with': Thats part of the issue. 'starts with'. But lets say I maintain different libraries for different family members and their widely varied interests/ebook-devices. It is far easier to use different libraries than a mixture of tags and formats in one. So I need to switch between them.

ilovejedd · 12-05-2011, 10:13 AM

Don't use the official calibre Portable download from http://www.calibre-ebook.com. Use the following instead:
http://portableapps.com/node/20518

Works wonderfully with multiple libraries. Just make sure your library folders are inside calibrePortable\Data to be safe/ensure portability.

kovidgoyal · 12-05-2011, 11:57 AM

Simple, suppose someone has one library at E:\library and another at C:\library and the calibre portable is at d:\calibre. Relative links will not work. Now you may well say that you would never do something like that, doesn't matter, there will exist someone who will.

burbleburble · 12-05-2011, 12:13 PM

ilovejedd:
Thanks for the idea, gonna look into it.

kovidgoyal:
Your'e quite correct in your example that relative links will not work. But, as a matter of fact, thats because they don't exist! (am I wrong? I'm somewhat new to this). So I don't understand how someone can write a relative path that doesn't exist, and thus find himself refering to two libraries! And if somehow there is a way to write paths relative to 'my computer', across multiple drive names without explicitly stating them, then don't allow a situation where relative paths cross drive names to be set as a library path. Will that also not work?

kovidgoyal · 12-05-2011, 01:57 PM

No, the relative links will not work because both relative links are the same, for different absolute paths. I can construct other examples like this for filesystems that support symbolic links, but I've spent enough time on this.

12-05-2011, 04:49 AM	#1
burbleburble Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 38 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle 3	Calibre Libraries Thank you Kovid Goyal for your wonderful Calibre! I use Calibre Portable, and maintain more than one library on a portable drive. Every time I plug the drive in to a different computer, the drive name changes. So I took to using relative paths for the different libraries, '../../MomsLibrary' for example. This works fine, but every time I open the library, calibre creates a 'new' library path with the full path and drive letter. And the library menu quickly gets very cluttered! From what I know of programming python, I realize it would be fairly easy to check if the path is relative, and leave it that way, instead of adding every new drive/fullpath. Would it possible to implement this? Thanks in advance! (And maybe even an option in the 'Switch/create library' to choose a library using a 'relative path'; twould be much easier then coding in and working out all those '../../' etc.!)

12-05-2011, 05:04 AM	#2
DoctorOhh US Navy, Retired Posts: 9,864 Karma: 13806776 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: North Carolina Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Nexus 7	Moderator Notice Moved the thread to general calibre forum. The development forum is not the place to ask for new features unless you make it clear you are willing to develop the feature yourself. Please read the "PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING - The purpose of this subforum" sticky post from the top of the Development forum. The forums are good places to seek out interest in new features but to ensure a request doesn't get lost learn how to submit feature requests here. Last edited by DoctorOhh; 12-05-2011 at 05:09 AM.

12-05-2011, 06:50 AM	#4
burbleburble Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 38 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle 3	dwanthny: Apologies. I just read the forum title 'Development' and assumed it was totally self explanatory. kovidgoyal: 'using relative paths is unsafe': Excuse my ignorance, but why? 'Relative to what': To calibre's portable executable. Works for me, I do it all the time; but as stated, I get a very cluttered library menu. It keeps the reference by relative path, but creates a double reference by full path, thus I end up with 2+ menu options for accessing the same library. 'And how do you ensure there are not duplicates': Well, they're all starting from the same point, the calibre-portable executable. os.path does contain methods for checking if two paths are equivalent, even relative ones. 'You can use the calibre-portable.bat file...starts with': Thats part of the issue. 'starts with'. But lets say I maintain different libraries for different family members and their widely varied interests/ebook-devices. It is far easier to use different libraries than a mixture of tags and formats in one. So I need to switch between them.

12-05-2011, 10:13 AM	#5
ilovejedd hopeless n00b Posts: 5,111 Karma: 19597086 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: in the middle of nowhere Device: PW4, PW3, Libra H2O, iPad 10.5, iPad 11, iPad 12.9	Don't use the official calibre Portable download from http://www.calibre-ebook.com. Use the following instead: http://portableapps.com/node/20518 Works wonderfully with multiple libraries. Just make sure your library folders are inside calibrePortable\Data to be safe/ensure portability. Last edited by ilovejedd; 12-05-2011 at 10:15 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
How to merge 2 Calibre Libraries?	Tolkamp	Library Management	17	03-27-2019 09:36 PM
Calibre Portable and Libraries	atjnjk	Related Tools	13	12-15-2010 06:16 AM
Sync two calibre libraries	esears	Calibre	16	02-18-2010 07:39 PM
Merging Calibre Libraries	pope_a	Calibre	3	01-17-2010 09:51 AM
Consolidating 2 Calibre Libraries	mrgiedrnkr	Calibre	1	08-12-2009 05:34 PM

12-05-2011, 05:23 AM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,853 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Libraries must be keyed by absolute paths, using relative paths is unsafe. Relative to what? And how do you ensure there are not duplicates. You can use the calibre-portable.bat file to control exactly which library calibre startswith. Search this forum for examples.

12-05-2011, 11:57 AM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,853 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Simple, suppose someone has one library at E:\library and another at C:\library and the calibre portable is at d:\calibre. Relative links will not work. Now you may well say that you would never do something like that, doesn't matter, there will exist someone who will.

12-05-2011, 12:13 PM	#7
burbleburble Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 38 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle 3	ilovejedd: Thanks for the idea, gonna look into it. kovidgoyal: Your'e quite correct in your example that relative links will not work. But, as a matter of fact, thats because they don't exist! (am I wrong? I'm somewhat new to this). So I don't understand how someone can write a relative path that doesn't exist, and thus find himself refering to two libraries! And if somehow there is a way to write paths relative to 'my computer', across multiple drive names without explicitly stating them, then don't allow a situation where relative paths cross drive names to be set as a library path. Will that also not work?

12-05-2011, 01:57 PM	#8
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,853 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	No, the relative links will not work because both relative links are the same, for different absolute paths. I can construct other examples like this for filesystems that support symbolic links, but I've spent enough time on this.

Advert

Advert