Fedora 14 + Sony PRS-300: calibre doesn't work

nodata · 10-09-2010, 12:28 PM

Hi,

I upgraded from Fedora 13 to Fedora 14 especially to get the new version of Calibre!

Unfortunately it doesn't work!

Under Preferences I choose "Debug Device Detection" and I get this:

Version: 0.7.20
[..]
Looking for POCKETBOOK301
Looking for POCKETBOOK360
Looking for PRS505
(1356, 798, 553, 'Sony', 'Sony Digital Book Reader', '0800461000DFA1E8')
Looking for README
Looking for S60
[..]
Looking for TECLAST_K3
Looking for THEBOOK
Devices possibly connected: SONY Device Interface,
Trying to open SONY Device Interface ... failed
Opening of the following devices failed
<calibre.devices.prs505.driver.PRS505 object at 0x2156b10>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/__init__.py", line 117, in debug
dev.open()
File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 637, in open
self.open_linux()
File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 621, in
open_linux
mp, ret = mount(card, typ)
File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 598, in mount
ret = do_mount(node, label)
File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 593, in
do_mount
_('Could not find mount helper: %s.')%cmd[0])
DeviceError: Could not find mount helper: calibre-mount-helper.

I checked, and there is no file called calibre-mount-helper anywhere.

What am I doing wrong?

nodata · 10-09-2010, 12:37 PM

Here is the workaround:

echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nexit 1' > /usr/bin/calibre-mount-helper ; chmod +x /usr/bin/calibre-mount-helper

and here is a quote from a Linux developer about this:

We rely on the desktop's automounting for ebook storage volumes. Quite frankly, calibre-mount-helper is really not appropriate to ship, it's by and large an unsafe rewrite of the much better understood mechanisms that udisks and even hal already provide. It's not necessary for calibre to work either, once the OS automounts the storage volumes they will just appear automatically in calibre's UI.

-- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...58/comments/12

So calibre just needs to drop the calibre-mount-helper program for distros that use udev

kovidgoyal · 10-09-2010, 12:42 PM

You should be posting this in a fedora forum/bug tracker. What's the point of posting it here?

nodata · 10-09-2010, 01:11 PM

I posted here because I was having a problem with Calibre, and I heard the maintainer was very helpful.

Then I found a workaround, and posted an update. The workaround needs to be applied to every version of Linux (Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Suse) that uses automounting. So I posted information on that too.

I also posted this to the Fedora bugzilla, but that won't really help since it's a problem that needs solving in calibre.

kovidgoyal · 10-09-2010, 02:50 PM

This is not a problem in calibre. It is a problem in the Fedora package of calibre, where they have rendered calibre-mount-helper not functional.

Indeed, calibre linux packages are generally so poor in quality that I always tell people to not use the distro provided package and instead use the binary install from the calibre website.

nodata · 10-09-2010, 04:57 PM

Oh dear. I have notified the Fedora packager, and he will check the patch that he had to enable the mount-helper. Here is the link:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=641610

nodata · 10-09-2010, 05:00 PM

Update: I also linked back to here from the bug. Maybe you could talk to the maintainer so he can fix whatever problems you are having with his packages. That way it would work out less work for you? I can add your e-mail as CC for the bug if you like.

nirik · 10-09-2010, 05:35 PM

Hello. One of the fedora calibre maintainers here.

I'd be happy to improve the packaging in fedora. In this case there are very good reasons not to ship the calibre-mount-helper however. Our desktops automatically mount mass storage devices when attached. A mount-helper would just mount them a second time or otherwise confuse things and be an unneeded step.

I've pushed an updated package for testing, so please do test and let me know if it works for you.

kovidgoyal · 10-09-2010, 05:36 PM

There's nothing to work out. Basically, the package maintainer has to decide whether he wants to ship calibre-mount-helper or not. If he doesn't want to ship it, he should replace it with a script that does the same thing using whatever distro specific technique he likes.

calibre-mount-helper is 50 lines of C code, it should be trivial to replace. I am not going to write the replacement as the current calibre-mount-helper is the best cross distro way of doing mounting and I make it a policy to write as little context specific code as possible.

kovidgoyal · 10-09-2010, 05:39 PM

@nirik: calibre expects either that the disks are always mounted before calibre tries to mount them or that calibre-mount-helper mounts them.

I seriously doubt you can guarantee that the disk will always be mounted, therefore if you don't want to ship calibre-mount-helper, then you should replace it with a shell script that does the mounting/ejecting. Otherwise, you cripple calibre functionality and I get to deal with the bug reports.

kovidgoyal · 10-09-2010, 05:44 PM

To help you, here are the three way calibre-mount-helper is called

Code:

calibre-mount-helper mount device_node mount_point
calibre-mount-helper eject device_node mount_point
calibre-mount-helper cleanup device_node mount_point

At a minimum you must implement the mount and eject commands.

nirik · 10-09-2010, 10:41 PM

They should be always mounted when calibre should be dealing with them. I have a replacement for calibre-mount-helper, it just didn't get put in place in recent versions. Sorry for any problems this may have caused you.

There should be a test package available that fixes this.

Thanks.

dalark · 05-20-2012, 01:32 PM

what the hell is going on with these answers, some of us just have emachines and want to read a book... you linux guys crack me up with all the mumbo jumbo.. go get windows.. now do any of you heavy karma geniuses know why an old dinasauor like the prs300 will not connect with calibre????

kovidgoyal · 05-20-2012, 01:53 PM

@dalark:

Now there's a text book example of asking a question so that it will get no answers.

> /dev/null

geormes · 05-20-2012, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nodata

Hi,

I upgraded from Fedora 13 to Fedora 14 especially to get the new version of Calibre!

Why would you not use the binary version available on the Calibre web site?
It works with Fedora 13 doesn't it?

10-09-2010, 12:28 PM	#1
nodata Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Sony PRS-300	Fedora 14 + Sony PRS-300: calibre doesn't work Hi, I upgraded from Fedora 13 to Fedora 14 especially to get the new version of Calibre! Unfortunately it doesn't work! Under Preferences I choose "Debug Device Detection" and I get this: Version: 0.7.20 [..] Looking for POCKETBOOK301 Looking for POCKETBOOK360 Looking for PRS505 (1356, 798, 553, 'Sony', 'Sony Digital Book Reader', '0800461000DFA1E8') Looking for README Looking for S60 [..] Looking for TECLAST_K3 Looking for THEBOOK Devices possibly connected: SONY Device Interface, Trying to open SONY Device Interface ... failed Opening of the following devices failed <calibre.devices.prs505.driver.PRS505 object at 0x2156b10> Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/__init__.py", line 117, in debug dev.open() File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 637, in open self.open_linux() File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 621, in open_linux mp, ret = mount(card, typ) File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 598, in mount ret = do_mount(node, label) File "/usr/lib64/calibre/calibre/devices/usbms/device.py", line 593, in do_mount _('Could not find mount helper: %s.')%cmd[0]) DeviceError: Could not find mount helper: calibre-mount-helper. I checked, and there is no file called calibre-mount-helper anywhere. What am I doing wrong?

10-09-2010, 05:44 PM	#11
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	To help you, here are the three way calibre-mount-helper is called Code: calibre-mount-helper mount device_node mount_point calibre-mount-helper eject device_node mount_point calibre-mount-helper cleanup device_node mount_point At a minimum you must implement the mount and eject commands.

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10-09-2010, 12:37 PM	#2
nodata Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Sony PRS-300	Here is the workaround: echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nexit 1' > /usr/bin/calibre-mount-helper ; chmod +x /usr/bin/calibre-mount-helper and here is a quote from a Linux developer about this: We rely on the desktop's automounting for ebook storage volumes. Quite frankly, calibre-mount-helper is really not appropriate to ship, it's by and large an unsafe rewrite of the much better understood mechanisms that udisks and even hal already provide. It's not necessary for calibre to work either, once the OS automounts the storage volumes they will just appear automatically in calibre's UI. -- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...58/comments/12 So calibre just needs to drop the calibre-mount-helper program for distros that use udev

10-09-2010, 12:42 PM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You should be posting this in a fedora forum/bug tracker. What's the point of posting it here?

10-09-2010, 01:11 PM	#4
nodata Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Sony PRS-300	I posted here because I was having a problem with Calibre, and I heard the maintainer was very helpful. Then I found a workaround, and posted an update. The workaround needs to be applied to every version of Linux (Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Suse) that uses automounting. So I posted information on that too. I also posted this to the Fedora bugzilla, but that won't really help since it's a problem that needs solving in calibre.

10-09-2010, 02:50 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	This is not a problem in calibre. It is a problem in the Fedora package of calibre, where they have rendered calibre-mount-helper not functional. Indeed, calibre linux packages are generally so poor in quality that I always tell people to not use the distro provided package and instead use the binary install from the calibre website.

10-09-2010, 04:57 PM	#6
nodata Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Sony PRS-300	Oh dear. I have notified the Fedora packager, and he will check the patch that he had to enable the mount-helper. Here is the link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=641610

10-09-2010, 05:00 PM	#7
nodata Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Sony PRS-300	Update: I also linked back to here from the bug. Maybe you could talk to the maintainer so he can fix whatever problems you are having with his packages. That way it would work out less work for you? I can add your e-mail as CC for the bug if you like.

10-09-2010, 05:35 PM	#8
nirik Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: android	Hello. One of the fedora calibre maintainers here. I'd be happy to improve the packaging in fedora. In this case there are very good reasons not to ship the calibre-mount-helper however. Our desktops automatically mount mass storage devices when attached. A mount-helper would just mount them a second time or otherwise confuse things and be an unneeded step. I've pushed an updated package for testing, so please do test and let me know if it works for you.

10-09-2010, 05:36 PM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	There's nothing to work out. Basically, the package maintainer has to decide whether he wants to ship calibre-mount-helper or not. If he doesn't want to ship it, he should replace it with a script that does the same thing using whatever distro specific technique he likes. calibre-mount-helper is 50 lines of C code, it should be trivial to replace. I am not going to write the replacement as the current calibre-mount-helper is the best cross distro way of doing mounting and I make it a policy to write as little context specific code as possible.

10-09-2010, 05:39 PM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	@nirik: calibre expects either that the disks are always mounted before calibre tries to mount them or that calibre-mount-helper mounts them. I seriously doubt you can guarantee that the disk will always be mounted, therefore if you don't want to ship calibre-mount-helper, then you should replace it with a shell script that does the mounting/ejecting. Otherwise, you cripple calibre functionality and I get to deal with the bug reports.

10-09-2010, 10:41 PM	#12
nirik Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: android	They should be always mounted when calibre should be dealing with them. I have a replacement for calibre-mount-helper, it just didn't get put in place in recent versions. Sorry for any problems this may have caused you. There should be a test package available that fixes this. Thanks.

05-20-2012, 01:32 PM	#13
dalark Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2012 Device: sony	what the hell is going on with these answers, some of us just have emachines and want to read a book... you linux guys crack me up with all the mumbo jumbo.. go get windows.. now do any of you heavy karma geniuses know why an old dinasauor like the prs300 will not connect with calibre????

05-20-2012, 01:53 PM	#14
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	@dalark: Now there's a text book example of asking a question so that it will get no answers. > /dev/null