ebook-convert won't work in a batch file since 0.6.17

[mbovenka]

I often use ebook-convert in a batch file to convert a number of ebooks in one go. Up to 0.6.16 this worked fine, but from .17 onwards it doesn't anymore.

When I have a batch file consisting of a number of ebook-convert commands, the first command that runs exits the entire batch file when it's done. Running the batch file from within a command shell does the same, and starting the batch file again in the same shell just exits the batch file without even (visibly) starting ebook-convert.

This is on WinXP SP3, fully patched.

Kovid, any idea what changed between 0.6.16 & .17 to cause this?

[JvdW]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

I often use ebook-convert in a batch file to convert a number of ebooks in one go. Up to 0.6.16 this worked fine, but from .17 onwards it doesn't anymore.

Kovid, any idea what changed between 0.6.16 & .17 to cause this?

I'm guessing that the new way installing Calibre is causing this. My guess is that the shell can't find ebook-convert.exe and therefore exits without doing much.
The latest 0.6.20 installer does have an option to add the location of the installation folder to the PATH of Windows.

To test this theory:
- open a CMD prompt
- just type: ebook-convert.exe
( this should give you the help text of the program)
- if not then:
-- goto the installation folder of Calibre
-- then type: ebook-convert.exe
(now you should get the help)

If I'm not clear then let us know and I'll retry in a different wording, or someone else.

Regards,

Joop

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by JvdW

If I'm not clear then let us know and I'll retry in a different wording, or someone else.

No, it's clear (I've been working with PCs since way before Windows was a gleam in Bill's eye) but that's not the problem. Ebook-convert starts up fine when I run the batch file, but runs only once. It then exits the entire batch file and running the batch file unchanged a second time exits without any message. It doesn't say 'ebook-convert isn't recognized..blah...'

So that's not it.

[itimpi]

You could always try amending your batch file so that each time the ebook-convert program is run it is under a new shell to see if that solves the issue?

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by itimpi

You could always try amending your batch file so that each time the ebook-convert program is run it is under a new shell to see if that solves the issue?

It doesn't; just tried it. I even tried two levels deep, having 'cmd /c ebook-convert' in the batch file and running the batch file with "cmd /c" itself. No dice; it still does the same.

[kovidgoyal]

Odd I have no idea what could be causing that. Does ebook-convert exit cleanly after an invocation? WHat's it's exit code.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Odd I have no idea what could be causing that. Does ebook-convert exit cleanly after an invocation? WHat's it's exit code.

Yes, the first invocation in the batch file runs OK. It doesn't show any errors and the resulting output file is fine as well. It just exits the entire batch file when it's done.

I don't know what the exit code is; I'll try to find out when I'm home this evening.

[JvdW]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Yes, the first invocation in the batch file runs OK. It doesn't show any errors and the resulting output file is fine as well. It just exits the entire batch file when it's done.

I don't know what the exit code is; I'll try to find out when I'm home this evening.

I'm doing some batch work too and noticed the same problem.

Running, it looks like, any calibre executable inside a batchfile wrecks havoc on all commands following it. For example the following demonstrates this.
- open a command prompt where you have test.bat download
- run test.bat from the command prompt, calibredb should be in your PATH
- notice that the 'pause' is never executed!
- even stranger, restart the test.bat without closing the command prompt
- notice what happens or the lack thereof


Regards,

Joop

[kovidgoyal]

OK opena ticket, I'll take a look the next time I run my windows VM

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

OK opena ticket, I'll take a look the next time I run my windows VM

Done. Ticket 3923.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by JvdW

I'm doing some batch work too and noticed the same problem.

Joop, Kovid gave me the hint to try PowerShell instead of CMD. Just running the batch file under PS didn't work any better than under CMD, but what *did* work was feeding the batchfile as standard input to PS, like this:

PowerShell -command - < batchfile.bat

Don't ask me why that works, but it does. Perhaps Kovid will figure it out :-). The same trick doesn't work for CMD, though.

[JvdW]

Hello All,

Sorry to resurrect an old problem but I think its solved in versions of Calibre greater or equal to 0.7

Regards,

Joop

[karunaji]

For me it still doesn't work but for another reason. Windows XP command line batch processing stops after setting the code page to unicode (chcp 65001). No idea why it is so but it looks that it is a documented feature.

For this reason is there any other way to pass parameters for ebook-convert.exe except for command line? I am experimenting with the conversion from html to epub I need to run a batch file often. I need to use unicode for metadata and it is inconvenient to include all this information in the command line.

[JvdW]

Originally Posted by karunaji

For me it still doesn't work but for another reason. Windows XP command line batch processing stops after setting the code page to unicode (chcp 65001). No idea why it is so but it looks that it is a documented feature.

Sorry for not posting it but I also found out that it doesn't work yet on XP. It does work now on Win7

This is what I came up with to circumvent the problem on XP. Its not elegant and it might not work for you depending on what you want accomplished.
The following is part of a script which I use to download the latest NRC epub

REM Add News as tag, and date as comment
start /wait ebook-meta -c %TODAY% --tags=News %TEMP%\nrc-%TODAY%.epub

REM Add to Calibre database
start /wait calibredb add %TEMP%\nrc-%TODAY%.epub

REM Find database ID by looking for comment
REM for /f "tokens=1,2" %%a in ('calibredb list -s comments:%TODAY%') do if %%b==NRC set id=%%a
start /wait c1.bat
for /f %%a in ('type %TEMP%\test.env') do set id=%%a

REM Mark ePaper to be auto-uploaded to reader
start /wait calibre-debug -c "from calibre.gui2 import dynamic; ids = dynamic.get('news_to_be_synced', set([])); ids.add(%id%); dynamic.set('news_to_be_synced', ids)"

As you can see I use 'start /wait ...' to launch the Calibre programs. In that way they don't mess up the original command prompt.

Hope this helps you with your problem

Regards,

Joop

[Terisa de morgan]

Thanks, I had the same problem yesterday when I updated calibre in my Windows XP. I'll give a try.