08-23-2011, 06:58 AM | #1 |
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News downloads don't complete
Hi folks
I posted this problem in the introduction forum (I'm new here) but this is probably a better place. A list of Calibre provided details is included in the original post. I thought no news was downloading, because the error message says 'Failed to download news' but it seems it is downloading, converting successfully but is then being abandoned in the /tmp directory with an incorrect error message. The news in /tmp is in the form of a .mobi file with a random string for a filename. Calibre then deletes it from /tmp when it quits - so I'd assumed it really was a news download failure. I'm running Xubuntu 11.04 but I spent a weekend trying different linux distributions including Mint, lubuntu, fedora and ubuntu in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. In these I tried the packaged version of Calibre as well as the latest binary. I get the same result - Calibre downloads, converts and then abandons the file. The fatal error appears to be with ICE - whatever that is. If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. Finally, all other Net services work. I have no firewall or proxy set. The PC goes out through a router and so does my wife's windows XP laptop, on which calibre works fine. The problem appears to be internal. Thanks |
08-23-2011, 07:06 AM | #2 |
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First, the binary install version in accordance with calibre's download site is the only supported version.
Second, If you click the jobs in the lower right of calibre you can get the details of the download and conversion. This info should be posted here with spoiler tags around it (eye with a red X through it in the advanced editor.) Third, Is your device connected when it is being downloaded? If it is it might be transferring it upon download and deleting the download from the library. Fourth, What version of calibre are you running? Check the status bar on the bottom left of calibre. |
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08-23-2011, 07:22 AM | #3 |
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Hi
I'm running the latest binary at the moment 0.8.15, downloaded yesterday. No devices are connected to the computer - so no transfer. Though I did try it over the weekend but with the same result. All the details of the failure are in my original post in Introduce Yourself, but this bit at the end appears to be the problem Compressing markup content... MOBI periodical specified, evaluating TOC for periodical conformance ... TOC structure conforms Generating structured CTOC ... CNCX utilization: 1 record, 42% full Indexing navPoints ... Generating INDX ... Serializing images... MOBI output written to /tmp/calibre_0.8.15_tmp_OPp5sl/dFqrEz_recipe_out.mobi ICE default IO error handler doing an exit(), pid = 2404, errno = 32 It's the ICE error - every time. It leaves a processed but randomly named version of the file in /tmp. Then deletes it as part of the quit cleanup. |
08-23-2011, 08:04 AM | #4 |
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update
Hi folks
After deleting the .ICEauthority file from my home directory calibre just successfully completed a download of El Pais This is, to say the least, weird. Now I'm waiting to see what I've broken by deleting the .ICE file Out of interest, it wasn't a permissions issue. I checked before deleting it and the file was owned by me as current user and had the correct RW permissions. I have seen where this file gets incorrect permissions for random reasons but that doesn't appear to be my issue. Thanks for listening, folks. I'll keep trying. I'm now about to reboot. According to some posts the xfce4 desktop needs the .ICE file to start. If you don't hear from me soon I'm re-installing. |
08-23-2011, 08:17 AM | #5 |
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It's me again
I just rebooted the system and tried Calibre again - same failure. The .ICE file has re-appeared and I had to delete it to make Calibre work properly. OK, it is a solution, albeit one that must be applied every time I want to use Calibre - but it is a solution. I'm still looking for a better one. calibre, version 0.8.15 ERROR: Conversion Error: <b>Failed</b>: Fetch news from El Universal Fetch news from El Universal Resolved conversion options *** lots of stuff that worked ****** Transformed CSS selector .noteTitle to .notetitle Converting TOC for MOBI periodical indexing... Using mastheadImage supplied in manifest... Serializing markup content... Compressing markup content... MOBI periodical specified, evaluating TOC for periodical conformance ... TOC structure conforms Generating structured CTOC ... CNCX utilization: 1 record, 37% full Indexing navPoints ... Generating INDX ... Serializing images... MOBI output written to /tmp/calibre_0.8.15_tmp__H68bu/0Of0rt_recipe_out.mobi ICE default IO error handler doing an exit(), pid = 3371, errno = 32 And so we wend our weary way to more research, more trials, more failures Cheers |
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08-23-2011, 08:32 AM | #6 |
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Definitely not a calibre induced problem. It seems like a permissions thingy but Linux isn't my area of expertise. Let us know if you figure it out before some kind soul here lets you in on the ICE secret.
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08-23-2011, 08:57 AM | #7 |
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Always nice to get a definitive answer
I'm being facetious, dwanthy, of course, but surely it is a Calibre problem if nothing except Calibre suffers from it?
This isn't a new problem for me. I've had it on three different PCs running a wide variety of Linux distributions since version 6.xxx of Calibre (the first I tried). Since those days I'm using a different router and a different ISP as well. These are default Linux installations on perfectly ordinary hardware. I come back every few months to try it again but it never works. So I just keep using my wife's Windows Xp PC for downloads. Saying it isn't a Calibre problem is just disengenuous. If all other software runs fine except yours then the problem is your software - not my computers. I have no idea what Calibre does with ICE at the end of the process. I'm a plumber, not a software engineer. I have neither the tools nor the knowledge to watch what Calibre does when it interacts with ICE. But I do know it doesn't do whatever other programs do because other programs don't die with an error message when they interact with ICE. So it is a Calibre problem unless you're saying that Calibre isn't supposed to run on Xubuntu. Finally, as Calibre does complete the news download if I delete the ICEauthority file each time then it is clearly an error in the way that Calibre handles the ICE file - an error other software on my system doesn't make. Thank you for listening and I too hope someone understands the origins of this problem and can point me in a rather more useful direction than 'Definitely not a calibre induced problem'. Of course it's a Calibre induced problem because I've yet to find another program that does it. |
08-23-2011, 11:03 AM | #8 |
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Since you say you're plumber, lets use a plumbing analogy. Suppose you have a customer who complains that the pipe under his sink is leaking. He further tells you that it is a PVC pipe manufactured by the Acme corporation. And he says that he has tried these pipes in three different houses and they always leak, and no other pipes in his houses leak, therefore pipes made by the Acme corporation must be bad. When you go to his houses you find he has a toddler that likes to dig holes into that particular pipe.
You have some software common to all your linux systems that is messing with the ICE file. You have to figure out what it is. And if you're wondering why I am so certain this has nothing to do with calibre, simply download the calibre source code for yourself and run the following on it grep -r ICEauthority * which will tell you that nowhere in the calibre source code is there a single reference to ICEauthority. So calibre cannot be directly manipulating ICEauthority in any way. |
08-23-2011, 11:03 AM | #9 |
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Googling the phrase"ICE default IO error handler doing an exit" from your original post shows that the error message is not unknown and not related specifically to Calibre. There's lots of discussion of the error message in the MythTV forums and it crops up in connection with various other programs. I doubt that anyone here can give much guidance unless you can provide more info.
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08-23-2011, 12:36 PM | #10 |
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Thanks for your help guys. And my apologies for the bad attitude. It's boorish to complain about work people do for free.
It does seem to be an .ICEauthority issue but not a permissions issue with the file itself. In fact, although I've tried a few of the terminal sudo starts of various programs nothing seems to reset the permissions, owner or group of this file. It's mere presence is enough to break Calibre. Anyway, I've just written a Bash script to call the calibre start script, but first it deletes the .ICEauthority file. Now Calibre works as it should and nothing else appears to be broken (so far). I realise that this is a really dirty solution. I'd much rather Calibre played nice. And I still can't find an explanation for the file. What is it for if it's absence doesn't matter? If the various problems in the forums are representative then this file is there just to break things. Kill it with fire. |
08-23-2011, 12:44 PM | #11 |
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Rather than deleting it, set its perms to 777
chmod 0777 ~/.ICEauthority |
08-23-2011, 02:24 PM | #12 |
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permissions
Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it. It doesn't help. If the ICE file is there then Calibre breaks - even if everyone in the worls can do whatever they like to it. Even if it's brand new after a reboot. Even if I show it nice pictures of ponies. Only if I delete it does Calibre news download work.
It seems as if the problem lies at a lower level than I'm competent to address. But killing the ICEauthority file definitely works and so far, so does everything else. Since this is the first thing I've found that does work I think I'll stick with it until a more elegant solution comes along Thanks again for your time |
08-24-2011, 12:25 PM | #13 |
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Hi
Firstly a big thank you to all involved in Calibre - the best part of my Kindle. I found the news downloads especially useful and am using BBC News as one of the feeds. Using Windows XP and Calibre v 0.8.15 Everything was working fine until last Saturday, but on my next download yesterday I also got an error in the download. It does not seem to be the same error, but there are similarities (files seem to be available in the Temp folder). All other news feeds download without problems. Any suggestions? Extract from error code: Spoiler:
Last edited by Starson17; 08-24-2011 at 01:53 PM. Reason: Add spoiler tags for readability. |
08-24-2011, 05:28 PM | #14 |
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There is no actual error in the log you posted. Is it complete?
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08-25-2011, 01:20 PM | #15 |
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success
I thought I ought to let you know that this approach works perfectly. The following script just moves the ICEauthority file somewhere else, runs Calibre - which happily completes all the newsfeeds, then, when I quit Calibre,it puts the ICEauthority file back where it belongs and everything is wonderful.
#!/bin/bash # set variables ICE="/home/steve/.ICEauthority" ICETMP="/home/steve/keepsafe/.ICEauthority" CALIBRE="/home/steve/software/calibre/calibre/calibre" # check ICEauthority file exists if [ -e $ICE ]; then mv $ICE $ICETMP else echo "No such file" fi # run calibre now ICEauthority file is out of the way $CALIBRE # when calibre quits we put the file back where it should be mv $ICETMP $ICE # quit shell when everything is done It may be quick and dirty but it solves the problem. If you use it then change the paths in the variables to suit your own system. Oh, and some error checking would be nice |
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