Pocketbook installer files (pbi) - How to create them

[nhedgehog]

Pocketbook installer files (extension pbi) are encrypted and renamed zipped files. They are handled by sysinstall.app.
The pbi-file can either be encrypted with a (known) public key or an (unknown) individual key.
The encryption method is afaik zipcrypto, AES256 is not working.
Inside the encrypted zip must allways be a file _scriptInstall and a folder \sinstall.
The folder \sinstall contains all the files to install, the file _scriptInstall the commands for the installation.

Known public encryption key is:

>nD4Ar0CNc(#Gl/87A8q

Known _scriptInstall values are:
packageName=
packageVersion=
destDir=
destAction=
execAfter=
destProtect=
destNofop=
destSpace=

Additional suspected values (possibly for the tts installation) are:
contentType
contentVersion
contentProvider
contenttLang

Additional information:
1) sysinstall.app is calculating the free space.
2) packageName can include blank spaces.
3) destAction can be: unpack,install,content (difference is unknown)
4) destDir=directory, where the content of \sinstall is copied, existing files with the same name are replaced, folders are merged.
5) destSpace defines the free minimum space at the destination otherwise the installation will fail.
6) If an additional file _scriptSerial is added beside _scriptInstall, with _scriptSerial containing only the serial number of the device as content, the packet will only be installable at the device with the in _scriptSerial defined serial number.
Using only parts of the serial can be used to limit the installation to special device-type (f.i. YTMD=Inkpad4, YTRD=InkPad Color3, YTEA=Inkpad3, JZ2B=InkpadX, YT45=PB626, NX27=PB631 etc.).
7) Installation is working in /mnt/secure too (tested with dictionaries).
8) If an app or script is defined via execAfter, the installation will finish with executing it (f.i.:execAfter=/mnt/ext1/applications/demo.app).

example.pbi is provided as an example and is encrypted with the known public key:
>nD4Ar0CNc(#Gl/87A8q

The content of the file _scriptInstall in example.pbi:
packageName=example_test
packageVersion=0.1.2.3
destDir=/mnt/ext1/test
destAction=install

example.pbi content:
_scriptInstall
\sinstall
\sinstall\file1
\sinstall\dir1\file2
\sinstall\dir2\file3

Attention:
I'm not aware of an uninstaller for Pocketbooks (with the exception of dictionaries and TTS-modules, which have some uninstall funcions scattered in the settings or elsewhere).

This whole research is based on a forgotten source I stumbled over years ago. This source provided the example.pbi too. I added my own observations.

[orontee]

Thanks for your investigations. Looks interesting!

But from you message I don't understand how one is supposed to install a ".pbi" file...

Should one connect via USB to a computer and copy (where? what file name?) to the reader or is it possible to install a ".pbi" file downloaded through the reader browser?

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by orontee

Thanks for your investigations. Looks interesting!

But from you message I don't understand how one is supposed to install a ".pbi" file...

Should one connect via USB to a computer and copy (where? what file name?) to the reader or is it possible to install a ".pbi" file downloaded through the reader browser?

Pocketbook installer files have the suffix pbi. Pbi-files are renamed, encrypted zip files. Filename is irrelevant only suffix (pbi) is telling the system that an installable package is available.
Examples for a tts installer:
You can download a voice directly from pocketbook, links are provided on this side:
https://cod-box.net/pocketbook-tts-t...gage-download/

F.i.:
http://download.pocketbook-int.com/t...1.6.25.429.pbi

How the filemananger is handling them, is dependend on the Pockebook firmware. Download directory works often, previously it had to be the image directory. If the filemanager shows the file in the device, click on it and installation routine should start.

[orontee]

What software do you use to generate Zip archives using ZipCrypto encryption? Under what OS?

I've tried on a Debian Bookworm host, but failed to identify a software supporting this kind of encryption anymore (minizip is supposed to if I understand well but it fails to extract from the archive it produces...).

[nhedgehog]

7zip under Windows. The GUI is just giving me the option to either use ZipCrypto or AES-256.

Correct me if I'm wrong but afaik standard zip encryption is ZipCrypto, while AES encryption is rather unusual.

[orontee]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

7zip under Windows. The GUI is just giving me the option to either use ZipCrypto or AES-256.

Correct me if I'm wrong but afaik standard zip encryption is ZipCrypto, while AES encryption is rather unusual.

You're certainly right. I usually don't use Zip files, not speaking of encrypted Zip files... But from what I've read on the Internet ZipCrypto is considered unsafe; After an unsuccessful search for explicit reference to ZipCrypto in different man pages, I convinced myself that only AES was available anymore...

I was clearly wrong! 7z and zip seems to use ZipCrypto as a default, their documentation is just "vague": Using 7z I just build a ".pbi" installer for Taranis that works on my Vivlio Touch HD!

Thank you!

[nhedgehog]

Glad it is finally working for you.

[orontee]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

Glad it is finally working for you.

It can be downloaded from here https://github.com/orontee/taranis/r...tag/v1.8.0-pre.

Feedback welcome!

[neil_swann80]

FYI: the _scriptInstall value: destNofop=1
will prevent the log files (.inf and .fop) being written to /mnt/secure/pbpk/ during the installation of the .pbi.

<installer_name>.fop - contains a log of files/filespaths the installer unpacks to.
<installer_name>.inf - contains a copy of the _scriptInstall parameters.

[nhedgehog]

I got some interesting feedback about limiting the installer to certain devices. First post, additional information point 6 was updated.

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

6) If an additional file _scriptSerial is added beside _scriptInstall, with _scriptSerial containing only the serial number of the device as content, the packet will only be installable at the device with the in _scriptSerial defined serial number.
Using only parts of the serial can be used to limit the installation to special device-type (f.i. YTMD=Inkpad4, YTRD=InkPad Color3,YTEA=Inkpad3,JZ2B=InkpadX etc.).

That's really useful. Is there scope to add a message for devices that don't meet this criteria?

[nhedgehog]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

Is there scope to add a message for devices that don't meet this criteria?

Not that I'm aware of. But a message is displayed, like:
That package isn't suitable for your device.

[Michal Jancik]

Originally Posted by orontee

It can be downloaded from here https://github.com/orontee/taranis/r...tag/v1.8.0-pre.

Feedback welcome!

I am quite interested in your "Argos" project Bon travail gros.
I wanted to create a similar alternatives to Audiobook for plex... but based on Python + Django (they have very good libraries and optimization for fast database creation) as a multiplatform client.

[orontee]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

I am quite interested in your "Argos" project Bon travail gros.
I wanted to create a similar alternatives to Audiobook for plex... but based on Python + Django (they have very good libraries and optimization for fast database creation) as a multiplatform client.

Thank you!

I don't have many audio books, only two or three. They're just collection of mp3's, like an album or a podcast. As such they're indexed by Mopidy and discoverable, playable using Argos. It's not clear to me what is specific to audio books...

Feel free to email me if you're looking into information on Mopidy; There's also a discourse website with kind people...