Mass editing of metadata fails under Linux

[Nightfairy]

Hey there ...

Since yesterday I used calibre with Windows - there it was possible to edit the metadata of many files at the same time, f.e. to edit all authors at once. I didn't have to enter any seatch-field there but just marked the books I wanted to edit using the CTRL-key in the overview.
Now I'm trying the same using Calibre with Linux and get the following error-message.

calibre, version 1.25.0
FEHLER: Suchen/ersetzen ungültig: Suchmuster ungültig: You must specify a search expression in the "Search for" field

I think the correct translation of the first words is
"ERROR: Search/replace invalid"

What's wrong there?

[eschwartz]

Well, I have no idea how to translate the non-english bits, but this bit:

You must specify a search expression in the "Search for" field

is very telling.

Basically, calibre was updated for some reason or another, to be more robust probably (I cannot remember), and now if you want to search via mass S&R, you will need to have some form of search, even just a dot is enough.

I think it may have had something to do with the move to the new database, there was also this:
https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...d6fd77ed5ad3be
Which fixed this bug report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1282357

[eschwartz]

I notice you are on version 1.25 of calibre, which probably means you are using a distro version. Distro versions are always horribly out of date, with a fast-moving program like calibre. You should really install the binaries distributed on the website: http://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux
Or my auto-install-and-update script here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=237233

[chaley]

V1.25 introduced the bug you are seeing. It was fixed in V1.26, almost 9 months ago.

[Nightfairy]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I notice you are on version 1.25 of calibre, which probably means you are using a distro version. Distro versions are always horribly out of date, with a fast-moving program like calibre. You should really install the binaries distributed on the website: http://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux

I did that and all's fine! I (as a Linux-noob) thought that muon would install an actual version - now I know it better!

Thx to all of you for your help!

[JSWolf]

With Calibre, if you are using an old outdated/obsolete version, and you have a problem, upgrade to the newest version and then if you still have the problem, ask about it. Chances are, it might have been fixed.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Nightfairy

I did that and all's fine! I (as a Linux-noob) thought that muon would install an actual version - now I know it better!

For the vast majority of programs out there the automatic package update in your distro is just what you need.

Calibre is very special, and is updated very often.
DO update every week, you might miss great new features or enhancements. You can configure Calibre to check for new updated every time it starts.

I have been using Calibre on Mint Linux (derived from Ubuntu, (which is based on Debian)) for many years.
I am a power user and Calibre works wonderfully with a very large library on Linux.

[JSWolf]

I keep some of the previous install files in case something in the new version breaks something I need. I've not had that happen. But I do so just in case.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Nightfairy

I did that and all's fine! I (as a Linux-noob) thought that muon would install an actual version - now I know it better!

Thx to all of you for your help!

Well, generally speaking, you do get an actual version -- it's just that most distros keep things stable, which usually means old.

Take Ubuntu -- every six months a new OS version is announced. The upcoming version is still in testing -- and it usually gets updates as they develop the OS. Then they freeze the state of things, release it, and thereafter they only apply updates which have a security component, plus whatever it takes to keep things stable.

Most packages are pretty rock-solid and don't change much, even if you don't have the latest version of, say, gimp. Firefox is of course always updated, because every release contains security fixes.

calibre is a fast-moving target, though -- the developer works on it every day, and releases snapshots weekly. There are no "stable builds", sometimes things slip through the cracks but they get fixed soon -- and distros may have frozen with the still-buggy version. Good chance, too, since calibre is always improving.

This is one reason why I like http://archlinux.org -- it does no handholding, you are responsible for your own system,... and it is rolling-release, which means every Arch Linux is the latest version of the OS, and contains bleeding-edge updates.

(Gentoo is a similar distro, but source-based, you build the packages from developer sources instead of using prebuilt binaries like Arch... but both are do-it-yourself toolkits that stay on the bleeding edge.)

So... I sacrifice vendor stability for newness, and take care of my own stable.