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Philosopher · 02-06-2015, 06:46 PM

The problem with the "advice" of not switxching OS's - is simply not sufficient for my needs. I have several computers - and work on three platforms (Ubuntu, OSX and Windows). Sometimes I want to access the library from one of those - not necessarily the original used to create the database.

I am definitely not sufficiently knowledgeable about the file writing capacities and programmability of calibre to figure this out myself. I assume that there may indeed be a working solution to this - with manually setting up the parameters int he proper preferences. But I may be wrong (and if so - this is something I thinki someon including Kovid should be seeing as a very high priority - because the cross-platform abilities becoming "seemless" would be the most desirable "standard" (which could then be tweaked by more knowledgeable users (programmers, etc) but would ALWAYS default for the non-programming user. (Again - I am sure that this is Kovid's goal).

My understanding is that the problem that I encounter with cross-platform use is not the issue of case-sensitivity - but the issue of the LENGTH of filenames. Because Windows cannot "see" the file - if its name is longer (as Unix and thus also OSX have no problems with) - I think the default standard should be a windows data structure (since it will not cause problems in other systems - although a more advanced user in one of those platforms may prefer to take advantage of the lengthier file name opportunities.

Thus - when the unix (and thus OSX) filename assigned/written is LONGER than windows can handle - windows in Calibre cannot "see" the book (it looks as if it was missing - which when I first encountered this years ago - I mistakenly thouyght was the case - but the file is there - just without accessibility in windows. ANd worse - windows being what it is - it is EXTREMELY difficult to change that filename (or even delete the file) - altough I have found ways to do this (just not anything efficient).

I will check to see if a TEMPORARY fix option is provided in the idea of the database MAINTENANCE processes. This may profide a quicker fix for when this becomes very problematic - but its not an ideal long-term fix.

So - let me ask one one more time in this area for possible ideas (or the reason its not possible) that might work - in terms of is there a way to manually set up each of my Calibre installations with the SAME (but using the windows naming scheme for all) FILE LENGTH. Cutting off names autamatically that will give windows problems. It seems if this is not currently possible in Calibre - it MAY be something that could fairly easily be coded to make it possible (again I am not expert enough in the details of Calibre's internal commands on writing to file to be certain).

But also - I would really encourage serious discussion by those with expertise in this area to see if a fairly simple fix - or even perhaps a plugin method to do this - could be devised ... and eventually become incorporated into the standard release.

02-06-2015, 06:46 PM	#4
Philosopher Connoisseur Posts: 77 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Kindle	The problem with the "advice" of not switxching OS's - is simply not sufficient for my needs. I have several computers - and work on three platforms (Ubuntu, OSX and Windows). Sometimes I want to access the library from one of those - not necessarily the original used to create the database. I am definitely not sufficiently knowledgeable about the file writing capacities and programmability of calibre to figure this out myself. I assume that there may indeed be a working solution to this - with manually setting up the parameters int he proper preferences. But I may be wrong (and if so - this is something I thinki someon including Kovid should be seeing as a very high priority - because the cross-platform abilities becoming "seemless" would be the most desirable "standard" (which could then be tweaked by more knowledgeable users (programmers, etc) but would ALWAYS default for the non-programming user. (Again - I am sure that this is Kovid's goal). My understanding is that the problem that I encounter with cross-platform use is not the issue of case-sensitivity - but the issue of the LENGTH of filenames. Because Windows cannot "see" the file - if its name is longer (as Unix and thus also OSX have no problems with) - I think the default standard should be a windows data structure (since it will not cause problems in other systems - although a more advanced user in one of those platforms may prefer to take advantage of the lengthier file name opportunities. Thus - when the unix (and thus OSX) filename assigned/written is LONGER than windows can handle - windows in Calibre cannot "see" the book (it looks as if it was missing - which when I first encountered this years ago - I mistakenly thouyght was the case - but the file is there - just without accessibility in windows. ANd worse - windows being what it is - it is EXTREMELY difficult to change that filename (or even delete the file) - altough I have found ways to do this (just not anything efficient). I will check to see if a TEMPORARY fix option is provided in the idea of the database MAINTENANCE processes. This may profide a quicker fix for when this becomes very problematic - but its not an ideal long-term fix. So - let me ask one one more time in this area for possible ideas (or the reason its not possible) that might work - in terms of is there a way to manually set up each of my Calibre installations with the SAME (but using the windows naming scheme for all) FILE LENGTH. Cutting off names autamatically that will give windows problems. It seems if this is not currently possible in Calibre - it MAY be something that could fairly easily be coded to make it possible (again I am not expert enough in the details of Calibre's internal commands on writing to file to be certain). But also - I would really encourage serious discussion by those with expertise in this area to see if a fairly simple fix - or even perhaps a plugin method to do this - could be devised ... and eventually become incorporated into the standard release.