[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by fidvo

I run Calibre Portable on an external hard drive, and I recently installed Linux Mint on one of my computers. I would like to run Calibre on the same databases in both Windows and Linux.

I've identified potential issues that might arise, and I wanted to get input on how to solve them. So here are several questions I need answers to in order to get this to work.

1. Linux vs. Windows

I've heard there might be issues with case sensitivity of folder names and folder name length. Is there a way to identify whether this will be a problem for my existing libraries?

If I have to take the time to re-create my libraries from scratch in order to get around these incompatibilities, I'm willing to do it, but I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.

Also, going forward are there any steps I should take to make sure these issues don't arise?

I have no idea, I just use Restore Database anytime I switch OSes with a calibre library. It isn't that frequent anyway.

2. Calibre 1.48 vs. 2.x

My laptop runs Windows XP. Since I often run Calibre on my laptop, I use Calibre Portable 1.48. Is it still correct to assume Calibre 2.x is not compatible with Windows XP?

Correct.

If so, should I also assume it's best not to mix two different versions of Calibre if I'm running them on the same library? i.e. there will likely be problems if I run Calibre 2.x for Linux on a library that I will later want to access with Calibre 1.48 for Windows.

I've downloaded the 1.48 tarballs and read the instructions for installing old versions under Linux, so I'm fine if that's the case.

It *should* be safe to mix, what matters is that the database schema hasn't really been updated. But you may wish to be safe anyway.

3. Installed vs. Portable

I've always used Calibre Portable on my external hard drive, so I've never actually installed the non-portable version of Calibre before. Can I assume it's safe to run an installed version of Calibre on a library created under Calibre Portable?

Note that my external hard drive is not a NAS, and I don't intend to run multiple instances of Calibre at the same time. I just want to run it under Linux sometimes and under Windows other times.

Correct, Portable is just a rebundled copy of the binaries with a wrapper program to launch calibre using the correct environment variables and stuff, and managing the settings to play nice with the library path.

4. Plugins

I have several questions about plugins.

4a. Since plugins are written in Python, can I assume they're cross-platform? i.e. I can get the same plugins for my Linux version of Calibre as for my Windows version.

Some plugins will say they only work on a specific platform. In that case, they will refuse to install.

4b. Since my version of Calibre is "frozen" at 1.48, are there likely to be issues with newer versions of plugins on older versions of Calibre? I stopped updating my plugins the same time as I stopped updating Calibre because I didn't want to risk downloading and installing a plugin that would no longer work.

Most plugins try to remain backwards compatible if it isn't actually necessary to use new features. Some plugins will remain useful on old versions but require new versions for specific features.

4c. (A combination of 4a and 4b) If it's better to stick with older versions of plugins, how do I get them into my Linux version of Calibre? Is there a place to download old versions? If not, can I transfer the plugins from my Windows version to my Linux version? I've read the "installing plugins manually" instructions, and I see a bunch of zip files in my "Calibre Settings\plugins" folder. Can I use these zip files to install the plugins manually under Linux?

Yes, use those ZIP files if it is necessary. I know of no other way, besides checking the Wayback Machine and praying (or if the plugin is managed in a GitHub repository).

5. Are there any other issues I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Well, you might want to take a look at the updated version of calibre-portable.sh which I am working on, here: https://github.com/eli-schwartz/cali...re-portable.sh