To skip the discussion and go straight to the solution for getting Alf-friendly KF8 out of Kindle for Mac 1.25.2, see this post:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=508
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This is getting more and more fascinating.
Today, I was able to capture the azw file, and it is indeed KF8/azw3. What's more, it can be liberated by Alf. Further experiments suggest that K4Mac 1.25.2 cannot read KF8. It can only read KFX and KCR, and when it encounters KF8, it automatically replaces it with KCR.
But, if you're fast enough, you
can use K4Mac 1.25.2 to get a KF8 file that works with Alf.
The question is how legitimateliv was able to prevent 1.25.2 from
downloading the KCR file and deleting the initial KF8 file (which has an azw extension) replacing the initial KF8 file (which has an azw extension) with a KCR file.
Details of what I did:
1) Clean install K4Mac 1.23.1
- Download a few ebooks, which all arrive as KFX (with the generic .azw file extension)
- Use chmod -x to make renderer-test non-executable
- Delete ebooks and re-download
- Re-downloaded books arrive in KF8 format with generic .azw file extension
- Alf successfully liberates re-downloaded KF8 files
2) Allow K4Mac 1.23.1 to update to 1.25.2
- Try to open ebooks previously downloaded by 1.23.1 (which are in KF8 format because renderer-test had been disabled per above). Pop-up window appears saying "Preparing your book ..." Go to My Kindle Content folder and find that the .azw/KF8 files have been replaced with .kcr files, which can now be opened and read
- Download a few additional ebooks. These all arrive as KFX (with the generic .azw file extension)
- Use chmod -x to make renderer-test non-executable
- Delete ebooks and re-download
- The first file that appears has an .azw extension. This is quickly followed by a .kcr file, then the .azw file is deleted
- Quickly, before the .azw file is deleted, drag it to the desktop. (Note: I checked the Trash bin to see if the deleted .azw file ends up there, but sadly no. So it's not as easy as retrieving the file from Trash)
- Alf successfully liberates the .azw file dragged to the desktop, which turns out to be KF8
3) Clean install K4Mac 1.25.2
- Same thing happens with clean install of K4Mac 1.25.2 as when you start with 1.23.1 and allow it to update
Additional tests:
- Put unliberated .azw/KF8 file that was dragged to the desktop back in My Kindle Content folder and delete the .kcr file. Try to open ebook. K4Mac says "Preparing your book ..."
downloads a .kcr and deletes the .azw file and replaces the .azw file with a .kcr file
- Go to .azw/KF8 file that was dragged to the desktop and try to open it directly from the desktop using "Open with ..." command and choose K4Mac 1.25.2. Same thing happens: K4Mac
"updates" it by downloading a .kcr and deleting the .azw file replaces the .azw file with a .kcr
It does seem that K4Mac 1.25.2 cannot read KF8, and when it encounters one, it automatically replaces it with a KCR file. And yet, if you use chmod -x to disable renderer-test to prevent KFX, K4Mac 1.25.2 will download a KF8 file (with a generic .azw extension), and if you're fast enough, you can drag it to your desktop before it disappears and liberate it with Alf.
Now we need to figure out how to prevent K4Mac from deleting the initial .azw and
downloading replacing it with a .kcr — which seems to be happening on legitimateliv's Mac.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bkennelly
That suggests something. (I don't have a Mac to test, so it is purely a guess on my part.)
Try creating a file named renderer-test in the K4M directory on the "new" Mac and make sure it is non-executable. It might fool the program...
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There is already a file named renderer-test. The chmod -x command doesn't delete it, it makes it non-executable.