ngettext error (Linux Version)

[SteveBro]

Hi:

I've been using Calibre for more than 1 year. Excellent program... keep it up!

Anyway, I just refreshed my laptop build and tried to reinstall Calibre. I run Arch Linux.

Calibre doesn't start. The console messages I get are as follows:

[steve@SNB-ARCH12 ~]$ calibre
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/calibre", line 18, in <module>
from calibre.gui2.main import main
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/gui2/main.py", line 18, in <module>
from calibre.library.database2 import LibraryDatabase2
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/library/database2.py", line 19, in <module>
from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import metadata_to_opf
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py", line 20, in <module>
from calibre.ebooks.metadata.book.base import Metadata
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/ebooks/metadata/book/base.py", line 17, in <module>
from calibre.library.field_metadata import FieldMetadata
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 44, in <module>
class FieldMetadata(dict):
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 140, in FieldMetadata
'name':ngettext('Series', 'Series', 2),
NameError: name 'ngettext' is not defined

I've uninstalled and reinstalled a few times, trying different things. Question: Is this a bug, a missing dependency, or what?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Steve Brodson

[kovidgoyal]

uninstall the distro version of calibre and use the official binary install from here: http://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux

[SteveBro]

Thanks for the prompt response. I tried that one before I posted and I just tried that again. Same result. I'm using python 3.2.2.

Any other ideas?

[itimpi]

I do not believe that Calibre is compatible with Python 3.x series. It currently uses the 2.7 series.

[kovidgoyal]

You need to be doing this:

sudo python -c "import sys; py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2; u = __import__('urllib.request' if py3 else 'urllib', fromlist=1); exec(u.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read()); main()"

[SteveBro]

No joy... Same Problem. I don't see any difference from the one on the Calibre website.

I also note python2.7 installed -- not sure which one it is trying to use.

Anyway, it worked until I reformatted my laptop... it must be some sort of dependency or conflict with something else installed.

Looks like someone else has reported the same problem: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/28065

[kovidgoyal]

You cannot be getting the same error in both cases. In one case the code is being run from an archlinux calibre package, in the other from the official calibre binary. If nothing else, the line numbers and file names will be different.

*Uninstall* your arch linux calibre package first.

[SteveBro]

OK... Here's what I did, along with the commands.

1. Cleared off all calibre files

--------------------------

2. Installed calibre from repositories:

[steve@SNB-ARCH12 bin]$ sudo pacman -S calibre
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (1): calibre-0.8.36-1

Total Installed Size: 34.18 MiB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(1/1) checking package integrity [######################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files [######################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts [######################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space [######################] 100%
(1/1) installing calibre [######################] 100%
Optional dependencies for calibre
ipython: to use calibre-debug
---------------------------------------

3. Tried to run calibre:

[steve@SNB-ARCH12 bin]$ calibre
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/calibre", line 18, in <module>
from calibre.gui2.main import main
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/gui2/main.py", line 18, in <module>
from calibre.library.database2 import LibraryDatabase2
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/library/database2.py", line 19, in <module>
from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import metadata_to_opf
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py", line 20, in <module>
from calibre.ebooks.metadata.book.base import Metadata
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/ebooks/metadata/book/base.py", line 17, in <module>
from calibre.library.field_metadata import FieldMetadata
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 44, in <module>
class FieldMetadata(dict):
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 140, in FieldMetadata
'name':ngettext('Series', 'Series', 2),
NameError: name 'ngettext' is not defined
-----------------------------------

4. Removed calibre

[steve@SNB-ARCH12 bin]$ sudo pacman -R calibre
checking dependencies...

Targets (1): calibre-0.8.36-1

Total Removed Size: 34.18 MiB

Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n]
(1/1) removing calibre [######################] 100%
[steve@SNB-ARCH12 bin]$
--------------------------------

5. Installed calibre through your recommended method (selected default /opt location):

[steve@SNB-ARCH12 bin]$ sudo python -c "import sys; py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2; u = __import__('urllib.request' if py3 else 'urllib', fromlist=1); exec(u.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read()); main()"
Enter the installation directory for calibre [/opt]:
Will download and install calibre-0.8.36-x86_64.tar.bz2
Downloading calibre-0.8.36-x86_64.tar.bz2
100% [================================================== ====================]
Downloaded 50355024 bytes
Checking downloaded file integrity...
Extracting files to /opt/calibre ...
Extracting application files...
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site.py", line 56, in main
File "site-packages/calibre/linux.py", line 11, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/customize/ui.py", line 15, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/customize/builtins.py", line 12, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py", line 20, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/metadata/book/base.py", line 17, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 44, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 140, in FieldMetadata
NameError: name 'ngettext' is not defined


You can automate future calibre installs by specifying the
installation directory in the install command itself, like
this:

sudo python -c "import sys; py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2; u = __import__('urllib.request' if py3 else 'urllib', fromlist=1); exec(u.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read()); main(install_dir='/opt')"

Change /opt above to whatever directory you want calibre to be
automatically installed to


Run "calibre" to start calibre
---------------------------------------

6. Despite above error, tried to run calibre:

[steve@SNB-ARCH12 bin]$ /opt/calibre/calibre
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site.py", line 56, in main
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/main.py", line 18, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/library/database2.py", line 19, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py", line 20, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/metadata/book/base.py", line 17, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 44, in <module>
File "site-packages/calibre/library/field_metadata.py", line 140, in FieldMetadata
NameError: name 'ngettext' is not defined
[steve@SNB-ARCH12 bin]$

-------------------

I must admit that I didn't look at line numbers.

Does this help identify any issues?

[kovidgoyal]

set the LANG variable correctly.

export LANG="en_US.UTF-8"

then run calibre

[SteveBro]

Thanks for having the patience to work through this for me!

I'll be making a donation on the website!