[Error 267]

[Mashkai]

I searched but only saw one other thread involving this error message. I have restarted my PC (twice), reinstalled Calibre (also twice), and tried running it w/o any other programs (although none of said programs have anything to do with cleaning/deleting temp files as far as I am aware).

I have rec'd this error message both when attempting to move files from one library to another and when trying to alter metadata en mass.

Here is the latest version of said error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\actions\copy_to_library.py", line 111, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\actions\copy_to_library.py", line 133, in doit
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\actions\copy_to_library.py", line 172, in _doit
File "site-packages\calibre\db\legacy.py", line 243, in import_book
File "site-packages\calibre\db\cache.py", line 1560, in add_books
File "site-packages\calibre\db\cache.py", line 57, in call_func_with_lock
File "site-packages\calibre\db\cache.py", line 1530, in create_book_entry
File "site-packages\calibre\db\cache.py", line 1252, in set_metadata
File "site-packages\calibre\db\cache.py", line 1079, in update_path
File "site-packages\calibre\db\backend.py", line 1514, in update_path
File "os.py", line 150, in makedirs
File "os.py", line 157, in makedirs
WindowsError: [Error 267] The directory name is invalid: u'E:\\Calibre Libraries\\ISBN\\Con'


What did I mess up? How do I fix it if it is fixable? (Would be awesome if it was fixable without losing all of my settings/plugin settings *again*)

Thank you in advance!

[Terisa de morgan]

What is the name of involved libraries? Because it look like you os don't like the directories a lot.

[PeterT]

The issue is the use of Con as a part of a directory name. I think that is a reserved name to Windows.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by PeterT

...I think that is a reserved name to Windows.

It is reserved, these reserved names are DOS commands, being predominantly (as far as I am aware) those addressing external devices. So the likes of LPT, COM, etc. and CON (which is CONSOLE).

It is possible with a bit of trickery to create a directory called CON (in whatever case, upper or lower) but I doubt it would play well wit applications (I have never tried).

[theducks]

Originally Posted by PeterT

The issue is the use of Con as a part of a directory name. I think that is a reserved name to Windows.

CON: ring a bell

[BetterRed]

If you try to name a file or folder 'CON' or 'con' Windows throws "The specified device name is invalid", if you try to create a book with Author or Title 'Con' in calibre it throws the 267 error - which it gets from Python.

BR

[kovidgoyal]

Change the title to not be con and you should be fine -- add a suffix.

I'll add a check to the calibre file naming routines to do that automatically in the future.

[kovidgoyal]

Actually I dont see how calibre could have created that directory, since book directories always contain book ids. Probably you have some other program writing to your calibre library folder.

[eschwartz]

Looks like that is the author name, not the book title.

[kovidgoyal]

I already committed a fix to ensure author name based folders are never reserved windows names.

If that is indeed an author name then the OP simply needs to change it to something other than con and he should be fine.

[BetterRed]

FWIW : I changed an author name on a book (test) from 'Nick' to 'con', I got an 267 error and clicked OK, the metadata changed to 'con' but author folder remained as 'Nick' - that may be incongruous but as I understand calibre it's not invalid.

What surprised me was that the book file name remained 'test - Nick.docx' and 'test - Nick.epub'?

Check Library returned no errors.

So how did the OP change the author folder name to CON - in linux maybe?

Added : After I Polished the book I had 'test - Nick.docx' and 'test - con.epub?' and the metadata.opf file had

        <dc:creator opf:file-as="Nick" opf:role="aut">Nick</dc:creator>
        <dc:contributor opf:file-as="calibre" opf:role="bkp">calibre (2.53.0)

Interesting

BR

[Mashkai]

Sorry for the slow replies - for whatever reason, I wasn't rec'ing emails.

As for the directories- crazy as it sounds, there is NO "con" folder. Anywhere! I moved a batch of books and attempted for another batch five minutes later and this was the result. This error is about a folder that doesn't exist.


I have searched said directory, all of the other calibre libraries, and done a fulle search of my HD. No such file, folder, or directory exists. There are books/authors that contain "con" (Connor, Continuum, Pro's and Con's, etc) but nothing that is *only* "con".

What am I missing here?

[itimpi]

Con is a reserved name in Windows - any attempt to reference it as a file or folder name will always cause an error. It is a hangover from the MSDOS days when 'con' referred to the console device.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by itimpi

Con is a reserved name in Windows - any attempt to reference it as a file or folder name will always cause an error. It is a hangover from the MSDOS days when 'con' referred to the console device.

This The 'con' file represents the keyboard.

You can actually create files this way, in the command-line window:

copy con file.txt
(write some stuff here)
(press ctrl+z, then press enter)

Result: 1 file(s) copied.

So a file was copied from the your keyboard into a text file

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

This The 'con' file represents the keyboard.

You can actually create files this way, in the command-line window:

copy con file.txt
(write some stuff here)
(press ctrl+z, then press enter)

Result: 1 file(s) copied.

So a file was copied from the your keyboard into a text file

But in this instance 'con' is a directory (at author level) in a calibre library named ISBN

BR