[*nix] Convert man pages to EPUB?

Shohreh · 10-20-2024, 02:13 PM

Hello,

To read long man pages on an e-reader, what application would you recommend to convert those to an epub file?

I tried pandoc to convert an HTML page into EPUB. It's OK, but I was wondering if there's no better solution.

Thank you.

Turtle91 · 10-20-2024, 05:14 PM

I'm not sure exactly what your question is?? An ePub is made up of HTML files (plus any css stylesheets, image files, font files, etc.) so there shouldn't be any "conversion" required.

I would just use Sigil and "Add existing files" and select the files you want to include.

Sigil should take care of all the nitnoid details except making sure that you are using proper xhtml rules (closing all your tags, etc.).

JSWolf · 10-20-2024, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I'm not sure exactly what your question is?? An ePub is made up of HTML files (plus any css stylesheets, image files, font files, etc.) so there shouldn't be any "conversion" required.

I would just use Sigil and "Add existing files" and select the files you want to include.

Sigil should take care of all the nitnoid details except making sure that you are using proper xhtml rules (closing all your tags, etc.).

epubcheck will make sure the code is valid.

Turtle91 · 10-20-2024, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

epubcheck will make sure the code is valid.

epubcheck tells you where the errors are, but I don't think it automatically fixes them, does it??

DNSB · 10-20-2024, 06:09 PM

Not only that but quite a few web pages are so grunged up that Sigil will not import them. That's where I stuff the pages into calibre, convert to ePub and then edit the crap out of the ePub.

ratinox · 10-20-2024, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shohreh

Hello,

To read long man pages on an e-reader, what application would you recommend to convert those to an epub file?

I wouldn't use an application per se. I also wouldn't use pandoc.

Unix man pages use a markup format called roff (runoff) inherited from Multics. I would use groff (or troff) to render the manpage source as HTML:

zcat /usr/share/man/man1/groff.1.gz | groff -mandoc -Thtml > groff.html

Then use ebook-convert to turn that HTML into an ePub. This should generate a nicely formatted ePub.

PeterT · 10-20-2024, 11:42 PM

I also found a perl script on GitHub (https://github.com/mle86/man-to-md) that converts to MarkDown format, which csan then be loaded into calibre.

Attach find a sample ePub

Shohreh · 10-29-2024, 06:23 AM

Thanks for the infos.

What's the correct way to use that Perl script?

Code:

:~/man-to-md-master# ./man-to-md.pl < smb.conf > smb.conf.md
-bash: smb.conf: No such file or directory

Quote:

which csan then be loaded into calibre

Is csan an extension to Calibre?

PeterT · 10-29-2024, 07:54 AM

csan was a typo... it's actually CAN.

I copied the man page from (on my system) /usr/share/man/man1/tar.1.gz to my working directory and gunzip'ed it to get tar.1

Then ran ./man-to-md.pl < tar.1 > tar.epub

Shohreh · 10-29-2024, 09:03 AM

I don't know how man manages documents.

Is there a list somewhere to know in which file a given man page is located?

Code:

:~# dpkg -L samba | grep man
/usr/share/man
/usr/share/man/man1
/usr/share/man/man1/log2pcap.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/mvxattr.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/oLschema2ldif.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/profiles.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/sharesec.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/smbcontrol.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/smbstatus.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man8
/usr/share/man/man8/eventlogadm.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/nmbd.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/pdbedit.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/samba-bgqd.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/samba-gpupdate.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/samba.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/samba_downgrade_db.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/smbd.8.gz

--
Edit: Almost there

Code:

"man smb.conf" says "SMB.CONF(5)"
ll /usr/share/man/man5
→ smb.conf.5.gz
 
cd ~/man-to-md-master
cp /usr/share/man/man5/smb.conf.5.gz .
gunzip smb.conf.5.gz
./man-to-md.pl < smb.conf.5 > smb.conf.epub
first line does not contain '.TH' macro at ./man-to-md.pl line 660, <> line 1.

--
Edit:

Code:

:~# apt-get install groff
(120MB worth of it)

:~# zcat /usr/share/man/man5/smb.conf.5.gz | groff -mandoc -Thtml > smb.conf.html
troff: stdin:5521: warning [p 64, 1.7i]: can't break line
troff: stdin:5639: warning [p 65, 1.5i]: can't break line
troff: stdin:5521: warning [p 1, 739.2i]: can't break line
troff: stdin:5639: warning [p 1, 750.5i]: can't break line

"c:\Program Files\Calibre2\ebook-convert.exe" smb.conf.html smb.conf.epub --authors "Samba" --title "smb.conf"

For some reason, Calibre increase the font size halfway through and it only increases till the end (see attachment).

--
Edit:

Code:

pandoc.exe --metadata author="Samba" --metadata title="smb.conf" -f html -t epub -o "smb.conf.epub" "smb.conf.html"

Perfect! Thanks all.

j.p.s · 10-29-2024, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shohreh

Thanks for the infos.

What's the correct way to use that Perl script?

Code:

:~/man-to-md-master# ./man-to-md.pl < smb.conf > smb.conf.md
-bash: smb.conf: No such file or directory

The command is to read smb.conf and write to smb.conf.md

Presumably the former is the file to be converted and the latter is the conversion to markdown result. If "smb.conf" is not in the current working directory, the full or relative path must be supplied.

Shohreh · 10-29-2024, 04:52 PM

Yes, but it doesn't explain the error in that Perl script:

Code:

:~/man-to-md-master# ./man-to-md.pl < smb.conf.5 > smb.conf.md
first line does not contain '.TH' macro at ./man-to-md.pl line 660, <> line 1.

--
Edit: Here's how to 1) grab a man page, 2) unzip it, 3) turn it into EPUB:

Code:

cp /usr/share/man/man5/smb.conf.5.gz .
gunzip smb.conf.5.gz
pandoc -f man -t epub -o smb.conf.epub  smb.conf.5

Thank you all.

Kurler · 12-04-2024, 09:54 PM

I recommend using the program “mandoc” (https://mandoc.bsd.lv/) to convert a manpage from source to HTML. It was designed from the start specifically as a manpage-to-HTML converter, so it does a better job of realizing semantics from the manpage, resulting in better quality HTML than pandoc or groff. (Whereas if your target format is PDF, groff would be the best tool to use, even though mandoc has basic PDF support.) In fact mandoc is good enough that it’s installed on macOS out of the box. Once it’s been converted to HTML, you can convert that to EPUB with any of the tools that can handle that.

PeterT · 12-04-2024, 11:13 PM

Interesting. I tried and it seems to work quite well.

A simple

Code:

gunzip -c /usr/share/man/man1/tar.1.gz | mandoc -man -T html > /mnt/chromeos/MyFiles/Downloads/tar.html

followed by adding the resulting html file to calibre and converting to epub results in the attached file.

ratinox · 12-05-2024, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurler

I recommend using the program “mandoc” (https://mandoc.bsd.lv/) to convert a manpage from source to HTML.

groff uses mandoc underneath with the eponymous '-mandoc' switch. Previously:

Quote:

zcat /usr/share/man/man1/groff.1.gz | groff -mandoc -Thtml > groff.html

10-20-2024, 02:13 PM	#1
Shohreh Addict Posts: 206 Karma: 304158 Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: France Device: none	*[SOLVED] [nix] Convert man pages to EPUB?** Hello, To read long man pages on an e-reader, what application would you recommend to convert those to an epub file? I tried pandoc to convert an HTML page into EPUB. It's OK, but I was wondering if there's no better solution. Thank you. Last edited by Shohreh; 10-29-2024 at 05:16 PM.

10-29-2024, 04:52 PM	#12
Shohreh Addict Posts: 206 Karma: 304158 Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: France Device: none	Yes, but it doesn't explain the error in that Perl script: Code: :~/man-to-md-master# ./man-to-md.pl < smb.conf.5 > smb.conf.md first line does not contain '.TH' macro at ./man-to-md.pl line 660, <> line 1. -- Edit: Here's how to 1) grab a man page, 2) unzip it, 3) turn it into EPUB: Code: cp /usr/share/man/man5/smb.conf.5.gz . gunzip smb.conf.5.gz pandoc -f man -t epub -o smb.conf.epub smb.conf.5 Thank you all. Last edited by Shohreh; 10-29-2024 at 05:13 PM.

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10-20-2024, 05:14 PM	#2
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,346 Karma: 20171571 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	I'm not sure exactly what your question is?? An ePub is made up of HTML files (plus any css stylesheets, image files, font files, etc.) so there shouldn't be any "conversion" required. I would just use Sigil and "Add existing files" and select the files you want to include. Sigil should take care of all the nitnoid details except making sure that you are using proper xhtml rules (closing all your tags, etc.).

10-20-2024, 06:09 PM	#5
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 45,928 Karma: 168959602 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Not only that but quite a few web pages are so grunged up that Sigil will not import them. That's where I stuff the pages into calibre, convert to ePub and then edit the crap out of the ePub.

10-29-2024, 07:54 AM	#9
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,471 Karma: 78880114 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	csan was a typo... it's actually CAN. I copied the man page from (on my system) /usr/share/man/man1/tar.1.gz to my working directory and gunzip'ed it to get tar.1 Then ran ./man-to-md.pl < tar.1 > tar.epub

12-04-2024, 09:54 PM	#13
Kurler Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2024 Device: none	I recommend using the program “mandoc” (https://mandoc.bsd.lv/) to convert a manpage from source to HTML. It was designed from the start specifically as a manpage-to-HTML converter, so it does a better job of realizing semantics from the manpage, resulting in better quality HTML than pandoc or groff. (Whereas if your target format is PDF, groff would be the best tool to use, even though mandoc has basic PDF support.) In fact mandoc is good enough that it’s installed on macOS out of the box. Once it’s been converted to HTML, you can convert that to EPUB with any of the tools that can handle that.

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