Changing the Calibre File Structure

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

dwanthny, you got me thinking with the plugin thingy. What can calibre do with command line ? Can you add a book in library with command line ? or delete one ?

I believe the answer is yes to both queries. Check out the CLI section of the manual and how to setup up a calibre development environment for more info.

Originally Posted by Manichean

I don't understand what your intention is and why you insist on trying to use Calibre, although you've said in quite a few threads in addition to this one that it doesn't do what you want it to do.

Calibre is changing and as it changes the way one might use it also changes. When this thread started the GUI plugin ability didn't exist. Personally I would love to see what GUI plugins he might create.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

...Calibre is changing and as it changes the way one might use it also changes. When this thread started the GUI plugin ability didn't exist. Personally I would love to see what GUI plugins he might create.

Don't hold your breath. So far, this clown has been all talk and no action.

[EowynCarter]

I don't understand what your intention is and why you insist on trying to use Calibre, although you've said in quite a few threads in addition to this one that it doesn't do what you want it to do.

Yes, there are some things I would like calibre to do, it don't do. But, it also does quite a few things things i could use.It's frustrating to have a program so close to be what you need, and fail because of one tiny detail.
Because until now, I didn't though about gui plugin, or calibre's command line, and these might do the trick. With less dev time involved than "do it all again from scratch"

because you keep whining and nagging (I'm sorry, but that's just what it is)

Oh, sure, trying to figure out how to make some use of calibre is whining and nagging .

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Oh my bad, I forgot rule number one here :
Calibre is perfect, there is noting to change there. Saying anything wrong about calibre is trolling.

Seriously, is it THAT hard to understand that some people don't have the same need as yours ? That other people can think in a different way than you ?
And don't bother answering, you are now the my ignore list.

dwanthny, you got me thinking with the plugin thingy. What can calibre do with command line ? Can you add a book in library with command line ? or delete one ?
Would calibre be able, with a plugin , to call on external command line program ?

I, nor anyone else ever said calibre was perfect. If it was and there was nothing to change, then why the weekly upgrades?

Also, no one ever said that people who say something is wrong with calibre is trolling. I and many others have pointed out bugs and have made feature requests (which may or may not be granted). You, on the other hand, come to forum, loudly complaining how calibre is a piece of junk because you are too nearsighted to see how much better calibre's system of organizing books is than the old folder/filename tree. Then, after proclaiming you cannot use calibre and are going to write your own program, you keep coming back, carping about what a mess calibre is because it won't use your file filing system. If it's so bad, why do you keep using it?

Frankly, you are a little child crying that you can't have your way. Please do us a favor and either put up (your own program) or shut up.

Btw, I'm sure you will see this since I doubt you blocked me. You are too interested in seeing what you stirred up. That (and your constant carping and beating of a dead horse) is the definition of a troll.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

...Oh, sure, trying to figure out how to make some use of calibre is whining and nagging .

The way you do it? Yes, it is. Please grow up.

[EowynCarter]

That's kind of a headache.
Pushing the last version of a book to calibre is quite easy.
But, making sure the "external" files , and calibre's one, are synced... Ouch ! Well, worses than "sync", because calibre will have only the latest file, and the external folders would have the whole history.
Unless I go for the "don't make any any changes to file with calibre", and just use it for sync to device.

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Seriously, is it THAT hard to understand that some people don't have the same need as yours ? That other people can think in a different way than you ?

Seriously, is it THAT hard to understand that some people find calibre to be a very useful and well-written program?

You seem to have a problem there. You're not content to accept that calibre isn't right for you; you have to keep coming into these threads and telling calibre users how stupid we are for using a program that only does what we need it to do, not what you need it to do.

Fine, you don't like calibre and you don't use it. We get that. A lot of us don't like certain software, but we don't go over to its forums and tell its satisfied users that. We don't tell people how stupid they are for not agreeing with us. And there are a lot of people, I think, who would really appreciate it if you would let us poor deluded fools enjoy our delusions in peace.

[Maggie-Me]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The simple version:

You can't. Not yours.

The detailed version:

You are probably accustomed to storing your metadata in your computer's filesystem. That is, you are using the names of the folders to keep track of information about your books. That's how we all started. Calibre is why we stopped.

For example, you might have a folder called /ebooks, and under that you have /ebooks/nonfiction, /ebooks/fiction, etc. One of those, in turn, might have /ebooks/fiction/fantasy, and under that /ebooks/fiction/fantasy/lackey. The name of the folder gives you the type, genre, and author. So far, so good ... if you want all your Mercedes Lackey fantasy novels, you can find them right there. And you've probably got a folder called /ebooks/fiction/fantasy/flint where Eric Flint's books are stored.

But where do you put Shadow of the Lion? Under /lackey, /flint, or /freer? How about a book that has both fantasy and SF short stories? Where does a SF mystery, a historical fantasy, or a near-future thriller go? And that's just fiction. Non-fiction gets even hairier. Filesystems are actually a pretty crappy way to store metadata.

That's where calibre comes in. Calibre stores metadata as metadata, as much of it as you want. You can tag Shadow of the Lion as fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and to-be-read, if you like, and it will come up in the list when you select any or all of those. It can be listed simultaneously under Lackey, Flint, and Freer. You can also note that you got it from Baen. And none of this has anything to do with the filesystem.

Calibre organizes books. Calibre is not a file organization program. Calibre is a book organization program. It's more than just the card catalog to your library -- it's the librarian who goes back to the stacks and brings you the book you're looking for.

The reason calibre copies all those ebooks over into its own set of folders is so that it can have exclusive access to them, and so it can know exactly what they are, where they are, and what they're named. Think of it as a black box, one with a big warning label stating "NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE!" Or maybe a storage room with a locked door with a sign on it saying "PRIVATE - Calibre Only".

You don't need to find those files with your computer's file manager. Calibre is there to do that for you -- or, rather, calibre is there to find your books for you. It will display your books, put them on your ebook reader, whatever you need, without you having to care about the actual computer files, only the books. If you actually do need one or more files -- perhaps you want to pack up all of the Harvard Classics to give to a friend -- calibre can collect them from its black box and put them wherever you want them -- and in whatever format you need to have them in.

The transition can be a bit hard. You're used to thinking of your ebooks as files and your filesystem as their metadata. Using calibre means thinking of them as books, abstracted from their computer representation, and with much more comprehensive metadata. It's a different way of looking at them, yes. But once you've made the jump, you won't want to go back.

You see, I started out the same way you did. I had all my neat hierarchical folders, my metadata in the filesystem, and I liked it that way. Then I found calibre. It took me a while to get my head around the whole idea of dealing with books instead of files, but once I did, I've never gone back. And now I'm explaining it to people who are where I was a few months ago. Give calibre a try, and you may end up doing the same!

Great explanation... should be a sticky

[user_none]

Originally Posted by Maggie-Me

Great explanation... should be a sticky

It is... Want to change the folder structure of the Calibre library?

[boodbye]

goodbye calibre. the attitude of people like worldwalker makes me not want to be a part of this community.

Ive got some bad news for you worldwalker. Some people like to do things in a way that suits them. Its fine that you don't have the ability to see things from anything other than your perspective, but if enough people have the same issue with the software then maybe you should rethink your stance.

I personally like to have my books in pdf format all in one folder. Then I can see then just by accessing them in explorer and view the thumbnails. Sure I can do that in calibre, but I like to lend my books or show them on other machines. Not everyone I know has calibre. My wife only likes to use explorer. If my books are stored in AUTHOR ONLY FOLDERS thats fine for you, but I have a lot of technical books, magazines, tutorial books that I only know by Title. Therefore when I access my machine from work, or let someone into my folders... its a PAIN IN THE ASS to sift through the folders to find a book ABOUT 3d max modeling, or unity game development.

"so duplicate the folders". A lot of my books and magazines have DVD files attached to them. In all I have over 200 gig of books. So no... I dont want to duplicate everything.

So thanks to the narrow vision of the creators, and the complete arrogance of users like you, I'll switch to something that's more usable for me. I get better use sorting my books with itunes.

goodbye.

[kiwidude]

@boodbye - the only arrogance here is that of your own post. No-one has ever said Calibre is the perfect solution for every user in the world. Just like any piece of software ever written, there are users who it's requirements meet, and there are other users that it doesn't. That you choose to be a complete tosser and make attacks at developers and other users of the software just because it doesn't meet your personal needs is just unforgivable stupidity on your part. Do you abuse the developers of every software application that you try to install but doesn't tick all the right boxes for you?

You will not be missed.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by boodbye

goodbye calibre. the attitude of people like worldwalker makes me not want to be a part of this community.

Why use your first post to say goodbye?

Originally Posted by boodbye

So thanks to the narrow vision of the creators, and the complete arrogance of users like you, I'll switch to something that's more usable for me. I get better use sorting my books with itunes.

The only one with "narrow vision" is you. Your ignorance of the incredible flexibility of this software and its ability to let each user manage their library in any of a 1000 ways is apparent.

You made a good decision to leave, now go away you arrogant troll.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by boodbye

goodbye calibre. the attitude of people like worldwalker makes me not want to be a part of this community.

Ive got some bad news for you worldwalker. Some people like to do things in a way that suits them. Its fine that you don't have the ability to see things from anything other than your perspective, but if enough people have the same issue with the software then maybe you should rethink your stance.

I personally like to have my books in pdf format all in one folder. Then I can see then just by accessing them in explorer and view the thumbnails. Sure I can do that in calibre, but I like to lend my books or show them on other machines. Not everyone I know has calibre. My wife only likes to use explorer. If my books are stored in AUTHOR ONLY FOLDERS thats fine for you, but I have a lot of technical books, magazines, tutorial books that I only know by Title. Therefore when I access my machine from work, or let someone into my folders... its a PAIN IN THE ASS to sift through the folders to find a book ABOUT 3d max modeling, or unity game development.

"so duplicate the folders". A lot of my books and magazines have DVD files attached to them. In all I have over 200 gig of books. So no... I dont want to duplicate everything.

So thanks to the narrow vision of the creators, and the complete arrogance of users like you, I'll switch to something that's more usable for me. I get better use sorting my books with itunes.

goodbye.

Wow!
Buggy Whips are still being used.

Before Calibre, I did not get Tags (or other Meta-data).
Then someone pointed me to the TAG BROWSER.

Gee. I can file things under many categories, but only have one copy of the filed item. Remember thos 'Card Catalogs' the took up space in the central area of a Public (and some private) Libraries?

Each of the cards were Tags
Books were filed in a Single place (thank Dewey )
So tell your wife to keep buying Neets foot oil and keep that Buggy Whip well cared for

[ysbelman]

The analogy for separating physical file storage and metadata is iTunes. There, you can have all of your mp3's dumped into an arbitrary file structure. iTunes will maintain a database of all the songs, playlists, id3 metadata, scoring and file paths to originals. The advantage is performance, when you are dealing with thousands of entries, large scale modifications of any kind can be much more robust. Calibre will not need to make file moves, or frag the disk space.
For offsite and cloud backup services, it is best not to touch the files too much. One directory rename could end up with your entire library retransmitted over the wire.

Overall, calibre is a very good tool. It has a pretty good support for various formats and devices. I used it with iPhone, iPad and kindle. Once a Book is properly identified (name and title) it is easy to locate and throw onto a device.

As paper book sales giving way to electronic brethren, our libraries will start to grow. The necessity for reliable and non-distractive book management is wanted.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by ysbelman

The analogy for separating physical file storage and metadata is iTunes. There, you can have all of your mp3's dumped into an arbitrary file structure. iTunes will maintain a database of all the songs, playlists, id3 metadata, scoring and file paths to originals.

This is exactly how calibre works. It is a conscious design decision not to allow arbitrary locations and put everything (including books) within the calibre library folder.