Auto-add weirdness

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Aaargh! No thanks! Then I'd have to re-insert the change and rebuild every time a new version comes out...

Spoken like someone who has never actually used a revision control system.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I don't where you got that idea, volume compression is a function of the file system. Folder/file compression is sometimes done by the operating system but more often by regular application programs.

My on-site backup disks are compressed volumes, on them I have zip, rar, 7z, sfx, iso, tar.gz, cbr, cbz, docx, epub etc etc. All of which I can uncompress with WinRAR (or Peazip or 7zip), to the same or another compressed volume or a regular non-compressed volume. And if I was minded I could install some plugins into my file manager and get it to do them.

BR

I would've had the same reaction as Phssthpok.
Isn't the Send To menu a feature of Windows Explorer, which means you need to be able to view the file with Windows Explorer?
And Windows Explorer itself only handles ZIPfiles.

The usual caveats apply, i.e. I am probably wrong since I haven't even touched Windows in a while.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I don't where you got that idea, volume compression is a function of the file system. Folder/file compression is sometimes done by the operating system but more often by regular application programs.

My on-site backup disks are compressed volumes, on them I have zip, rar, 7z, sfx, iso, tar.gz, cbr, cbz, docx, epub etc etc. All of which I can uncompress with WinRAR (or Peazip or 7zip), to the same or another compressed volume or a regular non-compressed volume. And if I was minded I could install some plugins into my file manager and get it to do them.

BR

OK, sorry, I was thinking of the way Windows uses a plugin to treat zipfiles as folders in Explorer (which is always one of the first things I disable!). In which case I could just browse inside the folders with Explorer and right-click and send-to and so on. I hadn't come across any plugins to do this for rar, 7z and suchlike though...

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Spoken like someone who has never actually used a revision control system.

Nah, spoken like someone who uses Subversion and can't be bothered moving to git...

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Like I said its way more complicated than it needs to be and you are messing with an already fragile process. But sure, in theory you could do it in a plugin. There is no hard boundary between core calibre code and plugins, so you can do pretty much anything in a plugin.

OK, so I've now asked for some advice in the Plugins forum. Thanks.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

OK, sorry, I was thinking of the way Windows uses a plugin to treat zipfiles as folders in Explorer (which is always one of the first things I disable!). In which case I could just browse inside the folders with Explorer and right-click and send-to and so on. I hadn't come across any plugins to do this for rar, 7z and suchlike though...

It's true that there are no off the shelf plugins for Windows/File Explorer in the MS or iTunes stores,

But other file managers such as Total Commander, Directory Opus and xplorer2 do support plugins - in fact xplorer2, which is what I use, supports most of the TC PIs, of which there are hundreds.

And I just remembered. . . the xplorer2 developer, Nikos Bozinis, has a free shell extension that allows you to drill down into most archive types from Windows/File Explorer, just like you can with a zip (if you allow it), see ==>> Browse 7z/RAR/ARJ/GZIP and other compressed archives as folders - I don't use it myself, because using a separate program to open RARs, ISOs etc has never bothered me.

Aside - just because you can't do something with out-of-the-box Windows doesn't mean it cannot be done. Indeed, it has probably already been done - the trick is to find out where and by whom

BR

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Nah, spoken like someone who uses Subversion and can't be bothered moving to git...

I am fairly positive subversion has the concept of merging as well.

Now if you are so used to ancient VCS's that you protest it is impossible to maintain local commits, I would understand where you are coming from, but you are still wrong.

If you are so used to ancient VCS's with substandard tools for managing merge conflicts, duplicate merges, no rebase support, etc. that you think it would be too awkward and you'd rather maintain a series of *.patch'es, and don't plan on doing that either, then I don't have much sympathy, sorry.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I would've had the same reaction as Phssthpok.
Isn't the Send To menu a feature of Windows Explorer, which means you need to be able to view the file with Windows Explorer?
And Windows Explorer itself only handles ZIPfiles.

The usual caveats apply, i.e. I am probably wrong since I haven't even touched Windows in a while.

Send to menu is mainly a shortcut: Copy to target X

You may be thinking about the: Open With x menu

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I am fairly positive subversion has the concept of merging as well.

Now if you are so used to ancient VCS's that you protest it is impossible to maintain local commits, I would understand where you are coming from, but you are still wrong.

If you are so used to ancient VCS's with substandard tools for managing merge conflicts, duplicate merges, no rebase support, etc. that you think it would be too awkward and you'd rather maintain a series of *.patch'es, and don't plan on doing that either, then I don't have much sympathy, sorry.

I started with SCCS some decades ago, so that might have something to do with it. But it's a bit hard to use Subversion with a git repository, so I'd have to install yet another damned tool, and frankly I can't be bothered.

Besides, plugin development sounds more fun.

[eschwartz]

Well, then, it has nothing to do with:

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

Aaargh! No thanks! Then I'd have to re-insert the change and rebuild every time a new version comes out...

And everything to do with:

Aaargh! No thanks! Then I'd have to... download another SCCS tool and learn how to use git in order to get the source code.

But hey, if a plugin sounds like more fun, go right ahead.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

And everything to do with:

Aaargh! No thanks! Then I'd have to... download another SCCS tool and learn how to use git in order to get the source code.

But hey, if a plugin sounds like more fun, go right ahead.

No, it's more to do with: install git, and then every time a new version of Calibre comes out, do a checkout/merge/build/install rather than just download & run the latest installer. Who has time for all this shit? With a plugin, once it's done, it's done.

BTW: I also still use Perl for most of my scripting needs. How old-fashioned can a guy get?

[eschwartz]

There is no need to rebuild calibre on each release.

I run from a source install, and all I do is `git pull --rebase` and calibre is updated.

Occasionally, whenever there are changes to the C++ code (uncommon), I do `git pull --rebase && python2 setup.py build`, which finishes pretty fast (faster than the time it takes to download an installer, certainly). So I have to rebuild then. Of course, "rebuild" is not strictly accurate, since since only updated code needs to be rebuilt, not the entire codebase.
But I am on linux, which is the only platform where calibre supports source installs.

You can of course use the pre-built releases, in which case you must download & run the latest installer, but your source checkout will override the python code only.



Really, it can all be scripted.
So even if it was necessary to rebuild calibre (which it isn't) it still wouldn't take any of your time.

Note: I am not saying anything about the relative viability or fun of using a plugin.
I am merely saying that running calibre from a customized source is much easier than you imply.

re: perl -- I haven't heard that perl is old-fashioned. It seems to be quite popular and active.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

But I am on linux, which is the only platform where calibre supports source installs.

And I'm not, for my sins. And in addition, getting the equivalent of a Unix toolchain working on Windows usually requires sacrificing more chickens than you can count. So thanks, but no thanks.

[kovidgoyal]

Just to clear up any misconceptions, running calibre from source on *any* platform requires only setting a single environment variable. No build, no install, no toolchains.

http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/develop.html

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Phssthpok

And I'm not, for my sins. And in addition, getting the equivalent of a Unix toolchain working on Windows usually requires sacrificing more chickens than you can count. So thanks, but no thanks.

You just totally ignored everything I said, didn't you.