Instructions for patching firmware 4.3.8966

[the_Pan]

@GeoffR -

I only use kepub's so don't know what would happen with epub's.
And because I don't want to "force" my reader to something, I don't use any of those "forcing" patches.
as wrote above, I meant the "my 10/24 line spacing value" patches at the beginning of the libnickel.so.
I will test it tomorrow with another kepub-book first and report here. (also will have a look then wich patches are enabled, but now i'm away from my pc)

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by the_Pan

I only use kepub's so don't know what would happen with epub's.
And because I don't want to "force" my reader to something, I don't use any of those "forcing" patches.
as wrote above, I meant the "my 10/24 line spacing value" patches at the beginning of the libnickel.so.
I will test it tomorrow with another kepub-book first and report here. (also will have a look then wich patches are enabled, but now i'm away from my pc)

OK, the problem could be with the book. There are some things the publisher can do to prevent the line spacing being changed, the main problem in KePubs is where the publisher uses <div> instead of <p> for paragraphs. For those books if you don't use the `Force user line spacing in KePubs` patch then you will need to edit the book to fix it.

[the_Pan]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

OK, the problem could be with the book. There are some things the publisher can do to prevent the line spacing being changed, the main problem in KePubs is where the publisher uses <div> instead of <p> for paragraphs. For those books if you don't use the `Force user line spacing in KePubs` patch then you will need to edit the book to fix it.

You're right, it's actually the book which prevent changing the line spacing, but also with the `Force user line spacing in KePubs' patch enabled.
I tested the same book as epub and looked in some other kepub-books, everything works -as usual- very well with your patches.
So thanks for your efforts and your patches.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by the_Pan

You're right, it's actually the book which prevent changing the line spacing, but also with the `Force user line spacing in KePubs' patch enabled.

Yes, there are still a number of things the publisher can do to prevent the line spacing being changed in KePubs even with the `Force user line spacing in KePubs` patch is enabled. One is to wrap each paragraph in a <span> and set the line spacing on the span. Another is to use the <font> shorthand style.

This is a more forceful version of the `Force user line spacing in KePubs` patch that should work in more cases (but still not all cases), but it could also have more severe side effects than the original patch. I'll include this as an option in the future if anyone finds it useful.

Spoiler:

<Patch>
patch_name = `Force user line spacing in KePubs (more forceful version)`
patch_enable = `yes`
#
## This patch will allow the line spacing set by the slider to take effect
## in some problem KePub books with fixed linespacing (including ones where the
## publisher has used <div> instead of <p> for paragraphs, or wrapped each
## paragraph in a <span> and set the line-height on the span.) However it might
## also override some line spacing that would better be left fixed, e.g. it can
## cause problems with the spacing of paragraphs beginning with a raise-cap.
#
# body, p { line-height: %1 ... }  -->  body *  { line-height: %1 ... }
#
#strings -tx -el libnickel.so.1.0.0 | grep "body, p { line-height: %1"
base_address = 9A0174
#base_address = 9A6220
replace_string = 0000, `b\0o\0d\0y\0,\0 \0p\0 \0{\0`, `b\0o\0d\0y\0 \0*\0 \0 \0{\0`
</Patch>

As usual, for perfect results without any side effects you would need to edit the book instead.

[the_Pan]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

This is a more forceful version of the `Force user line spacing in KePubs` patch that should work in more cases (but still not all cases), but it could also have more severe side effects than the original patch. I'll include this as an option in the future if anyone finds it useful.

Yes, this one do it!
I'll test it over the week and report here if something unexpected happens.
Thank you again GeoffR

edit: When I try to edit the book with calibre, I have to look for a stylesheet file, right?

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by the_Pan

edit: When I try to edit the book with calibre, I have to look for a stylesheet file, right?

Yes, but keep in mind that some books have more than one stylesheet file. I don't know if the Calibre editor merges them all as I mainly use Sigil for this.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by dmapr

Yes, but keep in mind that some books have more than one stylesheet file. I don't know if the Calibre editor merges them all as I mainly use Sigil for this.

You have to merge them manually.

[JSWolf]

I merge stylesheets when there is multiple. I see no need for that. It just makes things more difficult.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I merge stylesheets when there is multiple. I see no need for that. It just makes things more difficult.

That works until you run into stylesheets with multiple styles using the same name which I've run into this a couple of times. One example was an ebook where the copyright.css, main.css, title.css and endpaper.css used the same names for their basic paragraph styles but the styles were rather different. So depending on how you merged them, you ended up with some rather strange results.

Personally, I agree there is little need in ebooks for multiple stylesheets but we have to remember than css stands for cascading style sheets.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by DNSB

That works until you run into stylesheets with multiple styles using the same name which I've run into this a couple of times. One example was an ebook where the copyright.css, main.css, title.css and endpaper.css used the same names for their basic paragraph styles but the styles were rather different. So depending on how you merged them, you ended up with some rather strange results.

This is why it's so difficult to write CSS fixer-upper plugins that cater to everyone. Risk vs. reward. Personally, I take the risk and auto-merge all stylesheets then deal with the fall-out on the rare occasions when it's necessary.

The only 100%-safe way I know to merge all stylesheets into one is to do a calibre conversion.

I just wish publishers of fiction put as much thought into styling the main story sensibly as they do the front- & backmatter.

[dmapr]

I never merge multiple stylesheets. It's easier for me to clean up the few styles in 2-3 places than to deal with the fallout.

I do occasionally merge multiple styles for the same selector within a single stylesheet.

[Terisa de morgan]

I always merge stylesheets (no preach about the bad of my actions, waste of your time and mine), because I like cleaner structure, in the same way I order the stylesheet, remove non used styles, try to unify when I can, remove all in-line styling, change div to p... my way of working.

[anacreon]

I read only kepubs, and usually choose the page number display by chapter, but recently I tried display by entire book. I missed the current chapter name, so redid the patches with

patch_name = `Always display chapter name on navigation menu`
patch_enable = `yes`

but it doesn't work (on my Aura One). I tried twice since I thought I might have made a mistake, but the result is the same: just the page number, on several books I tried.

Did anybody have a similar problem?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by anacreon

I read only kepubs, and usually choose the page number display by chapter, but recently I tried display by entire book. I missed the current chapter name, so redid the patches with

patch_name = `Always display chapter name on navigation menu`
patch_enable = `yes`

but it doesn't work (on my Aura One). I tried twice since I thought I might have made a mistake, but the result is the same: just the page number, on several books I tried.

Did anybody have a similar problem?

I think maybe you've just misunderstood what the patch does. When it's enabled and you have set 'Display progress for entire book', you can see the chapter name (for both epub and kepub) but only via the bottom menu <-> icon. The normal book pages just show Page x of y in the footer.

[ntson]

i can't run it on Mac OS 10.12. Pls help

MacBook-Air: patch_kobo_4038966 nts $ ./4.3.8966.sh
Extracting files to patch from 4.3.8966_source/kobo-update-4.3.8966.zip ...
caution: filename not matched: KoboRoot.tgz
tar: ./usr/local/Kobo/nickel: Not found in archive
tar: ./usr/local/Kobo/librmsdk.so.1.0.0: Not found in archive
tar: ./usr/local/Kobo/libnickel.so.1.0.0: Not found in archive
tar: ./usr/local/Kobo/libadobe.so: Not found in archive
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors.
Cleaning up /var/folders/8_/g2t56sds7qd4pncngkrs_tcr0000gn/T/patch32lsb_XXXXXXXX.WHBcIOvx