Automatically Keep Calibre Updated?

[GeekDrop]

I am running Calibre (the server) on a server machine that is offsite, and I'm wondering if there's a way to have Calibre automatically keep itself (and all it's plugins) auto-updated, so that I don't have to keep manually updating it myself?

[Angel Crawford]

Hey ho =)
Do you use a Windows or Linux Machine?
For Windows I am aware of two possibilities.
1. A Batch file or
2. A Windows package Manager, which works with Calibre (https://chocolatey.org/)

If you want the Batch File, I could give you an Tutorial =)

But: I would not recommend it!
I had once the Problem, that a new Calibre Version wasn't working properly for my Machine. Which ended in a really nasty Bug and a corrupted Library.
It was an aweful waste of time, to get my old stand back. >.<

[gbm]

Originally Posted by GeekDrop

I am running Calibre (the server) on a server machine that is offsite, and I'm wondering if there's a way to have Calibre automatically keep itself (and all it's plugins) auto-updated, so that I don't have to keep manually updating it myself?

Please see:

Sticky Fully automatic calibre installer/updater for linux

Sticky Fully automatic Calibre autoupate solution (Windows)

Use at your own risk.
bernie

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by gbm

Please see:

Sticky Fully automatic calibre installer/updater for linux

Sticky Fully automatic Calibre autoupate solution (Windows)

Use at your own risk.
bernie

But, AFAIK they won't update plugins.

FWIW: You can get an RSS msg when a Kovid posts a new version summary to the What's New page. The link is at bottom of calibre's home page ==>> https://calibre-ebook.com/

- an RSS msg when the Plugin Updater finds a new or updated plugin from the MR Plugins sub-forum. It would provide the means by which users could be informed of new plugins - which doesn't currently exist.

BR

[kovidgoyal]

It's on my TODO list to add new plugin notifications to calibre as part of the normal new calibre version available popup.

[theducks]

How many 3rd party plugins work with SERVER?

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by gbm

Please see:
Sticky Fully automatic Calibre autoupate solution (Windows)

About the Windows version... the code shown in this thread is slightly wrong. This worked for me:

@echo off

calibre-debug.exe -c "import urllib as u; from calibre.constants import numeric_version; raise SystemExit(int(numeric_version  < (tuple(map(int, u.urlopen('http://code.calibre-ebook.com/latest').read().split('.'))))))"

if %ERRORLEVEL%==0 (
echo calibre is up to date.
)	else (
calibre.exe --shutdown-running-calibre
msiexec /passive /i http://status.calibre-ebook.com/dist/win64
)

calibre-server [options]

• The '/passive' option allows the program to be installed without user interaction. Without it, the installation process would get stuck, waiting for the user to confirm.
  
• The 'calibre-server' command at the bottom will restart the calibre server. This is only necessary in this particular case, where it is running a server.
  
• Also, while creating the task, remember to select "Run with highest privileges". This will skip the user confirmation on UAC screen.

But, as @BetterRed pointed out, this will not update the plugins.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It's on my TODO list to add new plugin notifications to calibre as part of the normal new calibre version available popup.

Originally Posted by theducks

How many 3rd party plugins work with SERVER?

I recall Kovid mentioning server-side plugins when V3 was first released, I can't recall the context - possibly to do with non-browser based thin clients accessing a common server.

And, AFAIK the automation tool links bernie posted are not server specific tools, they also work on the desktop.

BR

[GeekDrop]

Thank you all for the helpful replies, it's very much appreciated!

[GeekDrop]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It's on my TODO list to add new plugin notifications to calibre as part of the normal new calibre version available popup.

How about baking in auto-updating as an option as well? Save us from conjuring up our own methods?

[GeekDrop]

Originally Posted by theducks

How many 3rd party plugins work with SERVER?

Good point, I hadn't really thought of that when I posted. I normally use Calibre on my non-server machine, with all the plugins, so I just threw that in there as well, during my post.

[gbm]

Originally Posted by GeekDrop

Good point, I hadn't really thought of that when I posted. I normally use Calibre on my non-server machine, with all the plugins, so I just threw that in there as well, during my post.

What distro are you using? You might want to look into Flatpak. Lunix Mint 19 comes with Flatpak preinstalled.

calibre on flatpak

bernie

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by GeekDrop

How about baking in auto-updating as an option as well? Save us from conjuring up our own methods?

Very few people need to download every new version, and there is a new version every couple of weeks. Calibre has ~3,000,000 active users, with ~25 releases per annum, at ~70MB each that is 5.25 billion Megabytes.

And who would pay for the network bandwidth at the server end? Kovid Goyal.

I'll leave you to calculate the cost he would have to bear.

BR

[GeekDrop]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Very few people need to download every new version, and there is a new version every couple of weeks. Calibre has ~3,000,000 active users, with ~25 releases per annum, at ~70MB each that is 5.25 billion Megabytes.

And who would pay for the network bandwidth at the server end? Kovid Goyal.

I'll leave you to calculate the cost he would have to bear.

BR

So, set it's default to "Off".

[GeekDrop]

Originally Posted by gbm

What distro are you using? You might want to look into Flatpak. Lunix Mint 19 comes with Flatpak preinstalled.

calibre on flatpak

bernie

Thanks Bernie,

I'm running it on a basic win 10 x64 server.