Calibre Sync broken by Calibre v9?

[jtmart]

Originally Posted by mitra1

Many times i donated money to Kovid Goyal, but i never understood why there isn't an android version or an api that third party developers can use. Android is the most used operating system more than windows so i think it's reasonable that many people would want access to their library directly on smartphone or tablet/chromebook.

It was a conscious decision by him: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...96&postcount=5

I feel like giving credit to ideology here; I believe it can motivate people to contribute chunks of their lives to free/open-source software and other laudable causes, like Calibre. But in this case, it is also ideology (i.e. rejecting "third party control") that prevents a port to Android by Kovid Goyal...

...others can do it, like @BetterRed points out, but despite monetization incentives they don't have the (ideological?) motivation to do so for a sustained period of time, hence the current impasse.

[mitra1]

Originally Posted by jtmart

It was a conscious decision by him: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...96&postcount=5

I feel like giving credit to ideology here; I believe it can motivate people to contribute chunks of their lives to free/open-source software and other laudable causes, like Calibre. But in this case, it is also ideology (i.e. rejecting "third party control") that prevents a port to Android by Kovid Goyal...

...others can do it, like @BetterRed points out, but despite monetization incentives they don't have the (ideological?) motivation to do so for a sustained period of time, hence the current impasse.

Now i understand, thank you for remark the ideas of kovid goyal, next month maybe i go to another donation.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mitra1

Many times i donated money to Kovid Goyal, but i never understood why there isn't an android version or an api that third party developers can use. Android is the most used operating system more than windows so i think it's reasonable that many people would want access to their library directly on smartphone or tablet/chromebook.

This won't work.

https://docs.python.org/3/using/android.html

6. Using Python on Android

Python on Android is unlike Python on desktop platforms. On a desktop platform, Python is generally installed as a system resource that can be used by any user of that computer. Users then interact with Python by running a python executable and entering commands at an interactive prompt, or by running a Python script.

On Android, there is no concept of installing as a system resource. The only unit of software distribution is an “app”. There is also no console where you could run a python executable, or interact with a Python REPL.

As a result, the only way you can use Python on Android is in embedded mode – that is, by writing a native Android application, embedding a Python interpreter using libpython, and invoking Python code using the Python embedding API. The full Python interpreter, the standard library, and all your Python code is then packaged into your app for its own private use.

The Python standard library has some notable omissions and restrictions on Android. See the API availability guide for details.

[slm]

I have posted a request for beta tester here for a rough-but-it-works web page for accessing Calibre files on Dropbox.

It was prompted by this thread.

[JimmXinu]

FYI, in Cal 9.4 Create catalog uses Calibre's template language now. That allows for custom columns and Calibre's template functions.

I wanted that because:

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

I'll be honest, I'm only looking at catalog as a crude possible replacement for Calibre Sync. (Look up story in catalog, note author & title, manually find in library dir.)

This idea is more feasible than I initially thought, because I can also put the author/title path in the catalog with:

<p>
/{title:'formats_path_segments(1, 1, 0, 0, '/')'}
</p>

Example:

/AkumaKami64/Darth Vader_ Shattered Galaxy (11860)

Then I'm able to copy that path and using a file manager like Material Files that has a 'Go to' input feature, paste that author/title path after the library path and go there.

This is, admittedly, only useful if you're syncing your library to android local storage, like I do, with a tool like syncthing.

[AdrianJ]

That seems to work.
I have always copied books I want on my other devices into a separate Calibre library ( called cCloudLibraryM ) That way I can transfer easily between that and the main Calibre library. So I just modified the metadata.db file in that folder. Then copying new books into it from the main Calibre library does not overwrite those new fields in the db. And then even when you upgrade Calibre to a new version, those extra fields are not touched.
Seems to work perfectly.
Congratulations !

[ron_harvey]

Hello!

Has anyone tried this out to verify the fix is in?

I just noticed that Calibre Sync has been updated on Google Play with supposedly the Calibre 9.x+ fix applied:

[JimmXinu]

Calibre Sync isn't failing on Cal9 libraries now.

But for me, using Internal Storage libraries it:

• Doesn't load covers except when adding a new library.
• Doesn't see updates to my libraries. Not adding, removing or changing books.

I hope the dev is listening, because honestly the update is less usable for me than the prior version.

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

Calibre Sync isn't failing on Cal9 libraries now.

But for me, using Internal Storage libraries it:

• Doesn't load covers except when adding a new library.
• Doesn't see updates to my libraries. Not adding, removing or changing books.

I hope the dev is listening, because honestly the update is less usable for me than the prior version.

Noticed a month or so back that a lot of my downloaded books had lost their covers. Not sure why. There's an option to "Redownload cover", but it doesn't work. With this update, it's still broken. Also tried "Skip covers on device" when re-syncing, but no joy there either.

At least with this update, I can download newly added books from the cloud now, and it's showing the latest additions to my library, along with the covers. It's very slow to sync (compared to Calibre Companion) but that's an issue that pre-dates this latest version.

[PeterT]

Wow. Another Android update..

6.7.2

Improve loading cover images of libraries from local storage.

[JimmXinu]

That's very promising, I do see covers update.

OTOH, I don't see any other metadata update in my Calibre Sync Internal Storage libraries. Including adding or removing books or changing title, custom columns, etc.

Including for books where I do see the cover update.

[Josieb1]

Calibre sync is no longer working on Apple devices.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Calibre sync is no longer working on Apple devices.

What versioin are you using?

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by PeterT

What versioin are you using?

I’m using version 6.7.0 b272

I’ve just checked and it’s working fine on my iPad mini and my iPhone, just not my iPad Pro. I’ve uninstalled the app and will reinstall and see what happens.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I’m using version 6.7.0 b272

I’ve just checked and it’s working fine on my iPad mini and my iPhone, just not my iPad Pro. I’ve uninstalled the app and will reinstall and see what happens.

What iPadOS is your iPad Pro running?

I've sees older iPad's not run some apps that say they work on the iOS that the iPad is running.