[GUI Plugin] KindleUnpack - The Plugin

[DiapDealer]

The main error seems to be that a file/folder name is not being found:

/Users/thomas/Desktop/unpack/MOBI-The Science Book_ Big Ideas Simply Explain - Dk.mobi

The 2nd error is in the error handling for the 1st error. I've fixed something similar in another KindleUnpack plugin function in the past. It should be easy enough to fix here, but unless I can replicate that "No such file or directory" error, I'll have trouble tracking the initial error down.

Have you tried using the standalone KindleUnpack to try and split that Kindle Previewer created mobi? The problem could be upstream in KindleUnpack proper rather than the plugin.

[DiapDealer]

Can you get me an example of a Kindle Previewer-built dual format Kindlebook that this plugin fails to split? Upload it somewhere and send me a link via PM if copyright is an issue.

[DiapDealer]

For what it's worth: I released a new version that fixes the error-handling bug. And until I can get a sample of KindlePreviewer-created content that won't split properly, I've allowed either portion of the split process to fail (with a warning) without terminating the plugin entirely.

If you're not having any trouble, there's no real reason to update.

[PoP]

Only to report:

Got the following

calibre, version 8.16.1
ERREUR : KindleUnpack - The Plugin v0.83.8: 2

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.kindleunpack_plugin.action", line 271, in unpack_ebook
File "calibre_plugins.kindleunpack_plugin.mobi_stuf f", line 126, in unpackMOBI
File "calibre_plugins.kindleunpack_plugin.kindleunpackc ore.kindleunpack", line 949, in unpackBook
File "calibre_plugins.kindleunpack_plugin.kindleunpackc ore.kindleunpack", line 870, in process_all_mobi_headers
File "calibre_plugins.kindleunpack_plugin.kindleunpackc ore.kindleunpack", line 647, in processMobi7
File "calibre_plugins.kindleunpack_plugin.kindleunpackc ore.mobi_dict", line 225, in getPositionMap
KeyError: 2

unpacking this (perfectly working) dictionary referred in this mobileread thread

By curiosity only, I wanted to inspect the inflections. Beyond the obvious, no need to spend too much time on debugging. Thanks.

[DiapDealer]

I think that error places the problem in the upstream standalone kindleunpack core files rather than the plugin. But I'll take a look.

[Hag_Sub]

Hey Pop if you don't mind can your forward me the midori's files for soft float

[PoP]

^ PMed a link

[DiapDealer]

Moderator Notice
A post has been deleted. If a tiny bit of thread drift doesn't bother me--the OP and the Editor--I would appreciate it if others refrained from attempting to moderate this thread without a license.

[gurcha]

Subject: Request: Add support for icon overrides / theming

Hi,

Could you please add support for Calibre's built‑in icon theming in a future update?

Currently your plugin uses a custom get_icon() function, which prevents users from overriding the toolbar icon with their own custom images or Calibre icon themes.

The fix is simple: replace the custom function with Calibre's native get_icons(). For example:

python
# Instead of a custom get_icon() function...
# Use Calibre's built-in function:
from calibre.customize.zipplugin import get_icons

icon = get_icons('icon.png', 'Your Plugin Name')
self.qaction.setIcon(icon)
This would allow users to place a custom icon.png in:
calibre/resources/images/Your Plugin Name/icon.png

And it would also make the plugin respect the user's active Calibre icon theme.

Thank you for considering this. I really appreciate your work on this plugin.

Thanks

[DiapDealer]

I don't have enough info to commit to doing this. Changes like this are very rarely "simple." When I created this plugin, there was no native calibre get_icons() function. Hence the custom wrapper to get_resources(). I work very hard to make sure this plugin maintains compatibility with ancient versions of calibre, so I'd need to make sure this change would not raise the minimum calibre version my plugin currently supports. If it doesn't, I will happily try to accommodate this change sometime in the future. But if it DOES change the minimum supported calibre version, I'm afraid I'm not willing to sacrifice support for those older calibre versions for a cosmetic-only change. Either way, it's probably not going to be priority for me.

[DiapDealer]

Also... just put your custom icon named explode3.png in "calibre/resources/images/KindleUnpack - The Plugin" and Calibre will use it just fine. No need for me to modify code and change my icon name for this functionality.

[gurcha]

Hi DiapDealer,

Thanks for the considered response — your concern about backwards compatibility is completely valid, and I want to address it directly.

I've put together a patch that adds light/dark theme-aware icon support while maintaining compatibility with Qt4, Qt5, and Qt6. The changes are confined to two files: utilities.py and action.py, both attached.

Here's what was changed and why it's safe:

utilities.py
- QApplication and QPalette are added to the existing import block, which already has PyQt4 → PyQt5 → qt.core fallbacks, so no minimum version change is introduced
- A new is_dark_theme() function detects the current theme using QPalette. It tries the Qt6 enum style (QPalette.ColorRole.Window) first, and falls back to the Qt5/Qt4 style (QPalette.Window) via AttributeError. If detection fails for any reason it silently returns False — no crash, no breakage
- get_pixmap() is updated to look for -for-light-theme and -for-dark-theme filename variants first, before falling back to the plain filename. This means the change is entirely opt-in — users without themed icons see zero behaviour change

action.py
- QApplication is added to the existing import block (same PyQt4 → PyQt5 → qt.core fallback chain)
- A paletteChanged signal connection is added so the toolbar icon updates live when the user switches themes. The connection is wrapped in try/except so if paletteChanged doesn't exist on an older Qt version it silently skips — the icon just won't update live, which is the same behaviour as today

The net result: on any calibre version that currently works, behaviour is identical unless the user explicitly places themed icon files in their resources/images/KindleUnpack - The Plugin/ folder. There is no minimum calibre version change.

I've tested this on calibre 9.8 on macOS, confirmed working for both light and dark mode on startup and live theme switching.

note - the folder for the custom icons is actually
'resources/images/KindleUnpack - The Plugin' and not just 'resources/images/KindleUnpack'

If you want to publish the patch so others can use it that would be great. Thank you for maintaining this plugin.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by gurcha

note - the folder for the custom icons is actually
'resources/images/KindleUnpack - The Plugin' and not just 'resources/images/KindleUnpack'

If you want to publish the patch so others can use it that would be great. Thank you for maintaining this plugin.

Yes. I'm aware that the entire plugin name needs to used in the resource path. If you look again, you'll note that's exactly what I typed in my previous post.

I'll take a look at your changes, but I'm afraid that theming third-party plugins (let alone supporting on-the fly theme changes) is not what I would consider a priority.

I'm also not fond of replacing plugin files wholesale to accommodate these changes. A pull request on the plugin's github repository would be best. But a minimum of a patch file could work too.

[PeterT]

Is compatibility with old versions of QT needed? I think (but might be wrong) that the plugin has a minimum calibre version of 8.xx which is QT6 based, so support for QT4 and 5 is not needed.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Is compatibility with old versions of QT needed? I think (but might be wrong) that the plugin has a minimum calibre version of 8.xx which is QT6 based, so support for QT4 and 5 is not needed.

You may want to check that minimum calibre version again. I fear you missed a leading zero. The plugin supports 0.8.xx or greater.

I don't like abandoning older hardware if there's little to be gained by doing so. So I like to make sure this plugin works on whatever version of calibre someone might be stuck with on their aging hardware.