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#16 |
intelligent posterior
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The current update scheme means that those of us who don't use Calibre daily, which is probably the majority of the user base, see the update nag nearly every time we start the program. However, every time we follow through also puts Kovid's donate button in front of us on a functionally unnecessary intermediary page. The whole jump to a web browser is unnecessary as an element of the update process. I'm thinking both the timing and the sequence of events are more a part of Calibre's revenue plan than its development cycle.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not implying that there's anything sinister about regularly soliciting donations to maintain a volunteer effort--I've clicked the button before and probably will again--but it's one reason we're not likely to see the process change any time soon. |
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#17 |
creator of calibre
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@taosaur: What rot. Quoting from the FAQ entry:
"If I implement a dialog that downloads the update and launches it, instead of going to the website as it does now, that would save the most ardent calibre updater, at most five clicks a week. There are far higher priority things to do in calibre development." Not to mention that if I ever implemented such a dialog, there is absolutely nothing preventing me from adding a donate button to the dialog. |
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#18 | |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Wow, do you see a lot of conspiracies?
Also, I'd like to point out that, like pretty much any calibre confirmation dialog, there is an option to Never Show This Message Again. How would you suggest the update be changed to be easier? Should calibre download the update for you to run? Where to? And how does that work on linux which doesn't work that way? Etc. I wouldn't mind if calibre came with an executable "calibre-upgrade", possibly based on my script. But I understand Kovid's main objection, which is: Quote:
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#19 |
creator of calibre
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There are no free mirrors that can handle the bandwidth and reliability requirements. Both fosshub and sourceforge dont allow direct downloads, their business model is based on showing ads on the download page. I dont like to direct people to websites that show ads that are not in my control. There are spammy advertisers that show large fake download buttons as ads to fool people into downloading malware. I actually have to spend ten minutes every single day reviewing the ads shown on the calibre website to remove these spammy ads.
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#20 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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OK, that makes sense.
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#21 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Looking at Fosshub, I grabbed the link and fed it to wget.
"20 redirections exceeded." Every mirror just has a 301 back to the main url, which then redirects to a mirror. Code:
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/calibre/files/latest/download ![]() Last edited by eschwartz; 07-31-2014 at 02:29 AM. |
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#22 |
creator of calibre
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The point is that it goes against their business models. After all, they have to pay for the bandwidth somehow, themselves. For instance, I happen to know that fosshub's total bandwidth usage is currently less than calibre's bandwidth usage. There is no way they could handle the costs.
As for sourceforge, they have contacted me in the past trying to get me to add ads into the calibre windows installer in order to monetize the downloads. They have got to be hurting financially. And note that it only works with wget, not a browser, which is what most people use to download calibre. |
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#23 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Yeah, since linux isn't exactly the biggest install base.
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#24 |
creator of calibre
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Indeed, linux makes up less than 2% of the calibre install base. And I am the only calibre developer that actually uses linux. If it were not for that, the linux version of calibre would likely not exist.
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#25 |
Handy Elephant
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I don't mind the current state of things. I have a script that updates calibre for me, when I want. I just open my ~/bin folder and double click on it to run it.
But one option could be to (also?) distribute calibre via bittorrent. An option to decide whether you are willing to participate in the swarm. And a small bittorrent client just for calibre (and PI?) inside calibre. Then whenever you run calibre and download the latest update, you can also share the calibre update with others. And if you use a normal bittorrent client, that could be used instead. Would most likely work fine for downloads, but not everyone would want to share the update with others because of slow Internet or a restrictive plan. Or dubious about bittorrent. Or problems with their firewall. However, it would most likely be a bit of a challenge to get to work well. |
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#26 | |
null operator (he/him)
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Quote:
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#27 | |
Well trained by Cats
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Quote:
![]() My ISP has no problem with me doing (legal) seeding. I always let my Ubuntu DVD loads seed for at least 200%. Running a Calibre seed should not be a issue. I don't think the 'Tracker' bandwidth is all that high that a few alternates couldn't be configured in the dot torrent file for reliability. |
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#28 | |
eBook Enthusiast
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Quote:
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#29 |
Color me gone
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And thereby increase Kovid's support burden. Good point.
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#30 |
Handy Elephant
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If the bittorrent client was integrated in calibre, it could be set to always download and share only the latest version of calibre. If the user allows that. Either for only the current target/architecture or for all. Also plugins could be distributed this way.
Calibre already checks for new versions. The same check could be used to update the bittorrent used. Using the magnet type of bittorrent there is not even any need for any trackers. Really advanced would be to split the torrent into several parts so only changed parts need to be updated. For instance Python and 3:rd party libs would most likely not have to be updated very often. The nice thing about this is that if you participate, and help share calibre, you automatically get the latest version downloaded. Last edited by Adoby; 07-31-2014 at 07:05 AM. |
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