Instructions for patching firmware 4.25.15875

[vassilisb]

Hello all!

I just ordered my first ebook reader!
a Kobo Libra H2O
and start doing my research till I receive the device

my question is
if I install this patch
(after I update to latest firmware ofcourse if its not already there)
should I get a Greek keyboard?

if I understand correct I have to edit libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml first and switch the "enabled" to "yes" first, correct?

will it work for Libra? as the model is not mentioned

Thank you all for your great work!

Vassilis

[WormGod]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I've just committed new patch Custom header/footer captions to @geek1011's GitHub site. The new customise caption width feature is Part 3 of the patch.

The new patch completely replaces old patch Custom new header/footer font.

It will be in the next kobopatch release (whenever that is). If you want to see it before then you can find it at the GitHub site from line 194 of this file.

Hi Jackie -
Thanks for this. It will make things so much nicer.
I assume you have already finalized it, but is there any chance of un-commenting the new lines in Part 3 by default? I know I can do this, but from a user perspective, it is easier if all I have to do is enable the patch in my kobopatch.yaml file (along with the others that I want) and not have to touch the nickel.yaml file unless I want to customize the patch. The fewer times I have to touch those individual files each firmware/patch upgrade, the better. Or rather, the fewer mistakes I will make . Either way is good. Just wondering what you thought.
Also, where can I find information about the ReadingFooter container and properties? And all the other internal containers/properties/details?
Thanks again!

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by WormGod

Hi Jackie -
Thanks for this. It will make things so much nicer.
I assume you have already finalized it, but is there any chance of un-commenting the new lines in Part 3 by default? I know I can do this, but from a user perspective, it is easier if all I have to do is enable the patch in my kobopatch.yaml file (along with the others that I want) and not have to touch the nickel.yaml file unless I want to customize the patch. The fewer times I have to touch those individual files each firmware/patch upgrade, the better. Or rather, the fewer mistakes I will make . Either way is good. Just wondering what you thought.

I can enable Part 3 by default with the caveat that ... if anyone complains that they can no longer turn pages with minimum effort using their favourite "thumb twitch whilst holding the Kobo by the bottom corner like I've always done" then I'll have to revert back to disabling Part 3 by default.

I'll make the change in the next few days.

Originally Posted by WormGod

Also, where can I find information about the ReadingFooter container and properties? And all the other internal containers/properties/details?
Thanks again!

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. If you mean official Kobo documentation explaining all the GUI CSS/widgets in nickel - I'm afraid there is none. It's been mainly guesswork, trial and error by the masochistic willing to develop existing nickel patches.

There are currently approximately 200 potentially patchable CSS streams in nickel. Until very recently none of them even had a known name, so it was an amorphous blob of CSS and hope that Kobo had used helpful descriptive variable names to try and home in on the bits that might actually be worth patching.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. If you mean official Kobo documentation explaining all the GUI CSS/widgets in nickel - I'm afraid there is none. It's been mainly guesswork, trial and error by the masochistic willing to develop existing nickel patches.

You can find a bunch of information based on the static Qt metadata (sherman's NickelDBus can display this) and the setters/getters (use a disassembler on libnickel). If it's not a QObject, you generally need to do it the hard way through dynamic instrumentation or reference tracing.

There are currently approximately 200 potentially patchable CSS streams in nickel. Until very recently none of them even had a known name, so it was an amorphous blob of CSS and hope that Kobo had used helpful descriptive variable names to try and home in on the bits that might actually be worth patching.

For anyone reading this, it's referring to my qrc tool, which will work on all Qt binaries.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by vassilisb

if I understand correct I have to edit libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml first and switch the "enabled" to "yes" first, correct?

Yes.

will it work for Libra? as the model is not mentioned

Unless stated otherwise, all patches will work on all devices. And if there's any incompatibilities, the patches are generally designed to fail while applying the patch rather than after installing it.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I'll make the change in the next few days.

@WormGod. I've re-committed the new patch. You can find it in the same place as before. Although there's a rumour a new firmware could be imminent, in which case the update should be in @geek1011's next kobopatch release.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

@WormGod. I've re-committed the new patch. You can find it in the same place as before. Although there's a rumour a new firmware could be imminent, in which case the update should be in @geek1011's next kobopatch release.

Someone posted in another thread that he's synced and gotten 4.26.x.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Someone posted in another thread that he's synced and gotten 4.26.x.

I know, I read it. Whether it's true or a hoax, it doesn't matter as far as my patch update is concerned, which is in the only place on GitHub that it needs to be in order to automatically carry through to the next firmware update.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I know, I read it. Whether it's true or a hoax, it doesn't matter as far as my patch update is concerned, which is in the only place on GitHub that it needs to be in order to automatically carry through to the next firmware update.

True that.

After reading about the change, I think the change is a rather good idea. Well done.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I know, I read it. Whether it's true or a hoax, it doesn't matter as far as my patch update is concerned, which is in the only place on GitHub that it needs to be in order to automatically carry through to the next firmware update.

It's a hoax. @davidfor's query on Kobo was responded to by a Kobo staffer who said no such version.

[PeterT]

I seem to remember a few years back we had another new poster claiming an upgrade that didn't exist.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I seem to remember a few years back we had another new poster claiming an upgrade that didn't exist.

Yes we did. That spammer even went as far as doctoring some photos to show us that it was real.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Yes we did. That spammer even went as far as doctoring some photos to show us that it was real.

They didn't so much doctor the photos as doctor the firmware itself...

[WormGod]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I can enable Part 3 by default with the caveat that ... if anyone complains that they can no longer turn pages with minimum effort using their favourite "thumb twitch whilst holding the Kobo by the bottom corner like I've always done" then I'll have to revert back to disabling Part 3 by default.

I'll make the change in the next few days.

Thanks! That would be great! If you need to change it back to disabled by default, I will try to survive.

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. If you mean official Kobo documentation explaining all the GUI CSS/widgets in nickel - I'm afraid there is none. It's been mainly guesswork, trial and error by the masochistic willing to develop existing nickel patches.

There are currently approximately 200 potentially patchable CSS streams in nickel. Until very recently none of them even had a known name, so it was an amorphous blob of CSS and hope that Kobo had used helpful descriptive variable names to try and home in on the bits that might actually be worth patching.

Originally Posted by jackie_w

@Semwize is correct. I hadn't realised until now what 'ReadingFooter' property 'qproperty-footerMargin' was actually used for.

It's the width of the right & left corner tap zone blocks in the footer which can be used for turning pages. Whereas if you tap the caption area you bring up the scrubber.

It's this second comment from your earlier post in this thread that got me wondering how/where you were able to see that "ReadingFooter" actually had a property called "qproperty-footerMargin". As an old programmer, I'm always interested in seeing how things work.

[WormGod]

Originally Posted by geek1011

You can find a bunch of information based on the static Qt metadata (sherman's NickelDBus can display this) and the setters/getters (use a disassembler on libnickel). If it's not a QObject, you generally need to do it the hard way through dynamic instrumentation or reference tracing.



For anyone reading this, it's referring to my qrc tool, which will work on all Qt binaries.

Thanks!