missing container.xml error

[George H]

I'm having a problem with the editor similar to the one in the
"Adding com.apple.iBooks" thread. After upgrading from 1.31 to 1.33 when I tried to open a file I had been editing I got this error message:

calibre, version 1.33.0
ERROR: Failed to open book: Failed to open book, click Show details for more information.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/job.py", line 34, in run
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/boss.py", line 50, in get_container
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/container.py", line 1127, in get_container
File "site-packages/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/container.py", line 842, in __init__
InvalidEpub: No META-INF/container.xml in epub

When I click on the New File button I get the following message:

calibre, version 1.33.0
ERROR: No open book: You must first open a book to tweak, before trying to create new files in it.

But this is impossible because the epub doesn't load.

[kovidgoyal]

That error message indicates your epub file is missing the META-INF/container.xml file, which is needed for the EPUB to be useable. Probably because you accidentally changed the case of the META-INF folder while editing the book. Your best bet to recover is unzip the epub change the META-INF folder back to its proper case and re-zip it.

[George H]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

That error message indicates your epub file is missing the META-INF/container.xml file, ... unzip the epub ....

Thanks, did that, after downloading Stuffit to get out of Archive Utilities cycle of compressing and expanding .epub files, and discovered that all the files but one had disappeared, including the container.xml file. So there's no hope of recovery.

Thanks for the prompt response and good advice, though.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by George H

Thanks, did that, after downloading Stuffit to get out of Archive Utilities cycle of compressing and expanding .epub files, and discovered that all the files but one had disappeared, including the container.xml file. So there's no hope of recovery.

Thanks for the prompt response and good advice, though.

If you just want to expand/rebuild an EPUB, use the Unpack feature of Calibre (formerly Tweak Book) or download the free standalone tool from the maker of AWP http://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com...tweak_epub.htm

[George H]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

That error message indicates your epub file is missing the META-INF/container.xml file, ... unzip the epub ....

Thanks, did that, after downloading Stuffit to get out of Archive Utilities cycle of compressing and expanding .epub files, and discovered that all the files but one had disappeared, including the container.xml file. So there's no hope of recovery.

Thanks for the prompt response and good advice, though.

[recook]

Hi,
just came across that error, trying to "polish" an EPUB.
I looked inside and META-INF was missing completely.
In another EPUB without that error, i found that file, containing absolutely nothing specific to this file, even the line starting

<rootfile full-path="OEBPF/ebook.opf"

isn't, really.
So simply copied over the path META-INF to the EPUB without it.
Error gone, just like that.
--
regards,
-- recook