Thoughts on a cross platform, cloud version of Calibre?

HarryHutton · 03-30-2015, 02:26 PM

Any plans or thoughts on developing Calibre for the cloud?

Would be fantastic to be able to access calibre from any PC, or even via smartphone, tablet app, or e-reader app (assuming we have an Android e-reader)

eschwartz · 03-30-2015, 02:47 PM

Kovid Goyal's long-term TODO list includes the goal of allowing calibre to run on one computer and be fully controlled via the content server. That is to say, you could manage books, add, delete, rename, and send them, use plugins, etc. everything.

This requires changing the server to support write operations, making calibre capable of simultaneous access (multi-user mode), and more.

WHen that might happen? Well, there is no roadmap. As Kovid would say "patches are welcome". At some point, he intends to put in the work.

BetterRed · 03-30-2015, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryHutton

Any plans or thoughts on developing Calibre for the cloud?

Would be fantastic to be able to access calibre from any PC, or even via smartphone, tablet app, or e-reader app (assuming we have an Android e-reader)

@HarryHutton - if you only need read access on the clients then it's already available using calibre-server.

If the 'future' eschwartz has outlined needs calibre specific intelligence at the server, then putting that in cloud probably won't come for free.

BR

eschwartz · 03-30-2015, 06:09 PM

For a given value of free. calibre is free software, which means that that cost is usually paid in time (waiting), although if someone were really desperate they could pay someone to work on it.

@BR -- putting it in the cloud should be as simple as running calibre-server v.future and pretending it is the same calibre we always knew and loved, but if you mean integration with other services, that would probably cost a pretty penny.

BetterRed · 03-30-2015, 08:21 PM

I was thinking of a scenario where 'new generation calibre-server' runs against a local library (to it) on a commercial cloud service, such as Amazon EC2 or Azure with multiple clients updating it concurrently. If I wanted to do that then I couldn't do it for free.

But I don't know what Kovid has in mind. The 'server end' may just be storage with the clients collectively managing resource sharing on a peer-to-peer basis. In that scenario perhaps something as simple as Dropbox, Google Drive or an FTP server could house the shared library. Client-server is not the only architecture used in building multi-user systems, although for commercial and consumer applications it is the most widely used.

BR

eschwartz · 03-30-2015, 10:11 PM

"new generation calibre server" would of course be free, part of calibre -- and you could run it on you PC. But putting it in the cloud would require you also have a cloud, after that, the usual way of installing custom services to a web host would apply.

At least the way I understand it, the plan is to turn the current server into just another frontend to the main calibre GUI, with perhaps-collaboration-style multi-user management.

chaley · 03-31-2015, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

At least the way I understand it, the plan is to turn the current server into just another frontend to the main calibre GUI, with perhaps-collaboration-style multi-user management.

When Kovid and I discussed doing this some 18 months ago the idea was to turn calibre into a client/server application where the server could simultaneously handle multiple clients. The server could be hosted "in the cloud" on a platform that offers computation services as well as storage services. The current GUI (or something like it) would become a client, and other clients would appear. The content server would also become a client. One of Kovid's design goals for the new database backend was to support this model.

venky5ul · 11-27-2018, 04:51 PM

Apologies if I seem to be resurrecting a very old thread, but it seemed most relevant to the topic of making calibre cloud aware.

A less ambitious goal could be to make calibre aware of cloud storage options. This would be very useful for single users to e.g. have a backup of their books on cloud storage in case the local drive fails. Calibre could offer the option of pushing the local books db to a specified location, and rebuild a local db from that location.

kovidgoyal · 11-28-2018, 04:32 AM

as of calibre 3.0 calibre has a very capable content server that does basically what chaley was talking about in his last post in this thread.

venky5ul · 11-30-2018, 03:15 AM

ok. i think this thread https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=309934 was also quite useful for me.

thanks.

03-30-2015, 02:26 PM	#1
HarryHutton Connoisseur Posts: 53 Karma: 1580200 Join Date: May 2012 Location: Glasgow Device: Kobo H2O, Kindle Voyage, Samsung Note 10.1, Nook Simple Touch, M92	Thoughts on a cross platform, cloud version of Calibre? Any plans or thoughts on developing Calibre for the cloud? Would be fantastic to be able to access calibre from any PC, or even via smartphone, tablet app, or e-reader app (assuming we have an Android e-reader)

03-30-2015, 08:21 PM	#5
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,568 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	I was thinking of a scenario where 'new generation calibre-server' runs against a local library (to it) on a commercial cloud service, such as Amazon EC2 or Azure with multiple clients updating it concurrently. If I wanted to do that then I couldn't do it for free. But I don't know what Kovid has in mind. The 'server end' may just be storage with the clients collectively managing resource sharing on a peer-to-peer basis. In that scenario perhaps something as simple as Dropbox, Google Drive or an FTP server could house the shared library. Client-server is not the only architecture used in building multi-user systems, although for commercial and consumer applications it is the most widely used. BR Last edited by BetterRed; 03-30-2015 at 09:56 PM.

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03-30-2015, 02:47 PM	#2
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Kovid Goyal's long-term TODO list includes the goal of allowing calibre to run on one computer and be fully controlled via the content server. That is to say, you could manage books, add, delete, rename, and send them, use plugins, etc. everything. This requires changing the server to support write operations, making calibre capable of simultaneous access (multi-user mode), and more. WHen that might happen? Well, there is no roadmap. As Kovid would say "patches are welcome". At some point, he intends to put in the work.

03-30-2015, 06:09 PM	#4
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	For a given value of free. calibre is free software, which means that that cost is usually paid in time (waiting), although if someone were really desperate they could pay someone to work on it. @BR -- putting it in the cloud should be as simple as running calibre-server v.future and pretending it is the same calibre we always knew and loved, but if you mean integration with other services, that would probably cost a pretty penny.

03-30-2015, 10:11 PM	#6
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	"new generation calibre server" would of course be free, part of calibre -- and you could run it on you PC. But putting it in the cloud would require you also have a cloud, after that, the usual way of installing custom services to a web host would apply. At least the way I understand it, the plan is to turn the current server into just another frontend to the main calibre GUI, with perhaps-collaboration-style multi-user management.

11-27-2018, 04:51 PM	#8
venky5ul Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Device: Kindle	Apologies if I seem to be resurrecting a very old thread, but it seemed most relevant to the topic of making calibre cloud aware. A less ambitious goal could be to make calibre aware of cloud storage options. This would be very useful for single users to e.g. have a backup of their books on cloud storage in case the local drive fails. Calibre could offer the option of pushing the local books db to a specified location, and rebuild a local db from that location.

11-28-2018, 04:32 AM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	as of calibre 3.0 calibre has a very capable content server that does basically what chaley was talking about in his last post in this thread.

11-30-2018, 03:15 AM	#10
venky5ul Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Device: Kindle	ok. i think this thread https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=309934 was also quite useful for me. thanks.