kepubify v3: A fast, standalone EPUB to KEPUB converter (plus covergen/seriesmeta)

[steveparry]

I've just migrated all my data to a new MacBook Pro M1... Kepubify was on the old MacBook running Big Sur and worked fine. On the new M1 it won't install as 'the creator can't be verified' or some such dialogue generated. So I downloaded again from Patrick's site and tried to install but to no avail. But I'm a beginner with the Terminal and it could be I typed the wrong command when installing. The file is in the downloads folder.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by steveparry

I've just migrated all my data to a new MacBook Pro M1... Kepubify was on the old MacBook running Big Sur and worked fine. On the new M1 it won't install as 'the creator can't be verified' or some such dialogue generated. So I downloaded again from Patrick's site and tried to install but to no avail. But I'm a beginner with the Terminal and it could be I typed the wrong command when installing. The file is in the downloads folder.

Move it from the Downloads folder to the desktop, re-try the chmod +x and try running kepubify again. If it still pops up the developer issue, check the Privacy and Setting preference and see if it shows kepubify as being blocked. This is from running the Intel Big Sur on a VM.

See attached image.

Spoiler:

Last login: Sun Dec 13 14:54:23 on ttys001
/Users/dnsb/Desktop/kepubify-darwin-64bit ; exit;
dnsb@Davids-VMMac ~ % /Users/dnsb/Desktop/kepubify-darwin-64bit ; exit;
Usage: kepubify [options] input_path [input_path]...

Version:
kepubify v3.1.6

General Options:
-v, --verbose Show extra information in output
--version Show the version
-h, --help Show this help text

Output Options:
-u, --update Don't reconvert files which have already been converted (i.e. don't overwrite output files)
-i, --inplace Don't add the _converted suffix to converted files and directories
--no-preserve-dirs Flatten the directory structure of the input (an error will be shown if there are conflicts)
-o, --output string [>1 inputs || 1 file input with existing dir output]: Directory to place converted files/dirs under; [1 file input with
nonexistent output]: Output filename; [1 dir input]: Output directory for contents of input (default: current directory)
--calibre Use .kepub instead of .kepub.epub as the output extension (for Calibre compatibility, only use if you know what you are doing)
-x, --copy strings Copy files with the specified extension (with a leading period) to the output unchanged (no effect if the filename ends up the same)

Conversion Options:
--smarten-punctuation Smarten punctuation (smart quotes, dashes, etc) (excluding pre and code tags)
-c, --css stringArray Custom CSS to add to ebook
--hyphenate Force enable hyphenation
--no-hyphenate Force disable hyphenation
--fullscreen-reading-fixes Enable fullscreen reading bugfixes based on https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=16
-r, --replace stringArray Find and replace on all html files (repeat any number of times) (format: find|replace)

Links:
Website - https://pgaskin.net/kepubify
Source Code - https://github.com/pgaskin/kepubify
Bugs/Support - https://github.com/pgaskin/kepubify/issues
MobileRead - http://mr.gd/forums/showthread.php?t=295287
Saving session...
...copying shared history...
...saving history...truncating history files...
...completed.

[Process completed]

[steveparry]

I put it in the Applications folder then tried again. This time a dialogue asked if I would "allow it anyway" which I did. Now seems to be working OK. Thank you.

[RowdyRuff]

I've been at it a few hours now, and have searched the forum without finding a mention.

Anyhoo, Win10 is telling me to contact the software publisher for a version that works with my PC.

Am running Win10 x64 and using the Kepubify x64 version.

Also, don't suppose there's a GUI for Kepubify anywhere?

Thanks in advance!

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by RowdyRuff

I've been at it a few hours now, and have searched the forum without finding a mention.

Anyhoo, Win10 is telling me to contact the software publisher for a version that works with my PC.

Am running Win10 x64 and using the Kepubify x64 version.

Also, don't suppose there's a GUI for Kepubify anywhere?

Thanks in advance!

Are you sure it's x64 and not ARM64? Which device do you have?

[RowdyRuff]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Are you sure it's x64 and not ARM64? Which device do you have?

Yeah, I'm sure it's x64. After playing around, working out the correct syntax, I finally got it to work, only for Win10 to decide it wasn't very happy on the second attempt.

[Regard_39]

@geek1011 Can the huge books be correctly processed?
I used kepubify v3 for a book of 27000 pages; it is the complete work of Victor Hugo. Maybe you'll be interested in doing some tests* because the result of the rendering is just a bunch of blank pages.
2 remarks :
- the generated kepub file is perfectly readable with sumatra
- the conversion with the Calibre plugin is not successful.
*I send it to you in mp

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Regard_39

@geek1011 Can the huge books be correctly processed?
I used kepubify v3 for a book of 27000 pages; it is the complete work of Victor Hugo. Maybe you'll be interested in doing some tests* because the result of the rendering is just a bunch of blank pages.
2 remarks :
- the generated kepub file is perfectly readable with sumatra
- the conversion with the Calibre plugin is not successful.
*I send it to you in mp

When you say "conversion", do you mean an actual calibre conversion? Or do you mean what the KoboTouchExtended driver does? And for either, how was it unsuccessful? Didn't finish, had errors or produced a invalid result? This is mainly curiosity as I don't see much point in a single book that size. It would be far to unwieldy to read. Even the ToC would probably be hundreds of pages long. Or it would just be the individual books, and not pointing to chapters.

Did you put it on you Kobo device? You say you read it with Sumatra, but, as a kepub is a valid epub, that would be expected if the original epub worked. On the device, it would be a different matter.

[Regard_39]

I have recently changed the Calibre conversion plugins by replacing
KePub Metadata Reader
KePub Metadata Writer
Kobo Touch Extended
with the unique Kepub Ouput Calibre. Here is the final log
The publisher is specialized in the publication of anthologies of classical authors of French, Greek or Latin literature. We find these huge books for Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Jules Vernes, Aristotle or Plato...
I understand of course the complexity of managing such large files...

I installed the epub and kepub version (via kepubify) on my Kobo.
Only the original epub version is correctly displayed.
Then I just checked with Sumatra the readability of the kepub which was perfectly rendered.

Do you want an mp copy of this 32MB epub?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Regard_39

I have recently changed the Calibre conversion plugins by replacing
KePub Metadata Reader
KePub Metadata Writer
Kobo Touch Extended
with the unique Kepub Ouput Calibre.

You have the combination of plugins wrong. If you keep kepubs in the calibre library, you should have both the KePub Metadata Reader and KePub Metadata Writer plugins. Otherwise you cannot get metadata from them or update the metadata in them. The latter happens when you send the book to the device and when you do a conversion. If you are using the KoboTouchExtended driver, and have no kepubs in the library, you do not need the reader and writer plugins. But, it won't harm to have them.

Here is the final log

There are no errors there, but, the conversion hasn't completed.

The publisher is specialized in the publication of anthologies of classical authors of French, Greek or Latin literature. We find these huge books for Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Jules Vernes, Aristotle or Plato...
I understand of course the complexity of managing such large files...

I installed the epub and kepub version (via kepubify) on my Kobo.
Only the original epub version is correctly displayed.
Then I just checked with Sumatra the readability of the kepub which was perfectly rendered.

Did the kepub get loaded at all? Or did it not display? Or was there errors? Or did the device reboot while importing or opening it? I can think of a few things related to the size that would cause problems. Some are covered in Kobo libra freezes (& reboots) after disconnecting from PC but there are a couple of other things that could get in the way.

Do you want an mp copy of this 32MB epub?

Yes I would. I think it is going to be to big for the way the device handles sideloaded kepubs.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by Regard_39

@geek1011 Can the huge books be correctly processed?
I used kepubify v3 for a book of 27000 pages; it is the complete work of Victor Hugo. Maybe you'll be interested in doing some tests* because the result of the rendering is just a bunch of blank pages.
2 remarks :
- the generated kepub file is perfectly readable with sumatra
- the conversion with the Calibre plugin is not successful.
*I send it to you in mp

Yes, large books work fine with kepubify. Whether they work on the device is another thing. They should import correctly as long as the entire OPF and TOC can be loaded into memory, which should be the case for your devices and the book size. The book itself, although large, seems to be relatively simple and the individual content files are not too long. The book is valid and based on skimming a few files, I didn't see anything likely to cause problems other than the length. Theoretically, the book should render correctly, but the total length might be an issue. In particular, I haven't looked into when the page map is generated, but this might be an issue. I'll test it on a device when I have time if @davidfor doesn't do it first.

[Regard_39]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You have the combination of plugins wrong. If you keep kepubs in the calibre library, you should have both the KePub Metadata Reader and KePub Metadata Writer plugins. Otherwise you cannot get metadata from them or update the metadata in them. The latter happens when you send the book to the device and when you do a conversion. If you are using the KoboTouchExtended driver, and have no kepubs in the library, you do not need the reader and writer plugins. But, it won't harm to have them.

I take your advice to restore the 2 Metadata plugins.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Did the kepub get loaded at all? Or did it not display? Or was there errors? Or did the device reboot while importing or opening it? I can think of a few things related to the size that would cause problems. Some are covered in Kobo libra freezes (& reboots) after disconnecting from PC but there are a couple of other things that could get in the way.

This was tested on a Kobo Aura 1st edition. The loading went well: no error, no reboot; I just noticed that the import was stuck for a while on 6%, then after a minute, everything ended without the progress slider reaching 100%.

Concerning this "kepubified Victor Hugo", I noticed this detail this morning, the icon of the choice of the font and its size 'Aa' does not appear in the options during the reading (empty pages)

New noticeable element : this morning, I just tested two other books (kepubified) from the same publisher (34MB and 11MB); these 2 huge books are correctly displayed which is great news.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Regard_39

This was tested on a Kobo Aura 1st edition. The loading went well: no error, no reboot; I just noticed that the import was stuck for a while on 6%, then after a minute, everything ended without the progress slider reaching 100%.

What I've seen is the import starts at 6% and continues until it reaches 94% at which point the import jumps to done. If you have say 11 books being added, the slider will move from 6 to 14 to 22 ... 86 94. With one book, it sits at 6% and jumps to 94%/done.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Regard_39

This was tested on a Kobo Aura 1st edition. The loading went well: no error, no reboot; I just noticed that the import was stuck for a while on 6%, then after a minute, everything ended without the progress slider reaching 100%.

Concerning this "kepubified Victor Hugo", I noticed this detail this morning, the icon of the choice of the font and its size 'Aa' does not appear in the options during the reading (empty pages)

New noticeable element : this morning, I just tested two other books (kepubified) from the same publisher (34MB and 11MB); these 2 huge books are correctly displayed which is great news.

I had a play with the book last night. I did all my testing on my Aura ONE with firmware version 4.26.16704 and calibre 5.16.1 (64bit) and laptop with Win10, an i7 processor and 16GB of RAM.

Firstly, looking at the epub with the calibre editor didn't show any issues. Except size. There are over 6000 internal files. The ToC is a mix bag. Some of the books only have the title, some have a "Part" and some have chapters. But, it is long. Putting the ePub on the ereader worked with no issues. Except for how many pages the ToC takes. Going through that is painful.

Then I converted to kepub. That took about 19 minutes. There were no errors. When I put that on the ereader, again there were no issues. The import took a bit longer. And it opened with no problems. This was were I thought I was see a problem. When a kepub is first opened, reader does a word count of each internal file and stores that in the database. The last time I tried a big book, it triggered the sickil process watcher to restart the device. In fact it did it several times until the chapters had been counted. And for those that don't know, this word count is used for the chapter bar graph.

I then tried the KoboTouchExtended driver. This took about 6 minutes to transform and send the book. And again, there were no issues on the device.

I have to admit to being surprised. I was expecting this to kill the device either as it was being imported, or when it was opened. But, it doesn't. The construction of the book fairly simple with no big file. The ToC isn't that big, so is being loaded properly. And there has probably been some changes to the way the word count is done since the last time I tried a large book. It might have happened when Kobo changed how they calculated the full book page count.

[geek1011]

For the record, it took kepubify v3.1.6 21 seconds to convert the book on a laptop with a Ryzen 3500U, 8GB RAM, and a PM981 SSD.