[Conversion Output] KePub Output Plugin

[Minotaur]

Originally Posted by jgoguen

The error message you posted says there's an unknown field "#kobo". I'm not sure where you may have set that or may be referencing it, maybe take a look through the plugin settings.

I had this problem when the TEMP drive in my system was on a RAMdrive. Changing/setting the environment variable CALIBRE_TEMP_DIR to point at a folder on a physical drive resolved the issue.

[jgoguen]

Have I complained about how much I hate Windows lately? It's been 5 minutes, surely I must have complained about it by now

[boopsy35]

Originally Posted by tamarissa

I have an ePub file that won't convert to kePub at all... it does convert to AZW, MOBI, etc.

I have also tried converting from the other files I was able to create; that often is my workaround from AZW files to kePub (they're often troublesome), but nothing will create a kePub.

I've attached both the details in the failure to convert notice as well as the debug reports for the failed conversions. This is for both starting from the ePub file and from the AZW file.

As far as I am aware, everything is up to date; there are no update alerts in Calibre, but I don't know if any of these required plugins needs manual updates.

convert epub to epub. Now you have the "original epub" and the "epub" file. Delete the original and convert the epub to kepub. You are ready!

[Lachette]

Been following this thread for a week or so trying to diagnose my issue. I haven't converted anything for maybe a few months, and after updating everything to the latest, something seems to have broke. The log mentions something invalid with the temp folder - I have tried moving it around to different locations with the same error. It also mentions a particular page, but its not consistent between conversion trials. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Lachette

Been following this thread for a week or so trying to diagnose my issue. I haven't converted anything for maybe a few months, and after updating everything to the latest, something seems to have broke. The log mentions something invalid with the temp folder - I have tried moving it around to different locations with the same error. It also mentions a particular page, but its not consistent between conversion trials. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Looking at your log file, it seems that you are trying to kepubify a fixed layout epub 3 file. Is this correct? And is the S: drive located on your computer or is it a drive mapped over a network? Is this a 32bit or 64bit calibre install?

And thanks for not posting the log file inline.

[Lachette]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Looking at your log file, it seems that you are trying to kepubify a fixed layout epub 3 file. Is this correct? And is the S: drive located on your computer or is it a drive mapped over a network? Is this a 32bit or 64bit calibre install?

And thanks for not posting the log file inline.

This is using Calibre portable. S drive is a physical SSD installed in my PC. As for the type of epub, I'll be honest, I am not super familiar with the types. It is a manga that has the page order going from right to left rather than the traditional left to right. I have converted similar manga epubs in the past without issue, though I end up loosing the right to left page ordering.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Lachette

This is using Calibre portable. S drive is a physical SSD installed in my PC. As for the type of epub, I'll be honest, I am not super familiar with the types. It is a manga that has the page order going from right to left rather than the traditional left to right. I have converted similar manga epubs in the past without issue, though I end up loosing the right to left page ordering.

Calibre portable is 32-bit, so that could be the issue. The book appears to have 385 chapters. It could be running out of memory. As it is a manga, the number of images could be causing that. Is it one image per chapter? Or are there more?

The error is the same as one reported earlier by someone when they pointed their TMP storage to a memory disk. There isn't anything obvious about why it would happen. Or unfortunately about how to fix it. A possibility is that the temporary storage is being cleaned up by something. But, if that was the case, I would expect a different error (a file not found type of error).

You could try using the KoboExtendedDriver instead of a conversion. That doesn't have the overhead of the full conversion pipeline. Or, if you have CBZ or CBR versions of the manga, you could try KCC to produce the kepub.

As to the page turning direction, that can be set in the OPF or in each file. A conversion should keep it. But, I don't know if it is picked up correctly when imported on the Kobo device. But, it will be respected if it is set. You can set it using my Kobo Utilities plugin.

[Lachette]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Calibre portable is 32-bit, so that could be the issue. The book appears to have 385 chapters. It could be running out of memory. As it is a manga, the number of images could be causing that. Is it one image per chapter? Or are there more?

The error is the same as one reported earlier by someone when they pointed their TMP storage to a memory disk. There isn't anything obvious about why it would happen. Or unfortunately about how to fix it. A possibility is that the temporary storage is being cleaned up by something. But, if that was the case, I would expect a different error (a file not found type of error).

You could try using the KoboExtendedDriver instead of a conversion. That doesn't have the overhead of the full conversion pipeline. Or, if you have CBZ or CBR versions of the manga, you could try KCC to produce the kepub.

As to the page turning direction, that can be set in the OPF or in each file. A conversion should keep it. But, I don't know if it is picked up correctly when imported on the Kobo device. But, it will be respected if it is set. You can set it using my Kobo Utilities plugin.

Sorry I have been away for work and just now getting back to this topic.

I will try to install the 64bit version and see what transpires from that. I find it odd that only now has it begun to have this issue as I have converted other large page count manga epub in the past without issue.

I do not know how the original epub has set it, but it does have 385 pages, it looks like it counts each page as its own chapter.... each page should have one image for the entire page.

The only reason for the need to convert is that with the epub source file, if I import it directly to the kobo, the pages seemed "zoomed in" and it cuts off about 10% from the bottom and right side of the page, early on, I discovered that converting them to kepub solved the issue. (and prally a topic for a new thread.)

I have Kobo Touch Extended Driver is that the same as KoboExtendedDriver you mentioned? And if so, how would I make calibre use it in lieu of kepub output plugin?

I appreciate the time and help in assisting me with this problem!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Lachette

Sorry I have been away for work and just now getting back to this topic.

I will try to install the 64bit version and see what transpires from that. I find it odd that only now has it begun to have this issue as I have converted other large page count manga epub in the past without issue.

There are lots of reasons for this. It could be an unusually constructed book. It could be a change in calibre is using more resources. Or something else on the PC is using the resources and blocking it.

I do not know how the original epub has set it, but it does have 385 pages, it looks like it counts each page as its own chapter.... each page should have one image for the entire page.

The only reason for the need to convert is that with the epub source file, if I import it directly to the kobo, the pages seemed "zoomed in" and it cuts off about 10% from the bottom and right side of the page, early on, I discovered that converting them to kepub solved the issue. (and prally a topic for a new thread.)

The way that the epub renderer will display a full screen image is different than an epub. It also depends on how the image is put on the page. A simple img tag is treated differently than using an SVG wrapper.

I have Kobo Touch Extended Driver is that the same as KoboExtendedDriver you mentioned? And if so, how would I make calibre use it in lieu of kepub output plugin?

I have no idea why I missed "Touch" before, but, yes the Kobo Touch extended driver.

The extended driver works when you send a book to the device. It doesn't run the full calibre conversion pipeline. It processes the epub and adds the spans needed to the book and sends that copy to the device. And it doesn't add the kepub to the library. When sending a single book, it probably uses less resources than when converting a book. But, the part that adds the spans is exactly the same code, so it might still fail.

[Lachette]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The extended driver works when you send a book to the device. It doesn't run the full calibre conversion pipeline. It processes the epub and adds the spans needed to the book and sends that copy to the device. And it doesn't add the kepub to the library. When sending a single book, it probably uses less resources than when converting a book. But, the part that adds the spans is exactly the same code, so it might still fail.

Okay so you confirmed it too then, I have tried both methods without knowing.
I have tried sending it directly to kobo with a conversion in the process, as well as converting first before sending. Both will error out. I haven't had time to try installing the 64bit version yet, so I'll keep you posted soon (too many life events when all you want to do is sit and read.... )

[genoasalami]

Is there a way to get this working on calibre-server? Apparently putting it in .config/calibre/plugins doesn’t work.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by genoasalami

Is there a way to get this working on calibre-server? Apparently putting it in .config/calibre/plugins doesn’t work.

I don't believe there is any way to do a conversion through the server. You will need to convert to Kobo from the main UI or use the command line to do it.

I wanted to suggest using the auto-convert when adding books, but, that won't let me convert to kepubs.

[genoasalami]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't believe there is any way to do a conversion through the server. You will need to convert to Kobo from the main UI or use the command line to do it.

I wanted to suggest using the auto-convert when adding books, but, that won't let me convert to kepubs.

Sadness. Thanks for the reply though.

[Buhaj47]

I have loaded a Polish hyphenation dictionary on my Kobo, and the plugin has an option to Hyphenate Files that can be selected. Hope someone can confirm:

• will hyphenation be active if that option is not selected? (with the hyphenation dictionary installed on Kobo);
• what if I have different number of minimum left and right characters set in the dictonary file on Kobo and the plugin itself - which is then used?

PS. The default option is to split files larger than 260 KB - any issue if this is increased? I have a book where where one xhtml file is larger than that, and don't want to split it so that chapter page count displays correctly.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Buhaj47

I have loaded a Polish hyphenation dictionary on my Kobo, and the plugin has an option to Hyphenate Files that can be selected. Hope someone can confirm:

• will hyphenation be active if that option is not selected? (with the hyphenation dictionary installed on Kobo);
• what if I have different number of minimum left and right characters set in the dictonary file on Kobo and the plugin itself - which is then used?

The hyphenation option adds CSS to either force hyphenation on or off. If neither option is selected, then whatever is already in the book is used. And if there is no hyphenation CSS in the book, it goes to the device. And that is basically if you use justification, then hyphenation will happen. If you use ragged-right alignment, then hyphenation won't be done.

As to which values are used. I don't know. I don't like the way the devices do hyphenation, so I remove the justification from the books and use ragged-right alignment on the device.

PS. The default option is to split files larger than 260 KB - any issue if this is increased? I have a book where where one xhtml file is larger than that, and don't want to split it so that chapter page count displays correctly.

It doesn't matter. The conversion to kepub is basically a conversion to kepub plus adding Kobo specific things. That option is for Adobe RMSDK based ereaders (used in lots of places but used for ePubs on Kobo devices). It has issues with files larger than this. The renderer used for kepubs does not have this issue. You can go bigger, but, you might hit performance issues if you go past a couple of megabytes. It's been a while since I have bothered testing, so I don't know where it is likely to happen.