epubcheck error: mimetype entry missing or not the first in archive

[GijsZePa]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Post a sample ePub.

The real .epub is 40 + MB, this is just a subset. But the mimetype file is the problem.

Thanks !

BTW..don't shoot me because of the layout...I'm just the coder

Martin

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by GijsZePa

The real .epub is 40 + MB, this is just a subset. But the mimetype file is the problem.

That mimetype includes a line termination (DOS style), that is an error, the mimetype file should not have any line-end, it should be just 20 bytes long (yours is 22).

[pdurrant]

That's not his problem. If I unzip and then re-zip his file, it passes epubcheck.

The problem is the zip format.

If you look at his file with a hex editor, it should have

application/epub+zip

at bytes 0x26 to 0x3A, immediately following the mimetype filename.

In his file the mimetype filename is in the right place, but the file contents doesn't immediately follow it.

I've attached the working ePub. I don't know enough about the zip format to say exactly what's one wrong when zipping his files, but something has.

Originally Posted by Jellby

That mimetype includes a line termination (DOS style), that is an error, the mimetype file should not have any line-end, it should be just 20 bytes long (yours is 22).

[GijsZePa]

Thanks for your investigation. It's driving me nuts.
I'm gonna post a question in the ionic zip library group (the guys who build the .net zip dll) to get some answers...

I still want to automate this task without using some thirdparty command line ziptools..

Regards !!

Martin

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That's not his problem. If I unzip and then re-zip his file, it passes epubcheck.

The problem is the zip format.

Yes, you are right. Running "zip -Tv" said:

zip info: mimetype has 36 bytes of extra data
zip info: META-INF/ has 36 bytes of extra data
zip info: META-INF/container.xml has 36 bytes of extra data
zip info: OPS/ has 36 bytes of extra data
zip info: OPS/011252A.png has 36 bytes of extra data
zip info: OPS/011252B.png has 36 bytes of extra data
[...]

though the final test result is OK. Ark says the mimetype file is stored with no compression, so that part is OK too.

[GijsZePa]

Thank you all for pointing me into the right direction:

The problem is solved with the help of the programmer of the DotNet Zip Library.

"By default, Zip entries created by DotNetZip will include extra data, for the timestamp on the file. This data will appear in the zip file immediately after the filename, and immediately before the file content. Normally this is tolerated by zip tools that read the files. In some cases it is not. To turn off the timestamp, set EmitTimesInWindowsFormatWhenSaving to false, on the ZipEntry. This would be (e.EmitTimesInWindowsFormatWhenSaving = false"

That will eliminate the extra data between the filename and the file content.
"

It worked and the .epub is validated OK ...

Thank you all very much for helping me solve the puzzle !

Martin

[Amit Dey]

i have got some error container.xml missing in the meta-inf and also mimetype is miss

[subhash4d1]

First make a zip of mimetype file then add ur all files/folders in the zip. Or provide me your sample ePub in "hello_subhash@yahoo.com". I will fix the error then you can compare zipping properties and implement.

Originally Posted by Jellby

As the error says, the mimetype file has to be the first file in the zip, and must be stored without compression.

What I do (on linux) is create the zip/epub file in two steps. First create the zip only with mimetype, without compression:

zip -0 file.epub mimetype

Then add the rest of the files with maximum compression:

zip -9 -r file.epub META-INF OEBPS

You can probably do the same with Winzip or similar.

[Lucas Malor]

Excuse me for necromancy, I've found this article googling and it solved my problem

A more simple way to zip the epub is:

zip -r -X file.epub mimetype *

or better

zip -X file.epub mimetype
zip -r file.epub * -x "mimetype"