Why do we need KSM etc.?

[mercuree]

Hi All,

I am starting a rather ambitious project to add cloud library support to my Kobo Aura Edition 2. I am a software developer (although very heavily on the Microsoft side of things!).

My local library has dropped overdrive support and I want to emulate that functionality with their new provider - if only to try making something new!

I am still waiting for git to clone the official kobo repository (<1mbps ) and I will start by digging around there and reading on the forums.

All that aside, why do all of the apps people are building (koReader, Kobo-UNCaGED etc.) all require KSM or Komon to be launched? Is it impossible to add our applications directly to the kobo OS? i.e. adding a new config section in settings?

So far I see that the kobo repository offers a blackjack and poker example for building one's own applications - so I am assuming that it is "somewhat" encouraged to build one's own applications and therefore it should be possible to run them "natively"?

I have installed koreader and KSM on my aura but I find the UI clunky and the stock Kobo experience just works for me, so I would like to try stick with that wherever possible.

Otherwise if you have any tips for a budding Kobo developer, or feel that I need to change my mindset - please do feel free to set me straight !

Cheers

merc

[sherman]

I seem to recall @NiLuJe and @geek1011 mentioning they were working on something to do with the kobo plugin system, but I don't know where they got with that.

Otherwise, I don't think anyone's figured out how to add stuff to Nickel (the main Kobo application). Those examples you mentioned are VERY old. I believe Nickel has changed a lot since then.

Thus we have the kludges that are fmon/kfmon/KSM...

[NiLuJe]

Yup, that was a couple plugins API ago, and the current one is undocumented, hence the stall on that front . (I worked on the tooling bits, but I don't really do C++, so I can't really help much after that ^^. @geek1011 should be able to tell you more).

Take a look at the age of the stuff you're cloning, you probably don't need 99.99% of it. In fact, I'll save you some trouble: the only thing you might want to take a look at are the kernels. Other than that, possibly the lightly tweaked Qt 5.2 modules (but it won't really tell you much more than: it's Qt 5.2, so, eh), and that's it?

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Yup, that was a couple plugins API ago, and the current one is undocumented, hence the stall on that front . (I worked on the tooling bits, but I don't really do C++, so I can't really help much after that ^^. @geek1011 should be able to tell you more).

That's correct. It's currently mostly figured out, except for the really quirky input (I haven't got around to analyzing the Kobo QPA plugin yet) and the tedious work of writing wrappers around libnickel. The main thing is, NiLuJe's toolchain opened up a whole lot of new possibilities with messing with libnickel, so I got sidetracked with quite a few other stuff (the latest being dictutil). The fact that Kobo reworked the majority of the parts of libnickel we were depending on just after we were almost finished didn't help much, either.

And TBH, I didn't really do much C++ (or Qt for that matter) either until I started patching libnickel et al.

If you have a GitHub account, I'll add you to the repo so you can take a look. There's still quite a few useful tidbits in there. The main reason why it isn't public yet is due to the lack of documentation (it's either scattered in PMs and comments, or in my head) and half-baked build scripts, and that I'm not quite finished with a example which works with most common stuff without segfaulting. I don't really expect to do much with it until the next FW version at the earliest, though.

You might also find my kobo-mods repo interesting, if you're into LD_PRELOAD and linker stuff.

Take a look at the age of the stuff you're cloning, you probably don't need 99.99% of it. In fact, I'll save you some trouble: the only thing you might want to take a look at are the kernels. Other than that, possibly the lightly tweaked Qt 5.2 modules (but it won't really tell you much more than: it's Qt 5.2, so, eh), and that's it?

I second that. And also, don't even try to build the TC as-is unless you're on an ancient Debian/Ubuntu system. It's not worth the hassle. If you want a TC, use NiLuJe's scripts (he did all the hard work last year ), and preferably in a container.

[mercuree]

WOW! You guys are fast! Dunno what TZ you're all in but it's nearly 2am here and I've been bashing my head against the Kobo TC for hours. Making some progress. But now I see it is all for naught. I even set up a fresh Debian box just to get it all going.

I did realise that it was all a bit ancient. I don't think those easter eggs even exist any more. But I figured not much had changed WRT Nickel. Guess I was very wrong!

TBH I have NO experience with kernel development, C++ or QT. But - given working examples learn fast enough by modifying tweaking and observing. Hence trying to get those examples running.

@geek1011 i would appreciate anything you can link me to that may be a better start! As it is my head is way too fuzzy to even type anymore. I will make contact tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for the detailed and considerate responses!

[sherman]

It's mid afternoon for me here in NZ Thinks it's pretty early/late for the others though!

[mercuree]

Originally Posted by mercuree

Hi All,
I have installed koreader and KSM on my aura but I find the UI clunky

I just want to add that I meant no disrespect by this. Without all of your efforts in this regard I don't think I would even have the courage to attempt any of this!

[NiLuJe]

I'm probably in a near-ish TZ as you, but then I'm kind of a night owl .

In the meantime, you can poke around our GitHub profiles (same usernames, except for sherman's which is @shermp on GH. I'd also add @baskerville & @frostschutz to the list), as well as the threads we've started here, that should give you a rough idea of what has been done, as well as what kind of stuff each of us took a shining to .