Spine is empty? - Page 2

Guido Henkel · 02-05-2010, 08:34 PM

Wow, bummer, all support tickets, including their full attachments are actually showing up on Google. I think you should take a look at this, Kovid, and provide a bit more privacy for people submitting tickets, as there might be sensitive information going through the pipe once in a while.

kovidgoyal · 02-05-2010, 11:18 PM

calibre's ticket system needs to be public. I'm not going to change that. If you're concerned about an particular attachment you can request to have it deleted after I've looked at it, or send it via email.

Guido Henkel · 02-06-2010, 02:27 PM

No, I limited the attachment so it's not a big issue, but I was surprised to find it in my Google alerts. I did not expect that.

Argel · 02-10-2010, 09:30 AM

I have a related problem which may point to root of the issue. I too get 'spine is empty' when converting an HTML document to mobi but that's because it is, literally, empty.

Only after the coversion had failed a number of times did I notice that the original HTML document I had imported was zero bytes long in the Calibre library. There was a zip archive with a couple of ancilliary files but the actual document had not been imported.

The original imports perfectly into MobiCreator and the resultant file is no problem for Calibre.

It just looks as if Calibre won't read the HTML file at all for some reason, despite spending a fair time saying it is being added.

kovidgoyal · 02-10-2010, 10:33 AM

There can be various things wrong in an html file that prevent it being processed.

itimpi · 02-10-2010, 12:59 PM

I have found that a common problem with some "HTML" files is that they are missing the enclosing <HTML and </HTML> tags. This can stop calibre importing them correctly.

Argel · 02-11-2010, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

There can be various things wrong in an html file that prevent it being processed.

Not disputed, just saying the 'spine is empty' error may be nothing more complicated than that the HTML file is not readable.

rickhan · 02-14-2011, 06:22 PM

So, if the "Spine is empty" error converting HTML is actually bad HTML, what is the best way to find and fix the error?
BTW, all the HTML that fails to convert is perfectly readable in HTML format and doesn't generate any errors except when converting.
I have about a dozen that fail to convert--rest convert fine, all are readable as HTML.

Starson17 · 02-15-2011, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickhan

I have about a dozen that fail to convert--rest convert fine, all are readable as HTML.

Most browsers do a lot of "Bad HTML" fixup before trying to display a file. Try validating the problematical HTML file at http://validator.w3.org/

webwizard · 02-17-2011, 04:07 PM

Just a quick thought...
Did you try converting them with the "Force use of auto generated table of contents" option selected ? It's in the "Table of contents" page in the conversion options menu.

rickhan · 02-18-2011, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starson17

Most browsers do a lot of "Bad HTML" fixup before trying to display a file. Try validating the problematical HTML file at http://validator.w3.org/

I tried the validator on the html file that failed with 'spine is empty'. It passed just fine.
http://validator.w3.org/
Conversion defaults used in Calibre, no ToC items checked.

Error message from Calibre:
calibre, version 0.7.45
ERROR: Conversion Error: <b>Failed</b>: Convert book 1 of 1 (Harbinger 1 - Starrise at Corrivale)

Convert book 1 of 1 (Harbinger 1 - Starrise at Corrivale)
Processing archive...
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 0.7.45
{'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0.0,
'book_producer': None,
'breadth_first': False,
'change_justification': u'original',
'chapter': u"//*[((name()='h1' or name()='h2') and re:test(., 'chapter|book|section|part\\s+', 'i')) or @class = 'chapter']",
'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak',
'comments': None,
'cover': None,
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': True,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
'disable_font_rescaling': False,
'dont_compress': False,
'dont_package': False,
'enable_heuristics': False,
'extra_css': None,
'fix_indents': True,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'format_scene_breaks': True,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x05938F30>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': True,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': None,
'level2_toc': None,
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': 5.0,
'margin_left': 5.0,
'margin_right': 5.0,
'margin_top': 5.0,
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_levels': 5,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
'mobi_ignore_margins': False,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_inline_navbars': True,
'no_inline_toc': False,
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.KindleOutput object at 0x0593E270>,
'page_breaks_before': u"//*[name()='h1' or name()='h2']",
'personal_doc': u'[PDOC]',
'prefer_author_sort': False,
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'pretty_print': False,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': 'c:\\users\\rickha~1.tir\\appdata\\local\\temp\\ca libre_0.7.45_tmp__amihi\\calibre_0.7.45_0hsvkb.opf ',
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'renumber_headings': True,
'replace_scene_breaks': u'',
'rescale_images': False,
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'sr1_replace': None,
'sr1_search': None,
'sr2_replace': None,
'sr2_search': None,
'sr3_replace': None,
'sr3_search': None,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'toc_title': None,
'unwrap_lines': True,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: HTML Input running
on c:\users\rickha~1.tir\appdata\local\temp\calibre_0 .7.45_tmp__amihi\calibre_0.7.45_auowru_plumber_arc hive\Diane Duane - Harbinger 1 - Starrise at Corrivale (v1.0).opf
Parsing all content...
Manifest item 'Duane, Diane - Harbinger 1 - Starrise at Corrivale (v1.0).htm' not found
Manifest item '~Cover01.jpg' not found
Manifest item '~Cover02.jpg' not found
Manifest item '~Cover03.jpg' not found
Manifest item '~Cover04.jpg' not found
Manifest item '~Cover05.jpg' not found
Spine item 'Duane,_Diane_-_Harbinger_1_-_Starrise_at_Corrivale_(v1.0)' not found
Python function terminated unexpectedly
Spine is empty (Error Code: 1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site.py", line 103, in main
File "site.py", line 85, in run_entry_point
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\ipc\worker.py", line 110, in main
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 31, in gui_convert_override
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 25, in gui_convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 904, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 204, in __call__
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\html\input.py", line 299, in convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 1042, in create_oebbook
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\reader.py", line 72, in __call__
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\reader.py", line 601, in _all_from_opf
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\reader.py", line 296, in _spine_from_opf
calibre.ebooks.oeb.base.OEBError: Spine is empty

kovidgoyal · 02-18-2011, 02:25 AM

The zip file you're converting has an OPF with a spine that points to a non existent file.

I'd suggest you extract the html file from the zip file and re-add the html to calibre, then convert the newly added html.

rickhan · 02-18-2011, 01:27 PM

Ok, re-adding just the html file worked. I'm betting that is the problem with most of my conversion failures.
Is there any better way of handling that in the conversion script? Or, at least, an error message that was more user friendly?
In my code, I just exit and continue when an error isn't fatal to the whole process.

Or maybe an opf file repair utility?
I'm looking at about 125+ files that didn't convert, and no easy way to fix that won't take a lot of time.

kovidgoyal · 02-18-2011, 01:34 PM

That error is fatal, the OPF file inside your zip file was broken.

rickhan · 02-18-2011, 03:48 PM

Seems to be a common problem, with over 125+ broken opf files.
Current steps to fix:
1. extract files from RAR
2. Re-add book in Calibre
3. fix title/author/author sort/series/cover/meta data
4. convert book
5. delete old version
Very painful, especially since it could be automated. Any way to kick off an auto-repair of the opf then retry?

I tried deleting the opf file in the rar archive. That got rid of the errors, but the chapters and toc were all jumbled in order in the new mobi file.

02-18-2011, 01:27 PM	#28
rickhan Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: PC	Ok, re-adding just the html file worked. I'm betting that is the problem with most of my conversion failures. Is there any better way of handling that in the conversion script? Or, at least, an error message that was more user friendly? In my code, I just exit and continue when an error isn't fatal to the whole process. Or maybe an opf file repair utility? I'm looking at about 125+ files that didn't convert, and no easy way to fix that won't take a lot of time. Last edited by rickhan; 02-18-2011 at 01:47 PM.

02-18-2011, 03:48 PM	#30
rickhan Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: PC	Seems to be a common problem, with over 125+ broken opf files. Current steps to fix: 1. extract files from RAR 2. Re-add book in Calibre 3. fix title/author/author sort/series/cover/meta data 4. convert book 5. delete old version Very painful, especially since it could be automated. Any way to kick off an auto-repair of the opf then retry? I tried deleting the opf file in the rar archive. That got rid of the errors, but the chapters and toc were all jumbled in order in the new mobi file. Last edited by rickhan; 02-18-2011 at 05:09 PM.

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02-05-2010, 08:34 PM	#16
Guido Henkel Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: mobi, epub, lit	Wow, bummer, all support tickets, including their full attachments are actually showing up on Google. I think you should take a look at this, Kovid, and provide a bit more privacy for people submitting tickets, as there might be sensitive information going through the pipe once in a while.

02-05-2010, 11:18 PM	#17
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre's ticket system needs to be public. I'm not going to change that. If you're concerned about an particular attachment you can request to have it deleted after I've looked at it, or send it via email.

02-06-2010, 02:27 PM	#18
Guido Henkel Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: mobi, epub, lit	No, I limited the attachment so it's not a big issue, but I was surprised to find it in my Google alerts. I did not expect that.

02-10-2010, 09:30 AM	#19
Argel Opinionated [but right] Posts: 276 Karma: 1412 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: UK Device: Cybook Gen3, PRS 505, Kindle International, HTC Desire	I have a related problem which may point to root of the issue. I too get 'spine is empty' when converting an HTML document to mobi but that's because it is, literally, empty. Only after the coversion had failed a number of times did I notice that the original HTML document I had imported was zero bytes long in the Calibre library. There was a zip archive with a couple of ancilliary files but the actual document had not been imported. The original imports perfectly into MobiCreator and the resultant file is no problem for Calibre. It just looks as if Calibre won't read the HTML file at all for some reason, despite spending a fair time saying it is being added.

02-10-2010, 10:33 AM	#20
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	There can be various things wrong in an html file that prevent it being processed.

02-10-2010, 12:59 PM	#21
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	I have found that a common problem with some "HTML" files is that they are missing the enclosing <HTML and </HTML> tags. This can stop calibre importing them correctly.

02-14-2011, 06:22 PM	#23
rickhan Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: PC	So, if the "Spine is empty" error converting HTML is actually bad HTML, what is the best way to find and fix the error? BTW, all the HTML that fails to convert is perfectly readable in HTML format and doesn't generate any errors except when converting. I have about a dozen that fail to convert--rest convert fine, all are readable as HTML.

02-17-2011, 04:07 PM	#25
webwizard Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kindle DX	Just a quick thought... Did you try converting them with the "Force use of auto generated table of contents" option selected ? It's in the "Table of contents" page in the conversion options menu.

02-18-2011, 02:25 AM	#27
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The zip file you're converting has an OPF with a spine that points to a non existent file. I'd suggest you extract the html file from the zip file and re-add the html to calibre, then convert the newly added html.

02-18-2011, 01:34 PM	#29
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	That error is fatal, the OPF file inside your zip file was broken.

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