Recreating my Library on my server takes weeks now

[mohataj]

There is my huge library on my server connected via NFS.

OK, I know, don't use a network storage for your calibre library.

It killed the database once or twice a year, recreating with calibre on my macbook took 2-3 days - that's OK and adding new books worked flawless afterwards.

Now I'm at 4% after 3 days with calibre 2.31.0. (3rd run) - this will take months from now on.

Is there any way to recreate the database using calibre-server on my linux server?

So there is a faster access to my ebooks to a local harddisk than gbit ethernet?

Is there a way to connect the local calibre on my macbook to calibre-server to add new books?

Is there a way, like a watch folder, to add books on a headless calibre-server on my linux server?

My current situation is - there is no calibre-server running on my server.
There is my eBooks-folder on my server served by NFS to my macbook.
Calibre on my macbook is the only way to manage and add the ebooks.
Bicbucstriim http://projekte.textmulch.de/bicbucstriim/ as I understand it "reads" the database, is the access point for my iPhone, Android, S60, symbian, maemo, nook, kindle, readr and is working really well to transfer my ebooks.

[theducks]

Investigate the CLI options and run those from a (server) Terminal session


Use you MAC (standalone) to prepare Books for transfer. Cleanup edits, Polish...

Then Export the books and place the clean EPUBs into the Auto Add folder on the server

[eschwartz]

calibre's Auto-add folder on the server only works if you have the calibre GUI running (headless).

I suggest exporting books to a temporary folder on the server (shared over NAS) and using a cron/systemd job backed by inotify to add all books added to that folder, and clean them up afterward.

calibre has many useful CLI tools you probably want `calibredb restore_database` to fix the remote library, and `calibredb add --one-book-per-directory` to add books exported from calibre on your Mac.

[mohataj]

OK, calibre-server --with-library=/mnt/3TB/eBooks shows - nothing, there is even no load, is this command indexing my folder?

"calibre's Auto-add folder on the server only works if you have the calibre GUI running (headless)"

this is exactly what I want - how do I do this?

[kovidgoyal]

calibredb restore_database

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by mohataj

OK, calibre-server --with-library=/mnt/3TB/eBooks shows - nothing, there is even no load, is this command indexing my folder?

Well, if you were trying to launch the Content Server, that would totally do it.

But if you were trying to fix the library, following my advice by using the `calibredb restore_database` command, then the best way to start would be to reread my post. And read the manual: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/gene...calibredb.html

"calibre's Auto-add folder on the server only works if you have the calibre GUI running (headless)"

this is exactly what I want - how do I do this?

First you have to make sure your server has all the X11 libraries installed. Then you additionally make sure you have the X Virtual Framebuffer installed, and then you run calibre inside xvfb.
Sit back. Watch contentedly as your server's RAM and cpu get flushed down the toilet because you didn't follow my advice and use the CLI tools instead.


This is exactly what you DON'T want!!! Running GUI programs headless while piped to a dummy (virtual) screen is a weapon of last resort, for programs which have no sane way of being used in a server environment!
calibre, fortunately, has the backend implementation necessary to be used headless, without the GUI.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

calibre's Auto-add folder on the server only works if you have the calibre GUI running (headless).

I suggest exporting books to a temporary folder on the server (shared over NAS) and using a cron/systemd job backed by inotify to add all books added to that folder, and clean them up afterward.

calibre has many useful CLI tools you probably want `calibredb restore_database` to fix the remote library, and `calibredb add --one-book-per-directory` to add books exported from calibre on your Mac.

What I would suggest doing, again, is cleaning up the books the way you want it on your Mac, then using Save-to-disk to save them in one-book-per-folder layout.
Save them inside a folder on your server, e.g. /tmp/calibre-intake/

Then adding them to your linux server using the CLI as I said above.

calibredb add -r --one-book-per-directory /tmp/calibre-intake/
rm -rf /path/to/ebook-folder/*

You can automate that in a script, which uses inotify to tell when the /tmp/calibre-intake/ folder changes:

while inotifywait -e create /tmp/calibre-intake; do
    calibredb add -r --one-book-per-directory /tmp/calibre-intake/
    rm -rf /tmp/calibre-intake/*
done

You can also convert that to a system service (now I think about it, NOT as a cron job). How to do this will depend on what init system your server uses.

[mohataj]

thanks for your replies, recreating the database by commandline took me 8 days now and it's reliable and nice to see the progress.

Is there any way to use calibre with a write protected metadata.db?

So I have a read only calibre for use with calibre companion.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by mohataj

thanks for your replies, recreating the database by commandline took me 8 days now and it's reliable and nice to see the progress.

Is there any way to use calibre with a write protected metadata.db?

So I have a read only calibre for use with calibre companion.

I do not believe so - I am reasonably certain that the main Calibre program fails to run if the database is set read-only.

Calibre server does not require write access.

[eschwartz]

calibre-server will only ever write to the database when performing an automatic schema upgrade after a calibre update changes the layout of the database... which happens only rarely.

If you really want to prevent the database from being modified, you could always use the environment variable "CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH" pointed at a temporary copy which can be trashed.
Don't modify any metadata while you do this calibre might lose track of your books!