May 2020 - gutvol-d - lists.pglaf.org

Re: [gutvol-d] Using ebookmaker to create PDFs for print on demand publishing
by nicestep＠gmail.com 05 Jun '20

05 Jun '20

Eric, I have experimented with .tex and looked at the source code for ebookmaker and have concluded that updating that code to produce print- on-demand ready files would be more trouble than it is worth. This afternoon I took one of my own RST donations, ran it against rst2xetex.py and with about a half hour of simple edits I made a .tex file that produced a PDF that met all of Kindle Direct Publishing's requirements and looked great. Any .tex file I could produce with a modified ebookmaker would still need a few manual edits to get ready for publication, so I think there would be greater benefit if I just taught people to do what I just learned to do. I understand that RST is not a very popular way to prepare PG donations but I think it would be if more people knew about it. You do have a very short article on RST in the Wiki but it is hard to find, even harder if you don't know what RST is and just want some tips on how to do a PG donation with less work. I think I could write something more fleshed out that actually sells the idea of using RST. I could also do a second article on using RST files for print on demand. I did my first donation back in 2011 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36378/36378-h/36378-h.htm and discovered RST the following year, after doing several books the hard way. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39442 James Simmons On Mon, 2020-05-25 at 09:55 -0500, nicestep(a)gmail.com wrote: > Eric, > I'm going to try publishing my book with the .tex file I created > manually. That way I'll have a good Tex file to use as an example for > generating automatically. So far it turns out there is more to Tex > than I thought there was. > I have a fourth volume of Ramayana to finish, so I'll probably do > that before I work on updating ebookmaker. I'll create my own branch > to work in. > I agree that I might be the last user of RST, but there is no reason > it has to stay that way. I just looked at the PG wiki pages and there > are no articles on RST there at all. I can't even remember how I > found out about it. My first RST donation was done back in 2012. > There is other information that I don't see on the Wiki either. For > example, articles talk about getting old books from secondhand shops, > but I don't see any mention of archive.org and the fact that they > have page images and OCR'ed text for tons of books. > I could contribute a Wiki article on RST if you like. I have some > experience writing about e-books from the One Laptop Per Child > project: > https://archive.org/details/EBookEnlightenment/mode/2up > James Simmons > > On Sun, 2020-05-24 at 21:38 -0400, Eric Hellman wrote: > > OK, that's interesting; I'm not sure why they didn't show up on my > > spreadsheet. > > I'm in a position now where I can fix things at PG and move them > > forward; don't hesitate to contact me if you think you can help. > > Everyone wants to do the right thing, but the code and especially > > the workflow is from another era. The ebookmaker software is in > > relatively good shape now. > > > > Eric > > > > > On May 24, 2020, at 6:24 PM, nicestep(a)gmail.com wrote: > > > > > > Eric, > > > I would question your statement that the most recent RST sourced > > > book is 5 years old. I donated four of them more recently than > > > that: > > > https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61937 > > > https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57265 > > > https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57826 > > > https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60188 > > > I have done PG donations before discovering RST, but I would not > > > go back. The books I've been doing lately have hundreds of > > > footnotes. RST makes this tolerable. I think if more people knew > > > it existed more would use it. It saves a great deal of work. > > > I'll have to look at the code again to see how docutils is being > > > subclassed. I hadn't noticed that. I've done Python programming > > > in the past, for the One Laptop Per Child project, but I'm rusty > > > at it. > > > James Simmons > > > > > > > > > On Sun, 2020-05-24 at 10:09 -0400, Eric Hellman wrote: > > > > The ebookmaker rst code is basically subclassed docutils - so > > > > deeply that upgrades to docutils broke ebookmaker and I had to > > > > fix it. My impression is that Marcello, the original author of > > > > ebookmaker, was a contributor to docutils. > > > > There are 485 RST-sourced books in PG, the most recent is 5 > > > > years old. > > > > > > > > the intermediate tex files generated by ebookmaker during rst > > > > processing are accessible but not exposed on the pg website. > > > > For example: > > > > http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/48620/pg48620.tex > > > > > > > > In the rest of the world, there's been a lot more development > > > > of rst-ish tools outside of rst. Github flavored Markdown is > > > > the most widely used, but even asciidoc has found some adoption > > > > in the publishing industry. Gitbooks is a rather nice markdown- > > > > based book generator. > > > > > > > > By all means, if you can make improvements to the ebookmaker > > > > code, submit a PR on github. No one is working on anything > > > > related to tex or rst. > > > > https://github.com/gutenbergtools/ebookmaker A "PODWriter" > > > > class might be what you're thinking about. > > > > > > > > Eric > > > > > > > > > On May 24, 2020, at 8:51 AM, nicestep(a)gmail.com wrote: > > > > > > > > > > My first impression of the PDF's created by ebookmaker was > > > > > that with a little work they might be suitable for print on > > > > > demand publishing like I have done several times with Create > > > > > Space. I have spent a few hours installing ebookmaker on my > > > > > own computer and experimenting with Tex and the attached > > > > > files represent the kind of thing that ebookmaker might be > > > > > modified to produce. They are not perfect, but I think they > > > > > are good enough to criticize. > > > > > > > > > > Some observations: > > > > > > > > > > 1. The Tex file was created by running my original RST file > > > > > against both ebookmaker and rst2xetex.py. The two files that > > > > > were produced were combined to produce the Tex file attached. > > > > > Rst2xetex.py does not understand the custom RST elements PG > > > > > uses so I had to make a version of the RST file without them > > > > > to get rst2xetex to run properly. > > > > > 2. The output of rst2xetex was actually closer to what I > > > > > wanted than what ebookmaker produced. Ebookmaker does a table > > > > > of contents that is just links with no page numbers, and the > > > > > headings are not regular headings and subheadings that Tex > > > > > uses. Rst2xetex gave me regular headings and subheadings that > > > > > could create the TOC I wanted. I had to run xelatex against > > > > > the Tex file twice to create the PDF with a TOC. > > > > > 3. I think that a Tex file is a more useful output for > > > > > ebookmaker than a finished PDF. Create Space wants you to > > > > > have ISBN and ISBN-13 numbers on the Verso, so having a Tex > > > > > file to edit is easier than trying to edit a PDF. Also, PG > > > > > has a lot of short stories that could be combined to create > > > > > anthologies and that would be easier with Tex files. > > > > > 4. Looking at the code for ebookmaker it looks like some of > > > > > it might have been adapted from code written for docutils. > > > > > Some of the code is clear enough, and some is not. > > > > > > > > > > James Simmons > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > >

2 1

go to hellman
by bowerbird 29 May '20

29 May '20

it sure is entertaining to me that,here in the hellish spring of 2020,the project gutenberg listserve isdiscussing how to make a .pdf tosend to a kindle from a p.g. text. because i was writing softwarefor a number of years to do that,and promulgating it right here,on this very p.g. listserve, andnobody seemed to be interested,except to shoot me out of the sky. maybe you remember those days.starting about 2000, went on a while. so yes, i subsequently went away. didn't seem to be any reason to stay. google had stolen the e-book thunder. and michael hart died. plus i was saddened that everyonerunning the show here seemed towant to run his baby into the ground.(congratulations!, y'all succeeded!the profile of project gutenberghasn't been lower since 1989!) and i got tired of fighting the idiots.(as if that battle has ever stopped;the chief idiot is in the white house.) *** so, let me now speak with the pair ofnon-idiots in this conversation here-- james simmons and eric hellman. james, you'd just started to appeararound the time i was leaving, buti remember you from a few threads.congratulations for sticking with it.i could explain the reasons why p.g.went with r.s.t., but they don't matter.the light-markup wars are over now,with markdown the declared winner.but books themselves are a lost cause,so the formats mean next to nothing. eric, remember your column from 2009?the one you wrote about me, where youcalled me "impolite" and a "troll"? yeah.those were the good old days, you bet. here's the link for y'all, have fun with it: https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2009/09/public-identity-and-bowerbird-pr… did you ever figure out my "real name"?or did you finally realize i was correct,and nobody would even care about it?reality is a really slippery beast, ain't it?took some russian bots to teach all of us. anyway, i just visited that column again.first with my iphone, then with my macusing safari (private mode, and regular),and then with chrome, and then firefox.so if you wanna do more sleuthing, go! with the advanced tracking available now,you should be able to write my biography. or, you know, you could just call me up-- same number i have had since 2007,that's 310-980-9202 -- but hey, sendan e-mail heads-up with your number,because i'm not answering all calls now;spammers make that painful any more. and especially if you're in santa monica;as i told you the last time you were here,i'll buy the beer and we can laugh at shit. that offer goes out to anyone. except the idiots. you know who you are. love and kisses, kids. oh, and stay safe, there's a really bad buggoing around these days, have you heard? -bowerbird

1 1

Using ebookmaker to create PDFs for print on demand publishing
by nicestep＠gmail.com 24 May '20

24 May '20

My first impression of the PDF's created by ebookmaker was that with a little work they might be suitable for print on demand publishing like I have done several times with Create Space. I have spent a few hours installing ebookmaker on my own computer and experimenting with Tex and the attached files represent the kind of thing that ebookmaker might be modified to produce. They are not perfect, but I think they are good enough to criticize. Some observations: 1. The Tex file was created by running my original RST file against both ebookmaker and rst2xetex.py. The two files that were produced were combined to produce the Tex file attached. Rst2xetex.py does not understand the custom RST elements PG uses so I had to make a version of the RST file without them to get rst2xetex to run properly. 2. The output of rst2xetex was actually closer to what I wanted than what ebookmaker produced. Ebookmaker does a table of contents that is just links with no page numbers, and the headings are not regular headings and subheadings that Tex uses. Rst2xetex gave me regular headings and subheadings that could create the TOC I wanted. I had to run xelatex against the Tex file twice to create the PDF with a TOC. 3. I think that a Tex file is a more useful output for ebookmaker than a finished PDF. Create Space wants you to have ISBN and ISBN-13 numbers on the Verso, so having a Tex file to edit is easier than trying to edit a PDF. Also, PG has a lot of short stories that could be combined to create anthologies and that would be easier with Tex files. 4. Looking at the code for ebookmaker it looks like some of it might have been adapted from code written for docutils. Some of the code is clear enough, and some is not. James Simmons

3 3

Question on PDF conversion in PG epub maker
by nicestep＠gmail.com 24 May '20

24 May '20

I have made some printed books based on Project Gutenberg texts. One example: https://www.amazon.com/Mahabharata-Book-I-Beginning/dp/1492299227/ What I ended up doing was importing the HTML version into Libre Office, saving it in the native format, adding styles, moving footnotes from the back of the texts to the bottoms of pages, etc. It was a lot of tedious work but the results were excellent. I would like to make books like this from my own PG donations, which were done as RST files. I noticed that the PDF generated from my RST was surprisingly good. For one thing, the footnote were already at the bottoms of pages. There were things I didn't like about the PDF, but with a little work whatever generated it might make something suitable for publishing through Create Space, These are the kinds of changes I would make: 1. The page size should be 6" by 9", a standard trade paperback size. 2. The fonts should be larger, maybe 12 pt. I'd like to choose the fonts used, and add custom fonts for title pages, etc. 3. Margins should be suitable for Create Space (or whatever Amazon is calling it now). I program computers for a living, so I could make these changes for myself with a few hints on what software is used to convert the RST to PDF format. I have found a utility that does that: https://rst2pdf.org However, this does not give the result I want. It puts the footnotes at the end of the book, and there are other issues with it. The manual explains how to deal with some of them, but not the footnotes. So I am looking for some explanation of how the PG epub maker does this. Thanks. James Simmons

4 4