Bundle/integrate/link to ebookmaker

[windymilla]

Not sure what will be possible/practical/best. It feels like it ought to be easier to integrate ebookmaker, given that it too is written in python, but that depends on a bunch of stuff I know nothing about related to how ebookmaker is structured. So, there are a few options:

1. Import ebookmaker as a module somehow, and treat it like we do the new pptxt.
2. Install ebookmaker as part of the GG installation, then run it as an external python tool
3. Continue with an ebookmaker.exe on Windows, like GG1, and use method 2 for other platforms, or leave it to the user to sort out.
4. Don't bundle/integrate - PPer will have to use online ebookmaker - we could have a menu option that links to the ebookmaker webpage instead

Consider whether we should include the W3C Epubcheck tool, like GG1 has.

[windymilla]

My initial thought is that option 4 doesn't sound too bad. It has several advantages, including

• online version is always up to date
• reduce size & complication of GG installation
• ebookmaker output does not provide "jump to error" links like home-grown tools
• PPers need to do online ebookmaker check anyway, because the cached output text has to be included when submitting the upload to PG

[srjfoo]

I tend to agree that option 4 sounds good. I realize that some PPers like to be able to do everything after they download the PP files offline, but the likelihood that the included version would be stale within a day or three of a GG2 release is pretty high.

[tangledhelix]

I also agree about option 4 (and it's what I do myself). Two reasons:

1. Ebookmaker install always seemed to break for me; I gave up trying to maintain it. I'm probably not the only one.
2. Ultimately, our "customer," the PPer, is responsible to produce text and HTML; it's PG who creates the ebook files, and regenerates them periodically. And as we know, there's an effort to produce other formats like PDFs from the same source material. None of this is produced or uploaded by the PP'er directly.

So I think it's appropriate to point to the PG tooling for this. A motivated PP'er can always install Ebookmaker on their own, of course.

[tangledhelix]

Revisiting this thought and I'm even more on board for option 4 than before after looking a bit harder. The notion that "ebookmaker is Python" is only true on the surface. Online ebookmaker is doing a number of things, including:

• Generating Kindle files (requires Calibre)
• EpubCheck (Java)
• Nu validator (available in pip as Python but it still seems to require Java)

Could we install only ebookmaker and ignore the other stuff... yes. Is it completely valid to punt and say "Use online ebookmaker" ? Yes... and that's where I'll put my vote, for whatever it counts...

[srjfoo]

I'm entirely on board with closing as "not planned" (or the equivalent).