How to create a proper ePub Zip file on the Mac

Question

Level 1

117 points

How to create a proper ePub Zip file on the Mac

I need to zip my iBook content with two critical requirements:

1) the first file must be the "mimetype" file (my ZipIt utility wants to reorder files, alpha, by name, rather than retaining the order that files are added into the archive).

2) that first file must NOT be compressed; the remaining files are to be compressed.

I did find one discussion on the web that says that the Applescript below will do it ... but I don't know applescript syntax and when I tried to create a script file it did not like anything that I substituted between the quotes.

=============================
zip -X0 "full path to new epub file" mimetype

and

zip -rDX9 "full path to new epub file" * -x "*.DS_Store" -x mimetype
=============================

Thanks in advance!!

Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.4), iPhones, iPods, iPad, MacBook Pro (10.5), PB G4 (10.4)

Posted on Jul 31, 2010 10:05 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 2, 2010 2:52 AM in response to keriah

That is not Applescript. It is a Shell Script, for use from Terminal. However someone has probably placed the appropriate zip commands in an Applescript application, so a search would be worthwhile.

Your ePub also has to follow a bunch of other rules (valid XHTML 1.1 files, various XML files, etc). Check it with ePubCheck (online).

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Answer 2

Aug 4, 2010 7:27 PM in response to keriah

Having run into this situation before, i found a wonderful little program that handles this part for you. Simply drop the folder onto it, and it will create the ePub archive for you.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/attachment.php?s=89b1023f21f627cdd15f2a2e67e501 0a&attachmentid=36026&d=1253223157

As always, be sure to test your ePub file before submission.

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Answer 3

keriah Author

Level 1

117 points

Aug 5, 2010 5:53 AM in response to Jayson Kish

Thanks! Works like a charm.

Keri

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Answer 4

Aug 8, 2010 1:24 AM in response to keriah

Sigil is a basic open-source app for creating epub files from scratch/text/HTML/epub. While the HTML itself sometimes need tweaking Sigil does a great job of looking after all the packaging.

http://code.google.com/p/sigil/

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Answer 5

Jun 11, 2011 10:04 PM in response to keriah

Unfortunately, I don't believe the above zip commands are a complete solution. Files that possess a resource fork, but not a data fork, end up being copied to your EPUB without the necessary resource fork resulting in a zero length file. While this won't effect most books, it will definitely impact books that embed certain Mac fonts that choose to store all their data in the resource fork.

Looks like we need different options for the zip command.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,526 points

Jun 12, 2011 3:16 AM in response to John Purlia

John Purlia wrote:

certain Mac fonts that choose to store all their data in the resource fork.

Which are those? I thought Apple got rid of them with OS X 10.5 or so.

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Answer 7

Jun 12, 2011 10:23 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Apple did eliminate them, yes, but the Mac OS (and most apps) still support the use of fonts that are contained in font suitcases. These include fonts such as Garamond, Lucida Sans, and Handwriting Dakota.

What I'm not sure of, however, is the ability of iOS on the iPad to handle fonts suitcases. Likewise, I have a feeling that the EPUB standard would frown upon .epub files that contain resource forks. Such files may (untested) work on Apple devices, but would almost assuredly trip up other eReaders.

The most likely solution to the problem I've encountered is to extract the font data from the resource forks and create new data fork only files that contain the fonts I wish to use.

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Answer 8

Nov 12, 2015 7:17 AM in response to Jayson Kish

Hi!

I am new here, I just wanted to tell you the link is not working.

Please, can you re-send it or maybe post other link where I can download the software?

I really need it because I have the same problem with making the ePub file back after unzip it and edit it.

Please

-

Vanessa

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