This is the GitHub repository for ebookbuild which is a Python 3 script that can create compliant EPUB 2.0.1 files, with plans to support EPUB 3.3 in the future.
The sample file included is the free documentation as required by GNU GPLv3 to get you started and familiar with how ebookbuild works.
I have plans to write a premium how-to guide which goes into much more detail.
ebookbuild is stylistically written in lowercase and with a monospaced font to resemble a Bash command.
You can use ebookbuild on Microsoft Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux. My approach to e-book development was designed to be as cross-platform as possible.
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is available for Microsoft Windows 10 and 11. Skip this step if you are not using Microsoft Windows and instead using a Mac or GNU/Linux.
Try this guide from Microsoft: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
You will also need a GNU/Linux distribution, I recommend using Ubuntu which can be installed from the Microsoft Store.
You will need a text editor and a web browser. You can use Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, but I recommend the Brave Browser:
a. Install a text editor – Text editors are a matter of personal preference, though I recommend Visual Studio Code as my go-to text editor of choice. However, the ideal text editor should be designed for programming and have built-in syntax highlighting for these file types: .xhtml, .css, .json, .xml, .py
b. Install a Git client (optional) – This is optional but I do recommend using GitHub Desktop and a Git hosting provider such as GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket to host the files, keep track of changes and easily revert changes if things go awry.
c. Install the Brave Browser (optional) – This is also optional, but Brave has similar functionality to Chrome along with additional features and an emphasis on privacy.
These are required to make ebookbuild work though I do try to minimise external dependencies:
a. Download and install Python 3.12 – on Microsoft Windows this can be done by downloading Python 3.12 from the official Python website. In WSL Ubuntu, use the following command sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade python3 to ensure the latest version.
b. Install the OpenJDK – this is to run epubcheck which is a Java application
c. Download the latest epubcheck – epubcheck is provided from the official W3C website and is used to ensure .epub file compliance with the standard. I recommend using the latest version as this GitHub repository may fall behind.
a. Open Terminal and change directory to the e-book folder - the command should look like cd e-book
b. Run ebookbuild and check the .epub file's compliance - I use this command to build a new .epub and run epubcheck all at once python3 ebookbuild.py && java -jar epubcheck.jar epubfile.epub
ebookbuild generates checksums for the output EPUB using the MD5, SHA-256 and SHA-512 hash algorithms using the built-in Python 3 module hashlib. This can be useful for verifying the EPUB file's integrity and to catch potential leakers of advance reader copies (ARCs).
Also, some piracy websites allow searching by MD5 which would heavily imply the file was uploaded directly by the recipient.
ebookbuild is designed to be always free. Both free as in freedom and free as in beer, so it is licenced under the strong copyleft GNU General Public License 3 (GPLv3). It's also free of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), so I encourage the promotion and discussion of this tool in addition to its continued development.
epubcheck is included within this repository.