It's Fourth Dimension To Terminate Unzipping Your Epubs In Addition To Get-Go Using Zero Properly On Macos


I'm no zip guru as well as trust me, if I tin purpose a GUI I volition but I've come upwards to realise that I'm wasting a lot of fourth dimension zipping as well as unzipping, as well as piece BBEdit does a expert project of allowing us to browse EPUBs as well as edit EPUBs, it has its limitations.

Zipping an EPUB

There are a multifariousness of ways y'all mightiness brand it at an EPUB: for example, outputting from an app similar InDesign, or Pages, etc., or creating using the relieve selection inward epubcheck's expanded validation process (thanks to bowerbird for drawing my attending to this; meet also Jorge's comment on this post), or manually zipping.

My way

I ordinarily output from InDesign as well as and thence unzip to brand fixes as well as changes. Currently when I demand to re-zip, this is the code I use:
zip -Xr9D ../book.epub mimetype META-INF OEBPS -x *.DS_Store
Note: it is of import that prior to running this code y'all alter the electrical flow directory y'all are in, thence that y'all are within the principal folder of the EPUB y'all want to zip. The code volition as well as thence create the EPUB precisely exterior the folder, i.e. inward the folder (or directory) that is the bring upwards of the unzipped EPUB folder.

By way of explanation, the next options are selected inward the creation of the EPUB (see zip manual for to a greater extent than details):
-X: Do non relieve extra file attributes (Extended Attributes on OS/2, uid/gid as well as file times on Unix).
-r: Travel the directory construction recursively.
-9: "The maximum compression selection -9 also attempts compression on all files regardless of extension."
-D: Do non create entries inward the zip archive for directories.
An guild for the contents to live on arranged inward is as well as thence provided as well as zip is told to exclude whatever pesky .DS_Store files.

Once is enough

With the initial zipping out of the way, the indicate of this postal service is to terra firma that if y'all output the EPUB from an app as well as demand to edit it, as well as thence y'all should alone ever demand to practise the unzipping once, as well as should never demand to practise a sum re-zipping unless y'all brand about fault using the Terminal.

Simply move along the EPUB as well as the expanded version next as well as equally outlined below you'll live on able to move along them manually synchronized. Likewise if you've constructed the EPUB without the assistance of an EPUB creation app, y'all should alone ever demand to zip into an EPUB packet once.

Adding a file to a zip archive

Rather than unzipping every fourth dimension y'all desire to brand edits as well as rezipping only add together to, or update files within, the EPUB package. This is elementary to practise because the normal conduct of a zip ascendency is to add. But of course of report within an EPUB nosotros move along files inward subfolders as well as y'all volition desire to add, for example, a file to the OEBPS as well as maybe a subfolder of it. No problem:
zip -Xr9D ../book.epub . -i OEBPS/chapter.xhtml
Or if nosotros desire to update an existing file nosotros add together -u for update:
zip -uXr9D ../book.epub . -i OEBPS/chapter.xhtml
And for a folder/directory:
zip -uXr9D ../book.epub . -i OEBPS/* -x *.DS_Store
Remember nosotros are ever running this code from within the top-level folder of the EPUB, the ane that contains the mimetype, the OEBPS as well as the META-INF folders.

Make it slow on yourself: One work of code to update everything

Commonly, piece nosotros tin specify updates to specific files or folders, it's much less problem to run an update across the entire EPUB:
zip -uXr9D ../book.epub -x *.DS_Store
This ascendency volition really chop-chop banking concern agree the differences betwixt the uncompressed folders as well as our zipped EPUB as well as brand changes as well as additions automatically, excluding of course of report those pesky DS_Store files. It is much quicker than overwriting the whole EPUB as well as if at that topographic point are other files that y'all want to exclude, house those afterward the -x equally good for exclusion.

Deleting a file

Deleting a file manually:
zip -d ../book.epub OEBPS/chapter.xhtml

Examining the archive contents

To banking concern agree that all these commands are doing what nosotros desire them to practise nosotros tin test the archive using the unzip program. Don't worry, nosotros don't truly demand to unzip to meet the contents, only run:
unzip -l ../book.epub

But why?

For somebody unused to using the macOS Terminal, this all seems similar a hurting to live on doing, thence why engage alongside the ascendency line? Well, you've in all likelihood been engaging reluctantly anyway alongside zip as well as unzip. But doing it this way agency that y'all tin conduct maintain an uncompressed version of your EPUB that y'all operate on, which makes everything easier: adding files, working on them, as well as previewing them  inward your favourite text editors, browsers, etc.

It also changes your mindset that y'all are working on the compressed EPUB, thence instead of having a growing listing of unzipped versions of your EPUB that y'all lose rail of, or move along dragging to the trash, y'all conduct maintain ane uncompressed EPUB, as well as ane zipped EPUB, as well as y'all operate from there. This also saves time, because compressing as well as decompressing does conduct maintain a few moments. And if something goes wrong, if y'all brand a fault adding, updating or deleting from the EPUB, y'all tin only delete it as well as showtime in ane lawsuit again from scratch. So there's no demand to worry when experimenting alongside zip commands and getting used to the syntax.

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