gravel

README

gravel

Epub metadata is an excellent idea suffering from terrible execution by quite a sizeable portion of publishers. One of its most important fields, ISBN, can be found in a variety of places; sometimes it is only mentioned in the text itself.

This is a very simple tool that looks everywhere in the Epub file. Once the ISBN is found, it can also automatically open its GoodReads page.

usage

$ gravel -h:

     __   __             ___      
    / _  |__)  /\  \  / |__  |
    \__> |  \ /~~\  \/  |___ |___


Description:
    
    gravel will try to find the ISBN from an epub, and optionally open its GoodReads page.
    
Usage:
    gravel [-g]  <EPUB>...

Options:
    -g                     Open the GoodReads page, if an ISBN is found.
    -h, --help             Show this screen.
    --version              Show version.

If you have a Goodreads API Key (and you can get one here), you can set the GR_API_KEY environment variable to have gravel help you choose when an Epub contains mentions of several ISBNs:

$ env GR_API_KEY=THEACTUALKEY gravel *.epub

If gravel finds more than one candidate, it will provide a choice.

• If the Goodreads API key is set, each candidate will have a quick description (after GR:) of the book which it refers
• Each candidate will have a list of places where it was found:
  • OPF or NCX means the candidate was found in a relatively nominal location in the metadata.
  • Other files are also analyzed (filenames & contents) and can contain ISBNs.
• Each candidate will provide some context of where it was found (...context...). All of this combined should help you find the right candidate.

example

(environment contains the Goodreads API key)

failure is always an option

Sometimes nothing is found. Some epubs really are awfully made. If, however, you can find a rogue epub that you are sure contains a valid ISBN number, somewhere, that gravel does not detect, please let me know.