Ebook-convert install problems

ebook-convert is an app that can convert between different text format extensions, e.g., .epub to .mobi, .mobi to .text, etc. I found lots of web pages that explain this. ebook-tools is an app in pacman. I found one web page that claimed ebooks-tools contains ebook-convert.

I installed & uninstalled ebook-tools twice, (once via pacman gui, once via pacman cli). I uninstalled it because I couldn’t find ebook-convert in terminal. When I entered “ebook-convert” or “ebook-tools” into terminal, then terminal replied: “command not found.” Also terminal could not display ebook-convert man, help, or info, and I tried all these commands repeatedly.

Calibre (in pacman) does contain ebook-convert, according to many web pages. But my experience in the past with Calibre was bad. It was difficult or impossible to stop Calibre from reorganizing every ebook in my computer. I understand that I can install Calibre and use ebook-convert from the cli, without open the Calibre gui. I may try this if I can not successfully install ebook-convert from ebook-tools pacman.

I’ve used linuxmint-cinnamon about 7 years, but manjaro-cinnamon only about a month. I’m not a programmer, and I don’t understand the cli very well. But I’ve installed other apps via pacman, so I think I’m not making a simple mistake during the install.

My Questions:

  1. Why can’t I install ebook-tools & ebook-convert from pacman? Is there some other application I need to install in order to install ebook-tools?
  2. Does ebook-tools in pacman contain ebook-convert, and if so then is the ebook-convert in ebook-tools the same as the ebook-convert in Calibre?
  3. If I use Calibre only from the cli, and I don’t open the Calibre gui, then will Calibre still attempt to reoganize all my ebooks?

Why are you asking questions after you already stated you found the answer to them? It would seem the better question would be, "Is there a way to have the ebook-covert functionality without installing calibre? Again, you already discovered the answer.

To find what package provides a binary, you can use this command:

❯ pacman -F ebook-convert
community/calibre 5.23.0-2
    usr/bin/ebook-convert
    usr/share/bash-completion/completions/ebook-convert

As far as #3, there’s only one way to find out. :wink:

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