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The Arch wiki explains that Zathura needs the package zathura-pdf-mupdf for EPUB support.

And this thread seems to confirm it works on Ubuntu too.

So I have installed the package thanks to the PPA mentioned in the AskUbuntu post:

$ dpkg -s zathura-pdf-mupdf | grep Status
Status: install ok installed

$ zathura --version
zathura 0.4.3
girara 0.3.2 (runtime: 0.3.2)
(plugin) pdf-mupdf (0.3.4) (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/zathura/libpdf-mupdf.so)

And downloaded an example .epub file "Alice in Wonderland" from here.

As you can see below, the file seems to be correctly recognized as an EPUB by my system (as listed here) :

$ xdg-mime query filetype aliceDynamic.epub 
application/epub+zip

However, zathura looks like it doesn't recognize it as such, and is unable to read the file, even with the zathura-pdf-mupdf package :

$ zathura aliceDynamic.epub 
error: Unknown file type: 'application/zip'

Do you know what could be the issue ?

System: Ubuntu 18.04.

2
  • Are you running a terminal from within Emacs? It would be worth trying to open your EPUB from a regular terminal (gnome terminal, etc.).
    – Marian Minar
    Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 21:06
  • No, this is only an indicator in the prompt that readline is in Emacs mode (the default, which you are on if you have not set -o vi)
    – Atralb
    Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 22:45

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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The epub file is a zip archive with many files inside. This is a very common design choice. For example, Java JAR and .odt files are also a zip file.

A solution to fix, is to convert the adobe file EPUB to a EPUB that is readable by Zathura.

I tested with calibre, so you need:

  1. import the adobe version into the Calibre library
  2. convert
  3. save to disk

or look in the folder Calibre Library in your home dir. You will an epub file and the original epub.

This solution was tested on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with same packages you propose.

5
  • I can open the EPUB from zathura without converting.
    – Marian Minar
    Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 21:07
  • which version of zathura ? on which version of ubuntu ?
    – EchoMike444
    Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 21:18
  • Can you explain what is this supposed to be changing ? How would zathura behave better with this "new epub" ? What is the rationale behind it ? My zathura can't read any epub as is (I tested several files). Or is it just an empirical law you just happened to come across ?
    – Atralb
    Commented Jun 21, 2020 at 3:48
  • @MarianMinar So you will come to "brag" that it works for you but not give a single information on your system ? Do you understand what stackexchange is supposed to be ?
    – Atralb
    Commented Jun 21, 2020 at 3:50
  • @Atrab i tested on ubuntu 18.04 with you book by installing packages from the repo you gave
    – EchoMike444
    Commented Jun 21, 2020 at 4:00

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