Calibre 4.0 (calibre-ebook.com)

Article summary

Calibre 4.0 has been released, featuring a rewritten e-book viewer and improved Content server capabilities, including editing metadata, adding/removing books, and converting books to and from various formats. The change from Qt WebKit to Qt WebEngine has entailed a complete rewrite of various parts of Calibre. The new version also includes some minor backwards incompatibilities. The Content server now provides a full-fledged interface to Calibre libraries.

Main themes

• Calibre 4.0 release
• e-book management
• Content server improvements
• Qt WebEngine migration
• library sharing
• DRM stripping

What commenters say

• Calibre's requirement to make a local copy of all books is a significant limitation for users with large libraries stored on network shares.
• Running Calibre with a library on a network share can be done, but it may come with risks such as database corruption in case of a network disconnect.
• The new Content server capabilities and calibre-server can help alleviate some of the issues with library sharing and management.
• Some users are concerned about the lack of support for DRM stripping extensions in the new version.
• The use of platform detection instead of feature detection in the developer's website is seen as a limitation.
• The developer's dedication and hard work on Calibre are widely appreciated, despite some users finding the UI to be eclectic.
• Renaming the kitty terminal emulator is seen as unnecessary by some, while others think it could help with discoverability and community building.