this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Does anyone know of a self hosting option for hosting ebooks? I keep hoping there is an open source library type app where I could add my ebooks and host them for myself and others.

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[–] exu@feditown.com 19 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I use Kavita to host ebooks and manga for myself. It's still work in progress, so do expect changes, though I haven't had huge issues on the stable releases so far. Besides Tachiyomi for comics/manga there aren't any native reading apps yet, so you will have to use the webinterface for the time being.

Another option often mentioned is Calibre Web, though I haven't used that myself.

[–] TableCoffee@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago

I'll throw in my vote for Kavita. Works great. I read a lot on my phone so I just saved the app shortcut to my home screen from Firefox.

[–] kostel_thecreed@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I honestly prefer Kavita even though I do not download comics or manga. Their reader is so nice, specially with the themes. 0 issues on my end except for indexing, which the dev promptly fixed after I reported the issue.

I use Moon+ Reader pro on my android, and on my iOS I simply make a "webapp" of the website.

[–] exu@feditown.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Moon+ Reader doesn't sync though, does it? I thought there weren't any readers that supported OPDS-PS, just simple downloading.

[–] kostel_thecreed@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

No, you're right, it does not sync. Usually I do this on longer durations without internet, else I just use a webapp (on mobile) or the website on PC.

[–] ventrix@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Check out the docker version of calibre if you're into that https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/calibre-web

[–] traches@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

To clarify, calibre-web is not "the docker version of calibre", it's a separate project that provides a nice web frontend for an existing calibre database.

[–] timespace@lemmy.ninja 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

So if I understand correctly, I would spin up a Calibre docker (a la https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/calibre) and then spin up a separate Calibre-web docker and point it to the first one?

[–] das@lemellem.dasonic.xyz 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I believe you can, but I just copied the calibre books and database from my PC and run it from calibre-web without maintaining any link to calibre.

It's not perfect but it works well enough.

[–] om1k@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 years ago

I do it like this. Manage calibre on my PC, and copy the 'Calibre Library' contents to the server through ftp.

[–] traches@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

That's correct! I can share my docker-compose if that's helpful. I'm on my phone, but I believe they just have to share a volume.

[–] TheInsane42@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I run calibre, it has a server option, which can be queries bij Moon+ reader. (which I use) My setup is internal use only though.

[–] Cqrd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Caliber is great, but if you have audiobooks, auidiobookshelf has gotten pretty decent at hosting ebooks too

[–] mhzawadi@lemmy.horwood.cloud 5 points 2 years ago
[–] vegetaaaaaaa@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago
[–] pete@social.cyano.at 3 points 2 years ago

Take a look at Calibre-Web (github.com/janeczku/calibre-we…) which I've been using for what you ask for quite a while now. As the name suggests it can also take advantage of a pre-existing Calibre eBook Database.

[–] huskypenguin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

I've been playing with Audiobookshelf and it does do books as well.

[–] jcolag@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It's not as clean a solution as they'd like it to be, but for another option, Jellyfin hosts media including books. When I say "not as clean," I mean that you can stream video and music from the server, but it has you download books to read on another device. Last I heard, they were looking to integrate at least a PDF viewer into the interface, though.

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[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Calibre is great but it’s not a server based program, it’s just a desktop client. There is Calibre-web which you can host which kinda turns it into a server but it does that by exposing a website you connect to that shows you the Calibre interface via VNC, so it’s a bit hackey.

I haven’t tried it but https://www.kavitareader.com/ might be a good alternative if you end up not liking Calibre.

[–] jjakc@lemthony.com 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's not what calibre-web does. As per the GitHub page:

Calibre-Web is a web app that offers a clean and intuitive interface for browsing, reading, and downloading eBooks using a valid Calibre database.

There is no VNC involved.

[–] Sehandler@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

There's a Calibre container, I believe by LinuxServer.io, that comes with this VNC setup for serving calibre in a browser window. Probably what was meant here.

Calibre-web is basically a nice UI for a file server over the calibre library.

[–] WestyFlyer@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Labors reader looks really great. Just wish it had an iOS/android app. I’ll definitely keep it in mind.

[–] herrfrutti@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Audiobookshelf is quite nice too. The ebook reader isn't quite there yet, but it develops very fast. Also apps for Android and iOS

[–] b_antunes@startrek.website 1 points 2 years ago

I use Komga (https://github.com/gotson/komga) and it's pretty cool