Ubuntu
evince package

support EPUB format

Bug #241736 reported by David Prieto on 2008-06-20

238

This bug affects 47 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	Evince	Won't Fix	Wishlist	gnome-bugs #539347
	evince (Ubuntu)	Triaged	Wishlist	Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: evince

1) lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu Vivid Vervet (development branch)
Release: 15.04

2) apt-cache policy evince
evince:
  Installed: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 3.14.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
*** 3.14.1-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) What is expected to happen is when one attempts to open an epub file via evince, it does so successfully.

4) What happens instead with the example attachment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evince/+bug/241736/+attachment/4280564/+files/EPUBBestPractices-1_0.epub is evince notes:
File type electronic book document (application/epub+zip) is not supported

WORKAROUND: Use okular with okular-extra-backends.

apt-cache policy okular okular-extra-backends
okular:
  Installed: 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.1
  Candidate: 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.1
  Version table:
*** 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4:4.13.0-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages
okular-extra-backends:
  Installed: 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.1
  Candidate: 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.1
  Version table:
*** 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4:4.13.0-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages

WORKAROUND: Use fbreader.
apt-cache policy fbreader
fbreader:
  Installed: 0.12.10dfsg-9.1
  Candidate: 0.12.10dfsg-9.1
  Version table:
*** 0.12.10dfsg-9.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

See original description

Revision history for this message

Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) wrote on 2008-06-20:

Thanks for your bug report. This bug has been reported to the developers of the software. You can track it and make comments here: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=539347

Changed in evince:
assignee:	nobody → desktop-bugs
importance:	Undecided → Wishlist
status:	New → Triaged

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2008-06-20

Changed in evince:
status:	Unknown → New

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2008-09-15

Changed in evince:
status:	New → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

wjs (wj-suetholz) wrote on 2009-04-09:

FBReader processes epub format, as well as Calibre. I have run FBReader in ubuntu.

Revision history for this message

Norman Hooper (kaapstorm) wrote on 2009-11-25:

In Kubuntu 9.10, KDE's document viewer, Okular, has ePub support. You should be able to install it in Ubuntu 9.10 with "sudo apt-get install okular".

Adobe Digital Editions has the best support for CSS in ePubs that I have seen. Okular does not seem to have support for ePub CSS, which doesn't affect readability; it just means that if the ePub creator has used alternative fonts, etc., that styling will be ignored. And Okular is certainly a lot prettier than FBReader.

You could also consider using Bookworm, which is an online ePub reader ... http://bookworm.oreilly.com/ ... and works perfectly in Firefox, Chromium and Epiphany.

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2010-09-16

Changed in evince:
importance:	Unknown → Wishlist

Revision history for this message

David Prieto (frandavid100-gmail) wrote on 2010-12-04:

Any advance on this bug guys?

Revision history for this message

H3g3m0n (h3g3m0n) wrote on 2010-12-06:

Still no epub support in 10.10 :(

Revision history for this message

lljccoael (lljccoael-deactivatedaccount) wrote on 2011-03-04:

For some reason, there has been marked resistance in Brainstorm for supporting the epub format for reasons I cannot discern. Epub is a very popular free and open digital book format. It makes no sense for Ubuntu not to support it by default.

Revision history for this message

Mike (mike-fdb) wrote on 2012-07-26:

http://code.google.com/p/sigil/

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rgibert/ebook
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sigil

Revision history for this message

Sultan Rahi (sultanrahi) wrote on 2012-10-29:

Fbreader, Sigil or and Calibre can read epub but are not automatically installed (and are not using GTK libraries but I am not sure that it is a problem). And, except for Fbreader that is not really pretty, they are a bit too big to be used as simple readers (it's like using Gimp to view a picture).
It will be a good idea to have it as a plugin in Evince as it is a kind of universal reader installed by default.

There is also the possibility to use an add-on in a browser but it's not really a convenient solution.

Revision history for this message

Javier Lorenzana (skqr) wrote on 2012-11-25:

Evince *should* suport epub. Having a handful of apps, clearly labeled, to handle out-of-the-box all of the most popular content formats is one of the best selling points for Ubuntu in my experience.

I read the Ubuntu Brainstorm idea turn down - the approver showed very poor judgement.

Okular supports epub because it is expected of it. Evince is already years behind Okular. Let's hop a little closer.

Revision history for this message

Kip Warner (kip) wrote on 2012-11-25:

#10

Totally agree with Javier.

Revision history for this message

Paolo Melchiorre (paulox) wrote on 2013-05-24:

#11

Please add ePub format support to Evince.

Revision history for this message

Nasser Mohieddin Abukhdeir (nmabukhdeir) wrote on 2013-08-29:

#12

Agreed!

Revision history for this message

Corbin (ravetcofx) wrote on 2013-11-23:

#13

Hi, I am working on adding Epub/Mobi/ODT/Others to Evince 3.6.1

I will work to port this to modern version of evince and MATE's Atril

Revision history for this message

Ferk (ferkiwi) wrote on 2013-11-23:

#14

That's awesome! Thank you Corbin, this is great news.
I really thought this feature was never gonna make it, it has been more than 6 years!

Revision history for this message

Finog (finog) wrote on 2014-01-25:

#16

Keep at it, Corbin, this would be a great feature to have!

Revision history for this message

penalvch (penalvch) wrote on 2014-12-13:

#17

EPUBBestPractices-1_0.epub Edit (442.9 KiB, application/octet-stream)

Example epub file from Bug Description URL.

penalvch (penalvch) on 2014-12-14

description:	updated
Changed in evince (Ubuntu):
assignee:	Ubuntu Desktop Bugs (desktop-bugs) → nobody

penalvch (penalvch) on 2014-12-14

description:

updated

penalvch (penalvch) on 2014-12-14

description:

updated

Revision history for this message

Frederico Oliveira (freddie.oliveira) wrote on 2017-06-22:

#18

And nine years later still no support for ebook. That's what I call active development. Seriously guys, is really that difficult to simply implement a new format??? In NINE YEARS???

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2017-07-28

Changed in evince:
status:	Confirmed → Won't Fix

Revision history for this message

PabloAB (pabloab777) wrote on 2023-06-08 (last edit on 2023-06-08):

#19

> File type electronic book document (application/epub+zip) is not supported

For some reason they consider it is out of scope. They suggest using a specific app, like Calibre, Foliate, Bookworm or Okular. GNOME Books was archived.

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evince/-/issues/958
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evince/-/issues/1122