Viewing or converting LRF fails with TypeError

[Aaron Brown]

In Calibre 5.34, Windows 64-bit, attempting to convert a 2007-era LRF file to MOBI fails with a TypeError and the following stack trace. I get a similar error (same error, same line of code in objects.py) if I attempt to view the LRF directly. The problematic LRF is attached (and the same error happens with dozens of other similar-vintage LRFs)

Convert book 1 of 1 (Gulliver's Travels)
Conversion options changed from defaults:
  read_metadata_from_opf: 'C:\\Users\\abrown\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calibre_706v6n_k\\sx6l8ok3.opf'
  verbose: 2
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 5.34.0
{'asciiize': False,
 'author_sort': None,
 'authors': None,
 'base_font_size': 0.0,
 'book_producer': None,
 'change_justification': 'original',
 'chapter': "//*[((name()='h1' or name()='h2') and re:test(., "
            "'\\s*((chapter|book|section|part)\\s+)|((prolog|prologue|epilogue)(\\s+|$))', "
            "'i')) or @class = 'chapter']",
 'chapter_mark': 'pagebreak',
 'comments': None,
 'cover': None,
 'debug_pipeline': None,
 'dehyphenate': True,
 'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
 'disable_font_rescaling': False,
 'dont_compress': False,
 'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
 'embed_all_fonts': False,
 'embed_font_family': None,
 'enable_heuristics': False,
 'expand_css': False,
 'extra_css': None,
 'extract_to': None,
 'filter_css': '',
 'fix_indents': True,
 'font_size_mapping': None,
 'format_scene_breaks': True,
 'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
 'input_encoding': None,
 'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x07469340>,
 'insert_blank_line': False,
 'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5,
 'insert_metadata': False,
 'isbn': None,
 'italicize_common_cases': True,
 'keep_ligatures': False,
 'language': None,
 'level1_toc': None,
 'level2_toc': None,
 'level3_toc': None,
 'line_height': 0.0,
 'linearize_tables': False,
 'margin_bottom': 5.0,
 'margin_left': 5.0,
 'margin_right': 5.0,
 'margin_top': 5.0,
 'markup_chapter_headings': True,
 'max_toc_links': 50,
 'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
 'mobi_file_type': 'old',
 'mobi_ignore_margins': False,
 'mobi_keep_original_images': False,
 'mobi_toc_at_start': False,
 'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
 'no_inline_navbars': False,
 'no_inline_toc': False,
 'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.OutputProfile object at 0x074694A8>,
 'page_breaks_before': "//*[name()='h1' or name()='h2']",
 'personal_doc': '[PDOC]',
 'prefer_author_sort': False,
 'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
 'pretty_print': False,
 'pubdate': None,
 'publisher': None,
 'rating': None,
 'read_metadata_from_opf': 'C:\\Users\\abrown\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calibre_706v6n_k\\sx6l8ok3.opf',
 'remove_fake_margins': True,
 'remove_first_image': False,
 'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
 'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
 'renumber_headings': True,
 'replace_scene_breaks': '',
 'search_replace': '[]',
 'series': None,
 'series_index': None,
 'share_not_sync': False,
 'smarten_punctuation': False,
 'sr1_replace': None,
 'sr1_search': None,
 'sr2_replace': None,
 'sr2_search': None,
 'sr3_replace': None,
 'sr3_search': None,
 'start_reading_at': None,
 'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
 'tags': None,
 'timestamp': None,
 'title': None,
 'title_sort': None,
 'toc_filter': None,
 'toc_threshold': 6,
 'toc_title': None,
 'transform_css_rules': '[]',
 'transform_html_rules': '[]',
 'unsmarten_punctuation': False,
 'unwrap_lines': True,
 'use_auto_toc': False,
 'verbose': 2}
InputFormatPlugin: LRF Input running
on C:\Users\abrown\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_706v6n_k\low82vuu.lrf
Generating XML
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "runpy.py", line 194, in _run_module_as_main
  File "runpy.py", line 87, in _run_code
  File "site.py", line 82, in <module>
  File "site.py", line 77, in main
  File "site.py", line 49, in run_entry_point
  File "calibre\utils\ipc\worker.py", line 216, in main
  File "calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 41, in gui_convert_override
  File "calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 28, in gui_convert
  File "calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 1111, in run
  File "calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 244, in __call__
  File "calibre\ebooks\conversion\plugins\lrf_input.py", line 31, in convert
  File "calibre\ebooks\lrf\lrfparser.py", line 32, in parse
  File "calibre\ebooks\lrf\lrfparser.py", line 60, in _parse_objects
  File "calibre\ebooks\lrf\objects.py", line 802, in initialize
TypeError: a bytes-like object is required, not 'str'

[Kovid Goyal (kovid)]

Fixed in branch master. The fix will be in the next release. calibre is usually released every alternate Friday.

 status fixreleased