Bug in "python3-ebooklib" that was fixed upstream years ago but package is outdated

[Raúl Soriano]

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ebooklib/utils.py", line 28, in parse_string
    tree = etree.parse(io.BytesIO(s.encode('utf-8')))
  File "src/lxml/etree.pyx", line 3424, in lxml.etree.parse
  File "src/lxml/parser.pxi", line 1857, in lxml.etree._parseDocument
  File "src/lxml/parser.pxi", line 1877, in lxml.etree._parseMemoryDocument
  File "src/lxml/parser.pxi", line 1765, in lxml.etree._parseDoc
  File "src/lxml/parser.pxi", line 1127, in lxml.etree._BaseParser._parseDoc
  File "src/lxml/parser.pxi", line 601, in lxml.etree._ParserContext._handleParseResultDoc
  File "src/lxml/parser.pxi", line 711, in lxml.etree._handleParseResult
  File "src/lxml/parser.pxi", line 651, in lxml.etree._raiseParseError
  File "<string>", line 0
lxml.etree.XMLSyntaxError

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./novel2epub.py", line 162, in <module>
    book.write(filename)
  File "/home/gatoloko/Proyectos/Novel2Epub/libs/gs_epub.py", line 104, in write
    epub.write_epub(filename, self.book, {})
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ebooklib/epub.py", line 1163, in write_epub
    epub.write()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ebooklib/epub.py", line 857, in write
    self._write_items()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ebooklib/epub.py", line 848, in _write_items
    self.out.writestr('%s/%s' % (self.book.FOLDER_NAME, item.file_name), item.get_content())
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ebooklib/epub.py", line 298, in get_content
    tree = parse_string(super(EpubCoverHtml, self).get_content())
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ebooklib/utils.py", line 30, in parse_string
    tree = etree.parse(io.BytesIO(s))
TypeError: a bytes-like object is required, not 'str'

While there are workaround for this specific bug, the package should be fixed.

This is a very very old bug, that was fixed upstream in 2016 (https://github.com/aerkalov/ebooklib/issues/92), but the packaged release is even older.

The current package in ubuntu/debian is for release 0.15 from back in 2014, and has many bugs that have been fixed upstream.

There have been new releases in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Can we get an update for this?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.04
Package: python3-ebooklib 0.15~ds0-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.19.0-13.14-generic 4.19.20
Uname: Linux 4.19.0-13-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.10-0ubuntu21
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Fri Feb 22 02:02:14 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-03-11 (347 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Alpha amd64 (20180306)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: python-ebooklib
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to disco on 2019-02-14 (7 days ago)
modified.conffile..etc.default.apport: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.default.apport: 2019-01-03T17:24:51.074493

[Daniel James (daniel-64studio)]

Hi Raúl, I packaged python-ebooklib originally. I no longer use this package personally, but if you would like to see a new version please forward this bug to Debian and I will help get it updated there.

[Raúl Soriano (gatoloko)]

With all due respect, this kind of response is ridiculous. Don't take
this personally, I'm talking about the situation, not your reply.

I'm using Ubuntu, not Debian, so I report a problem in Ubuntu, not in
Debian, and whatever steps Ubuntu need to take to resolve the problem
should be handled by Ubuntu itself. Asking an user to go somewhere
else for help with a problem in Ubuntu gives a VERY VERY BAD
IMPRESSION.

If I where an average user who took the time to learn how and where
to report a problem, just to be told "go somewhere else, figure out
how they do things, register in their web so you can report and leave
us alone", I'd just stop using Ubuntu all together.

If I used Debian, Arch, Fedora, SuSe or any other distribution, I
wouldn't be reporting a problem TO Ubuntu, but just so happens that
I'm an user of Ubuntu, and here is my report. I refuse to go somewhere
else.

Back on topic about the python3-ebooklib package, Ubuntu can choose
not to distribute an unmaintained package if that's the best option
they have, but distributing an OLD, OUTDATED and BUGGY package is
plain wrong.

On Wed, May 8, 2019 at 1:05 PM Daniel James <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
> Hi Raúl, I packaged python-ebooklib originally. I no longer use this
> package personally, but if you would like to see a new version please
> forward this bug to Debian and I will help get it updated there.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1817234
>
> Title:
> Bug in "python3-ebooklib" that was fixed upstream years ago but
> package is outdated
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python-ebooklib/+bug/1817234/+subscriptions

--
Raúl Soriano (GatoLoko)

[Daniel James (daniel-64studio)]

Hi Raúl, I'm not an Ubuntu developer so I'm not replying on behalf of Ubuntu, just myself. If you would like to see this package updated in Ubuntu, the best way to do that is to report it to Debian so that a new maintainer can be found. As Python 2 is going away, the package will be Python 3 only in future.