Bad performance on Pointed Roofs, Dorothy Richardson

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Ray Ryan

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Jan 11, 2026, 2:16:00 PM (11 days ago) Jan 11
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I'm seeing this on a Kobo Libra Colour (yes I'm using the kpub file, yes I've restarted the device). Turning to chapter 3 freezes the device for something like thirty seconds or more. Operations like highlighting a phrase are glacial. Is there anything I can do to help debug this?

Ray Ryan

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Jan 11, 2026, 3:42:44 PM (11 days ago) Jan 11
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The Calibre editor reports dozens of problems in core.css, all instances of "no-descending-specificity". 

Alex Cabal

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Jan 12, 2026, 12:45:42 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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I don't have access to that particular device so I can't test it
directly. The kepub file for that book on the website looks fine; I
double checked and it passes epubcheck, and the source for that chapter
doesn't seem overlong, unusual, or even especially complicated.

So, I'm not sure why it might be slow. This could be an issue with Kobo.
What is the software version you're using?

You mentioned Calibre - Calibre is reporting linting *suggestions*, not
actual epub/CSS *errors*. Their style is not the same as ours and those
suggestions have no bearing on a correctly functioning ebook.
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Ray Ryan

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Jan 12, 2026, 5:43:27 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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.kobo/version:

N4284C5225359,4.9.77,4.44.23552,4.9.77,4.9.77,00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000390

Ray Ryan

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Jan 12, 2026, 6:02:00 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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I think it's an issue with Kobo's Google Drive integration!

I tried deleting all books from the device and reinstalling just this one, double checking as I did so that I was using SE's kepub. Same problem.

I then deleted that file from the device and re-installed from Calibre over a USB cable. Now it's working fine.

Ray Ryan

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Jan 12, 2026, 6:02:46 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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Can't imagine why this particular book would aggravate whatever the underlying issue is. I've pulled lots of other SE books onto the device this way. :/

Ray Ryan

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Jan 12, 2026, 6:26:29 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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Downloaded the kepub to my Mac from G Drive and directly from the SE site. Identical checksums:

~/Downloads ❯❯❯ sum *
5093 799 dorothy-m-richardson_pointed-roofs.kepub (1).epub
5093 799 dorothy-m-richardson_pointed-roofs.kepub.epub

Calibre installs an Apple double pair:

..OBOeReader/Richardson, Dorothy M_ ❯❯❯ sum ._Pointed\ Roofs\ -\ Dorothy\ M.\ Richardson.kepub.epub Pointed\ Roofs\ -\ Dorothy\ M.\ Richardson.kepub.epub
28230 4 ._Pointed Roofs - Dorothy M. Richardson.kepub.epub
61984 802 Pointed Roofs - Dorothy M. Richardson.kepub.epub

If I uninstall the Calibre artifact from the device and reinstall via G Drive I find a file in .kobo/google_drive with the same checksum as that vended from the SE site.

So I guess Calibre is performing some magic on my behalf. 🤷🏻

Alex Cabal

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Jan 12, 2026, 10:07:09 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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Yes, Calibre typically transforms the epub/kepub during transfer, and
all bets are off when that occurs. We always recommend transferring
books to your device with a USB cable instead of using Calibre:
https://standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo
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Ray Ryan

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Jan 12, 2026, 10:24:16 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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When I follow those instructions the pathological behavior returns. Whatever Calibre is doing, it's fixing that issue. The difference is not subtle, the book is borderline unreadable when it is unmodified.

Would it be useful for me to post Calibre's modified binary somewhere?

Alex Cabal

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Jan 12, 2026, 10:25:50 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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Sure, but you can inspect it yourself. It's not a binary, it's just a
zip file. You can use `se extract-ebook` to unzip it and a diff program
to compare the contents to our version.

On 1/12/26 9:24 PM, Ray Ryan wrote:
> When I follow those instructions the pathological behavior returns.
> Whatever Calibre is doing, it's fixing that issue. The difference is not
> subtle, the book is borderline unreadable when it is unmodified.
>
> Would it be useful for me to post Calibre's modified binary somewhere?
>
> On Monday, January 12, 2026 at 7:07:09 PM UTC-8 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> Yes, Calibre typically transforms the epub/kepub during transfer, and
> all bets are off when that occurs. We always recommend transferring
> books to your device with a USB cable instead of using Calibre:
> https://standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo <https://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo>
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Ray Ryan

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Jan 12, 2026, 10:44:26 PM (10 days ago) Jan 12
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Oh cool! Good project for the morning. 

Anthony Bongers

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Jan 13, 2026, 7:16:53 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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Hey guys! I saw this thread in my daily summary of the group, and thought I'd try it on my older non-colour Kobo Libra.
I see the issue too! I just did a download of the kepub from the website, sideloaded the ebook using a plain USB connection, and went from the last page of chapter 2 to chapter 3. 

It took around 30 seconds to switch the page. Completely froze the device.

Ray Ryan

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Jan 13, 2026, 7:17:50 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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A few notes:

* On import to Calibre the epub file is renamed and the '.kepub' bit is removed. The file contents are unchanged. This seems like a Calibre bug to me, that it doesn't recognize kepub files as such on import. (Of course it could be a happy accident that is making this one readable for me, if that's what's triggering a conversion on install.)

* Calibre introduces a kobo.js file and imports it in every xhtml file. It defines a bunch of functions and vars but I don't see that they are called anywhere. Perhaps they are overriding some Kobo-defined functions?

* In each xhtml file the body is wrapped in `<div id="book-columns"><div id="book-inner">`

* A CSS block zeroing out margin-top and margin-bottom is introduced, and applied via the `book-inner` id above

* Calibre touches every koboSpan in the file, changing the numbering of their id fields. E.g. `<span id="kobo.2.1" class="koboSpan">Miriam was practising` becomes `<p><span class="koboSpan" id="kobo.3.1">Miriam was practising`

* Calibre appears to be confused by `class="se koboSpan"` and introduces redundant spans inside those. There are not many instances of this

* If you have Calibre do its epub > kepub conversion in app, the file it creates has a lot more stuff added than just the above—that's not a route to reproducing the issue locally w/o a device

The js file seems like the most glaring change. What's the `se` incantation for me to rebuild a file from the extracted dir after removing it?

Ray Ryan

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Jan 13, 2026, 7:47:03 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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Oh, I meant to send a sample of the file that Calibre installs. Here you go.
Pointed Roofs - Dorothy M. Richardson.kepub.epub

Anthony Bongers

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Jan 13, 2026, 8:39:54 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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I tested swapping through the chapters. 
The chapters showing the issue: 3, 5, 6, 8, and 10

I found those were on the heavier-side for language tags. 
I did a quick removal of `xml:lang".."` in the book, and exported both a before and after. 

Before takes about a minute to render the chapter.
After takes just a second.

Not sure how actionable this is, but something about lots of language tags is really affecting the kepub renderer.
If I remove the `kepub` from the file format, it uses the old renderer and it loads chapter 3 no problem.

Ray Ryan

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Jan 13, 2026, 8:45:29 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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And Calibre might be accidentally fixing it by embedding redundant spans in those cases. I assumed it was because of the se class but maybe it's a conscious work around for this problem, not an accident at all. Maybe we can adopt a similar hack? 

Anthony Bongers

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Jan 13, 2026, 9:08:57 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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Lol yeah I'm ready to get laughed at by someone more familiar with epub formats, but I just tried that now and it's much better.

I used a regex replace in the book: 
<span xml:lang="(..)">([^<]*)
and replaced with 
<span xml:lang="$1"><span>$2</span>

Ex. 
<span xml:lang="de">Fräulein</span>
->
<span xml:lang="de"><span>Fräulein</span></span>

Loading it up on a kobo and it's speedy when switching to chapter 3.

Ray Ryan

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Jan 13, 2026, 9:17:22 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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Okay I'll bet any amount you like that Calibre is doing that workaround on purpose for exactly this issue. Alex, you okay with doing the same in SE kepub?

Anthony Bongers

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Jan 13, 2026, 10:46:14 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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Might be missing a piece of the puzzle still since pages like this one seem to load in fine, and have many more language tags. 

Ray Ryan

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Jan 13, 2026, 11:00:29 PM (9 days ago) Jan 13
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Does anyone know anyone on Calibre? Seems like they might have some folk knowledge to share. 

Alex Cabal

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Jan 14, 2026, 2:27:37 PM (8 days ago) Jan 14
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Kovid Goyal is the Calibre developer and he is pretty responsive, so you
can try contacting him or opening a bug.

It's definitely undesirable for Calibre to add MORE spans to an
already-processed kepub, because that can mess up CSS selectors, even if
doing so appears to accidentally work around a Kobo rendering bug.

However this sounds like a rendering bug with Kobo, as our Kepubs are
following their standards. I'm OK with adding yet another workaround for
Kobo to our build process but we have to figure out what that workaround
actually is - right now it's still not clear why this is occurring or
what a general-purpose fix is.

On 1/13/26 10:00 PM, Ray Ryan wrote:
> Does anyone know anyone on Calibre? Seems like they might have some folk
> knowledge to share.
>
> On Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 7:46:14 PM UTC-8 bongers...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> Might be missing a piece of the puzzle still since pages like this
> one seem to load in fine, and have many more language tags.
>
> https://github.com/standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin-jowett/
> blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml <https://github.com/
> standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin-jowett/blob/master/src/epub/
> text/cratylus.xhtml>
> our-ebooks#kobo> <https://
> > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-
> use-our-ebooks#kobo <http://
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Ray Ryan

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Jan 14, 2026, 4:37:18 PM (8 days ago) Jan 14
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Alex Cabal

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Jan 14, 2026, 4:56:51 PM (8 days ago) Jan 14
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I would also check if it's xml:lang that is causing the problem, or
something else like the styling of xml:lang. If you replace xml:lang
with data-xml-lang and any [xml|lang] CSS selectors with [data-xml-lang]
does it still perform badly?
> jowett/ <https://github.com/standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin-
> jowett/>
> > blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml <https://github.com/
> > > https://standardebooks.org/help/ <https://standardebooks.org/
> help/>
> > how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo <https://
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Ray Ryan

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Jan 14, 2026, 10:22:04 PM (8 days ago) Jan 14
to Standard Ebooks
Kovid says:

> kobo spans *must* always have class koboSpan not any other classes in
addition. Do *not* try to overlaod your kobo spans for both formatting
and kobo markup. Generated kobospans must be the innermost spans.

Presuming he's right about that, the problem could be due to spans with `class = "se koboSpan"`. If no one else gets there first I may be able to test that tomorrow. 

Ray Ryan

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Jan 15, 2026, 11:31:26 AM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to Standard Ebooks
Huh. Theory disproven. I used emacs to edit all the .xhtml files in the `dorothy-m-richardson_pointed-roofs.kepub.epub` zip and changed all instances of `class="se koboSpan"` to `class="koboSpan"`.  The problem remains.

I'll try the xml:lang thing that Alex suggested.

Ray Ryan

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Jan 15, 2026, 11:45:34 AM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to Standard Ebooks
I found no CSS styling related to [xml|lang]. No improvement from converting xml:lang to data-xml-lang. No improvement from removing all `lang="de"` attributes. 

Alex Cabal

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Jan 15, 2026, 12:24:56 PM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to standar...@googlegroups.com
Also make sure you're re-zipping the kepub correctly (you can try se
extract-ebook on your new file to confirm the contents are correct) and
that you're transferring with a USB cable and your file manager, and not
Calibre, to prevent it from messing with the file. We have to be sure
the file on Kobo is exactly what we're experimenting with.

In any case this almost certainly seems like a Kobo bug. I'm not sure
how to contact them, maybe someone has an idea?
> > bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138407 <http://
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138407>.
> plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/
> standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> > jowett/ <https://github.com/standardebooks/
> plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/
> standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> > jowett/>
> > > blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml <https://
> github.com/ <https://github.com/>
> > <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/>>
> > > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin-jowett/blob/
> standardebooks.org/help/> <https://standardebooks.org/
> <https://standardebooks.org/>
> > help/>
> > > how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo <https://
> > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-> <http://
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>
> > help/how-to-use->
> > > our-ebooks#kobo> <https://
> > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-> <http://standardebooks.org/
> <http://standardebooks.org/>
> > help/how-to->
> > > use-our-ebooks#kobo <http://
> > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://
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> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>
> > > <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> > msgid/>>>
> > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
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Ray Ryan

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Jan 15, 2026, 1:14:29 PM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to Standard Ebooks
> make sure you're re-zipping the kepub correctly

That's why I turned to emacs. It can edit member files directly in a zip, managing repacking automatically. But anyway yes, I verified that se extract-ebook reflects the changes I make that way.

I'm getting to the limits of my skills here. I haven't managed to reproduce bongers…@'s fix, or any fix really. 

Alex, seems like you and Kovid have a different understanding of the kepub spec. He's adamant that it is an error to have any other class declaration alongside koboSpan, like "se koboSpan". He says that styling needs to happen on outer elements, and that <span class="koboSpan"> elements must have no span children. I wasn't able to fix anything by exploring that but it still seems like an interesting disconnect. Although it would be more interesting if I had actually managed to fix anything by poking at that.

Alex Cabal

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Jan 15, 2026, 1:20:52 PM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to standar...@googlegroups.com
There is no understanding of the kepub spec, it is a proprietary format;
none of us work at Kobo, and we're all guessing here. But, if you didn't
fix it by removing the se class then the se class does not cause this
error, simple as that.

Did you test removing nested spans?
> > <https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404 <https://
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138407> <http://
> > > > https://github.com/standardebooks/ <https://github.com/
> standardebooks/>
> > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/>
> > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> > > jowett/ <https://github.com/standardebooks/ <https://
> github.com/standardebooks/>
> > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/>
> > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> > > jowett/>
> > > > blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml <https://
> > github.com/ <http://github.com/> <https://github.com/ <https://
> > standardebooks.org/help/ <http://standardebooks.org/help/>>
> <https://standardebooks.org/ <https://standardebooks.org/>
> > <https://standardebooks.org/ <https://standardebooks.org/>>
> > > help/>
> > > > how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo <https://
> > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-> <http://
> > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://standardebooks.org/
> help/how-to-use->> <http://
> > standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/> <http://
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>>
> > > help/how-to-use->
> > > > our-ebooks#kobo> <https://
> > > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to- <http://standardebooks.org/
> > standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/> <http://
> > > > > > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
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> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>> <https://
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> > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>> <https://
> > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>> <https://
> > > > msgid/> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://
> groups.google.com/> <https://
> > groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/>> <https://
> > groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/>>>
> > > > <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>
> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>
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> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>>>>
> > > > > d/msgid/>
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> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>
> > > standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211-
> > bd58-01f2c6593cbcn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> > standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211- <https://
> > groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211-
> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211->>
> > > bd58-01f2c6593cbcn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
> > <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
> >
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> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> > standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2-b47a-
> b51ffa6c5c61n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2- <https://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2->
> > b47a-b51ffa6c5c61n%40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer <http://40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
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> standardebooks/d5eea699-a03a-478c-9c0b-42ec1906fc58n%40googlegroups.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/d5eea699-
> a03a-478c-9c0b-42ec1906fc58n%40googlegroups.com?
> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

Alex Cabal

unread,
Jan 15, 2026, 1:28:37 PM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to standar...@googlegroups.com
I would also note that it looks like the only spans that have nested
spans in this book are in verse formatting. But verse formatting is
extremely common, and if that were the cause of this issue then we would
see this error in a huge amount of other books.

Ray Ryan

unread,
Jan 15, 2026, 1:45:39 PM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to Standard Ebooks
Remember, the fix appears to be from Calibre _introducing_ nested spans.

> I used a regex replace in the book: 
<span xml:lang="(..)">([^<]*)
and replaced with 
<span xml:lang="$1"><span>$2</span>


Alex Cabal

unread,
Jan 15, 2026, 2:28:06 PM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to standar...@googlegroups.com
Sure, but didn't you just tell me that Kovid says that's not allowed?

Have you tried that fix yourself?
> >> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404 <http://
> >> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404 <http://
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138407>> <http://
> github.com/standardebooks/> <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/>
> >>     standardebooks/>
> >>      > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/ <https://
> github.com/> <https://
> >> github.com/ <http://github.com/>>
> >>      > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> >>      > > jowett/ <https://github.com/standardebooks/ <https://
> github.com/standardebooks/> <https://
> >> github.com/standardebooks/ <http://github.com/standardebooks/>>
> >>      > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/ <https://
> github.com/> <https://
> >> github.com/ <http://github.com/>>
> >>      > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> >>      > > jowett/>
> >>      > > > blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml <https://
> >>      > github.com/ <http://github.com/> <http://github.com/
> >>      > > <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/> <https://
> github.com/ <https://github.com/>> <https://github.com/ <https://
> >>      > standardebooks.org/help/ <http://standardebooks.org/help/
> > <http://standardebooks.org/help/ <http://standardebooks.org/help/>>>
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>> <http://
> >> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/> <http://
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>>>
> >>      > > help/how-to-use->
> >>      > > > our-ebooks#kobo> <https://
> >>      > > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-> <http://standardebooks.org/
> <http://standardebooks.org/>
> >>     help/how-to-> <http://
> >>      > standardebooks.org/help/how-to- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-> <http://standardebooks.org/help/
> <http://standardebooks.org/help/>
> >>     how-to->> <http://standardebooks.org/ <http://
> >>      > <http://standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>
> <http://standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>>>
> >>      > > help/how-to->
> >>      > > > use-our-ebooks#kobo <http://
> >>      > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-> <http://
> >> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://standardebooks.org/
> help/how-to-use->> <http://
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>> <http://
> >>     msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>      > msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>>
> >>     <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>>
> >>     <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>>
> >>     <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/> <http://
> groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/ <https://
> >>     <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>
> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>>
> >>      > > <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/
> > <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>>
> >>     <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>
> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>>>>>
> >>      > > > > d/msgid/>
> >>      > > > > >
> >>      > > > standardebooks/274d2a0a-90d1-40e0-
> >>      > > > <https://
> >>     msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>      > msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>>>?
> >>      > > > > >
> >>      > > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
> >>      > > > > >
> >>      > > > > > --
> >>      > > > > > You received this message
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> >>      > > > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>>
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/> <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > msgid/standardebooks/42ff4da9-
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>
> >>      > > > standardebooks/42ff4da9->
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > msgid/standardebooks/42ff4da9-
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>>
> >>      > > > >
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/0dec63f3-46f9-47de-974f-9e7e5f9110bcn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>>
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > msgid/>
> >>      > > > >
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/0dec63f3-46f9-47de-974f-9e7e5f9110bcn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>>?
> >>      > > > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> >>      > > >
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> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>     msgid/>>
> >>      > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> >>     d/msgid/> <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>>
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/8e61d19f-8553-4874-9e31-23f33ded075en%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/8e61d19f-8553-4874-9e31-23f33ded075en%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>?
> >>      > > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
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> >>      > d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> >>      > > standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211-
> >>      > bd58-01f2c6593cbcn%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>>
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/>
> >>      > standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211- <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/6fdea7ae-
> ea46-4211- <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211->
> >>     <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/6fdea7ae-
> >> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>?
> >>      > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
> >>      > <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>?
> >>      > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
> >>      >
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> d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> >>      > standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2-b47a-
> >>     b51ffa6c5c61n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> >>     standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2- <https://
> groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>
> >>     msgid/standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2->
> >>      > b47a-b51ffa6c5c61n%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> >>     utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
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> it, send
> >> an email to standardebook...@googlegroups.com
> >> <mailto:standardebook...@googlegroups.com>.
> >> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> >> standardebooks/d5eea699-
> >> a03a-478c-9c0b-42ec1906fc58n%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/d5eea699- <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/d5eea699->
> >> a03a-478c-9c0b-42ec1906fc58n%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> >> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> >
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
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> standardebooks/b3c65c6f-4b30-43c0-b761-8bb0b7081a3an%40googlegroups.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/b3c65c6f-4b30-43c0-
> b761-8bb0b7081a3an%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

Alex Cabal

unread,
Jan 15, 2026, 2:30:06 PM (7 days ago) Jan 15
to standar...@googlegroups.com
And even then we need to figure out what the *general case solution* is
here. Do we put an extra span below every kobo span? Or only kobo spans
with xml:lang? Or something else? What's the actual algorithm here?

On 1/15/26 12:45 PM, Ray Ryan wrote:
> <https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404> <https://
> >> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404 <http://
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404>>
> >>      > <https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404
> <https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404> <https://
> >> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404 <http://
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138407>> <http://
> github.com/standardebooks/> <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/>
> >>     standardebooks/>
> >>      > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/ <https://
> github.com/> <https://
> >> github.com/ <http://github.com/>>
> >>      > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> >>      > > jowett/ <https://github.com/standardebooks/ <https://
> >>      > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://github.com/ <https://
> github.com/> <https://
> >> github.com/ <http://github.com/>>
> >>      > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> >>      > > jowett/>
> >>      > > > blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml <https://
> >>      > github.com/ <http://github.com/> <http://github.com/
> >>      > > <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/> <https://
> github.com/ <https://github.com/>> <https://github.com/ <https://
> > <http://standardebooks.org/help/ <http://standardebooks.org/help/>>>
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>> <http://
> >> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/> <http://
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>>>
> >>      > > help/how-to-use->
> >>      > > > our-ebooks#kobo> <https://
> >>      > > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-> <http://standardebooks.org/
> <http://standardebooks.org/>
> >>     help/how-to-> <http://
> >>      > standardebooks.org/help/how-to- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-> <http://standardebooks.org/help/
> <http://standardebooks.org/help/>
> >>     how-to->> <http://standardebooks.org/ <http://
> >>      > <http://standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>
> <http://standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>>>
> >>      > > help/how-to->
> >>      > > > use-our-ebooks#kobo <http://
> >>      > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-> <http://
> >> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://standardebooks.org/
> help/how-to-use->> <http://
> standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>> <http://
> >>     msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>      > msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>>
> >>     <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>>
> >>     <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>>
> >>     <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/> <http://
> groups.google.com/ <http://groups.google.com/>>>>
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/ <https://
> >>     <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>
> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>>
> >>      > > <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/
> > <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>>
> >>     <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>
> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://groups.google.com/>>>>>
> >>      > > > > d/msgid/>
> >>      > > > > >
> >>      > > > standardebooks/274d2a0a-90d1-40e0-
> >>      > > > <https://
> >>     msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>      > msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/ <http://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> >>     d/msgid/> <http://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>>>?
> >>      > > > > >
> >>      > > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
> >>      > > > > >
> >>      > > > > > --
> >>      > > > > > You received this message
> >>      > > > because you are subscribed to the
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> >>      > > > > > Groups "Standard Ebooks" group.
> >>      > > > > > To unsubscribe from this group
> >>      > > > and stop receiving emails from it,
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> >>      > > > > > an email to
> >>      > > > standardebook...@googlegroups.com
> >>      > > > > >
> >>      > > > <mailto:standardebook...@googlegroups.com>.
> >>      > > > > > To view this discussion visit
> >>      > > > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>>
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/> <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > msgid/standardebooks/42ff4da9-
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>
> >>      > > > standardebooks/42ff4da9->
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > msgid/standardebooks/42ff4da9-
> >>      > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>>
> >>      > > > >
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/0dec63f3-46f9-47de-974f-9e7e5f9110bcn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>>
> >>      > > > > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>      > <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>
> <http://groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>> <https://
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> >>      > > > msgid/>
> >>      > > > >
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/0dec63f3-46f9-47de-974f-9e7e5f9110bcn%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>>?
> >>      > > > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> >>      > > >
> >>      > > > --
> >>      > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to
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> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://
> groups.google.com/d/>
> >>     msgid/>>
> >>      > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> >>     d/msgid/> <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://groups.google.com/d/
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>>
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/8e61d19f-8553-4874-9e31-23f33ded075en%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>
> msgid/> <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/>>>
> >>      > <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/
> d/> <https://groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>>>
> >>      > > msgid/>
> >>      > > >
> >>      > >
> >>      >
> >>
> >>
> standardebooks/8e61d19f-8553-4874-9e31-23f33ded075en%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>>>?
> >>      > > > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> >>      > >
> >>      > > --
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> >>      > d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ <https://
> >>      > > standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211-
> >>      > bd58-01f2c6593cbcn%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com> <http://40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>>
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/> <https://groups.google.com/ <https://
> groups.google.com/>
> >>     d/msgid/>
> >>      > standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211- <https://
> >>      > groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/6fdea7ae-
> ea46-4211- <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> standardebooks/6fdea7ae-ea46-4211->
> >>     <http://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/6fdea7ae-
> >> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>?
> >>      > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
> >>      > <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>>?
> >>      > utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
> >>      >
> >>      > --
> >>      > You received this message because you are subscribed to
> the Google
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> from it,
> >>     send
> >>      > an email to standardebook...@googlegroups.com
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> d/msgid/ <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> >>      > standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2-b47a-
> >>     b51ffa6c5c61n%40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>
> >>     standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2- <https://
> groups.google.com/d/ <https://groups.google.com/d/>
> >>     msgid/standardebooks/57e73cb7-5740-4ba2->
> >>      > b47a-b51ffa6c5c61n%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> >>     utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
> <http://40googlegroups.com <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> >>     utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.
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> >> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/>
> >> standardebooks/d5eea699-
> >> a03a-478c-9c0b-42ec1906fc58n%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com> <https://
> >> groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/d5eea699- <http://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/d5eea699->
> >> a03a-478c-9c0b-42ec1906fc58n%40googlegroups.com
> <http://40googlegroups.com>?
> >> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> >
>
> --
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Alexander Keane

unread,
Jan 16, 2026, 7:37:59 AM (6 days ago) Jan 16
to standar...@googlegroups.com
When unzipping the Calibre altered epub, did anyone take a look at like sectioning? Because I'm noticing on my Kobo Clara Color, which I downloaded the kepub straight from the site through the kobo web browser, that the chapters listed as affected are longer chapters. Like Chapter 3 is close to a quarter of the whole book being unzipped, loaded into memory, rendered, and paginated at once.

That took about 20-30 seconds for the chapter load but then flipped through pages with normal speedy reaction.

I'll also have to double check some proofread production notes I made on one of my older projects. I messed something up structurally on a halftitle and it triggered a glitch that made both my Kobo reader and Thorium reader on my computer get slow like this.

Ray Ryan

unread,
Jan 16, 2026, 1:36:50 PM (6 days ago) Jan 16
to Standard Ebooks
I haven't looked at the sectioning but the behavior you're describing is consistent with what I'm seeing. Agreed that file size seems to be a factor.

I have managed to reproduce a variation of the fix that bongers…@ described. I have a script that looks for spans whose class includes koboSpan plus anything extra and splits it into two, with the kobo-specific parts moved to the inner span.

E.g. this:

  <span lang="de" xml:lang="de" class="se koboSpan" id="kobo.13.7">Fräulein Pfaff</span>

becomes this:

  <span lang="de" xml:lang="de" class="se"><span class="koboSpan" id="kobo.13.7">Fräulein Pfaff</span></span>

The performance problems go away, and I don't see any formatting problems.

If I invert the fix so that the xml:lang spans lands inside the koboSpan the bad performance remains.

At this point I'm pretty convinced that whatever tool you're using to generate .kepub.epub files needs to be updated s.t. `<span class="koboSpan" id="…">` instances are innermost, with no other classes and no child span elements, like Kovid said; and that the problem hasn't been discovered before because it only presents in very large files. I don't see that this can be called a Kobo bug since kepub is a proprietary mess whose correct behavior is whatever Roku says it is.
split_spans.py
Message has been deleted

Alex Cabal

unread,
Jan 20, 2026, 3:38:47 PM (2 days ago) Jan 20
to standar...@googlegroups.com
I converted the compatible epub to kepub using the latest version of
Calibre. If you transfer this file to your ereader using a USB cable and
a file manager (NOT with calibre) does it work correctly:
https://standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-calibre.kepub

Extracting and Calibre's converted file suggests there isn't much
difference between theirs and ours. This is not a surprise since we use
an an older version of their code to do our own conversion. Their file
also contains nested spans.
> >      >>      > > Filed https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404> <http://
> > bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404 <http://
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404>>>
> >      >>      > <https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404> <http://
> <http://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138407> <http://
> <http://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138407> <http://
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> >      >>      > > > blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml
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> jowett/blob/
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> >      > <https://standardebooks.org/ <https://
> standardebooks.org/> <https://standardebooks.org/ <https://
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> >      >>      > > > how-to-use-our-ebooks#kobo <https://
> >      >>      > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-
> <http://standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-> <http://
> >      >>      > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-> <http://
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> >     <http://standardebooks.org/ <http://standardebooks.org/>>
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> >      >>      > standardebooks.org/ <http://
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> >      >>      > > help/how-to-use->
> >      >>      > > > our-ebooks#kobo> <https://
> >      >>      > > > > standardebooks.org/help/how-to- <http://
> standardebooks.org/help/how-to-> <http://
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> <http://standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use-> <http://
> >      >>      > standardebooks.org/help/how-to-use- <http://
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> >      >>     help/how-to-use->> <http://
> >      >>      > standardebooks.org/ <http://
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> >      >>     <https://
> >      >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/> <<http://groups.google.com/d/>
>
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> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

Anthony Bongers

unread,
Jan 20, 2026, 7:23:42 PM (2 days ago) Jan 20
to Standard Ebooks
Tried that kepub out on my kobo, sideloaded via USB.

On the positive side, the chapters that were extremely slow to load (30 - 60 seconds on chapter 3, 5, 6, 8, and 10) are now around 5 seconds. 

The book as a whole now seems very sluggish though.
Ex:
- opening the TOC to switch chapters takes around 5 seconds. 
- changing to the next page takes a few seconds.
- touching the screen to hide the progress, settings, etc interface and go back to the book takes a few seconds.

Chapters that are fine on the SE publication (load in 1 second) take around 5 seconds in this kepub.

I opened other books to see if my kobo was being slow in general, but other books are still fine.

Ray Ryan

unread,
Jan 20, 2026, 8:01:07 PM (2 days ago) Jan 20
to Standard Ebooks
Not what you asked, but the performance when adding an SE stock epub to Calibre and then letting the app install to the device is good. Would you like a copy of the resulting file to compare?

Ray Ryan

unread,
Jan 20, 2026, 10:02:22 PM (2 days ago) Jan 20
to Standard Ebooks
This is the conversion performed via:
  • Download compatible epub from SE
  • install via Calibre over USB to a Kobo device, w/o telling Calibre to convert to kepub first
  • Copy via USB directly from the Kobo device back to my Mac
This file behaves very well on the Kobo, including the TOC. Bongers…@, if you install it directly to your device over USB how does it behave?

Note that Calibre does not perform any conversion during the first step beyond renaming the file. Checksums of the copy managed by Calibre and the file downloaded from SE match.
Pointed Roofs - Dorothy M. Richardson.kepub.epub

Alex Cabal

unread,
Jan 20, 2026, 11:02:13 PM (2 days ago) Jan 20
to standar...@googlegroups.com
Sure
> https://standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-calibre.kepub <https://
> standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-calibre.kepub>
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404>> <http://
> bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/2138404>> <http://
> > <https://github.com/standardebooks/ <https://github.com/
> standardebooks/>> <https://
> > >      >>     standardebooks/>
> > >      >>      > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://
> github.com/ <https://github.com/>
> > <https://github.com/ <https://github.com/>> <https://
> <http://github.com/>>> <https://
> > >      >>      > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> > >      >>      > > jowett/ <https://github.com/
> standardebooks/ <https://github.com/standardebooks/>
> > <https://github.com/standardebooks/ <https://github.com/
> standardebooks/>> <https://
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> github.com/standardebooks/> <http://
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> >>>>
> > >      >>      > plato_dialogues_benjamin- <https://
> github.com/ <https://github.com/>
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> <http://github.com/>>> <https://
> > >      >> github.com/ <http://github.com/> <http://
> github.com/ <http://github.com/>> <http://github.com/ <http://
> github.com/>
> > <http://github.com/ <http://github.com/>>>>
> > >      >>      > standardebooks/plato_dialogues_benjamin->
> > >      >>      > > jowett/>
> > >      >>      > > > blob/master/src/epub/text/cratylus.xhtml
> > <https://
> > >      >>      > github.com/ <http://github.com/> <http://
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> groups.google.com/d/ <http://groups.google.com/d/>>>>
> > >      >>     <https://
> > >      >>      > groups.google.com/d/ <http://
> groups.google.com/d/> <http://
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> utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

Ray Ryan

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Jan 21, 2026, 1:40:58 AM (yesterday) Jan 21
to Standard Ebooks
Sent it earlier, Groups eat it?

Ray Ryan

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Jan 21, 2026, 2:40:52 AM (yesterday) Jan 21
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Groups ate it and Gmail won't send it! Sent to Alex directly via another service. 

Alex Cabal

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Jan 21, 2026, 5:00:13 PM (21 hours ago) Jan 21
to standardebooks
After spending some time on this today it is indeed the spans that are causing this issue. The default Calibre conversion code, which we copied most of in our toolset, nests kobo spans within any existing spans. This renders fine. However this is a problem in the general case, because CSS selectors targeting spans in the raw epub can end up affecting the wrong elements when more spans are added when converting to kepub. So in epub_build.py line 1123 we try to work around this by merging nested spans. It seems like the Kobo renderer doesn't like this in some rare cases like Pointed Roofs. I've been reading SE ebooks on a Kobo almost since day 1 and this has bug never happened to me.

So, this is definitely a Kobo rendering bug; it seems to be affecting a tiny minority of ebooks; and there might not be a general-case solution that both preserves CSS selector targeting, and works around this rendering but. I'll think about it more but we might just have to chalk this up to a Kobo bug we can't work around. (There is a similar bug affecting some verse spans for a similar reason, i.e. kobo's addition of extra markup affects CSS selectors; see https://github.com/standardebooks/tools/issues/512)


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Vince

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Jan 21, 2026, 5:13:13 PM (21 hours ago) Jan 21
to Ebooks Standard
On Jan 21, 2026, at 4:00 PM, 'Alex Cabal' via Standard Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

(There is a similar bug affecting some verse spans for a similar reason, i.e. kobo's addition of extra markup affects CSS selectors; see https://github.com/standardebooks/tools/issues/512)

As Weijia noted there and I followed-up on, that problem isn’t a Kobo issue, it’s a general one.

Alex Cabal

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Jan 21, 2026, 5:38:33 PM (20 hours ago) Jan 21
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Try this file on Kobo to see if it works: https://standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-fix.kepub.epub



From: Vince <vr_se...@letterboxes.org>
To: "Ebooks Standard"<standar...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:12:58 -0600
Subject: Re: [standardebooks] Bad performance on Pointed Roofs, Dorothy Richardson

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Anthony Bongers

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Jan 21, 2026, 5:47:59 PM (20 hours ago) Jan 21
to Standard Ebooks
That one looks good. 
Navigated to all chapters with minimal wait time. 

Alex Cabal

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Jan 21, 2026, 7:28:15 PM (19 hours ago) Jan 21
to standar...@googlegroups.com
OK great, I think I solved it.

Before converting to kepub, we change all existing <span> elements to a
new made-up <se-span> element.

This conveniently solves every issue we have with kepub, namely
selectors being overridden, ids getting stomped on, and this performance
issue. It also still is valid HTML and passes epubcheck.

I've merged this in so in the next version of the toolset we'll rebuild
the corpus.

On 1/21/26 4:47 PM, Anthony Bongers wrote:
> That one looks good.
> Navigated to all chapters with minimal wait time.
>
> On Wednesday, 21 January 2026 at 17:38:33 UTC-5 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> __
> Try this file on Kobo to see if it works: https://
> standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-fix.kepub.epub <https://
> standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-fix.kepub.epub>
>
>
>
> From: Vince <vr_se...@letterboxes.org>
> To: "Ebooks Standard"<standar...@googlegroups.com>
> Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:12:58 -0600
> Subject: Re: [standardebooks] Bad performance on Pointed Roofs,
> Dorothy Richardson
>
> On Jan 21, 2026, at 4:00 PM, 'Alex Cabal' via Standard
> Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> …
> (There is a similar bug affecting some verse spans for a
> similar reason, i.e. kobo's addition of extra markup affects
> CSS selectors; see https://github.com/standardebooks/tools/
> issues/512 <https://github.com/standardebooks/tools/issues/512>)
>
>
> As Weijia noted there and I followed-up on, that problem isn’t a
> Kobo issue, it’s a general one.
>
>
> --
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> FBBA7CA045FD%40letterboxes.org <https://groups.google.com/d/
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> FBBA7CA045FD%40letterboxes.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
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Alex Cabal

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Jan 21, 2026, 7:29:53 PM (19 hours ago) Jan 21
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Tangentially, unfortunately still we can't change the file extension to
just .kepub to be more compatible with Calibre; Kobos only recognize the
.kepub.epub extension and no other permutations. This should be
something to push back on at Calibre because if .kepub.epub is the only
extension Kobo devies recognize, then distributors can't be expected to
distribute files that just end in .kepub.

On 1/21/26 4:47 PM, Anthony Bongers wrote:
> That one looks good.
> Navigated to all chapters with minimal wait time.
>
> On Wednesday, 21 January 2026 at 17:38:33 UTC-5 Alex Cabal wrote:
>
> __
> Try this file on Kobo to see if it works: https://
> standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-fix.kepub.epub <https://
> standardebooks.org/pointed-roofs-fix.kepub.epub>
>
>
>
> From: Vince <vr_se...@letterboxes.org>
> To: "Ebooks Standard"<standar...@googlegroups.com>
> Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:12:58 -0600
> Subject: Re: [standardebooks] Bad performance on Pointed Roofs,
> Dorothy Richardson
>
> On Jan 21, 2026, at 4:00 PM, 'Alex Cabal' via Standard
> Ebooks <standar...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> …
> (There is a similar bug affecting some verse spans for a
> similar reason, i.e. kobo's addition of extra markup affects
> As Weijia noted there and I followed-up on, that problem isn’t a
> Kobo issue, it’s a general one.
>
>
> --
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> FBBA7CA045FD%40letterboxes.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
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Ray Ryan

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Jan 21, 2026, 9:47:07 PM (16 hours ago) Jan 21
to Standard Ebooks
Crafty fix, really nice. Thanks!

WRT the file extension thing, I'd argue that's a Calibre issue. I asked Kovid about it and he would accept a fix to allow more flexibility on that front, but it could be a lot of work. I'm tempted. 
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