bok2tex: convert a shamela.ws .bok file to PDF
May 24, 2011
Assalamu `alaykum,
Alhamdulillah, I’ve created bok2tex:
A Python tool to convert a المكتبة الشاملة .bok file to xetex/PDF.
Requires MDB tools (mdbtools).
Requires the Scheherazade font from SIL.
Requires a recent version of XeTeX (e.g. via TeXLive).Right now the tool generates a PDF sized for Kindle DX’s screen, and works only on GNU/Linux because of the mdbtools dependency. Unfortunately, Maktaba Shamila uses the dreadful Microsoft Access Database file format (.bok, i.e. mdb), so mdbtools is needed to convert it to the platform independent and Free/Libre/Open Source SQLite database file format.
Home page of the project:
http://bitbucket.org/edin1/bok2tex
You can install it with:
pip install http://bitbucket.org/edin1/bok2tex/get/tip.zip
Here’s an example generated PDF file of the Risala al-Mustarshidin of Imam Haris al-Muhasibi:
risala-al-mustarshidin.bok
Note that there’s also a projects that aims to provide a shamela like experience on GNU/Linux systems called Thawab.
