epub-export

Export content to EPUB ebooks (from PDF or markdown), optimize for e-reader screens, then copy to an MTP-connected device. Used when the user wants a reading-ready document on their physical ereader (Tolino Vision 6, Kobo, PocketBook, etc.).

Prerequisites

Tool	Check	Purpose
pandoc	which pandoc	Markdown → EPUB conversion
gio / gvfs	gio mount -l	MTP mount/access to ereader
pymupdf4llm	uv pip list | grep pymupdf4llm	PDF → Markdown extraction

pandoc and gio are pre-installed on Ubuntu / Zorin OS. pymupdf4llm may need installing: uv pip install pymupdf pymupdf4llm (use uv on PEP 668 systems).

Full Pipeline: PDF → EPUB → E-Reader

set -euo pipefail
PDF → pymupdf4llm → Raw Markdown → Clean → pandoc → EPUB → gio copy → E-Reader

1. Extract PDF to Markdown

set -euo pipefail
uv run python3 -c "
import pymupdf4llm
md = pymupdf4llm.to_markdown('input.pdf')
with open('/tmp/input.md', 'w') as f:
    f.write(md)
print(f'{len(md)} chars extracted')
"

2. Clean Markdown (remove PDF artifacts)

PDF-generated markdown contains layout debris: page numbers, running headers/footers, bold-from-asterisks on headings, and chapter-marker lines.

import re

def clean_pdf_md(md: str) -> str:
    lines = md.split("\n")
    cleaned = []
    
    for line in lines:
        stripped = line.strip()
        
        # Remove "Seite X" / "Page X" standalone lines
        if re.match(r'^Seite \d+$', stripped):
            continue
        if re.match(r'^Page \d+$', stripped, re.IGNORECASE):
            continue
        
        # Remove running book-title footers ("**DMZ x GreyHack — E-Book Edition**")
        if re.match(r'^\*\*DMZ x GreyHack', stripped):
            continue
        
        # Remove repetitive "E-Book-freundliche" ad-style footer blocks
        if 'E-Book-freundliche Ausgabe' in stripped and 'ruhigerem Lesefluss' in stripped:
            continue
        
        # Remove standalone "**KAPITEL N**" / "**Kapitel N**" markers
        if re.match(r'^\*\*(?:KAPITEL|Kapitel)\s+\d+\*\*$', stripped):
            continue
        
        # Remove Placeholder for table of contents
        if stripped == '## Placeholder for table of contents':
            continue
        
        # Remove "Lesefunktion dieses Kapitels" heading + following content line
        if re.match(r'^## \*\*Lesefunktion dieses Kapitels\*\*', stripped):
            continue  # skip the heading; the next content line is redundant too
        
        # Clean bold-from-asterisks in headings: "## **Heading**" → "## Heading"
        h_match = re.match(r'^(#{1,6})\s+\*\*(.+?)\*\*\s*$', line)
        if h_match:
            level = h_match.group(1)
            text = h_match.group(2).strip()
            cleaned.append(f"{level} {text}")
            continue
        
        cleaned.append(line)
    
    # Collapse excessive blank lines
    text = "\n".join(cleaned)
    text = re.sub(r'\n{4,}', '\n\n\n', text)
    return text

set -euo pipefail Also fix common PDF extraction typos with .replace() (e.g., "Handbuc h" → "Handbuch").

3. Build Optimized EPUB with pandoc

pandoc /tmp/cleaned.md \
  --to epub3 \
  --metadata title="Book Title" \
  --metadata author="Author Name" \
  --metadata date="June 2026" \
  --metadata lang="de-DE" \
  --metadata identifier="my-book-20260623" \
  --metadata publisher="Publisher" \
  --metadata rights="CC BY-NC-SA 4.0" \
  --metadata description="Short description for library view" \
  --epub-cover-image=cover.svg \
  --css /path/to/ereader.css \
  --toc --toc-depth=2 \
  --split-level=1 \
  --number-sections \
  -o output.epub

set -euo pipefail

pandoc flag reference

Flag	Purpose	Notes
--to epub3	Modern EPUB format	EPUB3 handles CSS better, reflow, metadata
--css file.css	Custom stylesheet	NOT --epub-stylesheet (removed in newer pandoc)
--metadata	Dublin Core / OPF metadata	Repeat for each key: title, author, date, lang, identifier, publisher, rights, description
--epub-cover-image	Cover image (SVG/PNG/JPG)	Path to image file for the library view
--toc	Generate NCX table of contents
--toc-depth=N	How many heading levels in TOC	2 is usually right (H1 + H2)
--split-level=N	Create chapter files at heading level N	1 = per H1 (fewer, larger files), 2 = per H2 (more, smaller; better for 6" screens). Replaces deprecated --epub-chapter-level.
--number-sections	Auto-number headings	1.1, 1.2, etc.

--split-level strategy for Tolino Vision 6:

• --split-level=1 → one HTML file per major section (H1). Works well for shorter documents (<50 pages) where chapter files are 3-8 pages each.
• --split-level=2 → one file per H2. Produces more files, each 1-3 pages. Better for very long documents (>100 pages) where page-turn latency matters.

4. Generate a Cover SVG (when no image available)

Create a simple dark-theme SVG cover when the PDF has no embedded cover image:

COVER_SVG = '''<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 600 800" width="600" height="800">
  <rect width="600" height="800" fill="#1a1a2e"/>
  <rect x="30" y="30" width="540" height="740" fill="none" stroke="#e94560" stroke-width="2" rx="5"/>
  <text x="300" y="250" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Georgia, serif" font-size="42" fill="#e94560" font-weight="bold">{TITLE}</text>
  <text x="300" y="310" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Georgia, serif" font-size="22" fill="#ccc">{SUBTITLE}</text>
  <line x1="150" y1="340" x2="450" y2="340" stroke="#e94560" stroke-width="1"/>
  <text x="300" y="530" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Georgia, serif" font-size="18" fill="#888">Autor: {AUTHOR}</text>
  <text x="300" y="560" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Georgia, serif" font-size="16" fill="#666">{DATE}</text>
</svg>'''

set -euo pipefail Customize the fill color, stroke, font sizes, and layout per project. Save to a temp file and pass as --epub-cover-image.

5. Deploy to E-Reader via MTP / GVFS

Preferred method — gio copy with MTP URI (works even when GVFS mount path is broken):

# Find the device URI
gio mount -l | grep -i "tolino\|kobo\|ereader\|pocketbook"
# Example output: mtp:host=Rakuten_Kobo_Inc._tolino_vision_6/

# Copy the EPUB
gio copy output.epub \
  "mtp://Rakuten_Kobo_Inc._tolino_vision_6/Interner gemeinsamer Speicher/Books/YourFolder/"

# Verify
gio list "mtp://Rakuten_Kobo_Inc._tolino_vision_6/Interner gemeinsamer Speicher/Books/YourFolder/"

set -euo pipefail Alternative — GVFS filesystem path:

MTP_MOUNT="/run/user/$(id -u)/gvfs/mtp:host=Rakuten_Kobo_Inc._tolino_vision_6"
cp output.epub "$MTP_MOUNT/Interner gemeinsamer Speicher/Books/"

set -euo pipefail Remove old files before copying fresh ones:

gio remove "mtp://Vendor_Model/Books/old-file.epub"

set -euo pipefail Books directory names by locale:

Locale	Path
German	Interner gemeinsamer Speicher/Books/
English	Internal Storage/Books/
French	Stockage interne partagé/Books/
Italian	Memoria interna condivisa/Books/
Spanish	Almacenamiento interno compartido/Books/

Tolino Vision 6 E-Reader Optimization

The Tolino Vision 6 has a 6" E-Ink Carta display at 1448×1072 (300 DPI). Key optimization points:

CSS Principles for E-Ink

Property	Value	Rationale
Font-family	Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif	Best readability on 300 DPI E-Ink
Line-height	1.7	Wide enough for screen reading
Hyphens	auto	Justified text needs hyphenation
Text-align	justify	Standard for German book typography
@page margins	15-20px sides	Not too wide on a 6" screen
Body font-size	1em (device default)	Let the user control with Tolino's slider
Code font	"Courier New", Courier, monospace	Break-long-lines by word-break
Code size	0.8-0.85em	Smaller than body text for code blocks
Table borders	thin, clean (no background)	Readable on grayscale E-Ink
Body > h1:first-of-type	page-break-before: avoid	Prevents blank page before title
Links	color: #000, text-decoration: none	No purple visited links on E-Ink

Font strategy for E-Ink

• Do NOT embed fonts — the device's built-in font rendering is optimized for E-Ink
• Do NOT use @font-face — it slows down rendering and can cause reflow issues
• Use Georgia as first choice with "Times New Roman", serif fallback
• Avoid thin/light font weights — they wash out on E-Ink
• Avoid colored backgrounds — anything on non-white backgrounds looks muddy on grayscale E-Ink

Splitting strategy

For the Tolino's 6" screen with default font size:

• --split-level=1 produces chapter files of ~3-8 reader pages each — sweet spot
• --split-level=2 produces files of ~1-3 pages each — fine but more navigation clicks
• Rationale: E-Ink page turns take ~0.5-1s per full redraw, so fewer turns = better UX

Workflow: Markdown Source Only

If starting from existing markdown (not a PDF):

# Quick conversion with basic metadata
pandoc input.md --to epub3 --toc -o output.epub

# Full flags for production quality
pandoc input.md \
  --to epub3 \
  --metadata title="My Book" --metadata author="Me" \
  --css ereader.css \
  --toc --toc-depth=2 --split-level=1 \
  --number-sections \
  -o output.epub

Common Sources

Source	Command
PDF	pymupdf4llm → clean → pandoc (see full pipeline above)
MorphReader Briefing	morphreader --no-cve-ids --days 3 | pandoc ... or save to file first
Any markdown output	Save to file → run pandoc
Daily briefing markdown	~/scripts/morphreader-briefing.md (generated by OS-cron at 7:50)

Pitfalls

• --epub-chapter-level is deprecated — use --split-level instead
• --epub-stylesheet is deprecated — use --css instead (newer pandoc versions removed the old flag)
• --epub-cover-image cannot be an empty string — pandoc errors with cover-image: does not exist. Omit the flag if no cover, or generate a simple SVG
• MTP requires unlocked device — the ereader must be awake and on its home screen. If copy hangs or fails, wake the device
• E-reader library refresh is manual — Tolino does NOT auto-scan. After copying, go to Library and pull down to refresh
• MTP path can be fragile — cp through GVFS paths sometimes hangs. Use gio copy with the mtp:// URI instead
• gio remove is needed — MTP doesn't support overwrite-on-copy. Delete old versions first
• UTF-8 filenames — MTP handles them fine, but avoid special characters (?, *, <, >) for maximum compatibility
• Tolino uses filename as default title — ensure --metadata title=... is set correctly
• Cover thumbnail delay — Tolino generates the cover thumbnail on first library view. Wait 5-10 seconds after opening the book

References

• references/tolino-vision-6.md — Tolino-specific mount path, Books path, and quirks
• references/tolino-vision-6-css.md — Full CSS stylesheet optimized for Tolino Vision 6
• templates/cover-template.svg — Reusable SVG cover template