Archives For November 30, 1999

Install Sigil from Source in UbuntuSigil is a multi-platform EPUB ebook. It supports both WYSIWYG and code-based editing of EPUB files, as well as the import of HTML and plain text files.

Since version 0.7.4, Sigil requires higher version of Qt5 libraries which is not available in Ubuntu’s universe repository. This tutorial will show you how to install the latest Qt5 and build sigil from source code. Works on Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04.

1. Download & Install Qt5

The qt-project website provides the latest installer for Linux. So it’s easy to install it by following the steps below:

1. Go to qt-project.org/downloads, download Qt (so far it’s 5.2.0) for Linux.

To check out OS type 32 bit or 64 bit, go to System Settings -> Details -> Overview

2. Right-click on the downloaded installer (.run file), select Properties and navigate to Permissions tab. Check the box between “Execute” and “Allow executing file as problem”.

3. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to start the installer (assume that you save the downloaded file in the default USER Downloads folder):

cd ~/Downloads/ && sudo ./qt-linux-opensource-*-offline.run

It brings up the install wizard. Just follow it to install Qt5 into the default /opt/ directory.

2. Build Sigil against Qt5

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and follow the below steps:

1. Run command below and type in your user password when prompt to get the super user privilege:

sudo -i

Now your terminal should starts like this:

root@YOUR_HOST_NAME:~#

2. Navigate to /opt/ directory:

cd /opt/

3. Create folders for Sigil source and build:

mkdir -p /opt/sigil/src /opt/sigil/build

4. Navigate to Sigil source folder and download 0.7.4 source code via wget:

cd /opt/sigil/src && wget https://sigil.googlecode.com/files/Sigil-0.7.4-Code.zip

5. Unzip the package:

unzip Sigil-0.7.4-Code.zip

6. Build the editor:

For 32 bit system:

cd /opt/sigil/build && cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/Qt5.2.0/5.2.0/gcc/lib/cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DFORCE_BUNDLED_COPIES=1 /opt/sigil/src && sudo make install

For 64 bit system:

cd /opt/sigil/build && cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/Qt5.2.0/5.2.0/gcc_64/lib/cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DFORCE_BUNDLED_COPIES=1 /opt/sigil/src && sudo make install

NOTE: you need to change 5.2.0 to the Qt version you installed. This command will take a few minutes building packages.

7. Now create a script to run Sigil:

echo "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/Qt5.2.0/5.2.0/gcc_64/lib /usr/local/bin/sigil" > /opt/sigil/sigil.sh

NOTE: you need to change 5.2.0 to the Qt version you installed. And remove _64 for 32 bit system.

8. Finally, you can start Sigil via this command:

/opt/sigil/sigil.sh

3. Create a Launcher for Sigil

Run exit in previous terminal or open another one, then install required package:

sudo apt-get install gnome-panel --no-install-recommends

Start the “Create Launcher” window:

sudo gnome-desktop-item-edit /usr/share/applications/ --create-new

Type in name Sigil and command /opt/sigil/sigil.sh and click OK.

Now you’re able to start Sigil from Menu or Unity Dash.

This simple tutorial shows you how to install Sigil WYSIWYG epub editor on Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise via Sigil PPA repository.

Sigil is a free and open-source EPUB ebook editor. It runs on Linux, Windows and Mac with full EPUB 2 spec and UTF-16 support.

  • Multiple Views: Book View, Code View and Preview View
  • WYSIWYG editing in Book View
  • Complete control over directly editing EPUB syntax in Code View
  • Table of Contents generator with multi-level heading support
  • Metadata editor with full support for all possible metadata entries (more than 200) with full descriptions for each
  • User interface translated into many languages
  • Spell checking with default and user configurable dictionaries
  • Full Regular Expression (PCRE) support for Find & Replace
  • Supports import of EPUB and HTML files, images, and style sheets,
  • Documents can be validated for EPUB compliance with the integrated FlightCrew EPUB validator
  • Embedded HTML Tidy: all imported files have their formatting corrected, and your editing can be optionally cleaned

Install Sigil Epub Editor:

There is only a personal Sigil PPA for Ubuntu users. Now supports Ubuntu 14.10 and Ubuntu 14.04. Supports Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 12.10. Use it at your own risk!

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands to add the ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunab/sigil-release

For Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04, you’ll need the Ubuntu SDK PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-sdk-team/ppa

After adding the ppa repository, you’re able to install the editor via below commands:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install sigil