[Offline-l] Re: New releases of Kiwix Desktop, Kiwix Tools and Libkiwix

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Thanks for this wonderful news. I'm very happy to test the new
version. thanks for this huge work that will be widely used by countries
with difficulty to access Wikipedia with totalitarian regimes.

On Sat., Mar. 26, 2022, 12:04 p.m. Emmanuel Engelhart 
wrote:

> Hello
>
> This last few months we have published important new versions of Kiwix
> Desktop (rich ZIM reader for Windows & GNU/Linux), Kiwix Tools (with
> HTTP daemon Kiwix Serve) and the underlying Libkiwix (for all Kiwix ports).
>
> This has been a really long time since we talked here about our Kiwix
> flagship softwares. Actually, these releases are the result of almost 18
> months of work. We are not proud to take so long to make new releases
> but the resources are tight and major changes have been done which
> needed a high level of coordination and a long standing effort.
>
> We finally have released:
> * Kiwix Desktop 2.1 & 2.2 (93 tickets closed)
> * Kiwix Tools 3.2 (21 tickets closed)
> * Libkiwix 10 (123 tickets closed)
>
> In a Nutshell here are the main improvements:
> * Support of new libzim7 API and ZIM format
> * Numerous improvements and bug fixes around fulltext search and
> suggestions
> * Major improvements in the library mgmt
> * Many UI design improvements in Kiwix Desktop
> * Few fixes around GNU/Linux appimage version of Kiwix Desktop
> * Revamp the welcome page in Kiwix Serve and allow filtering
> * Strong development of the OPDS API in Kiwix Serve
> * Lots of smaller bug fixes and new features
> * ... You can go to https://code.kiwix.org to get the complete
> changelogs and for more details.
>
> Go to https://kiwix.org to download latest versions of Kiwix!
>
> In the next 18 months, more releases of these pieces will be done. 2020
> and 2021 have been busy with core improvements and this is now over (at
> least for a bit ;). We are quite happy with our low-level libraries. We
> will - from now - focus more on the UX around books in Kiwix, in
> particular around the local/online library (something we would already
> have done in 2021 but we have been too short on time).
>
> I want to emphasize that this part of our work would not be possible
> without the strong commitment of the WMF. The WMF, with his financing,
> secures a baseline maintenance of the core software pieces in openZIM
> and Kiwix. For the rest, we rely on the time & talent of C++ volunteer
> developers.
>
> Happy WE!
>
> Kelson
>
> --
> Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
> * Web: https://kiwix.org/
> * Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
> * Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/
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[Offline-l] Re: Kiwix Hotspot 2.4 released!

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Wow, a great new !. For sure I will use it to send to Venezuela on my
next trip. Thanks so much

On Wed., Jun. 23, 2021, 1:52 p.m. Samuel Klein  wrote:

> This is great!  I hadn't looked at the new releases lately.  Thanks for
> keeping us updated.   SJ
>
> PS - I just found this curious org  who has their own
> kiwix server -- trying to horn in on the namespace?
>
> On Tue, May 18, 2021 at 2:16 PM Emmanuel Engelhart 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> We are proud to announce that Kiwix Hotspot v2.4 is out and ready to be
>> used on Windows/macOS/Linux:
>> https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-hotspot/v2.4.5/
>>
>> As I write this email, I realize that no release announcement, for Kiwix
>> Hotspot, has been made since Summer 2019! This is really not fair to the
>> product on which we have invested so much energy and which is developing
>> well its own audience.
>>
>> As a reminder, the Kiwix Hotspot is a click-and-play solution to create
>> offline library on Raspberry-Pi hardware. Download and run the soft on
>> your computer, choose the works & softwares you love in the library and
>> Kiwix Hotspot will prepare automatically your micro-SD card. It has
>> never been that easy to create and offline library on Raspberry Pi.
>>
>> So many things has been improved in this new milestone (and the other
>> one before), that I have no other choice than to just to share the
>> CHANGELOG here:
>> https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-hotspot/blob/master/CHANGELOG
>>
>> What is important to notice as well, is that we have a fully working
>> Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) version of Kiwix Hotspot. The so-called
>> "Kiwix Hotspot Cardshop" allows users to build there own custom RPI
>> image "in the Cloud". You can buy an access to it for a cheap price at
>> https://www.kiwix.org/en/cardshop-access/.
>>
>> Regards
>> Kelson
>>
>> --
>> Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
>> * Web: https://kiwix.org/
>> * Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
>> * Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/
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Re: [Offline-l] WikiFundi in Spanish

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Will do, thanks!, Bien sur ;)

On Tue., Feb. 16, 2021, 5:32 p.m. Florence Devouard 
wrote:

> Great Wilfredo !
>
> Let me get back in touch with you by email in the next few days.
> In the meanwhile, could you please drop your username here :
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi/2021#Interested ?
>
> Thanks !
>
> Flo
>
>
> Le 16/02/2021 à 16:03, Wilfredo Rodríguez a écrit :
>
> Dear Florence,
>
> I'm fr-4, en-3, pt-4 and es-N. Also I also have experience translating and
> programming (in the past I helped with the development of an installer for
> kiwix but now I am focused on activism for Venezuela and Cuba). I would be
> very happy to be able to collaborate with this project, please send me the
> tasks that are necessary to start working on this project.
>
> Thanks
>
> On Tue., Feb. 16, 2021, 9:20 a.m. Florence Devouard 
> wrote:
>
>> Hello Offline fans,
>>
>>
>> In 2021, I plan to get a Spanish version of WikiFundi created with the
>> help of Antonio (u:Tonygarfume) and Kiwix.
>>
>> Reminder : WikiFundi (1) is a software that provides off-line editing
>> environment that mimics the Wikipedia environment. WikiFundi allows for
>> training and contribution when technology, access and electricity outages
>> fail or are not available at all. It enables individuals, groups and
>> communities to learn how to edit Wikipedia, and to work on articles
>> collaboratively. It requires a local server (such as a raspberry PI)
>> which will provide a local wifi network to which editors may contact. Once
>> completed and connected to the internet, the articles produced can be
>> uploaded to Wikipedia.
>> WikiFundi is primarily disseminated at the moment through the Kiwix
>> environnement. It is for example used during the WikiChallenge Ecoles
>> d'Afrique, a writing contest that run in (mostly rural) schools of 8
>> francophone countries (2)
>>
>> I am currently looking for interested people to provide any help they
>> think relevant, with the amount of time and energy they can afford. Any
>> little help welcome.
>>
>> If you are interested, please answer me, publicly or privately, and drop
>> your username signature on the project page (3) so that I can contact you.
>>
>> Help could be
>>
>> a) help to develop the content pages of WikiFundi (I am in particular
>> looking for people super knowledgeable with the our pillars, NPOV and such,
>> to list and summarize those pages)
>> b) provide additional educational resources to be put on WikiFundi.
>> Currently all the resources are either in English or French. Looking for
>> fresh relevant resources in Spanish to be added
>> c) beta testing, fixing links, language, typoes, page review with good
>> eyes
>> d) translate the userguide in Spanish !
>> e) when the software is ready, helping to relay the info, to communicate
>> about it (such as writing a blogpost in Spanish about it, or hosting a
>> post, or hosting a webinar to talk about the software etc.)
>> f) and using the software in disconnected areas, providing feedback and
>> telling the story
>> g) more ?
>>
>> Please no one be shy.
>>
>>
>> Florence
>>
>>
>> (1) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi/en
>>
>> (2) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiChallenge_Ecoles_d%27Afrique/en)
>>
>> (3) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi/2021#Interested
>>
>> (4) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi_Resources
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Re: [Offline-l] WikiFundi in Spanish

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Dear Florence,

I'm fr-4, en-3, pt-4 and es-N. Also I also have experience translating and
programming (in the past I helped with the development of an installer for
kiwix but now I am focused on activism for Venezuela and Cuba). I would be
very happy to be able to collaborate with this project, please send me the
tasks that are necessary to start working on this project.

Thanks

On Tue., Feb. 16, 2021, 9:20 a.m. Florence Devouard 
wrote:

> Hello Offline fans,
>
>
> In 2021, I plan to get a Spanish version of WikiFundi created with the
> help of Antonio (u:Tonygarfume)
>  and Kiwix.
>
> Reminder : WikiFundi (1) is a software that provides off-line editing
> environment that mimics the Wikipedia environment. WikiFundi allows for
> training and contribution when technology, access and electricity outages
> fail or are not available at all. It enables individuals, groups and
> communities to learn how to edit Wikipedia, and to work on articles
> collaboratively. It requires a local server (such as a raspberry PI)
> which will provide a local wifi network to which editors may contact. Once
> completed and connected to the internet, the articles produced can be
> uploaded to Wikipedia.
> WikiFundi is primarily disseminated at the moment through the Kiwix
> environnement. It is for example used during the WikiChallenge Ecoles
> d'Afrique, a writing contest that run in (mostly rural) schools of 8
> francophone countries (2)
>
> I am currently looking for interested people to provide any help they
> think relevant, with the amount of time and energy they can afford. Any
> little help welcome.
>
> If you are interested, please answer me, publicly or privately, and drop
> your username signature on the project page (3) so that I can contact you.
>
> Help could be
>
> a) help to develop the content pages of WikiFundi (I am in particular
> looking for people super knowledgeable with the our pillars, NPOV and such,
> to list and summarize those pages)
> b) provide additional educational resources to be put on WikiFundi.
> Currently all the resources are either in English or French. Looking for
> fresh relevant resources in Spanish to be added
> c) beta testing, fixing links, language, typoes, page review with good eyes
> d) translate the userguide in Spanish !
> e) when the software is ready, helping to relay the info, to communicate
> about it (such as writing a blogpost in Spanish about it, or hosting a
> post, or hosting a webinar to talk about the software etc.)
> f) and using the software in disconnected areas, providing feedback and
> telling the story
> g) more ?
>
> Please no one be shy.
>
>
> Florence
>
>
> (1) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi/en
>
> (2) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiChallenge_Ecoles_d%27Afrique/en)
>
> (3) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi/2021#Interested
>
> (4) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi_Resources
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Re: [Offline-l] New tool : Zimit

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Hola,

Wow wonderful tool. I will test it. Thanks for this Christmas gift.


On Tue., Dec. 22, 2020, 5:26 a.m. Stephane Coillet-Matillon <
steph...@kiwix.org> wrote:

> Hola,
>
> Since I’m bearded and moderately overweight let me be the one to bring the
> first present for the holiday season and introduce *Zimit*, a pretty cool
> new tool that allows people to produce their own Zim files. Yes, you read
> that correctly.
>
> * If you are the type that cannot wait to unwrap presents, you will find
> it at https://youzim.it 
>
> * For everyone else:
> The interface is pretty minimalist, and that’s part of the message:
> 1. Insert target URL
> 2. Insert email address so we can tell you when your zim is ready
> 3. Download zim file
>
> There is a limit at 1,000 items for each zim because (a) we don’t want to
> DDoS unsuspecting websites with requests; and (ii) also would not be able
> to afford the bill If it becomes as popular as we think it will be (we need
> to find an acceptable business model and pricing structure: any advice
> welcome). But since this is free software, you can obviously cut the
> middleman by copying, studying, modifying and redistributing the code that
> can be found here: https://github.com/openzim/zimit
>
> Because this relies on newly-implemented service workers, these new zim
> files will only work on Kiwix-android and Kiwix-serve at the moment, but
> this will obviously expand to other platforms in 2021.
>
> This project was entirely funded by a Mozilla Open Source Support Award,
> thanks to them!
>
> Cheers,
> Stephane
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Re: [Offline-l] Kiwix/openZIM is moving to Zstandard compression

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Thank you for this new improvement and for continuing to support the old
format

*Wilfredo Rodríguez*


El lun., 28 de sep. de 2020 a la(s) 04:52, Emmanuel Engelhart (
kel...@kiwix.org) escribió:

> Hi
>
> The ZIM format relies on third party compression algorithms to provide
> the best user experience. This means, high compression level, quick
> decompression, high portability, etc. Overtime the ZIM has used gzip,
> bzip2 and since almost 10 years the lzma2 version of the xz library.
>
> Time to time new modern compression algorithms are created and we use to
> evaluate them to see if this would bring a significant improvement for
> our users. Usually it would not be worth the effort of switching, but
> this has been different in the case of Zstandard (zstd).
>
> The key advantage is that zstd offers a higher decompression speed for a
> similar (to lzma) compression ratio. That means articles are displayed
> even quicker than before and the energy consumption is a lot less. You
> can read the whole discussion at
> https://github.com/openzim/libzim/issues/84.
>
> The decision of switching from lzma to xz has been made earlier this
> year and actually most of our Kiwix ports have been able to read zstd
> based ZIM files since more than a quarter. We are approaching now the
> end of the transition stage for Kiwix readers and therefore we will soon
> (during October) start to publish ZIM files using the new compression zstd.
>
> For 99% of the users this move will be totally transparent and they
> should only notice the reading/searching speed-up. For the 1% left a few
> things have to be considered:
> * If you can not read a new ZIM file, please update to the latest
> version of your (Kiwix) reader (this is always a good advice).
> * For all non Kiwix readers, but still libzim based, these readers
> should be re-compiled/re-released with the latest libzim.
> * For users relying on ZIM files but not on the libzim/Kiwix software
> stack, the software needs to be fixed.
>
> We don't plan so far to discontinued the support of lzma compression
> algorithm even if we discouraged to use it as zstd is simply always
> better. Older ZIM files are still perfectly readable, and this won't
> change in the next couple of years.
>
> Regards
> Emmanuel
>
> --
> Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
> * Web: https://kiwix.org/
> * Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
> * Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/
>
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Re: [Offline-l] [OPENZIM] Introducing Python-libzim

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Excellent good news, this will allow developing many tools more easily.
*Wilfredo Rodríguez*


El vie., 3 de jul. de 2020 a la(s) 10:41, Emmanuel Engelhart (
kel...@kiwix.org) escribió:

> Hi
>
> I'm happy to introduce you to Python-libzim.
>
> Python-libzim package allows you to read/write ZIM files in Python. It
> provides a shallow Python interface on top of the libzim C++ library. It
> supports out-of-the-box macOS and GNU/Linux. For the other OSes you will
> have to compile the libzim manually.
>
> After Node.js, this is the second scripting language for which openZIM
> proposes a binding of its famous reference implementation of the ZIM
> open specification. This move is really important to allow more people
> to benefit of the file format and ZIM files already published.
>
> On our side, Python-libzim was critical for a few other projects which
> are currently running. In the next months a few critical scrapers will
> be migrated from zimwriterfs to python-libzim and benefit of a sensitive
> code simplification and speed-up.
>
> Install easily python-libzim with pip and give it a try:
> https://pypi.org/project/libzim/
>
> Happy coding!
>
> Regards
> Emmanuel
> --
> Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
> * Web: https://kiwix.org/
> * Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
> * Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/
>
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Re: [Offline-l] Kiwix portable for Linux

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Thanks for your reply, I will test it before answering to the cubain users

On Fri., Sep. 13, 2019, 3:29 a.m. renaud gaudin  wrote:

> Wilfredo,
>
> The latest Kiwix-desktop (http://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-desktop/)
> is portable-only at the moment and the process of having a debian/ubuntu
> package is ongoing.
> So please take a look at this version and check that it meets your needs.
>
> renaud
>
> On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 6:36 PM Wilfredo Rodríguez 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> I have received some messages from Cuba requesting help to install Kiwix
>> and its wikipedia package in Spanish on Ubuntu.
>>
>> The main problem comes when the user can download and burn a CD on a
>> public machine but he does not have Internet on his computer, that is,
>> carrying the ZIM file does not represent any problem, however, installing
>> kiwix on linux offline It represents another level of complexity especially
>> in the installation process during the installation when dependencies are
>> being resolved (this could be a nightmare down dependencies manually).
>>
>> This is a recurring problem and I have received several messages, so far
>> I have not found any solution. I've been thinking about maybe a live cd
>> version with kiwix. I would like to hear your suggestions.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>>
>> *Wilfredo Rodríguez*
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[Offline-l] Kiwix portable for Linux

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Hi guys,

I have received some messages from Cuba requesting help to install Kiwix
and its wikipedia package in Spanish on Ubuntu.

The main problem comes when the user can download and burn a CD on a public
machine but he does not have Internet on his computer, that is, carrying
the ZIM file does not represent any problem, however, installing kiwix on
linux offline It represents another level of complexity especially in the
installation process during the installation when dependencies are being
resolved (this could be a nightmare down dependencies manually).

This is a recurring problem and I have received several messages, so far I
have not found any solution. I've been thinking about maybe a live cd
version with kiwix. I would like to hear your suggestions.

Thank you.


*Wilfredo Rodríguez*
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Re: [Offline-l] Kiwix and openZIM wave of releases

[Wilfredo Rodríguez]

Excellent work, I will test it

On Sun, Jul 8, 2018, 11:42 Emmanuel Engelhart,  wrote:

> Hi
>
> Two weeks ago we have  made a new waves of releases of many core
> projects for both openZIM and Kiwix.
>
> Here are the bits of changelog:
>
> libzim 4.0.0
> 
>
>  * [Writer] Remove a lot of memory copy.
>  * [Writer] Add xapian indexing directly in libzim.
>  * [Writer] Better API.
>  * [Writer] Use multi-threading to write clusters.
>
> zimwriterfs 1.2
> ===
>
>  * Revert "Add leading '/' at indexer url.
>  * Move to meson build system.
>  * Addapt to new libzim's writer's API.
>  * Add travic CI.
>  * Add redirect articles after "normal" articles.
>  * Explicitly use icu namespace to allow use of packaged icu lib.
>  * Fix help/log typos.
>  * Better README.
>
> zim-tools 1.0.0
> ===
>
>  * Remove warnings.
>  * Compile zim-tools with travis.
>  * Add zim-check tool.
>  * Addapt zimDiff and zimPatch to new version of libzim writer.
>  * [zimSplit] Do not create a new ofstream for each part. (Do not need
> gcc5)
> * Do not use `std::to_string` (Allow compilation with gcc4.8)
>
> kiwix-lib 2.0.1
> ===
>
>  * Fix parsing of url.
>  * Remove unused static resources.
>  * Correctly decode reserved characters in URLs.
>  * Explicitly use icu namespace to allow use of packaged icu lib.
>
> kiwix-tools 0.6.0
> =
>
>  * remove kiwix-install tool.
>
> kiwix-serve
> ---
>
>  * Improved taskbar #160
>  * Fix global page when using the option `--nosearchbar`
>  * Return 404 for missing resources
>  * Fix compilation for gcc 4.8.
>
> kiwix-manage
> 
>
>  * Returns proper exit code (not always 0)
>
> Preparation of next wave has already started :)
>
> Regards
> Emmanuel
>
> --
> Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
> * Web: http://www.kiwix.org
> * Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
> * more: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Communication
>
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