Syncing/Connecting to another library, on another computer

[Hellmark]

I was wondering if there was any way, or plugin, to be able to have a library sync or be able to share books between each other. I have Calibre on my netbook, on my desktop, etc. I just would like to easily have some stuff on both, without a lot of work keeping the metadata and such.

[capnm]

Many ways.

The simplest involve variations of just copying your library:
http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....ter-to-another

Which can also be automated with backup/sync software.

Another approach is to use dropbox or a similar setup.

Caveats:
You have to sync an entire library, not just part of it (but you know you can have multiple libraries, right?)

You want to be very careful to restrict your editing/updating to just one machine at a time (or at all), or you can really mess things up.

You don't want to sync cross-platform unless you really know what you're doing (case sensitive/insensitive file structures are particularly problematic).

Having said that, maintaining a library on, for example, a Windows desktop and keeping a "read-only" copy on a Windows netbook is dead simple.

[Hellmark]

Really kind of sucks that while Calibre has server capabilities, and ability to load folders and such as devices, that you can't do something like connecting to a calibre server and treat it like a device.

And yeah, cross platform would be nice. My stuff is a mix of Linux, Mac, and Windows (mostly Linux though).

If I use something like rsync for an entire library, can I then copy something from one library to another, after they're both on the same computer, and working under Calibre?

[capnm]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

If I use something like rsync for an entire library, can I then copy something from one library to another, after they're both on the same computer, and working under Calibre?

Easy. Right-click on the book(s), Copy-to-Library

And yeah, cross platform would be nice. My stuff is a mix of Linux, Mac, and Windows (mostly Linux though).

Then presumably you're already aware of the occasional hiccups involved in passing stuff around cross-platform. So go ahead.

As long as you are doing all your 'library management' on one 'master' copy of the library, and making/syncing other copies for read-only use (perusing, sending to devices, etc) it's trivially easy and robust.

People get in trouble when they want to *manage* their library from/in two different places without thinking carefully about potential conflicts.