-# fanfix
-A small program to download and convert fanfictions and comics from supported websites into offline files (epu, cbz...)
+# Fanfix
+
+Fanfix is a small Java program that can download stories from some supported websites and render them offline.
+
+It will convert from a (supported) URL to an .epub file for stories or a .cbz file for comics (a few other output types are also available, like Plain Text or LaTeX).
+
+To help organize your stories, it can also work as a local library.
+
+In this mode, you can:
+- Import a story from its URL (or even another file)
+- Export a story to a file (.epub or .cbz)
+- Display a story from the local library
+
+## Supported websites
+
+Currently, the following websites are supported:
+- http://FimFiction.net/: fan fictions devoted to the My Little Pony show
+- http://Fanfiction.net/: fan fictions of many, many different universes, from TV shows to novels to games
+- http://mangafox.me/: a well filled repository of mangas, or, as their website states: most popular manga scanlations read online for free at mangafox, as well as a close-knit community to chat and make friends
+- https://e621.net/: a Furry website supporting comics, including MLP
+
+## A note about file support
+
+We support a few file types for local story conversion (both as input and as output):
+- epub: .epub files created by this program (we do not support "all" .epub files, at least for now)
+- text: local stories encoded in plain text format, with a few specific rules:
+ - the title must be on the first line
+ - the author (preceded by nothing, "by " or "©") must be on the second line, possibly with the publication date in parenthesis (i.e., "By Unknown (3rd October 1998)")
+ - chapters must be declared with "Chapter x" or "Chapter x: NAME OF THE CHAPTER", where "x" is the chapter number
+ - a description of the story must be given as chapter number 0
+ - a cover image may be present with the same filename as the story, but a .png, .jpeg or .jpg extension
+- info_text: contains the same information as the text format, but with a companion .info file to store some metadata (the .info file is supposed to be created by Fanfix or compatible with it)
+- cbz: .cbz (collection of images) files, preferably created with Fanfix (but any .cbz file is supported, though without most of Fanfix metadata, obviously)
+
+## Supported platforms
+
+Any platform with at lest Java 1.6 on it should be ok.
+
+If you have any problems to compile it with a supported Java version (1.5 won't work, but you may try to cross-compile or change the Bundle.java class from the utilities; 1.6 and 1.8 have been tested and work), please contact me.
+
+## Usage
+
+You can start the program in CLI mode:
+- ```java -jar fanfix.jar```
+
+__TODO__: offer a GUI mode (work in progress)
+
+The following arguments are allowed:
+- ```--import [URL]```: import the story at URL into the local library
+- ```--export [id] [output_type] [target]```: export the story denoted by ID to the target file
+- ```--convert [URL] [output_type] [target] (+info)```: convert the story at URL into target, and force-add the .info and cover if +info is passed
+- ```--read [id] ([chapter number])```: read the given story denoted by ID from the library
+- ```--read-url [URL] ([chapter number])```: convert on the fly and read the story denoted by ID, without saving it
+- ```--list```: list the stories present in the library and their associated IDs
+- ```--set-reader [reader type]```: set the reader type to CLI or LOCAL for this command
+- ```--help```: display the available options
+
+### Environment variables
+
+Some environment variables are recognized by the program:
+- ```LANG=en```: force the language to English (the only one for now...)
+- ```CONFIG_DIR=$HOME/.fanfix```: use the given directory as a config directory (and copy the default configuration if needed)
+- ```NOUTF=1```: try to fallback to non-unicode values when possible (can have an impact on the resulting files, not only on user messages)
+- ```DEBUG=1```: force the DEBUG=true option of the configuration file (to show more information on errors)
+
+## Compilation
+
+```./configure.sh && make```
+
+You can also import the java sources into, say, [Eclipse](https://eclipse.org/), and create a runnable JAR file from there.
+
+### Dependant libraries (included)
+
+- libs/nikiroo-utils-sources.jar: some shared utility functions I also use elsewhere
+- [libs/unbescape-sources.jar](https://github.com/unbescape/unbescape): a nice library to escape/unescape a lot of text formats; I only use it for HTML
+
+Nothing else but Java 1.6+.
+
+Note that calling ```make libs``` will export the libraries into the src/ directory.
+
+## TODO
+
+Currently missing, but either in progress or planned:
+- A GUI (work in progress)
+- Some readers other than CLI (TUI, GUI)
+- Check if it can work on Android
+- French translation
git://git.nikiroo.be / fanfix.git / blobdiff