sphinx-mobi

Patch Sphinx code to enable kindle/mobi support.

Requirements

I assume that you'll be able to download Sphinx-1.1.3 release as well as install on your system kindlegen. The former is provided here, while later can be found on Amazon Kindle support page.

Description

This is a fork for Sphinx 1.1.3 code with changes to enable support for Kindle (mobi data format). Basically I copied epub, tweak themes, core code and add mobi option into sphinx-quickstart.

Install

To install, please get sphinx-1.1.3.mobi.patch and patch your vanila Sphinx-1.1.3 code base with the following command:

cd Sphinx-1.1.3
patch -p1 < sphinx-1.1.3.mobi.patch
cp sphinx/themes/basic/static/file.png sphinx/themes/mobi/static/file.png
cp kindle-logo.jpg sphinx/themes/mobi/static/

Then build and install your Sphinx in a usual way

python setup.py install --prefix=<your_install_path>

Build your mobi

Once everything in place, run sphinx-quickstart in a usual way, and answer y to the following questions:

• Do you want to use the kindle/mobi builder (y/N) [n]: y
• pngmath: include math, rendered as PNG images (y/N) [n]: y

The former enable mobi option in generated Makefile, while later allows you to embed LaTeX formulas into your mobi book.

Example

You can find the source code as well as generated kindle.mobi file in example directory.

Future

Once time permit I'll look further in customization of mobi builder in sphinx code. Upon that time, I'm happy with this preliminary hack.

References

Most of this work was inspired and based on materials presented in this blog.