Zimwriterfs instructions

zimwriterfs instructions

Here are some notes on how to prepare your materials and use `zimwriterfs`. The notes are incomplete as they're based on my limited experience using the tool in the prebuilt Docker Image. The Docker file is available at https://hub.docker.com/r/openzim/zimwriterfs/

Preparations

Some considerations can help you prepare your materials

1. Can it be read and navigated in a mainstream web browser e.g. using file://localhost/mycontent (replace mycontent with the correct URL)
2. Would you like to use the classic ZIM file internal structures? e.g. ./-/ for CSS and ./A/ for articles (in HTML format), etc.? If so, there's no need to use the --uniqueNamespace command-line option. Otherwise please use it.
3. Have you identified your welcome page and got a suitable icon?
4. Have you created a shared location available to the running Docker image to make the content easier to access by zimwriterfs?[1]
5. Would you like to distribute to a large base of users who may use a variety of machines and storage options? If so, it will be important to split the ZIM file into no more than 2GB chunks.

[1] I added a shared folder so I could easily share data between the running Docker image and my macbook. This had to be configured using the command line. See https://github.com/rocker-org/rocker/wiki/Sharing-files-with-host-machine for tips on how to do this.

zimwriterfs --uniqueNamespace -w index.html -f icon.png -l EN -t "Testing Heuristics" -d "Early cut of the testing heuristics material." -c "Julian Harty" -p "Commercetest Ltd." /Volumes/shared/dist/ /Volumes/shared/th-ln.zim

Test the ZIM locally

Ue at least one reader e.g. a Kiwix app or server to test the ZIM file contains the expected contents. The Welcome page is displayed, CSS is applied, Images appear, etc.