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kiwix

The Kiwix desktop reader for offline Wikipedia and other ZIM books

What it does

A desktop application that opens ZIM files -- offline Wikipedia, WikiMed, Stack Exchange sites and the rest of the Kiwix library -- in tabs, with search and bookmarks, the way a browser opens web pages.

Why you would want it

It is the easiest way into a book on a laptop: open the file and read. hammunition reference serve does the same in any browser and also shows the ICS forms and dictionaries; this is for the operator who wants a reader window rather than a local web page.

Before it will work

A desktop session, and books: kiwix-library installs the ones you choose under /usr/local/share/hammunition/data/kiwix-library/, which you open by file from the reader.

How it installs

  • apt: kiwix

Known problems

It keeps its own library, so books installed by kiwix-library are opened once by file and then remembered; it does not read Hammunition's list. Its built-in downloader fetches books without the pin and sha256 check kiwix-library applies; prefer the catalog's books. Qt5 WebEngine is a large dependency on a desktop without it.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

The Kiwix project's issue tracker on GitHub (https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-desktop/issues) and https://kiwix.org/.

Source: catalog/packages/kiwix.yaml