install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install getxbook

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#getxbook

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/ge/getxbook/package.nix · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Tools to download ebooks from various sources

Project links

Commands and aliases

getabook
getbnbook
getgbook

history

Project history and usage

getxbook is a small C toolkit for downloading page images from Google Books previews, Amazon Look Inside, and Barnes & Noble Book Viewer. Its place in package history is tied to offline reading, book privacy, and scriptable capture of preview-page services rather than to a large application ecosystem.

Project history

Nick White published getxbook as a collection of one-purpose tools: getgbook for Google Books, getabook for Amazon, getbnbook for Barnes & Noble, and an optional Tcl/Tk graphical frontend. The official page frames the project around reading privacy and offline control of page scans, while the download list records public source and binary releases in 2013 and 2015.

Adoption history

Adoption remained niche but visible in Unix package-manager culture. Homebrew carried the macOS formula, and the input package facts also list Nix packaging, which fits the tool's small, source-buildable shape.

How it is used

Practitioners use getxbook by choosing the site-specific command for a book source, letting the tool save page images into a local directory, and resuming partial downloads when a run is stopped. The surrounding scripts support conversion workflows such as searchable PDF, DjVu, and OCR-derived text.

Why package nerds care

getxbook is notable as a compact, portable C package with few dependencies beyond libc, sockets, and OpenSSL. For package maintainers, that makes it a classic small utility: easy to build, easy to audit, and heavily shaped by the fragility of the remote services it automates.

Timeline

2013: Version 1.1 binaries were published for Linux and Windows.
2015: Version 1.2 source was published.
Homebrew era: A macOS formula made the command-line tools installable with brew.

Related projects

The official comparison page discusses PySheng, Google Book Downloader, and a Google Book Downloader userscript as nearby tools with narrower service coverage or heavier dependencies.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: blue

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.

Risk classifier

blue risk · medium confidence · tool

Why

broad file, network, media, or database tool signal

Signals

text:download

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 13 platform targets.
Installs with 1 runtime dependencies.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure
`getabook`	cli	global executable
`getbnbook`	cli	global executable
`getgbook`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08

manager version1.2

manager updated

local dataok

upstreamnot checked

latest detectednot detected

https://njw.name/getxbook/

infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://njw.name/getxbook/none confidence

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:getxbook
Version	1.2
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/getxbook
Homepage	https://njw.name/getxbook/
Repository	https://git.njw.name/getxbook.git
Upstream docs	https://njw.name/getxbook
License	ISC
Source archive	https://njw.name/getxbook/getxbook-1.2.tar.xz
Dependencies	openssl@3
Bottle	available (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, catalina, monterey, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	getxbook
Version Scheme	0
Revision	1
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

getxbook

nix profile install nixpkgs#getxbook

normalized package name match
Matched by: Getxbook

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ge/getxbook/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/getxbook.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
av.db category and tag curation
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment

Install getxbook with Homebrew, Nix