Download ACSM files in Linux - without using Adobe Digital Editions!
After my rant the other day about Adobe Digital Editions, I discovered libgourou
by Grégory Soutadé
libgourou is a free implementation of Adobe's ADEPT protocol used to add DRM on ePub files. It overcome the lacks of Adobe support for Linux platforms.
There are a few limitations, but nothing too serious:
- Only ePub is supported. No PDF
- Command line only
- Alpha quality software. It works - but is a bit finickity
You can compile the code yourself, but I just downloaded the pre-built binaries.
On Ubuntu / Pop I needed to sudo apt install libzip-dev
.
Once you've unzipped the download, cd
into it and run:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$PWD
Then
./adept_activate -u youremail@example.com -p SuperStrongPassword
Use the same credentials as you do in Adobe Digital Editions. You can just use the -u
flag and type your password in at the prompt - but I couldn't get that to work. The -p
flag worked fine.
After a few seconds, you'll see: youremail@example.com fully signed and device activated in /home/you/libgourou_utils_0.3.1/./.adept
Then run: ./acsmdownloader -f whatever.acsm
After a few moments, you'll see: Created whatever.epub
That's it! Your file is downloaded and you can read the ePub.
Note: If you try to download a PDF, you'll get an error saying: Exception code : 0x5007 Message : whatever.epub
You can rename the file back to .pdf, but it will still be encrypted.
anika says:
hello,
on debian 10 it is not working 🙁 ./adept_activate -u -p youremail@example.com SuperStrongPassword bash: ./adept_activate: Bestand of map bestaat niet
@edent says:
You need to contact the person who wrote the software - http://indefero.soutade.fr/p/libgourou/issues/
Gerben says:
I had the same issue. I solved it by changing my adobe password to something without special characters. Just make your password a bit longer so it's still secure.
Stephen says:
I get error: ./adept_activate: error while loading shared libraries: libzip.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
on Lubuntu 20
@edent says:
I am not the author of this software. You can contact them at http://indefero.soutade.fr/p/libgourou/issues/
Sezhian Annamalai says:
This worked like a charm. Thank you very much @edent.
KR. Laboratories says:
I think it's a complete mockery to leave Linux users to fend for themselves, without the ability to open acsm files. Today we bought a book on Google Books, downloaded it to ACSM and still can't open it. If you import it into Windows, you get a Google Limit Reached Device error. This is a complete blasphemy and mockery. Can't you at least give us the option to export to EPUB? And now we're trying to open ACSM in Linux, but so far to no avail. Calibre + deDRM + deACSM did not work.
@edent says:
I don't work for Adobe. You should direct your anger at them.
Mic says:
Hi, I am getting: $ ./utils/adept_activate -u youremail@example.com -p SuperStrongPassword youremail@example.com fully signed and device activated in /home/mtl/.config/adept/
$ ./utils/acsmdownloader -f /mnt/chromeos/MyFiles/Downloads/Power_in_Numbers-epub.acsm Exception code : 0x1003 Message : E_GOOGLE_DEVICE_LIMIT_REACHED http://books.google.com/books/acs4/fulfillment
@edent says:
You need to contact the person who wrote the software - http://indefero.soutade.fr/p/libgourou/issues/