from Hacker News

A search engine for searching books in the Z-Library index on the IPFS network

by baptiste313 on 12/29/22, 7:05 PM with 203 comments

  • by Nican on 12/29/22, 8:01 PM

    I like reading about IPFS, but I do not really have the time to learn about it and get involved.

    Last I remember, Z-Library was having an issue scaling the DHS to handle the number of files [1]. Did those issues get resolved? How is it going now? Also, is there anything being done to ensure every file has seeders?

    [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33716560

  • by nestorD on 12/29/22, 8:05 PM

    I just did a quick test, it could do with slightly fuzzier searching ('Epub' as an extension got me no result while 'epub' did, a drop down menu with options might be better/simpler for some fields) but, otherwise, it seems functional and useful.

  • by jraby3 on 12/30/22, 9:54 AM

    I got an error when visiting zlib.zu1k.com/. Error code: 1020 Ray ID: 7819e5389c898e4e Country: IL Data center: tlv03 IP: 85.65.187.66 Timestamp: 2022-12-30 09:54:40 UTC

  • by deanc on 12/29/22, 9:08 PM

    Is the catalog on IPFS different to the catalog available via one of the libgen front-ends? I just performed a search on both for one title and it found it right away on a libgen front-end, but not here.

  • by jerojero on 12/29/22, 11:30 PM

    Something that has always bothered me about z-lib and libgen and so on is the impossibility of being able to tell quality from the different uploads.

    Sometimes the epubs are very good, with a good cover and metadata as well as chapters and no weird aberrations; other times, they're unreadable. But the only thing you have to judge quality is size and general description of the upload which in this website it's been reduced so everything looks the same.

    I think the website looks good, but yeah, would be nice if we could rate quality in some way.

  • by cratermoon on 12/29/22, 10:02 PM

    A question about z-lib, libgen, and regular libraries

    Suppose I check an e-book out of my local library. Because Reasons, the library doesn't "own" unlimited "copies" of the book, so each "copy" can only be checked out to one patron at a time and if there are enough holds then a patron can't renew a checked out book. In short, ebooks in libraries are just like regular paper books, except to you don't have leave your house.

    I had this ebook on hold for three months because it's very popular, but finally have it on my device, but I only have 3 weeks before I can no longer read it because of holds. I get about 2/3rds the way through before lock closes on the bits on my device. It's a very popular book, it will be 3 months before I can read it again.

    I go online, use some service, find the exact same book, down to all but the locking bits, and download it, finish reading it a few days later, and then forget about it. I might delete it later if I need room.

    Is that a crime? Have either the author or publisher lost money? On the one hand, I can say yes because if the libraries purchased more "copies", the waiting list wouldn't be so long, I might have been able to renew it and finish it. On the other hand, I wasn't going to buy the book myself, and the library has to balance budget and demand, so they probably wouldn't purchase additional "copies".

    What ethical questions do authors and readers see here?

  • by baptiste313 on 12/30/22, 11:45 AM

    Indeed the site seems to be down but you can use this site as an alternative:

    - https://zlib.freedit.eu

    Or else the project is opensource you can install it by yourself:

    - https://github.com/zu1k/zlib-searcher

  • by nyolfen on 12/30/22, 1:46 AM

    this is the result of the annas-archive people mirroring the contents of their crawling project onto ipfs -- huge props

  • by marcol1n0 on 12/30/22, 10:52 AM

    I got an error when visiting zlib.zu1k.com/.

    Error code: 1020

    Ray ID: 781a36f1b9b0babd

    Country: IT

    I got an error when visiting zlib.zu1k.com:

    Error code: 1020 Ray ID: 781a37c3aeacbae1 Country: IT Data center: mxp03 IP: 31.157.83.62 Timestamp: 2022-12-30 10:51:01 UTC

  • by Jamie9912 on 12/30/22, 9:30 AM

    Access denied Error code 1020 You do not have access to zlib.zu1k.com.

    The site owner may have set restrictions that prevent you from accessing the site.

  • by Shadowgamer195 on 12/30/22, 7:42 AM

    It is difficult to determine the quality of content on websites like z-lib and libgen because the only available indicators are size and a general description of the upload, which can make all content appear similar and leave users unable to differentiate between high and low quality content.

  • by Thorentis on 12/30/22, 4:02 AM

    What exactly is Z-Library right now? The domains were seized, and there doesn't seem to be a way to access the library or add new books to it. Is it now simply a collection that exists alongside libgen? Is it being run elsewhere? Does the Ipfs mirror get updated from somewhere?

  • by renaissance_tea on 12/30/22, 2:28 AM

    Is it dangerous to host sites like this? I love making tools like this but worry about the repercussions

  • by mordae on 12/29/22, 8:57 PM

    It would be even cooler if it found books of "Stanisław Lem" with the correct name as well as its ASCII equivalent "Stanislaw Lem".

  • by Alifatisk on 12/30/22, 1:29 PM

    ”You do not have access to zlib.zu1k.com. The site owner may have set restrictions that prevent you from accessing the site.”

    What did I do?

  • by staunch on 12/29/22, 8:40 PM

    I'm looking forward to some new AI system making it possible to generate high quality audiobooks from epub files.

    This "AI book reader" doesn't exist yet, right?

  • by uwagar on 12/30/22, 8:33 AM

    jesus cloudflare getting in the way.

  • by Piezoid on 12/29/22, 11:34 PM

        We downloaded libgen sql and zlib sql and exported the necessary data from them.
    Where does this "zlib sql" come from? Anna's pilimi-zlib2-index?

  • by jarboot on 12/29/22, 8:21 PM

    Loving the simplicity of a typescript frontend + rust backend

  • by throwaway923857 on 1/6/23, 5:23 PM

    The link is no longer working:

    zlib.zu1k.com’s DNS address could not be found. Diagnosing the problem.

  • by SpelingBeeChamp on 12/29/22, 8:29 PM

    Anyone know of a similar search engine that allows the user to filter search results by year?

  • by causality0 on 12/30/22, 10:01 AM

    A Z-library who's who would be useful. Is there any relation between the original operators and the IPFS effort? What about the new .to domain that's as far as I can tell identical in functionality to the original z-library?

  • by moffkalast on 12/29/22, 8:05 PM

    Fantastic, I knew something would come up eventually after the old site was taken down.

  • by terrycody on 12/31/22, 2:01 AM

    I think it lacks a lot of data, before when I search "head first" on Z-library, pretty sure it got a ton of results, and now only 5 pages. What's the reason behind this?

  • by lannisterstark on 12/30/22, 9:06 PM

    I wish IPFS actually worked as well as they describe it working.

  • by web3d3v on 1/3/23, 6:46 AM

    Site appears to be down. Is there a mirror or open source repo ?

  • by fud101 on 12/30/22, 3:09 AM

    Super fast. What's the tech stack?

  • by brunoqc on 12/29/22, 9:20 PM

    Is that web site accessible with ipfs?

  • by Spacemolte on 12/29/22, 11:08 PM

    I miss the recommendations on the old zlib. Anyone know of any alternatives?

  • by iyedgivehead on 12/30/22, 9:47 AM

    The site is down

  • by benevol on 12/29/22, 9:14 PM

    Well, nice work. But poor authors...

  • by tmpburning on 12/29/22, 9:18 PM

    Can't wait for someone to come up for a solution to copyright that will benefit everyone.

  • by danbuildrthe333 on 12/30/22, 7:25 AM

    Did a test, this is cool!

  • by altilunium on 12/30/22, 2:29 AM

    I wonder why the very concept of public library is not illegal at the first place..

    I mean, imagine this concept is being popularized at first in the modern era. I'm pretty sure there's a huge opposition, using the very same argument as digital pirates & AI art debate : "It could damage author's income! People will just go read it for free in public library instead of buying it! Public library is morally wrong and should be burned!!"

  • by ComputerGuru on 12/29/22, 8:05 PM

    FWIW https://libgen.rs already has good search for basically the same books. I like the denser layout that makes better use of whitespace than this HN submission does.

  • by jesusofnazarath on 12/29/22, 7:52 PM

    looks great. Is there an api for something like this so i can make it an extension of my terminal?

  • by mr-pink on 12/30/22, 7:17 AM

    ffs is there any way people can just not talk about z-library for a year..what is wrong with you all? this is a public forum. you should not share any copyrighted material without the rights to do so

  • by ROTMetro on 12/30/22, 6:27 AM

    My buddy has nudes of his wife on his phone. I want them so I bypass his 'drm' that prevents me from taking what I want and make copies. He still has his copy so no one's hurt. Information wants to be free. I take what I want.

  • by ROTMetro on 12/29/22, 10:02 PM

    I hope every project you work on has it's source code stolen resulting in failure. And this is coming from a pretty crappy person, but this website sure does love stealing from authors (so that it can enjoy the fruits of their labor).