packtpub-crawler

Download FREE eBook every day from www.packtpub.com

This crawler automates the following step:

access to private account
claim the daily free eBook and weekly Newsletter
parse title, description and useful information
download favorite format .pdf .epub .mobi
download source code and book cover
upload files to Google Drive, OneDrive or via scp
store data on Firebase
notify via Gmail, IFTTT, Join or Pushover (on success and errors)
schedule daily job on Heroku or with Docker

Default command

# upload pdf to googledrive, store data and notify via email
python script/spider.py -c config/prod.cfg -u googledrive -s firebase -n gmail

Other options

# download all format
python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --all

# download only one format: pdf|epub|mobi
python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --type pdf

# download also additional material: source code (if exists) and book cover
python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg -t pdf --extras
# equivalent (default is pdf)
python script/spider.py -c config/prod.cfg -e

# download and then upload to Google Drive (given the download url anyone can download it)
python script/spider.py -c config/prod.cfg -t epub --upload googledrive
python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --all --extras --upload googledrive

# download and then upload to OneDrive (given the download url anyone can download it)
python script/spider.py -c config/prod.cfg -t epub --upload onedrive
python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --all --extras --upload onedrive

# download and notify: gmail|ifttt|join|pushover
python script/spider.py -c config/prod.cfg --notify gmail

# only claim book (no downloads):
python script/spider.py -c config/prod.cfg --notify gmail --claimOnly

Basic setup

Before you start you should

Verify that your currently installed version of Python is 2.x with python --version
Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/niqdev/packtpub-crawler.git
Install all the dependencies pip install -r requirements.txt (see also virtualenv)
Create a config file cp config/prod_example.cfg config/prod.cfg
Change your Packtpub credentials in the config file

[credential]
credential.email=PACKTPUB_EMAIL
credential.password=PACKTPUB_PASSWORD

Now you should be able to claim and download your first eBook

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg

Google Drive

From the documentation, Google Drive API requires OAuth2.0 for authentication, so to upload files you should:

Go to Google APIs Console and create a new Google Drive project named PacktpubDrive
On API manager > Overview menu
- Enable Google Drive API
On API manager > Credentials menu
- In OAuth consent screen tab set PacktpubDrive as the product name shown to users
- In Credentials tab create credentials of type OAuth client ID and choose Application type Other named PacktpubDriveCredentials
Click Download JSON and save the file config/client_secrets.json
Change your Google Drive credentials in the config file

[googledrive]
...
googledrive.client_secrets=config/client_secrets.json
[email protected]

Now you should be able to upload your eBook to Google Drive

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --upload googledrive

Only the first time you will be prompted to login in a browser which has javascript enabled (no text-based browser) to generate config/auth_token.json. You should also copy and paste in the config the FOLDER_ID, otherwise every time a new folder with the same name will be created.

[googledrive]
...
googledrive.default_folder=packtpub
googledrive.upload_folder=FOLDER_ID

Documentation: OAuth, Quickstart, example and permissions

OneDrive

From the documentation, OneDrive API requires OAuth2.0 for authentication, so to upload files you should:

Go to the Microsoft Application Registration Portal.
When prompted, sign in with your Microsoft account credentials.
Find My applications and click Add an app.
Enter PacktpubDrive as the app's name and click Create application.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and check the Live SDK support box.
Change your OneDrive credentials in the config file
- Copy your Application Id into the config file to onedrive.client_id
- Click Generate New Password and copy the password shown into the config file to onedrive.client_secret
- Click Add Platform and select Web
- Enter http://localhost:8080/ as the Redirect URL
- Click Save at the bottom of the page

[onedrive]
...
onedrive.client_id=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
onedrive.client_secret=XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Now you should be able to upload your eBook to OneDrive

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --upload onedrive

Only the first time you will be prompted to login in a browser which has javascript enabled (no text-based browser) to generate config/session.onedrive.pickle.

[onedrive]
...
onedrive.folder=packtpub

Documentation: Registration, Python API

Scp

To upload your eBook via scp on a remote server update the configs

[scp]
scp.host=SCP_HOST
scp.user=SCP_USER
scp.password=SCP_PASSWORD
scp.path=SCP_UPLOAD_PATH

Now you should be able to upload your eBook

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --upload scp

Note:

the destination folder scp.path on the remote server must exists in advance
the option --upload scp is incompatible with --store and --notify

Firebase

Create a new Firebase project, copy the database secret from your settings

https://console.firebase.google.com/project/PROJECT_NAME/settings/database

and update the configs

[firebase]
firebase.database_secret=DATABASE_SECRET
firebase.url=https://PROJECT_NAME.firebaseio.com

Now you should be able to store your eBook details on Firebase

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --upload googledrive --store firebase

Gmail notification

To send a notification via email using Gmail you should:

Allow "less secure apps" and "DisplayUnlockCaptcha" on your account
Troubleshoot sign-in problems and examples
Change your Gmail credentials in the config file

[gmail]
...
[email protected]
gmail.password=EMAIL_PASSWORD
[email protected]
[email protected],[email protected]

Now you should be able to notify your accounts

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --notify gmail

IFTTT notification

Get an account on IFTTT
Go to your Maker settings and activate the channel
Create a new applet using the Maker service with the trigger "Receive a web request" and the event name "packtpub-crawler"
Change your IFTTT key in the config file

[ifttt]
ifttt.event_name=packtpub-crawler
ifttt.key=IFTTT_MAKER_KEY

Now you should be able to trigger the applet

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --notify ifttt

Value mappings:

value1: title
value2: description
value3: landing page URL

Join notification

Get the Join Chrome extension and/or App
You can find your device ids here
(Optional) You can use multiple devices or groups (group.all, group.android, group.chrome, group.windows10, group.phone, group.tablet, group.pc) separated by comma
Change your Join credentials in the config file

[join]
join.device_ids=DEVICE_IDS_COMMA_SEPARATED_OR_GROUP_NAME
join.api_key=API_KEY

Now you should be able to trigger the event

python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg --notify join

Pushover notification

Get your USER_KEY
Create a new application
(Optional) Add an icon
Change your pushover credentials in the config file

[pushover]
pushover.user_key=PUSHOVER_USER_KEY
pushover.api_key=PUSHOVER_API_KEY

Heroku

Create a new branch

git checkout -b heroku-scheduler

Update the .gitignore and commit your changes

# remove
config/prod.cfg
config/client_secrets.json
config/auth_token.json
# add
dev/
config/dev.cfg
config/prod_example.cfg

Create, config and deploy the scheduler

heroku login
# create a new app
heroku create APP_NAME --region eu
# or if you already have an existing app
heroku git:remote -a APP_NAME

# deploy your app
git push -u heroku heroku-scheduler:master
heroku ps:scale clock=1

# useful commands
heroku ps
heroku logs --ps clock.1
heroku logs --tail
heroku run bash

Update script/scheduler.py with your own preferences.

More info about Heroku Scheduler, Clock Processes, Add-on and APScheduler

Docker

Build your image

docker build -t niqdev/packtpub-crawler:2.4.0 .

Run manually

docker run \
  --rm \
  --name my-packtpub-crawler \
  niqdev/packtpub-crawler:2.4.0 \
  python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg

Run scheduled crawler in background

docker run \
  --detach \
  --name my-packtpub-crawler \
  niqdev/packtpub-crawler:2.4.0

# useful commands
docker exec -i -t my-packtpub-crawler bash
docker logs -f my-packtpub-crawler

Alternatively you can pull from Docker Hub this fork

docker pull kuchy/packtpub-crawler

Cron job

Add this to your crontab to run the job daily at 9 AM:

crontab -e

00 09 * * * cd PATH_TO_PROJECT/packtpub-crawler && /usr/bin/python script/spider.py --config config/prod.cfg >> /tmp/packtpub.log 2>&1

Systemd service

Create two files in /etc/systemd/system:

packtpub-crawler.service

[Unit]
Description=run packtpub-crawler

[Service]
User=USER_THAT_SHOULD_RUN_THE_SCRIPT
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python2.7 PATH_TO_PROJECT/packtpub-crawler/script/spider.py -c config/prod.cfg

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

packtpub-crawler.timer

[Unit]
Description=Runs packtpub-crawler every day at 7

[Timer]
OnBootSec=10min
OnActiveSec=1s
OnCalendar=*-*-* 07:00:00
Unit=packtpub_crawler.service
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable the script with sudo systemctl enable packtpub_crawler.timer. You can test the service with sudo systemctl start packtpub_crawler.timer and see the output with sudo journalctl -u packtpub_crawler.service -f.

The script downloads also the free ebooks from the weekly packtpub newsletter. The URL is generated by a Google Apps Script which parses all the mails. You can get the code here, if you want to see the actual script, please clone the spreadsheet and go to Tools > Script editor....

To use your own source, modify in the config

url.bookFromNewsletter=https://goo.gl/kUciut

The URL should point to a file containing only the URL (no semicolons, HTML, JSON, etc).

You can also clone the spreadsheet to use your own Gmail account. Subscribe to the newsletter (on the bottom of the page) and create a filter to tag your mails accordingly.

Troubleshooting

ImportError: No module named paramiko

Install paramiko with sudo -H pip install paramiko --ignore-installed

Failed building wheel for cryptography

Install missing dependencies as described here

virtualenv

# install pip + setuptools
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python -

# upgrade pip
pip install -U pip

# install virtualenv globally 
sudo pip install virtualenv

# create virtualenv
virtualenv env

# activate virtualenv
source env/bin/activate

# verify virtualenv
which python
python --version

# deactivate virtualenv
deactivate

Development (only for spidering)

Run a simple static server with

node dev/server.js

and test the crawler with

python script/spider.py --dev --config config/dev.cfg --all

Disclaimer

This project is just a Proof of Concept and not intended for any illegal usage. I'm not responsible for any damage or abuse, use it at your own risk.