Calibre OPDS doesn't work when login details are required

  • Version 2.70
  • Tested on iPhone XS Max and iPad Pro 12.9" 2nd Gen
  • iOS 15 Dev Beta 5
  • Using a new library with Calibre 5.24

When attempting to connect to a Calibre OPDS server it will ONLY work if login credentials aren’t required by the content server.

  • Panels doesn’t use the credentials even if you enter a Username and Password (tested this by creating login details that only access certain parts of a library).

  • When you set the Calibre content server to only accept connections with login credentials, Panels fails to connect to it.

My guess is that Panels is expecting an HTTPS connection when Calibre isn’t. I also use Yomu for books and the connection there works with http:// but NOT https://. When attempting to connect with https:// the following error is found in the Calibre content server logs:

Screenshot 2021-08-13 at 04.40.34

When http:// is used however Panels fails to even find the server, whereas with https:// Panels does find but fails to connect to the server.

Thanks for the report. We’ll try to reproduce it and fix it.

Nevertheless, Panels won’t connect to any non-secure domain due to an iOS security feature called Apple Transport Security (ATS) https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/preventing_insecure_network_connections

We’ve disabled ATS for IP and local network connections, but domain-name-based configurations require a secure connection over HTTPS.

But failing to authenticate over HTTPS sound like a separate issue.

Thanks for the clarification, I should have mentioned though that the connection fails over a local network, I have not configured my library to work over the internet. Im never sure whether HTTP or HTTPS is the right thing to use when typing in my details so apologies for the confusing language.

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I have the same problem, I cannot connect to my caliber library over a local network.

Do you have a “step by step” to configure Caliber OPDS in Panels through a local collection?

I can reproduce the same problem. The OPDS is accesible when there are no credentials on the library, but when they are required, the connections always fails.

Panels Version 2.11.4
iOS 15.4
Calibre 5.39.1

Same or similar issue. I have a password enabled, but I don’t have a cert for Calibre, so it’s http only.

I’m able to connect via OPDS in a different OPDS-compatible app by using http://[INTERNAL IP]:8081/opds(I am running Calibre in docker and 8080 is in use for another service).

I would love to move away from Calibre, though. I respect that it’s a popular and feature-rich app, but it’s stuck in the past in so many ways. I might just try a different service to host my comics.

I am seeing this same issue now:

Panels version 2.14.1
IOS 16.3.1
Calibre version 6.13

In my case I have calibre behind a nginx reverse proxy exposing a LetsEncrypt certificate, so I am pretty sure I am not running into the app transport security problem that you can get around by using the ip instead of the fully qualified domain name (since it is a reverse proxy I have to use the fqdn to access it). Since it is on the internet I am using a username/password authentication on it.

I am able to get to the opds server just fine from KyBook 3 on the same phone (for actual books and not comics), so it seems to be an issue specific to Panels.

Any ideas for a viable workaround? I want to stick with Calibre as the hosting server as it allows me to track the origin of the files (via custom columns) as well to keep together the various different formats I have for some of my comics.

I also find it to be a Panels-specific issue. I connect to the calibre OPDS in other apps (like Marvin 3) and web through devices in my tailscale network just fine (without https and with credentials)

Could you create a testing account for us and send it over DM ?

We will try to reproduce the problem.

Hey, just want to say I’m having the same issue trying to connect to my cousin’s server. Kinda annoying b/c I paid for premium thinking I needed to in order to add a calibre opds server only to find out it’s not working in our case.

The money doesn’t matter, but obviously it would have been nice to know it wasn’t gonna work before I paid it. Maybe I missed something in the app?

Hey @stowrag , share a testing account with, and we’ll try to debug the problem.

Just to be clear, Panels have had support for OPDS servers for years now. And it has no issues connecting with any OPDS server, regardless of whether it requires authentication.
As long as the server accepts Basic Auth, the connection you are trying to set up complies with the already mentioned Apple’s ATS, or the server is using an IP address or a .local domain inside a local network, it will work correctly.

99% of the cases, the issues have something to do with the server/connection setup.
If you provide a testing account for us, we will debug the problem and will help you set your server up correctly. And, in the case there’s something wrong with Panels, we will fix it as soon as possible.

Unfortunately it’s not actually my server to manage, but something a cousin of mine is running, and they can’t set up a new account or reconfigure anything at the moment. I’d be happy to supply my own credentials if that will work (only to immediately change the password when/if we can work out a solution). Otherwise, it will have to wait until a test account can be created, whenever that will be.

Yep. If that work for you, we can do that. Reach out on DM. I’ll look into it right away

Might be a stupid question, but how do you DM? I swear I can’t figure out how in this UI. Maybe you could message me?

No prob. Done!