[sword-devel] Ezra Bible App 1.19 released
Troy A. Griffitts
scribe at crosswire.org
Mon Mar 30 17:33:38 EDT 2026
Hey guys. What SWORD codebase is used for the test described? SWORD has
supported HTTPS for quite some time but the build needs to have the
dependencies available. There is also in the latest HEAD branch code
which default to the HTTPS if it is listed as preferred in the master
repo list. Having a look now it seems this was still experimental and
only turned on for CrossWire. It's been a while since I looked into
this, but I believe the repo owner needed to place files in a particular
hierarchy for it to be recognized and used.
https://crosswire.org/ftpmirror/pub/sword/masterRepoList.conf
Here's the folder structure for CrossWire:
https://crosswire.org/ftpmirror/pub/sword/raw/
I think the keys are the 'packages' folder and the mods.d.tar.gz file.
I believe if it can find those two, it will prefer HTTPS if the flag is
turned on.
Again, I think this was still experimental in trunk, but it's been on
for a while in CrossWire and so any apps compiling against HEAD should
be using the feature.
I'm happy to revisit this and push out a solid new release if we can get
some testing from people.
Troy
On 3/30/26 5:25 PM, Kahunapule Michael Paul Johnson wrote:
> Yes. If you want slow performance, keep using FTP. If you want faster
> performance, please use HTTPS. Also, if you want faster performance,
> download https://eBible.org/sword/mods.d.tar.gz once and decompress it
> rather than iterating through each file within the mods.d directory
> individually. Downloading one compressed module description file with
> HTTPS instead of 1,530 (and counting) individual conf files gives you
> more speed and more reliability because:
>
> * The FTP server on ftp.ebible.org has a fairly low connection
> limit, and if more than 10 connections are active at the same
> time, at least one file download will out of 1,530. This does NOT
> scale well. I am supporting FTP for dinosaurs, not modern
> software. I COULD raise that limit, but there will always be a
> limit that is lower than the number of Sword users, and there are
> risks to doing that.
> * The FTP server on ftp.ebible.org is hosted on a slower machine
> with a slower network connection than the one that hosts HTTPS on
> eBible.org. Not only that, but currently, if you try
> ftp://eBible.org, it will work, but only by port forwarding to the
> same ftp.ebible.org machine.
> * FTP is frowned upon by most people as being an archaic, insecure,
> and frequently-abused protocol. For that reason, FTP is blocked by
> default in modern browsers. For that reason, I'm disinclined to
> spend more resources on supporting it at a higher level.
> * My FTP server is trivial to take offline with a DDOS attack.
> * HTTPS is supported by curl and sword.
> * The machine hosting HTTPS on eBible.org is a very fast computer
> with solid state drives, lots of RAM, and a fiber optic connection
> to the Internet that tests at over 2 gigabits/second sending data
> back to you (and over 3 gigabits/second taking your requests). It
> does not have a connection limit like one that is necessary on
> FTP, but rather is limited only by bandwidth, processing power,
> and RAM, all of which are greater than the average dedicated
> server. Every Sword user on the planet could probably try to
> update at once without crashing it.
> * Downloading https://ebible.org/sword/mods.d.tar.gz and
> decompressing it gains speed because it is compressed, and fewer
> bytes have to be transmitted to get the same information.
> * Downloading https://ebible.org/sword/mods.d.tar.gz and
> decompressing it gains speed because there is only ONE file setup
> negotiation to do, not 1,530 (or more in the future).
>
> Switching from FTP to HTTPS takes a few minutes of coding time for
> you. Switching from iterating through over a thousand files to
> downloading one file and decompressing it takes a bit more programming
> time. However, if the point is to write Bible study software that
> people who hate wasting time will actually use, that would be time
> well spent.
>
> Any questions?
>
>
> On 3/30/26 09:29, contact at tklein.info wrote:
>> So I instrumented the SWORD code ... here is some log output from the
>> instrumented code (RemoteTransport::copyDirectory):
>>
>> [DIAG copyDirectory] Downloading file 67/1530: apppbt2019eb.conf
>> (3656 bytes)
>> [DIAG CURLFTPTransport::getURL]
>> URL='ftp://ftp.ebible.org/sword/mods.d/apppbt2019eb.conf'
>> timeoutMillis=20000 term=0
>> [DIAG CURLFTPTransport::getURL] curl_easy_perform returned 0 (No
>> error) elapsed=1538 ms
>> URL='ftp://ftp.ebible.org/sword/mods.d/apppbt2019eb.conf'
>> [DIAG copyDirectory] File download result=0 elapsed=1538 ms
>> [DIAG copyDirectory] Downloading file 68/1530: apr2013eb.conf (3997
>> bytes)
>> [DIAG CURLFTPTransport::getURL]
>> URL='ftp://ftp.ebible.org/sword/mods.d/apr2013eb.conf'
>> timeoutMillis=20000 term=0
>> [DIAG CURLFTPTransport::getURL] curl_easy_perform returned 0 (No
>> error) elapsed=1435 ms
>> URL='ftp://ftp.ebible.org/sword/mods.d/apr2013eb.conf'
>> [DIAG copyDirectory] File download result=0 elapsed=1435 ms
>> [DIAG copyDirectory] Downloading file 69/1530: apu2004eb.conf (6733
>> bytes)
>> [DIAG CURLFTPTransport::getURL]
>> URL='ftp://ftp.ebible.org/sword/mods.d/apu2004eb.conf'
>> timeoutMillis=20000 term=0
>> [DIAG CURLFTPTransport::getURL] curl_easy_perform returned 0 (No
>> error) elapsed=1435 ms
>> URL='ftp://ftp.ebible.org/sword/mods.d/apu2004eb.conf'
>> [DIAG copyDirectory] File download result=0 elapsed=1435 ms
>>
>> You see that the function is working on downloading individual *.conf
>> files from eBible.org.
>> Each download takes its time ... 1.5 seconds!
>> Then of course with 1530 files to be downloaded we are talking about
>> an endless operation ...
>>
>> Any advice?
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Tobias
>>
>> On 3/30/26 08:57, contact at tklein.info wrote:
>>> I am now also observing the "freeze" during repository refresh (also
>>> on PC) and it is related to eBible.org. I debugged a little and
>>> found that it is the C++ code calling the SWORD library that hangs
>>> at installMgr->refreshRemoteSource.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Tobias
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> *From:* David Haslam <dfhdfh at protonmail.com>
>>> *Sent:* Sunday, 29 March 2026 21:50
>>> *To:* sword-devel mailing list <sword-devel at crosswire.org>
>>> *Cc:* contact at tklein.info <contact at tklein.info>
>>> *Subject:* Re: [sword-devel] Ezra Bible App 1.19 released
>>> The STEP Bible repo could be accessed from PocketSword just now, and
>>> even also 10 minutes or so before I read your email.
>>>
>>> David
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Mar 29, 2026 at 20:46, Fr Cyrille <fr.cyrille at tiberiade.be
>>> <mailto:On Sun, Mar 29, 2026 at 20:46, Fr Cyrille <<a href=>> wrote:
>>>> I think step bible.
>>>>
>>>> Le 29/03/2026 à 18:10, contact at tklein.info
>>>> <mailto:contact at tklein.info> a écrit :
>>>>> Hi Fr. Cyrille and David,
>>>>>
>>>>> I have observed this behavior from time to time. Not sure which
>>>>> repository is causing this.
>>>>> I will investigate. The only thing I can advise here is to try
>>>>> again later. I agree that the behavior for individual repositories
>>>>> that are unavailable should not block the entire operation.
>>>>> Note that this functionality (basic module assistant and repo
>>>>> updates) was not changed in 1.19, so at least this is not a
>>>>> regression.
>>>>>
>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>> Tobias
>>>>>
>>>>> On 3/29/26 17:53, Fr Cyrille wrote:
>>>>>> Hi Tobias same problem on Android ! I'm very interested by Ezra!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Le 29 mars 2026 16:24:51 GMT+01:00, David Haslam
>>>>>> <dfhdfh at protonmail.com> <mailto:dfhdfh at protonmail.com> a écrit :
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Tobias,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just installed it in my iPad Mini 4 which has iPadOS 15.8.7
>>>>>> (latest supported).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The following occurs whether or not the connection is via a
>>>>>> VPN Server.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It gets stuck at 90% during Loading Languages, and eventually
>>>>>> displays an error message.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Is perchance one of the repositories currently offline? If
>>>>>> so, it ought to respond gracefully and work with those that
>>>>>> are currently accessible.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Or was the root cause something else entirely ?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> David Haslam
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Mar 29, 2026 at 14:27, contact at tklein.info
>>>>>> <mailto:contact at tklein.info> < contact at tklein.info <mailto:On
>>>>>> Sun, Mar 29, 2026 at 14:27, contact at tklein.info <<a href=>>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ezra Bible App 1.19 has been released. This release
>>>>>>> introduces *iOS and iPadOS support*, bringing Ezra Bible App
>>>>>>> to Apple mobile devices for the first time. It also includes
>>>>>>> improvements to mobile usability, enhanced module handling,
>>>>>>> and various bug fixes.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> https://github.com/ezra-bible-app/ezra-bible-app/releases/tag/1.19.0
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Downloads are available for all supported platforms,
>>>>>>> including updated versions in Google Play
>>>>>>> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.ezrabibleapp.cordova&hl=de>
>>>>>>> and the Apple App Store
>>>>>>> <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ezra-bible-app/id6757127895>.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Note-worthy improvements and fixes are:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> * Add iOS and iPadOS support.
>>>>>>> * Visualize footnotes on the mobile version.
>>>>>>> * Support image handling in SWORD modules.
>>>>>>> * Support custom Dropbox module repositories and
>>>>>>> Dropbox-based ZIP installations.
>>>>>>> * Make the list of shown commentaries configurable in the
>>>>>>> commentary side panel.
>>>>>>> * Make text in the word study panel selectable and copyable.
>>>>>>> * Improve tablet usability, including an optimized book
>>>>>>> selection menu in portrait orientation.
>>>>>>> * Fix various issues related to search, verse positioning,
>>>>>>> commentary alignment, and text rendering.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks to the translators (Martin, Marjan, Tom, Augustin,
>>>>>>> Reinaldo, Evgen).
>>>>>>> Thanks also to Karl who helped me a lot with beta testing on
>>>>>>> iOS / iPadOS.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am happy about any feedback.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>>> Tobias
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> sword-devel mailing list
>>>>>> sword-devel at crosswire.org <mailto:sword-devel at crosswire.org>
>>>>>> https://crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel <https://crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> sword-devel mailing list
>>>>> sword-devel at crosswire.org <mailto:sword-devel at crosswire.org>
>>>>> https://crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel <https://crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Vous aimez la Bible ? Vous êtes étudiant en théologie ? Utilisez
>>>> l'application libre Xiphos <https://xiphos.org/> ou Andbible
>>>> <https://andbible.github.io/> et accédez aux textes sources, à des
>>>> commentaires, des dictionnaires et beaucoup d'autres
>>>> fonctionnalités... Me contacter pour des traductions en français.
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> sword-devel mailing list
>>> sword-devel at crosswire.org
>>> https://crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> sword-devel mailing list
>> sword-devel at crosswire.org
>> https://crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel
>
>
> --
> signature
>
> Peace,
> */Michael Johnson/**
> 26 HIWALANI LOOP • MAKAWAO HI 96768-8747*• USA
> mljohnson.org <https://mljohnson.org/> • eBible.org
> <https://eBible.org> • WorldEnglish.Bible <https://WorldEnglish.Bible>
> • PNG.Bible <https://PNG.Bible>
> Signal/WhatsApp/Telephone: +1 808-333-6921
> Telegram: @kahunapule • Facebook: fb.me/kahunapule
> <https://www.facebook.com/kahunapule>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> sword-devel mailing list
> sword-devel at crosswire.org
> https://crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://crosswire.org/pipermail/sword-devel/attachments/20260330/e9c9c27c/attachment-0001.htm>
More information about the sword-devel
mailing list