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EPUBCheck · Package and ZIP container

EPUBCheck PKG-020: package document not found

Updated:

EPUBCheck PKG-020 is an error message: “OPF file "…" could not be found.” The package document (OPF) named in META-INF/container.xml does not exist at that path. Without the package document, neither reading apps nor EPUBCheck know which files make up the book.

The official message

OPF file "%1$s" could not be found.

Default severity
Error. The EPUB breaks a rule of the specification and is invalid. Stores and Send to Kindle may reject it, and EPUBCheck exits with status 1.
EPUBCheck version
5.4.0

%1$s, %2$s… are filled in with the file, value or element EPUBCheck found.

Typical causes

  • The full-path attribute of the rootfile element has a typo or the wrong case: paths are case-sensitive.
  • The package document was renamed or moved (for example from OEBPS/ to EPUB/) without updating container.xml.
  • The package document was left out when the archive was built.

How to fix it

  1. Open META-INF/container.xml and read the full-path value of the rootfile element.
  2. Make it match the real path of the .opf file, relative to the root of the archive, for example full-path="OEBPS/content.opf".
  3. Rebuild the archive and validate again.

When it's not this

If container.xml itself is missing, that is RSC-002; if no rootfile has the right media type, RSC-003.

Terms used here

Other PKG messages

  • PKG-021 Corrupted image file encountered.
  • PKG-018 The EPUB file could not be found.
  • PKG-022 Wrong file extension for image. The image is a "…" file but has the file extension "…".
  • PKG-017 Uncommon EPUB file extension.
  • PKG-023 Validating the EPUB against version 2.0, default validation profile will be used.
  • PKG-016 Use only lowercase characters for the EPUB file extension for maximum compatibility.

Sources

Message text and severity from EPUBCheck 5.4.0 (W3C, BSD-3-Clause). Explanation by EpubCC.

FAQ

What does EPUBCheck PKG-020 mean?

EPUBCheck PKG-020 is an error message: “OPF file "…" could not be found.” The package document (OPF) named in META-INF/container.xml does not exist at that path. Without the package document, neither reading apps nor EPUBCheck know which files make up the book.

Is PKG-020 an error?

PKG-020 is reported as error by default. The EPUB breaks a rule of the specification and is invalid. Stores and Send to Kindle may reject it, and EPUBCheck exits with status 1.