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diff --git a/site/blog/98_perfect_rss_solution.org b/site/blog/98_perfect_rss_solution.org deleted file mode 100644 index d9d58da..0000000 --- a/site/blog/98_perfect_rss_solution.org +++ /dev/null @@ -1,101 +0,0 @@ -#+TITLE: The 98% perfect RSS solution -#+DATE: 2012-11-30 10:00 -#+TAGS: rss emacs gnus gwene tt-rss avandu - -* Test - - I've been looking for the "perfect" RSS reading solution for a while - and I just got this idea for a setup that has to be about 98% of all - I'm looking for. - - The things I'm looking for are: - - - Emacs interface. This isn't that big a problem since anything - with an API can be made to have such an interface, and I feel - comfortable enough with Emacs Lisp to write it myself if I have - to, like I was doing with [[http://code.ryuslash.org/cgit.cgi/emacs/avandu/][avandu]], but then it /does/ need a(n/ good) - API. - - - Unbound to a single computer. It's a hassle to have to remember - what you have and haven't read. If it was easy your RSS reader - wouldn't care about (un)read items, everything would just be - "items". So sharing that state between computers is pretty - important. - - - A server. Something that keeps running 24/7. Or at least the - closest possible approximation of that. It's no good to miss - everything that happens between 11pm and 9am just because you - don't have your feed reader running. Of course this is only a - problem if you're following some high-traffic feeds, but they - exist too. - - - Runs locally. The nice thing about having shell access to a - server somewhere that someone else keeps online for you is the - possibility to run something like [[http://newsbeuter.org/][newsbeuter]] and just - (de/reat)tach from whichever computer you're working on. The - downside is, though, that this breaks pretty much all integration - with your desktop. Opening URLs becomes a reliance on your - terminal emulator's ability to parse and open them. Viewing media - such as images, or audio files from a podcast, turns into ~Save, - Transfer, Open~ instead of just the ~Open~. - - - Handles big feed lists. Even if you only read five feeds, the day - may come you'll be reading fifty, or even much more. A piece of - software that handles this well is a must. This is the problem I - had with [[http://codezen.org/canto/][canto]] and Emacs' [[http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/NewsTicker][newsticker]]. *canto* looked awesome, the - most interesting interface to RSS feeds I have come across so far, - but back when I tried it trying to read my collection of feeds - would lock-up my computer. *newsticker* would lock-up my emacs - session for 10-20 minutes. - - Now though I have found something that does it all. It is actually - a twist on something I used some time ago. - - *Emacs* + [[http://gnus.org/][Gnus]] + [[http://gwene.org/][Gwene]] + [[http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/][unison]]. Not the easiest thing to set-up - perhaps, but once *Emacs* + *Gnus* is in place the rest is a piece of - cake. - - *Gwene* is an awesome service that turns RSS feeds into - newsgroups. *unison* is an awesome piece of software for - synchronising files between different computers. *Gnus* is a real - newsreader. *Emacs* is what *Gnus* runs on. - - So it's kind-of like cheating. *Gnus* is not unbound to a single - computer and *Gwene* doesn't offer server-side state tracking either. - But because *Gnus* uses a single file to store state about all of its - subscribed groups, this makes it a good candidate for sharing that - one file. This is not something unique to *Gnus*, at least [[http://www.slrn.org/][slrn]] uses - the same kind of file, the ~.newsrc~ file (or in *Gnus*' case - ~.newsrc.eld~). - - So I register the feeds I want to follow with *Gwene*, if they aren't - already registered. I subscribe to the resulting newsgroups on - ~news.gwene.org~ with *Gnus* and when I switch over to another computer - I use *unison* to synchronise the ~.newsrc.eld~ file. - - An example configuration of *Gnus* could just be as simple as: - - #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp - (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.gwene.org")) - #+END_SRC - - *unison* just needs: - - #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE - root=/your/home/dir/ - root=/your/server/root/ - path=.newsrc.eld - #+END_EXAMPLE - - And that's about it. - - Now it's still not 100% perfect. I've seen that *Gwene* can't handle - 100% of the feeds I throw at it, but these can be fixed either by - contacting the people publishing them or by improving *Gwene*'s - parser. It also doesn't automatically check periodicaly, though I - think *Gnus* can be set-up to do that, but since I also use it to read - my mail (again) that's not really an issue. It also isn't - accessible without *Emacs*, *Gnus* and *Unison*, but I hate web-interfaces - anyway. - - So that's it. My 98% perfect RSS reading solution. |