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Initial lektor documentation Getty Ritter 10 years ago
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1 # Lektor: A Standard for Feed Readers
2
3 **NOTE:** The entirety of this file is tentative, and subject to change
4 at any time.
5
6 There are two main tasks for a feed reader: _fetching_ and _viewing_.
7 These two tasks, in the `lektor` system, are split apart into different
8 components, mediated by a `lektordir` system. There are two main parts
9 to the `lektor` architecture: the `lektor-dir` format and the
10 `lektor-entry` format.
11
12 ## `lektor-feed`
13
14 A given `feed` consists of at least a `name` (which is human-readable)
15 and an `id` which unambiguously identifies the `feed` (which is
16 a URI). Information about `feed`s is stored in the `src` directory
17 inside a `lektor-dir`. Information about a given feed is stored inside
18 `src/$hash`, where `$hash` is the SHA-1 hash of of the `feed`'s `id`.
19
20 Obligatory elements include:
21
22 - `id`: The URI which identifies the feed. In the case of
23 RSS/Atom/ActivityStream feeds, this will generally be the URL at
24 which the feed is hosted. For other things—for example, for
25 services which may not have a web equivalent—it might instead be
26 a tag URI or some other opaque identifier.
27 - `name`: The human-readable name of the feed. This is
28 produced by the fetcher and should not be changed by a viewer.
29
30 Optional elements include:
31
32 - `description`: A human-readable description describing
33 the feed.
34 - `language`: The language the feed is written in.
35 - `image`: An image that can be optionally displayed with
36 the channel.
37 - `copyright`: The copyright notice for the feed.
38 - `author`: Authorship information for the feed.
39
40 ### Feed example
41
42 A minimal feed might look like
43
44 ```.bash
45 cd $LEKTORDIR
46 HASH=$(printf 'http://example.com/rss.xml' | sha1sum)
47 mkdir -p $HASH
48
49 echo http://example.com/rss.xml >$HASH/id
50 echo Example Feed >$HASH/name
51 ```
52
53 A feed with more entries might look like
54
55 ```.bash
56 cd $LEKTORDIR
57 HASH=$(printf 'http://example.com/rss.xml' | sha1sum)
58 mkdir -p $HASH
59
60 echo http://example.com/rss.xml >$HASH/id
61 echo Example Feed >$HASH/name
62 echo 'An example feed.' >$HASH/description
63 echo en-us >$HASH/language
64 echo http://example.com/image.png >$HASH/image
65 echo Copyright 2015, Getty Ritter >$HASH/copyright
66 echo 'Getty Ritter <gdritter@gmail.com>' >$HASH/author
67 ```
68
69 ## `lektor-entry`
70
71 In contrast to `maildir`, entries in a `lektor-dir` are not files
72 but directories adhering to a particular structure.
73
74 Obligatory elements include:
75
76 - `title`: The title of the entry.
77 - `id`: The URI which identifies the entry. This will often be a
78 URL at which the resource corresponding to the entry is available,
79 but may also be an opaque identifier.
80 - `content`: TBD
81 - `feed`: A directory that contains all the information about the
82 source `feed`. This will generally be a symlink
83
84 Optional elements include:
85
86 - `author`: Names and email addressess of the authors of the entry.
87 - `pubdate`: When the entry was published.
88
89 ## `lektor-dir`
90
91 A `lektordir` is a directory with at least four subdirectories: `tmp`,
92 `new`, `cur`, and `src`. A _fetcher_ is responsible for examining a feed
93 and adding new entries the `lektordir` according to the following process:
94
95 - The fetcher `chdir()`s to the `lektordir` directory.
96 - The fetcher `stat()`s the name `tmp/$feed/$time.$pid.$host`, where
97 `$feed` is the hash of the feed's `id` value, `$time`
98 is the number of seconds since the beginning of 1970 GMT, `$pid` is the
99 program's process ID, and `$host` is its host name.
100 - If `stat()` returned anything other than `ENOENT`, the program sleeps
101 for two seconds, updates `$time`, and tries the `stat()` again, a limited
102 number of times.
103 - The fetcher creates the directory `tmp/$feed/$time.$pid.$host`.
104 - The fetcher writes the entry contents (according to the `lektor-entry`
105 format) to the directory.
106 - The fetcher `link()`s the file to `new/$feed/$time.$pid.$host`. At that
107 instant, the entry has been successfully created.
108
109 A _viewer_ is responsible for displaying new feed entries to a user
110 through some mechanism. A viewer looks through the `new` directory for
111 new entries. If there is a new entry, `new/$feed/$unique`, the viewer may:
112
113 - Display the contents of `new/$feed/$unique`
114 - Delete `new/$feed/$unique`
115 - Rename `new/$feed/$unique`.
116
117 A `lektordir` can contain arbitrary other directories, but for the sake
118 of compatibility, these should attempt to adhere to the following
119 schema:
120
121 - If the extra directory contains configuration or other information
122 for a given feed, it