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Likho’s microblog.py

Usage
Disclosures
- Proxy Behavior
Why I’m not using the Fediverse

Updated 2023 Jun 03 by Likho (licho@firemail.cc)

microblog.py is a simple microblog generation script written in under 500 lines of Python.

If you use it, let me know. I can also add you to my webring.

git:https://notabug.org/likho/microblog.py

example: https://likho.neocities.org/microblog/

Features:

pagination
tag cloud
webring
configuration file
sorting (backdating)
mini-galleries

Perks over social media platforms.

less drama
not “software-as-a-service”
- self-stewardship of data
- no moderator abuse
viewable on older computers and browsers
low requirements
- doesn’t get invoked each visit (unlike f/CGI)
- doesn’t need to be run 24/7 (unlike web server application)
- doesn’t involve a relational database system
- doesn’t need javascript

Usage

microblog.py assumes the user has a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. There is no code specific to an operating system, but Linux users would have the least trouble running it.

Getting Started

These are the sequence of commands to get started.

git clone https://notabug.org/likho/microblog.py microblog
cd microblog
cp example/Makefile .
make

This means to:

download the program using a git client into a folder called microblog
enter the folder microblog
copy and paste the file example/Makefile into the current folder.
invoke make

This should generate an example page named result.html which can be opened in a web browser for preview. It should also avail the files template.tpl, timeline.css, settings.toml, and content.txt.

content.txt is the user content
settings.toml is the configuration file
template.tpl is the html page template
timeline.css is the style sheet that defines the layout and proportions of page elements; by default, it minimally defines color.

To help discern which elements are which, some borders in result.html are color-coded in red, blue, and green.

If you don’t want to use Gnu Make…

make is only there for convenience. If you want to use another interface, this is the page generation command:

python microblog.py ./template.tpl ./content.txt >  result.html

You can rename the files content.txt, template.tpl, and result.html however you wish. THese are only names provided by example.

Enable webring

Assuming you have the program already downloaded by git.

git checkout syndication

Reference example/settings.toml or online at https://notabug.org/likho/microblog.py/src/syndication/example/settings.toml#L33.

Note, I don’t consider the webring branch finalized as of May 6, 2023. Updates to the branch may involve changes to the settings file.

Adding to webring

The followers list is an array of strings.¹

list= ["https://likho.neocities.org/microblog/meta.json"]

An array can also be broken into multiple lines.

list = [
    "https://likho.neocities.org/microblog/meta.json",
    "https://somewhere.else/microblog/meta.json"
]

See https://toml.io/en/v1.0.0#array for acceptable syntax.

You can add someone on an alternate DNS root like OpenNIC as long as your computer resolves the URL. Just don’t expect that same URL to resolve for everyone else visiting your page.

Disclosures

The project uses pycurl and urllib for web requests.²

neouploader.py, to upload files in bulk to neocities, handles password using getpass.³

microblog.py on the branch syndication uses HTTP connections only to fetch data.⁴`

Proxy Behavior

Proxy support has been added to microblog.py on branch syndication in commit e4af5bbd6aca8f06baa6e29d57090481eb208193. By the default behavior of urllib.request.ProxyHandler,⁵ the script will respond to environment variables such as http_proxy or https_proxy.

Tor support can be enabled by setting either

http_proxy=socks://127.0.0.1:9050
https_proxy=socks://127.0.0.1:9050

As a result, the full script invocation will look like:

https_proxy=socks://127.0.0.1:9050 python microblog.py

Why I’m not using the Fediverse

The foremost alternative to Twitter or Tumblr was the Fediverse, and I lost interest in the Fediverse for reasons as complex as the Fediverse is. But an approximation is that it is very easy to find poor administration or overbearing moderation in the Fediverse. The visibility of content is also subject to arbitrary white/blacklisting set by the administrator.⁶

I originally had profiles on gnusocial.no and sendero.social. Both sites are offline now. However, I also found myself a misfit in a culture of people who want information delivered on a timeline.

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