feedreaders

feedreader

Feedreader/rs is a Rust re-implementation of the original feedreader Python implementation.

The database format is almost fully compatible with the original. Re-using an existing database is possible. We don't implement 'enclosures', though. Existing enclosures in the database will be deleted.

Thanks

Thanks to Marco Lochen for the idea and for the original Python implementation.

Building and installing

Prerequisites

The Rust compiler must be installed to build feedreader. It is recommended to use the latest version of the stable Rust compiler. But Rust versions down to and including Rust 1.77 are supported by feedreader.

Rust installer

The Rust installer will install the compiler and the build tool cargo.

The build requires the additional cargo-audit and cargo-auditable tools to be installed. Run this command to install both tools:

cargo install cargo-audit cargo-auditable

The SQLite3 database has to be installed in your operating system.

If you use Debian Linux, you can use the following command to install SQLite3:

sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev

Building feedreader

Run the build.sh script to build feedreader.

After installing all build prerequisites, run the build script:

./build.sh

Installing feedreader

Then run the install.sh to install the feedreader to /opt/feedreader/:

./install.sh

-lsqlite3: No such file or directory

If during build you get the following error:

= note: /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lsqlite3: No such file or directory
    collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

please install the SQLite 3 libraries and development files to your system.

On Debian Linux that is done with:

sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev

Configuring web server CGI

The web frontend feeds needs to be configured in your web browser as CGI application.

lighttpd web server

Add the following configuration to /etc/lighttpd/conf-enabled/feedreader.conf:

server.modules += ( "mod_cgi" )

$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/cgi-bin/" {
    cgi.assign = ( "" => "" )
    alias.url += ( "/cgi-bin/" => "/opt/feedreader/lib/cgi-bin/" )
}

Apache web server

Add the following configuration to /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/feedreader.conf:

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/feeds /opt/feedreader/lib/cgi-bin/feeds

<Directory /opt/feedreader/lib/cgi-bin>
    AllowOverride None
    Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch -Indexes
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Security

This software does not implement any authentication and/or encryption.

It is expected that all users which have access to the server's cgi interface are trusted.

WARNING:

If you want to run this cgi on a publicly accessible server, please remember to enable encryption (TLS, https) and access authentication (e.g. http auth) in the server (e.g. lighttpd or apache). If you don't do this, then people will destroy your database or possibly use it to distribute illegal material.

Running this cgi behind a https+auth barrier is fine and there's no problem with that.

If you don't know what this means, please ask your favorite search engine before setting up a web server.

License / Copyright

Copyright (C) 2024-2025 Michael Büsch

Copyright (C) 2020 Marco Lochen

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.