Provided by: feed2exec_0.20.0_all 
NAME
feed2exec - The programmable feed reader
SYNOPSIS
feed2exec {add,ls,rm,fetch,import,export}
DESCRIPTION
This command will take a configured set of feeds and fire specific plugin for every new item found in the
feed.
OPTIONS
--version
Show the version and exit.
--loglevel
choose specific log level [default: WARNING]
-v, --verbose
show what is happening (loglevel: VERBOSE)
-d, --debug
show debugging information (loglevel: DEBUG)
--syslog LEVEL
send LEVEL logs to syslog
--config TEXT
use a different configuration file
--database DB
use a different database
-h, --help
Show this message and exit.
EXAMPLES
Simple run with no side effects:
feed2exec parse https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/breaking_news.rss --output echo --args '{item.title}'
Saving feed items to a Maildir folder:
feed2exec add "NASA breaking news" https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/breaking_news.rss --folder nasa
feed2exec fetch
This creates the equivalent of this configuration file in ~/.config/feed2exec.ini:
[DEFAULT]
output = feed2exec.plugins.maildir
mailbox = ~/Maildir
[NASA breaking news]
folder = nasa
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/breaking_news.rss
Send new feed items to Transmission:
feed2exec add "Example torrent list" http://example.com/torrents/feed --output transmission --folder /srv/incoming
Send new feed items to Mastodon, using the toot commandline client:
feed2exec add "My site" http://example.com/blog/feed --output exec --args 'toot post "{item.title} {item.link}"'
Send new feed items to Twitter, using the tweet commandline client from python-twitter:
feed2exec add "My site on twitter" http://example.com/blog/feed --output exec --args 'tweet "{item.title:.40s} {item.link:.100s}"'
Show feed contents:
feed2exec add "NASA breaking news" https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/breaking_news.rss --output echo --args "{item.title} {item.link}"
feed2exec fetch
COMMANDS
• parse
• fetch
• add
• ls
• rm
• import
• export
parse
Usage:
parse URL
[--output PLUGIN [--args ARG [ARG [...]]]
[--filter PLUGIN] [--filter_args ARG [ARG [...]]]
[--mailbox PATH] [--folder PATH]
The parse command loads and parses a single feed, without touching the database. This is similar to
calling add then fetch on a single feed, but the feed is not kept in the configuration. This is designed
to make quick tests with a new feed. The arguments are the same as the add command.
fetch
Usage:
fetch [--parallel | -p | --jobs N | -j N] [--force | -f] [--pattern pattern]
The fetch command iterates through all the configured feeds or those matching the pattern substring if
provided.
Options:
--pattern TEXT
only fetch feeds matching name or URL
--parallel
parse feeds in the background to improve performance
-j,--jobs N
start N jobs in parallel, implies --parallel which defaults to the number of CPUs detected on
the machine
-f, --force
skip reading and writing the cache and will consider all entries as new
-n, --catchup
tell output plugins plugins to simulate their actions
add
Usage:
add NAME URL
[--output PLUGIN [--args ARG [ARG [...]]]
[--filter PLUGIN] [--filter_args ARG [ARG [...]]]
[--mailbox PATH] [--folder PATH]
The add command adds the given feed NAME that will be fetched from the provided URL.
Options:
--output PLUGIN
use PLUGIN as an output module. defaults to maildir to store in a mailbox. use null or echo to
just fetch the feed without doing anything. Modules are searched in the feed2exec.plugins
package unless the name contains a dot in which case the whole Python search path is used.
--args ARGS
pass arguments ARGS to the output plugin. supports interpolation of feed parameters using, for
example {title}
--filter PLUGIN
filter feed items through the PLUGIN filter plugin
--filter_args ARGS
arguments passed to the filter plugin
--mailbox PATH
folder to store email into, defaults to ~/Maildir.
--folder PATH
subfolder to store the email into
Those parameters are documented more extensively in their equivalent settings in the configuration file,
see below.
ls
The ls command lists all configured feeds as JSON packets.
rm
Usage:
rm NAME
Remove the feed named NAME from the configuration.
import
Usage:
import PATH
Import feeds from the file named PATH. The file is expected to have outline elements and only the title
and xmlUrl elements are imported, as NAME and URL parameters, respectively.
export
Usage:
export PATH
Export feeds into the file named PATH. The file will use the feed NAME elements as title and the URL as
xmlUrl.
FILES
Configuration file
The configuration file is loaded from (and written to, by add) ~/.config/feed2exec.ini or
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/feed2exec.ini. It can also be specified with the --config commandline parameter. This is
an example configuration snippet:
[NASA breaking news]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/breaking_news.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.echo
args = {title} {link}
Naturally, those settings can be changed directly in the config file. Note that there is a [DEFAULT]
section that can be used to apply settings to all feeds. For example, this will make all feeds store new
items in a maildir subfolder:
[DEFAULT]
output = feed2exec.plugins.maildir
folder = feeds
This way individual feeds do not need to be individually configured.
NOTE:
feed2exec does not take care of adding the folder to “subscriptions” in the mailbox. it is assumed
that folders are auto-susbcribed or the user ignores subscription. if that is a problem, you should
subscribe to the folder by hand in your email client when you add a new config. you can also subscribe
to a folder (say feeds above) directly using the doveadm mailbox subscribe feeds command in Dovecot,
for example.
The following configuration parameters are supported:
name Human readable name for the feed. Equivalent to the NAME argument in the add command.
url Address to fetch the feed from. Can be HTTP or HTTPS, but also file:// resources for test
purposes.
output Output plugin to use. Equivalent to the --output option in the add command.
args Arguments to pass to the output plugin. Equivalent to the --args option in the add command.
filter Filter plugin to use. Equivalent to the --filter option in the add command.
mailbox
Store emails in that mailbox prefix. Defaults to ~/Maildir.
folder Subfolder to use when writing to a mailbox. By default, a slugified version of the feed name
(where spaces and special character are replaced by -) is used. For example, the feed named
“NASA breaking news” would be stored in ~/Maildir/nasa-breaking-news/. Note that the mailbox
prefix is used only if the folder path is relative.
catchup
Skip to the latest feed items. The feed is still read and parsed, and new feed items are added
to the database, but output plugins are never called.
pause Completely skip feed during fetch or parse. Similar to catchup, but doesn’t fetch the feed at
all and doesn’t touch the cache.
Here is a more complete example configuration with all the settings used:
# this section will apply to all feeds
[DEFAULT]
# special folder location for maildir. I use this when I have multiple
# accounts synchronized with Offlineimap
mailbox = ~/Maildir/Remote/
# a feed to store NASA breaking news entry in a "nasa" subfolder
# this also demonstrates the droptitle filter
[NASA breaking news]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/breaking_news.rss
folder = nasa
filter = feed2exec.plugins.droptitle
filter_args = trump
# some maildir storage require dots to get subfolders. for example,
# this will store messages in INBOX/feeds/images/ on Dovecot
[NASA image of the day]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/lg_image_of_the_day.rss
folder = .feeds.images
# same feed, but save to wayback machine
[NASA IOTD wayback]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/lg_image_of_the_day.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.wayback
# this demonstrates the emptysummary filter, which fixes GitHub feeds
# that lack a proper summary
[restic]
url = https://github.com/restic/restic/tags.atom
filter = feed2exec.plugins.emptysummary
# saving to a mbox folder, one file per feed instead of one file per item
[International Space Station Reports]
url = http://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/feed/
mailbox = ~/Mail/
folder = stationreport.mbx
# simple generic exec call example: check for broken links using linkchecker
[NASA linkchecker]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/breaking_news.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.exec
args = linkchecker --check-extern --no-robots --recursion-level 1 --quiet '{item.link}'
# same, but with a Ikiwiki RSS feed, which needs fixing
[Ikiwiki linkchecker]
url = http://ikiwiki.info/recentchanges/index.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.exec
filter = feed2exec.plugins.ikiwiki_recentchanges
args = linkchecker --check-extern --no-robots --recursion-level 1 --quiet '{item.link}'
# retweet hurricane news
[NASA Hurricane breaking news]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/hurricaneupdate.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.exec
args = tweet "{item.title:.40s} {item.link:.100s}"
# same, but on the mastodon network
#
# we can have multiple entries with the same URL without problems, as
# long as the feed name is different. it does mean that the feed will
# be fetched and parsed multiple times, unfortunately.
#
# this could be improved to include the '{item.summary}' and extra markup,
# for example.
[NASA Hurricane breaking news - Mastodon]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/hurricaneupdate.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.exec
# unfortunately, this will noisily report the URL of the posted link,
# which you may not want. to avoid that, encourage upstream to do the
# right thing: https://github.com/ihabunek/toot/issues/46 ... or use
# another tool listed here:
# https://github.com/tootsuite/documentation/blob/master/Using-Mastodon/Apps.md
args = toot post "{item.title} {item.link}"
# output is disabled here. feed will be fetched and parsed, but no
# toot will be sent
catchup = True
# same, but on the Pump.io network
[NASA Hurricane breaking news - Pump]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/hurricaneupdate.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.exec
args = p post note "{item.title} {item.link}"
# crude podcast client
[NASA What up?]
url = https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/whats_up.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.exec
# XXX: this doesn't handle errors properly: if there is a feed without
# enclosures, the whole thing will crash.
args = wget -P /srv/podcasts/nasa/ "{item.enclosures[0].href}"
# feed is paused here. feed will not be fetched and parsed at all and
# no post will be sent.
pause = True
# download torrents linked from a RSS feed
[torrents]
url = http://example.com/torrents.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.exec
args = transmission-remote -a '{item.link}' -w '/srv/incoming'
# same thing with an actual plugin
[torrents]
url = http://example.com/torrents.rss
output = feed2exec.plugins.transmission
args = seedbox.example.com
folder = /srv/incoming
Cache database
The feeds cache is stored in a feed2exec.db file. It is a SQLite database and can be inspected using
standard sqlite tools. It is used to keep track of which feed and items have been processed. To clear the
cache, you can simply remove the file, which will make the program process all feeds items from scratch
again. In this case, you should use the --catchup argument to avoid duplicate processing. You can also
use the null output plugin to the same effect.
LIMITATIONS
Feed support is only as good as feedparser library which isn’t as solid as I expected. In particular, I
had issues with feeds without dates and without guid.
Unit test coverage is incomplete, but still pretty decent, above 90%.
The exec plugin itself is not well tested and may have serious security issues.
API, commandline interface, configuration file syntax and database format can be changed until the 1.0
release is published, at which point normal Semantic Versioning semantics apply.
The program is written mainly targeting Python 3.5 and 3.7, but should support later releases as well.
See the setup.py classification for an authoritative reference. Python 2.7 is not supported anymore.
The SQL storage layer is badly written and is known to trigger locking issues with SQLite when doing
multiprocessing. The global LOCK object could be used to work around this issue but that could mean
pretty bad coupling. A good inspiration may be the beets story about this problem. And of course, another
alternative would be to considering something like SQLalchemy instead of rolling our own ORM. There has,
however, been some improvements to the locking recently, although that has been done with thread instead
of process-specific locks.
Older feed items are not purged from the database when they disappear from the feed, which may lead to
database bloat in the long term. Similarly, there is no way for plugins to remove old entry that expire
from the feed.
SEE ALSO
feed2exec-plugins(1), feed2imap(1), rss2email(1)
AUTHOR
Antoine Beaupré
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2016-2019 Antoine Beaupré