Feedbin is a simple, fast and nice looking RSS reader.
Feedbin is a web based RSS reader. It provides a user interface for reading and managing feeds as well as a REST-like API for clients to connect to.
The main Feedbin project is a Rails 4.0 application. In addition to the main project there are several other services that provide additional functionality. None of these services are required to get Feedbin running locally, but they all provide important functionality that you would want for a production install.
- refresher: Refresher is the service that does feed refreshing. Feed refreshes are scheduled as background jobs using Sidekiq. Refresher is kept separate so it can be scaled independently. It's also a benefit to not have to load all of Rails for this service.
- polyptych: Polyptych is an API for fetching favicons. Favicons are compiled into a singe CSS file as base64 encoded background images. Polyptych is another Rails App.
- camo: Camo is an https image proxy. In production Feedbin is SSL only. One issue with SSL is all assets must be served over SSL as well or the browser will show insecure content warnings. Camo proxies all image requests through an SSL enabled host to prevent this.
- Mac OS X or Linux
- Ruby 2.0
- Postgres 9.2.4
- Redis 2.6.13
Ultimately you need a Ruby environment and a Rack compatible application server. For development Pow is recommended.
Feedbin uses environment variables for configuration. Feedbin will run without any of these, but various features and functionality will be turned off.
| Environment Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| ASSET_HOST | Pull CDN URL |
| AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID | Used for file uploads - http://aws.amazon.com |
| AWS_S3_BUCKET | Used for file uploads - http://aws.amazon.com |
| AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY | Used for file uploads - http://aws.amazon.com |
| CAMO_HOST | CDN to point to the camo host |
| CAMO_KEY | Used to rewrite assets to use https - https://github.com/atmos/camo |
| DATABASE_URL | Database connection string - postgres://USER:PASS@IP:PORT/DATABASE |
| DEFAULT_URL_OPTIONS_HOST | Mailer host - feedbin.me |
| FEEDBIN_HOMEPAGE_REPO | Git URL to a Rails engine that provides a custom homepage |
| FROM_ADDRESS | Used as a reply-to email address |
| GAUGES_SITE_ID | gaug.es analytics identifier |
| HONEYBADGER_API_KEY | Used for error reporting - http://honeybadger.io |
| LIBRATO_SOURCE | Default source for metrics - feedbin |
| LIBRATO_TOKEN | Used for reporting stats - http://metrics.librato.com |
| LIBRATO_USER | Used for reporting stats - http://metrics.librato.com |
| MEMCACHED_HOSTS | Comma separated memcached hosts/ports - 192.168.1.2:11121 |
| POLYPTYCH_CDN | Used for retrieving and serving favicons - https://github.com/feedbin/polyptych |
| POLYPTYCH_URL | Used for retrieving and serving favicons - https://github.com/feedbin/polyptych |
| POSTGRES_USERNAME | Used for connecting to database |
| POSTMARK_API_KEY | Used for sending email - http://postmarkapp.com |
| RACK_ENV | Environment - production |
| RAILS_ENV | Environment - production |
| READABILITY_API_TOKEN | Used for Readability - http://www.readability.com |
| REDIS_URL | redis connection string - redis://redis:PASSWORD@192.168.1.3:6379 |
| SECRET_KEY_BASE | Encryptions key for Rails - run rake secret |
| SIDEKIQ_PASSWORD | Sidekiq Basic Auth Password |
| STRIPE_API_KEY | Used for communicating with stripe - https://stripe.com |
| STRIPE_PUBLIC_KEY | Used for communicating with stripe - https://stripe.com |
These variables need to be available in the environment of the user running the app.
Locally I use dotenv combined with pow. Pow's .powenv file is set up to read dotenv's .env file like:
export $(cat .env)This is necessary so the environment variables can be read by both Pow and Unicorn.
In production environment variables are set in the app users ~/.bash_profile like:
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=aoisjf3j23oij23f
...###Mac OS X Install
This will get Feedbin running on a fresh Mountain Lion install. If you already have a ruby environment configured you can skip most of these steps.
Command Line Tools (OS X Mountain Lion)
These can be downloaded from the Apple Developer website, or in XCode preferences.
Homebrew
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/go)"
rbenv
brew update
brew install rbenv
brew install ruby-build
echo 'if which rbenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(rbenv init -)"; fi' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
Ruby 2.0
rbenv install 2.0.0-p247
rbenv global 2.0.0-p247
Bundler
gem install bundler
Postgres 9.2.4
cd ~/Downloads
curl -L http://postgresapp.com/download > postgres.zip
unzip postgres.zip
mv Postgres.app /Applications/
open /Applications/Postgres.app
Redis 2.6.14
brew update
brew install redis
Make sure to follow post install instructions.
Clone Feedbin
git clone https://github.com/feedbin/feedbin.git
cd feedbin
bundle
Setup the database
rake db:setup
Start scheduled tasks and background workers
bundle exec foreman start
curl get.pow.cx | sh
ln -nfs /path/to/feedbin ~/.pow/feedbin
At this point you should be able to load feedbin.dev in your browser.
###Ubuntu 12.04 Dependencies
apt-get install -y python-software-properties
add-apt-repository -y ppa:pitti/postgresql
apt-get -y update
apt-get -y upgrade
apt-get install -y build-essential curl libreadline-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libpq-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev zlib1g-dev libssl-dev postgresql-client-9.2
TODO: Getting the Ruby environment setup on Ubuntu and running Feedbin