diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'README.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 95 |
1 files changed, 95 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c74686 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ +sniffa +====== + +sniffa is a small utility that allows you to watch Discuss forums for keywords. + +Every time it is invoked, it checks for new posts matching the keywords and creates a notification in the Mac OS X notification bar. + +# Requirements + +* Mac OS X 10.8 or later: As it uses Mac OS X notifications, sniffa works only on Mac OS X 10.8 or later. +* Python 3 +* certifi: Install with `pip3 install certifi` +* pync: Install with `pip3 install pync` + +# Installation + +Ensure that all prerequisites are installed, then copy `sniffa.py` to any directory, e.g. `~/bin` and run `chmod u+x sniffa.py`. + +# Usage + +sniffa can be used to query multiple Discuss forums. The keywords and the ids of all already seen posts are maintained in a file `~/.sniffa/watch-$(FORUM_NAME).ini`, where `$(FORUM_NAME)` is a name that you can choose to identify this forum. + +## Example + +Consider you want to watch for the keywords "Rally" and "JMeter" in the Elastic Discuss forum at https://discuss.elastic.co. + +1. Create `~/.sniffa/watch-elastic.ini` +2. Add the following lines: + +``` +[sniffa.domain] +url = https://discuss.elastic.co + +[Rally] + +[JMeter] +``` + +Now invoke sniffa: ``python3 sniffa.py elastic``. It will load the watches file for the forum named "elastic", check for new posts (which will be a lot at the first time) and show a notice for each of them in the Mac OS X notification bar. + +## Automatic regular invocation + +Quite likely you don't want to invoke sniffa manually every time you want to check for new posts. Therefore, you can install sniffa as a launch agent. + +Create a new file in `~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.github.sniffa.plist` with the following contents: + +```plist +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> +<plist version="1.0"> +<dict> + <key>Label</key> + <string>org.github.sniffa</string> + + <key>ProgramArguments</key> + <array> + <string>~/bin/sniffa.py</string> + <string>elastic</string> + </array> + + <key>Nice</key> + <integer>1</integer> + + <key>StartInterval</key> + <integer>7200</integer> + + <key>RunAtLoad</key> + <true/> + + <key>StandardErrorPath</key> + <string>~/.sniffa/sniffa-elastic.err.log</string> + + <key>StandardOutPath</key> + <string>~/.sniffa/sniffa-elastic.out.log</string> +</dict> +</plist> +``` + +Change the paths depending on the install location of sniffa and also your domain parameter. + +With this plist file, sniffa will check the Elastic Discuss forum every two hours (7200 seconds) for new posts. + +Finally register the launch agent with Mac OS X: + +``` +launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.github.sniffa.plist +``` + +After a restart, Mac OS X will pick up the plist file automatically. + +If you are interested in more details about launch agents, check [Alvin Alexander's blog post about plist files](http://alvinalexander.com/mac-os-x/mac-osx-startup-crontab-launchd-jobs) (on which this description is based). + +# License + +'sniffa' is distributed under the terms of the [Apache Software Foundation license, version 2.0](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html). |