--- name: "sitescooper" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "sitescooper" version: "3.1.2-1" release: "Debian 3.1 (Sarge)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/sitescooper" --- # sitescooper(1) download news from web sites and convert it automatically into one of several formats suitable for viewing on a Palm handheld. ## NAME sitescooper - download news from web sites and convert it automatically into one of several formats suitable for viewing on a Palm handheld. ## SYNOPSIS sitescooper \[options\] \[ \[-site sitename\] ...\] sitescooper \[options\] \[-sites sitename ...\] sitescooper \[options\] \[-name nm\] \[-levels n\] \[-storyurl regexp\]\ \[-set sitefileparam value\] url \[...\] Options: \[-debug\] \[-refresh\] \[-fullrefresh\] \[-config file\] \[-install dir\] \[-instapp app\] \[-dump\] \[-dumpprc\] \[-nowrite\] \[-nodates\] \[-quiet\] \[-admin cmd\] \[-nolinkrewrite\] \[-stdout-to file\] \[-badcache\] \[-keep-tmps\] \[-fromcache\] \[-noheaders\] \[-nofooters\] \[-outputtemplate file.tmpl\] \[-grep\] \[-profile file.nhp\] \[-profiles file.nhp file2.nhp ...\] \[-filename template\] \[-prctitle template\] \[-parallel\] \[-disc\] \[-limit numkbytes\] \[-maxlinks numlinks\] \[-maxstories numstories\] \[-text ⎪ -html ⎪ -mhtml ⎪ -doc ⎪ -plucker ⎪ -mplucker ⎪ -isilo ⎪ -misilo ⎪ -richreader ⎪ -pipe fmt command\] \[-bw ⎪ -color\] \[-cvtargs args\_for\_converter\] ## DESCRIPTION This script, in conjunction with its configuration file and its set of **site** files, will download news stories from several top news sites into text format and/or onto your Palm handheld (with the aid of the **makedoc**/**MakeDocW** or **iSilo** utilities). Alternatively URLs can be supplied on the command line, in which case those URLs will be downloaded and converted using a reasonable set of default settings. HTTP and local files, using the `file:///` protocol, are both supported. Multiple types of sites are supported: 1-level sites, where the text to be converted is all present on one page (such as Slashdot, Linux Weekly News, BluesNews, NTKnow, Ars Technica); 2-level sites, where the text to be converted is linked to from a Table of Contents page (such as Wired News, BBC News, and I, Cringely); 3-level sites, where the text to be converted is linked to from a Table of Contents page, which in turned is linked to from a list of issues page (such as PalmPower). In addition sites that post news as items on one big page, such as Slashdot, Ars Technica, and BluesNews, are supported using diff. Note that at this moment in time, the URLs-on-the-command-line invocation format does not support 2- or 3-level sites. The script is portable to most UNIX variants that support perl, as well as the Win32 platform (tested with ActivePerl 5.00502 build 509). sitescooper maintains a cache in its temporary directory; files are kept in this cache for a week at most. Ditto for the text output directory (set with **TextSaveDir** in the built-in configuration). If a password is required for the site, and the current sitescooper session is interactive, the user will be prompted for the username and password. This authentication token will be saved for later use. This way a site that requires login can be set up as a .site -- just log in once, and your password is saved for future non-interactive runs. Note however that the encryption used to hide the password in the sitescooper configuration is pretty transparent; I recommend that rather than using your own username and password to log in to passworded sites, a dedicated, sitescooper account is used instead. ## OPTIONS - \-refresh Refresh all links -- ignore the *already\_seen* file, do not diff pages, and always fetch links. If a cached page is available, it will be used.\ - \-fullrefresh Refresh all links -- ignore the *already\_seen* file, do not diff pages, and always fetch links, even if they are available in the cache.\ - \-config file Read the configuration from **file** instead of using the built-in one.\ - \-limit numkbytes Set the limit for output file size to **numkbytes** kilobytes, instead of the default 200K. A limit of 0 means unlimited, any amount of output.\ - \-maxlinks numlinks Stop retrieving web pages after **numlinks** have been traversed. This is not used to specify how "deep" a site should be scooped -- it is the number of links followed in total.\ - \-maxstories numstories Stop retrieving web pages after **numstories** stories have been retrieved.\ - \-install dir The directory to save PDB files to once they've been converted, in order to have them installed to your Palm handheld.\ - \-instapp app The application to run to install PDB files onto your Palm, once they've been converted.\ - \-site sitename Limit the run to the site named in the **sitename** argument. Normally all available sites will be downloaded. To limit the run to 2 or more sites, provide multiple **-site** arguments like so: ``` -site ntk.site -site tbtf.site ``` - \-sites sitename \[...\] Limit the run to multiple sites; an easier way to specify multiple sites than using the -site argument for each file.\ - \-grep Use James Brown's **NewsHound** profile searching code. Any sites that do not contain **IgnoreProfiles: 1** will then be searched for the active profiles. Active profiles are loaded from the **ProfileDir** specified in the sitescooper configuration file, or specified using the **-profile** or **-profiles** arguments.\ - \-profile file.nhp Limit the run to the site named in the **file.nhp** argument. Normally all available sites will be downloaded. To limit the run to 2 or more sites, provide multiple **-profile** arguments like so: ``` -profile ntk.site -profile tbtf.site ``` - \-profiles file.nhp \[...\] Limit the run to multiple sites; an easier way to specify multiple sites than using the -profile argument for each file.\ - \-name name When specifying a URL on the command-line, this provides the name that should be used when installing the site to the Pilot. It acts exactly the same way as the Name: field in a site file.\ - \-levels n When specifying a URL on the command-line, this indicates how many levels a site has. Not needed when using .site files.\ - \-storyurl regexp When specifying a URL on the command-line, this indicates the regular expression which links to stories should conform to. Not needed when using .site files.\ - \-doc Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into DOC format, with all the articles listed in full, one after the other.\ - \-text Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into plain text format, with all the articles listed in full, one after the other.\ - \-html Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into HTML format, on one big page, with a table of contents (taken from the site if possible), followed by all the articles one after another.\ - \-mhtml Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into HTML format, but retain the multiple-page format. This will create the output in a directory called **site\_name**; in conjunction with the **-dump** argument, it will output the path of this directory on standard output before exiting.\ - \-plucker Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into Plucker format (see http://plucker.gnu-designs.com/ ), on one big page. The *page*(s) will be displayed with a table of contents (taken from the site if possible), followed by all the articles one after another.\ - \-isilo Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into iSilo format (see http://www.isilo.com/ ), on one big page. This is the default. The *page*(s) will be displayed with a table of contents (taken from the site if possible), followed by all the articles one after another.\ - \-misilo Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into iSilo format (see http://www.isilo.com/ ), with one iSilo document per site, with each story on a separate page. The iSilo document will have a table-of-contents page, taken from the site if possible, with each article on a separate page.\ - \-richreader Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into RichReader format using HTML2Doc.exe (see http://users.erols.com/arenakm/palm/RichReader.html ). The *page*(s) will be displayed with a table of contents (taken from the site if possible), followed by all the articles one after another.\ - \-pipe fmt command Convert the *page*(s) downloaded into an arbitrary format, using the command provided. Sitescooper will still rewrite the *page*(s) according to the **fmt** argument, which should be one of:\ - text Plain text format.\ - html HTML in one big page.\ - mhtml HTML in multiple pages. The command argument can contain `__SCOOPFILE__`, which will be replaced with the filename of the file containing the rewritten pages in the above format, `__SYNCFILE__`, which will be replaced with a suitable filename in the Palm synchronization folder, and `__TITLE__`, which will be replaced by the title of the file (generally a string containing the date and site name). Note that for the **-mhtml** switch, `__SCOOPFILE__` will be replaced with the name of the file containing the table-of-contents page. It's up to the conversion utility to follow the href links to the other files in that directory.\ - \-cvtargs Arguments for the conversion utility. For example, Plucker will display images better on some Palms using "-cvtargs --bpp=2" or "-cvtargs --bpp=4".\ - \-bw Indicate that the target can display only 2-bit images, black and white only. This is generally the default for iSilo and Plucker.\ - \-color Indicate that the target can display colour images.\ - \-fixlinks Rewrite links to external sites or unscooped pages as underlined text, to differentiate them from links to scooped pages. This is the default behaviour for most formats apart from **-plucker** or **-mplucker**.\ - \-keeplinks Do not rewrite links to external sites or unscooped pages; leave them pointing outside the current scoop. However, links to other pages that are included in the current scoop, are rewritten to point to the scooped pages instead of the source URL. This is the default for Plucker (**-plucker** or **-mplucker** arguments).\ - \-nolinkrewrite Do not rewrite links on scooped documents -- leave them exactly as they are. This includes even links to other scooped pages. See also **-keeplinks**).\ - \-dump Output the *page*(s) downloaded directly to stdout in text or HTML format, instead of writing them to files and converting each one. This option NO LONGER implies **-text**, like it used to, so to dump text, use **-dump -text**.\ - \-dumpprc Output the *page*(s) downloaded directly to stdout, in converted format as a PDB file (note: not PRC format!), suitable for installation to a Palm handheld.\ - \-nowrite Test mode -- do not write to the cache or already\_seen file, instead write what would be written normally to a directory called new\_cache and a new\_already\_seen file. This is very handy when writing a new site file.\ - \-badcache Send some HTTP headers to bypass web caching proxy servers. This is generally useful if a web caching proxy server somewhere between sitescooper and the target site is returning out-of-date files.\ - \-debug Enable debugging output. This output is in addition to the usual progress messages.\ - \-quiet Process sites quietly, without printing the usual progress messages to STDERR. Warnings about incorrect site files and system errors will still be output, however.\ - \-admin cmd Perform an administrative command. This is intended to ease the task of writing scripts which use sitescooper output. The following admin commands are available:\ - dump-sites List the sites which would be scooped on a scooping run, and their URLs. Instead of scooping any sites, sitescooper will exit after performing this task. The format is one site per line, with the site file name first, a tab, the site's URL, a tab, the site name, a tab, and the output filename that would be generated without path or extension. For example: foobar.site http://www.foobar.com/ Foo Bar 1999\_01\_01\_Foo\_Bar\ - journal Write a journal with dumps of the documents as they pass through the formatting and stripping steps of the scooping process. This is written to a file called **journal** in the sitescooper temporary directory.\ - import-cookies file Import a Netscape **cookies** file into sitescooper, so that certain sites which require them, can use them. For example, the site **economist\_full.site** requires this. Here's how to import cookies on a UNIX machine: sitescooper.pl -admin import-cookies ~/.netscape/cookies and on Windows: perl sitescooper.pl -admin import-cookies "C:\\Program Files\\Netscape\\Users\\Default\\cookies.txt" Unfortunately, MS Internet Explorer cookies are currently unsupported. If you wish to write a patch to support them, that'd be great.\ - \-noheaders Do not attach the sitescooper header (URL, site name, and navigation links) to each page.\ - \-nofooters Do not attach the sitescooper footer ("copyright retained by original authors" blurb) to each page.\ - \-outputtemplate file.tmpl Read the output formatting template from the file **file.tmpl**. This overrides the settings of the **-noheaders** and **-nofooters** flags. See the OUTPUT TEMPLATES section below for details on this.\ - \-fromcache Do not perform any network access, retrieve everything from the cache or the shared cache.\ - \-filename template Change the format of output filenames. **template** contains the following keyword strings, which are substituted as follows:\ - YYYY The current year, in 4-digit format.\ - MM The current month number (from 01 to 12), in 2-digit format.\ - Mon The current month name (from Jan to Dec), in 3-letter format.\ - DD The current day of the month (from 01 to 31), in 2-digit format.\ - Day The current day of the week (from Sun to Sat), in 3-letter format.\ - hh The current hour (from 00 to 23), in 2-digit format.\ - mm The current minute (from 00 to 59), in 2-digit format.\ - Site The current site's name.\ - Section The section of the current site (now obsolete). The default filename template is **YYYY\_MM\_DD\_Site**.\ - \-prctitle template Change the format of the titles of the resulting PDB files. **template** may contain the same keyword strings as **-filename**. The default PDB title template is **YYYY-Mon-DD: Site**.\ - \-nodates Do not put the date in the installable file's filename. This allows you to automatically overwrite old files with new ones when you HotSync. It's a compatibility shortcut for **-filename Site -prctitle "Site"**.\ - \-preload preload\_method Preload pages using the given preload method. Currently supported preload methods are:\ - lwp Use the Perl LWP module to load pages. This is the default, and is single-threaded; in other words, each page needs to load fully before the next page can be requested.\ - fork\[n\] Use a number of subprocesses running LWP requests to load pages. This is multi-threaded, and several pages can be loaded at once; however you pay in costs of network bandwidth, CPU time and memory used. The optional **n** argument instructs sitescooper to use that number of processes; the default **n** is 4. This is only available on UNIX at the moment.\ - \-disc Disconnect a PPP connection once the scooping has finished. Currently this code is experimental, and will probably only work on Macintoshes. This is off by default.\ - \-stdout-to file Redirect the output of sitescooper into the named file. This is needed on Windows NT and 95, where certain combinations of perl and Windows do not seem to support the > operator.\ - \-keep-tmps Keep temporary files after conversion. Normally the .txt or .html rendition of a site is deleted after conversion; this option keeps it around. ## OUTPUT TEMPLATES You can control exactly what HTML or text is written to the output file using the **-outputtemplate** argument. This argument takes the name of a file, which is read and parsed to provide replacement templates for sitescooper. The file is read as a HTML- or XML-style tagged format; so for example the template for the main page in HTML format is read from between the **<htmlmainpage>** and **</htmlmainpage>** tags. The templates that can be defined are as follows:\ - **htmlmainpage** The main page, in HTML format; this is used when the -html output format, or one based on it (such as -plucker or -isilo), is used. It is also used for the -mhtml format's main (top-level) page.\ - **htmlsubpage** Sub-page, in HTML format; this is used for the -mhtml output format's sub pages, ie. pages other than the top-level one.\ - **htmlstory** The snippet of HTML encapsulating each story. This is included for each piece of snarfed text, in all HTML files.\ - **textmainpage** The main page, in text format; this is used when the -text output format, or one based on it (such as -doc), is used.\ - **textsubpage** Sub-page, in text format; this is currently unused.\ - **textstory** The snippet of text encapsulating each story. This is included for each piece of snarfed text, in all text-format or DOC-format files. A sample template file is provided in the file `default_templates.html`; this may have been installed in the sitescooper install directory, /usr/share/sitescooper, or /usr/local/share/sitescooper. Note that the actual templates used are not loaded from this file; instead they are incorporated inside the sitescooper script, so changing this file will have no effect. ## INSTALLATION To install, edit the script and change the #! line. You may also need to (a) change the Pilot install dir if you plan to use the pilot installation functionality, and (b) edit the other parameters marked with CUSTOMISE in case they need to be customised for your site. They should be set to acceptable defaults (unless I forgot to comment out the proxy server lines I use ;). ## EXAMPLES ``` sitescooper.pl http://www.ntk.net/ ``` To snarf the ever-cutting NTKnow newsletter. ``` sitescooper.pl -refresh -html http://www.ntk.net/ ``` To snarf NTKnow, ignoring any previously-read text, and producing HTML output. ``` sitescooper.pl -refresh -html -site site_samples/tech/ntk.site ``` To snarf NTKnow using the site file provided with the main distribution, producing HTML output. ## ENVIRONMENT **sitescooper** makes use of the `$http_proxy` environment variable, if it is set. ## AUTHOR Justin Mason \ ## COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 1999-2000 Justin Mason 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. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA, or read it on the web at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html . ## SCRIPT CATEGORIES The CPAN script category for this script is `Web`. See http://www.cpan.org/scripts/ . ## PREREQUISITES `File::Find` `File::Copy` `File::Path` `FindBin` `Carp` `Cwd` `URI::URL` `LWP::UserAgent` `HTTP::Request::Common` `HTTP::Date` `HTML::Entities` All these can be picked up from CPAN at http://www.cpan.org/ . Note that `HTML::Entities` is actually included in one of the previous packages, so you do not need to install it separately. ## COREQUISITES `Win32::TieRegistry` will be used, if running on a Win32 platform, to find the Pilot Desktop software's installation directory. `Algorithm::Diff` to support diffing sites without running an external **diff** application (this is required on Mac systems). ## README Sitescooper downloads news stories from the web and converts them to Palm handheld iSilo, DOC or text format for later reading on-the-move. Site files and full documentation can be found at http://sitescooper.org/ . into one of several formats suitable for viewing on a Palm handheld."