path: root/README.rst

README
======
|travis-ci|_

The News app is a an RSS/Atom feed aggregator. It offers a `RESTful API <https://github.com/owncloud/news/wiki/API-1.2>`_ for app developers. The source code is `available on GitHub <https://github.com/owncloud/news>`_

For further developer and user documentation please visit `the wiki <https://github.com/owncloud/news/wiki>`_

.. |travis-ci| image:: https://travis-ci.org/owncloud/news.png
.. _travis-ci: https://travis-ci.org/owncloud/news


Maintainers
-----------
* `Alessandro Cosentino <https://github.com/zimba12>`_
* `Bernhard Posselt <https://github.com/Raydiation>`_
* `Jan-Christoph Borchardt <https://github.com/jancborchardt>`_ (Design)

Bugs
----
Before reporting bugs:

* We do not support Internet Explorer and Safari (Patches accepted though, except for IE < 10)
* get the newest version of the App Framework
* get the newest version of the News app
* `check if they have already been reported <https://github.com/owncloud/news/issues?state=open>`_

----------------

If you are not able to add a feed because its XML *does not validate* (see `this issue <https://github.com/owncloud/news/issues/133>`_ for an example),
check if:

* it is a valid RSS by running it through the `W3C validator <http://feed2.w3.org/>`_
* you are able to add the feed in other feed readers
* it runs without error through `SimplePie demo <http://www.simplepie.org/demo/>`_

In the case the third condition is not met, please file a bug on `SimplePie issue tracker <https://github.com/simplepie/simplepie>`_.


Before you install the News app
-------------------------------
Before you install the app check that the following requirements are met:

- `Magic quotes are turned off <http://php.net/manual/de/security.magicquotes.disabling.php>`_ (only needed for PHP < 5.4)
- `You use a browser that supports the FileReader API <https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/DOM/FileReader#Browser_compatibility>`_
- You can use a cron or webcron to call Background Jobs in ownCloud
- You have installed **php-curl** and activated it in the **php.ini**
- Install ownCloud **5.0.6+** (important!)

Should you have upgraded from a prior version, disable the CSS and JavaScript caching by adding this to :file:`owncloud/config/config.php`::

    DEFINE('DEBUG', true);

You can remove the line after a page reload


App Store
---------

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Go to the ownCloud apps page
- Activate the **App Framework** App first, then activate the **News** app in the apps menu
- `Set up ownCloud Background Jobs <http://doc.owncloud.org/server/5.0/admin_manual/configuration/background_jobs.html>`_ to enable feed updates. A recommended timespan for feed updates is 15-30 Minutes.

Keep up to date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both the **News** and **App Framework** App can be updated through the ownCloud apps page.


Git (development version)
-------------------------

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Clone the **App Framework** app into the **/var/www** directory::

	git clone https://github.com/owncloud/appframework.git

- Clone the **News** app into the **/var/www** directory::

	git clone https://github.com/owncloud/news.git


- Link both into ownCloud's apps folder::

	ln -s /var/www/appframework /var/www/owncloud/apps
	ln -s /var/www/news /var/www/owncloud/apps

- Activate the **App Framework** App first, then activate the **News** app in the apps menu

- `Set up ownCloud Background Jobs <http://doc.owncloud.org/server/5.0/admin_manual/configuration/background_jobs.html>`_ to enable feed updates. A recommended timespan for feed updates is 15-30 Minutes.

Keep up to date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To get the newest update you can use git. To update the appframework use::

    cd /var/www/appframework
    git pull --rebase origin master


To update the News app use::

    cd /var/www/news
    git pull --rebase origin master


Keyboard shortcuts
------------------
* **Next item**: n / j / right arrow
* **Previous item**: p / k / left arrow
* **Star current item**: s / i
* **Keep current item unread**: u
* **Star item and jump to next one**: h
* **Open current item**: o


Performance Notices
-------------------
* Use MySQL or PostgreSQL for better database performance
* Use the `updater script for large installations to thread the update <https://github.com/owncloud/news/wiki/Cron-1.2>`_

Frequent Problems
-----------------

All feeds are not updated anymore
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
`This is a bug in the core backgroundjob system <https://github.com/owncloud/core/issues/3221>`_ deleting the :file:`owncloud/data/cron.lock` file gets the cron back up running

Another way to fix this is to run a custom `updater script <https://github.com/owncloud/news/wiki/Cron-1.2>`_

All feeds are not updated and theres no cron.lock
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Check if the cronjob exists with **crontab -u www-data -e** (replace www-data with your httpd user)
* Check the file permissions of the **cron.php** file and if **www-data** (or whatever your httpd user is called like) can read and execute that script
* Check if the cronjob is ever executed by placing an **error_log('updating')** in the `background job file <https://github.com/owncloud/news/blob/master/backgroundjob/task.php#L37>`_. If the cronjob runs, there should be an updating log statement in your httpd log.
* If there is no **updating** statement in your logs check if your cronjob is executed by executing a different script
* If your cron works fine but owncloud's cronjobs are never executed, file a bug in `core <https://github.com/owncloud/core/>`_
* Try the `updater script <https://github.com/owncloud/news/wiki/Cron-1.2>`_

News always redirects to files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This problem is related to opcode caching, `check the issue tracker for how to solve it <https://github.com/owncloud/news/issues/319>`_

Configuration
-------------
This will be in a separate config file in the future but for now you can tweak the following things.

:file:`dependencyinjection/dicontainer.php`

* To use a custom update/cron script you need to disable the cronjob which is run by ownCloud by default::

    $this['useCronUpdates'] = false;

* To cache feeds longer increase::

    $this['simplePieCacheDuration'] = 30*60;  // seconds

* To let people have more read items per feed before they are purged increase::

    $this['autoPurgeCount'] = 200;  // per feed

:file:`js/app/app.coffee`

All changes in the coffee file have to be compiled by using::

    make

in the **js/** directory

* To increase the interval when the app fetches new entries from database(!, not the webpage, thats set by the backgroundjob interval) change::

    feedUpdateInterval: 1000*60*3  # miliseconds