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Dynamic Gemtext with dgmi

dgmi is a simple tool I threw together that provides PHP-like functionality for gemini. It's basically gemtext but with inline CGI, so you get the convenience of gemtext with the power of CGI.

Here is an example of it in action, using bash to show the current date (try reloading the page):

The current date and time is Wed Jun 14 14:25:22 EDT 2023.

Here is an example of generating more natural-looking text and using environment vars:

You haven't set a query string. Try appending one to the URL.

This page's source code, so you can see how to use it

In short:

Add a shebang to your gemtext file, pointing to the location of dgmi
Mark the file as executable and ensure your gemini server will run it as CGI (you may need to change the file extension, e.g. to ".cgi", instead of using ".dgmi")
Use ::: to mark exec blocks
Put the name of (or path to) the correct interpreter after the first set of colons

This bash script is kinda slow, so if anyone can be bothered, I would be interested to see a faster implementation in another language!

Update: the bash script is less slow now - I changed it to use built in substring matching instead of calling grep on every line :)

Download dgmi.bash

Send me an email if you find this useful