New blog workflow: from markdown to gemtext

2022-10-23

Previously

I was using babille[1], a python script that build a static site from markdown files. Babille is batteries included : blog, RSS, pages, sitemap, templates...

But, but, but, I don't want to write with the markdown text format anymore and I don't want to maintain a python script. Moreover, I want a Gemini capsule :P

https://git.sr.ht/~fredg/babille[1]

GemText or OrgMode

I want to write my (b)log posts in the most easy and quick way. GemText[2] is some kind of very (very) light markdown. I choose that one over orgmode for its simplicity and because converting orgmode to gemtext was not as effective as I want. So, you just write and you don't bother with the formatting things because, there are none, or almost none :D.

GemText specs[2]

From markdown to gemtext

I had to convert my old blog posts to fit on the gemini server. But there was more than the format, headers had to be converted too. I wrote this little script to do the job:

https://git.sr.ht/~fredg/capsule.galusik.fr/tree/master/item/togmi.sh

#!/bin/sh
#
# togmi.sh
#
# Bulk convert title.md files with header like below:
# Title: your_title
# Date: xxxx-xx-xx
# Category: your_tag
#
# TO gemini gmi files date-title.gmi (required for the gemlog index)
# with header below:
# # your_title
# reformated date in the 2nd line 
# No more category
# Cleanup empty lines
#
# copy (do backup!!) your md files to the mdposts directory
# You need lowdown to convert your markdown files to gemtext ones
# run the script.
#
# LICENCE: WTFPL

set -eu

# .gmi files dir
LOGDIR=log
mkdir -p "${LOGDIR}"

# move to md files dir
MDFDIR=mdposts
cd "${MDFDIR}"

for f in *.md
do
    D=$(grep Date ${f} | awk '{ print $2 }')
    sed -i -e 's/Title:/#/' -e "s/^Date.*$/${D}/" -e 's/^Category.*$//' "${f}"
    lowdown -Tgemini -o "${D}-${f%.md}.gmi" "${f}"
done

for g in *.gmi
do
    sed -i '2d' "${g}"
done

mv *.gmi ../"${LOGDIR}"
rm *.md

cd -
echo done!!!

Shinobi? Atom feed?

In the beginning I was planning to move to a shinobi[3] website. It is a text-based, RSS focused blogging system. No more HTML, no more website in a classical way. But I thought that I couldn't force people to use a newsreader. This is why I have decided to convert my gemlog to html and to offer an atom feed based on the gemtext posts.

For the last one, I let you read prx's post[4], it's all that you need to build a beautiful atom feed that you can read from any web browser too.

shinobi[3]

https://si3t.ch/log/2022-06-15-how-to-atom-feed.xhtml[4]

gemini://si3t.ch/log/2022-06-15-how-to-atom-feed.gmi[4]

From gemtext to html

For that I was planning to make a quick and dirty script first but as usual, prx[5] has already thought about it :P.

https://si3t.ch/log/2022-09-29-gmi2xhtml-v6.xhtml[5]

gemini://si3t.ch/log/2022-09-29-gmi2xhtml-v6.gmi[5]

From markdown to orgmode

For the homepage, the contact page, the about one and for my writer page, I want to use orgmode and the powerfull publish emacs engine. For those fourth pages, I did the conversion to orgmode live through emacs.

Workflow

At the end, the workflow is like this:

To (b)log

Write a post in .gmi.
Run the capsule script to update the gemlog, the blog and the ATOM feed.
Use git to commit and push galusik.fr (http) and capsule.galusik.fr (gemini) to SourceHut.

https://git.sr.ht/~fredg/capsule.galusik.fr/tree/master/item/capsule.sh

Be aware that this script does the job but it can surely be improved ;).

To update the website

Update the .org files.
run M-x publish and let emacs do the job.
Use git to commit and push galusik.fr to SourceHut.

TODO

Move the capsule script to eLisp or Guile?

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