barf
barf is an extremely minimal blog generator.
The entire build script is less than 100 lines of shell.
It could almost be called "suckless", but probably isn't.
(barf is a modified/forked version of Karl Bartel's fantastic blog.sh (https://github.com/karlb/karl.berlin). Be sure to check it out since my version does things slightly different.)
You can see a live demo here
why 'barf'?
barf
blogs are really fun
core features
- Extremely portable
- Automatic, valid RSS generation
- Handles both blog posts and normal pages
- No front matter or templating, just create markdown files
requirements
barf was originally built on and for Linux, but has since been
updated to include support for both OpenBSD and MacOS out-of-the-box.
linux
- rsync
- smu (see below)
- entr (optonal)
- standard UNIX tools
openbsd
Please refer to the main tutorial on setting up barf on OpenBSD: https://barf.btxx.org/openbsd
- coreutils
- gcc
- cmake
- rsync
- gsed
- smu (see below)
- entr (optional)
macOS
Please refer to the main tutorial on setting up barf on MacOS: https://barf.btxx.org/macos
- coreutils
- gnu-sed
- rsync
- smu (see below)
- entr (optional)
basic setup
Clone this repo and navigate inside it. Edit the "header.html" and "footer.html" files with your own information, navigation, etc.
Be sure to edit the RSS meta url or else your feed won't validate!
Then, clone and build my patched version of smu:
$ git clone https://git.btxx.org/smu $ cd smu
OpenBSD users: change sudo to doas
$ sudo make install
Then clone this directory and build:
$ make build
Your blog content will be in the build directory.
Now you can delete the dummy posts/pages and start making your own!
Media (such as images, videos) are placed in the "public" folder and
carried over to the "build" folder via rsync. You can easily remove
this altogether inside the main barf script if you plan to store
media elsewhere (or not use any at all).
post structure
The first line of any markdown file inside your posts directory
should start with a h1 heading, then a line break, then the date
in YYYY-MM-DD format.
Like so:
# This is the Post Title
2023-01-05
Changing this structure or date format will break things or require
you to edit the barf script accordingly.
projects goals
- The core focus should be to reduce the code of this project, not increase it. Overall scope needs to remain small.
- Major tweaks/add-ons should be run by individuals via forks/patches, not put into the barf base
submitting patches
Please send me patches via git email: barf@patches.btxx.org
Thanks!
FAQs
How do I test locally?
Inside your project directory run:
make watch
cd build && python3 -m http.server 3003
Do you plan to add "X"? Can I add "X"?
Most likely not. I'm happy with how things are currently. If you want to add something - great! The point of this project is to give others the ability to fork it, tweak it, patch it, and share it as much as they'd like. The core of barf will remain minimal for this reason.
Of course, any patches that can help reduce the project's footprint or even speed things up are more than welcome!
Can I use other Markdown parsers?
Of course! Simply edit the main barf script and swap out smu with
something else. I wouldn't advise doing this if you already have pre-existing
content based-off smu, since this could break some of your pages.
But give smu (https://git.btxx.org/smu) a try - it is very lightweight and fast!
MORE FAQs TO COME...