How to Install Feed2Toot on OpenBSD

Feed2Toot is a Python based command-line tool that allows users to automatically post updates from RSS/Atom feeds to Mastodon accounts. In this tutorial, we will show how to install Feed2Toot on OpenBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that your OpenBSD has the following:

• Root access or a user account with doas privileges
• Python 3 installed on your system
• Mastodon account credentials
• RSS/Atom feed URL

Install Required Packages

Feed2Toot requires pip utility and dependencies to be installed on the system. In OpenBSD, it can be installed using the following command.

doas pkg_add py3-pip py3-setuptools py3-wheel

Install Feed2Toot

1. Open the terminal window on your OpenBSD system.

2. Install the feed2toot package using the following pip command.

   doas pip install feed2toot
   

   This installs feed2toot and its dependencies.

Configure the Mastodon Key

Create an application in Mastodon to get a client ID and client secret needed for authentication. Follow the steps given below.

1. Log in to the Mastodon account, open the "Preferences" menu from the left panel, and click on "Developers."

2. Click on "New Application" to create a new one.

3. Enter the application name, redirect URI, and select the application type as "Read and Write," and click on the submit button.

4. Note the "Client ID" and the "Client Secret" values.

5. Create a new file ".feed2tootrc" in your home directory using the nano or vim editor.

   nano ~/.feed2tootrc
   

6. Enter the following information in the file replacing the CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET, and ACCESS_TOKEN with your Mastodon account details.

   [mastodon]
   client_id = CLIENT_ID
   client_secret = CLIENT_SECRET
   access_token = ACCESS_TOKEN
   

7. Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl + X, Y, and then Enter.

Configure the Feeds

1. Create a file called feeds.txt with the list of RSS/Atom feeds and their frequency.

   nano ~/feeds.txt
   

2. Enter the feed URL followed by how often the feed should be checked in minutes. For example, the following example checks the RSS feed every thirty minutes.

   https://example.com/feed.xml 30
   

3. Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl + X, Y, and then Enter.

Start the Feed2Toot Service

1. Open the terminal window and type the following command to start the Feed2Toot service.

   feed2toot
   

2. Feed2Toot will fetch and post the updates to your Mastodon account based on the frequency specified in the feeds.txt file.

Congratulations! You have now installed and configured Feed2Toot on your OpenBSD system to post automatic updates from RSS/Atom feeds to your Mastodon account.

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