CAPSULEPRESS - GEMINI / SPARTAN / GOPHER TO WORDPRESS BRIDGE
2023-09-10
For a while now, this site has been partially mirrored via the Gemini (Also
available via Gemini.) and Gopher protocols. (Also via Finger (but that's
another story).) Earlier this year I presented hacky versions of the tools I'd
used to acieve this (and made people feel nostalgic).
Now I've added support for Spartan (Also available via Spartan.) too and,
seeing as the implementations shared functionality, I've combined all three -
Gemini, Spartan, and Gopher - into a single package: CapsulePress.
(IMG) Diagram illustrating the behaviour of CapsulePress: a WordPress installation provides content, and CapsulePress makes that content available via gemini://, spartan://, and gopher:// URLs.
CapsulePress is a Gemini/Spartan/Gopher to WordPress bridge. It lets you use
WordPress as a CMS for any or all of those three non-Web protocols in addition
to the Web.
For example, that means that this post is available on all of:
(IMG) Composite screenshot showing this blog post in, from top-left to bottom-right: (1) Firefox, via HTTPS, (2) Lagrange, via Gemini, (3) Lagrange, via Spartan, and (4) Lynx, via Gopher.
* my weblog, at https://danq.me/2023/09/10/capsulepress,
* my gemlog, at gemini://danq.me/posts/capsulepress,
* my spartanlog, at spartan://danq.me/posts/capsulepress, and
* my goperhole, at gopher://danq.me/1/posts/capsulepress
It's also possible to write posts that selectively appear via different media:
if I want to put something exclusively on my gemlog, I can, by assigning
metadata that tells WordPress to suppress a post but still expose it to
CapsulePress. Neat!
(IMG) 90s-style web banners in the style of Netscape ads, saying "Gemini now!", "Spartan now!", and "Gopher now!". Beneath then a wider banner ad promotes CapsulePress v0.1.
I've open-sourced the whole thing under a super-permissive license, so if you
want your own WordPress blog to "feed" your Gemlog... now you can. With a few
caveats:
* It's hard to use. While not as hacky as the disparate piles of code it
replaced, it's still not the cleanest. To modify it you'll need a basic
comprehension of all three protocols, plus Ruby, SQL, and sysadmin skills.
* It's super opinionated. It's very much geared towards my use case. It's
improved by the use of templates. but it's still probably only suitable for
this site for the time being, until you make changes.
* It's very-much unfinished. I've got a growing to-do list, which should be a
good clue that it's Not Finished. Maybe it never will but. But there'll be
changes yet to come.
Whether or not your WordPress blog makes the jump to Geminispace (Need a
browser? I suggest Lagrange.), I hope you'll came take a look at mine at one
of the URLs linked above, and then continue to explore.
If you're nostalgic for the interpersonal Internet - or just the idea of it,
if you're too young to remember it... you'll find it there. (That Internet
never actually went away, but it's harder to find on today's big Web than it
is on lighter protocols.)
LINKS
(DIR) My blog post "Spring ’83 Came And Went", in which I mention that my blog has been available on Gemini for a while.
(HTM) Gemini protocol
(HTM) The Gemini protocol specification, via Gemini.
(HTM) Gopher protocol
(HTM) Finger protocol
(DIR) My blog post "Finger Portal to WordPress Blog"
(HTM) Video of my presentation "Yesterday's Internet... Today!"
(HTM) Garrett Coakley's blog post "Oxford Geek Night 53", in which he talks about the nostalgia he felt listening to me talk about Finger and Gopher.
(HTM) Spartan protocol
(HTM) The Spartan protocol specification, via Spartan.
(HTM) CapsulePress on GitHub
(DIR) This post, via the Web
(HTM) This post, via Gemini
(HTM) This post, via Spartan
(DIR) This post, via Gopher
(HTM) Issues list for CapsulePress
(HTM) Lagrange browser for Gemini, Spartan, and Gopher