RSS Guard is an [open-source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source) [cross-platform](#sos) [multi-protocol](#sfr) desktop feed reader. It is able to fetch feeds in RSS/RDF/ATOM/JSON formats. RSS Guard is developed on top of the [Qt library](http://qt-project.org).
Official place to download RSS Guard is at [Github Releases page](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/releases). You can also download the [development (beta) build](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/releases/tag/devbuild), which is updated automatically every time the source code is updated.
RSS Guard is also available in [repositories of many Linux distributions](https://repology.org/project/rssguard/versions), and via [Flathub](https://flathub.org/about) with two different versions:
- [Regular](https://flathub.org/apps/details/io.github.martinrotter.rssguard): Includes an integrated web browser (built with `-DUSE_WEBENGINE=ON`).
- [Lite](https://flathub.org/apps/details/io.github.martinrotter.rssguardlite): Does not include an integrated web browser (built with `-DUSE_WEBENGINE=OFF`).
RSS Guard is multi-account application and supports many web-based feed readers via [built-in plugins](#papi). One of the plugins, of course, provides the support for standard list of **RSS/ATOM/JSON** feeds with the set of features everyone would expect from classic feed reader, like OPML support, etc.
<sup>1</sup> Some plugins support next-gen intelligent synchronization algorithm (ISA) which has some benefits, as it usually offers superior synchronization speed, and transfers much less data over your network connection. <aid="intel"></a>
With ISA, RSS Guard only downloads articles which are new or were updated. The old algorithm usually always fetches all available articles, even if they are not needed, which leads to unnecessary overload of your network connection and the RSS Guard.
<sup>2</sup> Note that [labels](#lbls) are supported for all plugins, but for some plugins they are local-only, and are not synchronized with the service. Usually because service itself does not support the feature.
Sometimes you need to automatically tweak the incoming article - mark it starred, remove ads from its contents, or simply ignore it. That's where filtering feature comes in.
Article filters are small scripts which are executed automatically when articles/feeds are downloaded. Article filters are JavaScript pieces of code which must provide function with prototype:
Each article is accessible in your script via global variable named `msg` of type `MessageObject`, see [this file](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/blob/master/src/librssguard/core/messageobject.h) for the declaration. Some properties are writeable, allowing you to change contents of the article before it is written to RSS Guard's DB. You can mark article important, change its description, perhaps change author name or even assign some label to it!!!
There is also a special variable named `utils`. This variable is of `FilterUtils` type. It offers some useful [utility functions](#utils-object) for your filters.
Labels assigned to articles are visible to your filters. You can, therefore, execute actions in your filtering script, based on which labels are assigned to the article. The property is called `assignedLabels` and is an array of the [`Label`](#Label-class) objects.
which allows you to perform runtime check for existence of the article in RSS Guard's database. Parameter is the value from enumeration [`DuplicateCheck`](#dupl-check). It specifies how exactly the article should match.
For example, if you want to check if there is already another article by the same author in a database, you should call `msg.isAlreadyInDatabase(MessageObject.SameAuthor)`.
The values of enumeration can be combined in a single call with the **[bitwise OR] (`|`)** operator, like this:
| Property | `availableLabels` | `Array<Label>`| ✅ | ❌ | List of labels which are currently available and can be assigned to the message. Available in RSS Guard 3.8.1+.
| Property | `feedCustomId` | `String` | ✅ | ❌ | Service-specific ID of the feed which this message belongs to.
| Property | `accountId` | `Number` | ✅ | ❌ | RSS Guard's ID of the account activated in the program. This property is highly advanced, and you probably do not need to use it at all.
| Property | `rawContents` | `String` | ❌ | ❌ | This is the RAW contents of the message obtained from remote service/feed. A raw XML or JSON element data. This attribute has the value only if `runningFilterWhenFetching` returns `true`. In other words, this attribute is not persistently stored in the RSS Guard's DB. Also, this attribute is artificially filled in with ATOM-like data when testing the filter.
| Property | `score` | `Number` | ❌ | ❌ | Arbitrary number in range \<0.0, 100.0\>. You can use this number to sort messages in a custom fashion as this attribute also has its own column in articles list.
| Property | `created` | `Date` | ❌ | ❌ | Date/time of the message.
| Method | `isAlreadyInDatabase(DuplicateCheck criteria)` | `Boolean` | ❌ | ❌ | Allows you to check if message is already stored in the RSS Guard's DB. See [possible parameters](#dupl-check).
| Method | `findLabelId(String label_name)` | `String` | ❌ | ❌ | If you enter the label name, method returns label's `customId` which then can be used in `assignLabel()` and `deassignLabel` methods.
| Method | `assignLabel(String label_id)` | `Boolean` | ❌ | ❌ | Assigns label to the message. The `String` value is the `customId` property of `Label` type. See its API reference for relevant info.
| Method | `deassignLabel(String label_id)` | `Boolean` | ❌ | ❌ | Removes label from the message. The `String` value is the `customId` property of `Label` type. See its API reference for relevant info.
| Property | `runningFilterWhenFetching` | `Boolean` | ✅ | ❌ | Returns `true` if message filter is applied when message is fetched. Returns `false` if filter is applied manually, for example from **Article filters** window.<!-- TODO: is there another example when it's applied? should "for example" be dropped? -->
| Property | `customId` | `String` | ✅ | Service-specific ID of the label. The ID is used as a unique identifier for label. It is useful if you want to assign/unassign the message label.
| Property | `color` | `Color` | ✅ | Label color. See the type `color` documentation in [Qt docs](https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qml-color.html).
The `MessageObject` attributes are synchronized with service even if you return `Purge` or `Ignore`. In other words, even if the filter ignores the article, you can still tweak its properties, and they will be synchronized back to your server.
time=" 34.360" type="debug" -> feed-downloader: Hooking message took 4 microseconds.
time=" 34.361" type="debug" -> {"always_display_attachments":false,"attachments":[],"author":"Aleš Kapica","comments_count":0,"comments_link":"","content":"<p>\nNaposledy jsem psal o čuňačení v MediaWiki asi před půl rokem, kdy jsem chtěl upozornit na to, že jsem přepracoval svoji původní šablonu Images tak, aby bylo možné používat výřezy z obrázků a stránek generovaných z DjVu a PDF dokumentů. Blogpost nebyl nijak extra hodnocen, takže mě vcelku nepřekvapuje, jak se do hlavní vývojové větve MediaWiki dostávají čím dál větší prasečiny.\n</p>","feed_id":"5903","feed_title":"abclinuxu - blogy","flavor_image":"","flavor_stream":"","guid":"{\"ver\":2,\"uid\":\"52\",\"hash\":\"SHA1:5b49e4d8f612984889ba25e7834e80604c795ff8\"}","id":6958843,"is_updated":false,"labels":[],"lang":"","link":"http://www.abclinuxu.cz/blog/kenyho_stesky/2021/1/cunacime-v-mediawiki-responzivni-obsah-ii","marked":false,"note":null,"published":false,"score":0,"tags":[""],"title":"Čuňačíme v MediaWiki - responzivní obsah II.","unread":true,"updated":1610044674}
time=" 34.361" type="debug" -> feed-downloader: Running filter script, it took 348 microseconds.
time=" 34.361" type="debug" -> feed-downloader: Hooking message took 4 microseconds.
time=" 34.361" type="debug" -> {"always_display_attachments":false,"attachments":[],"author":"kol-ouch","comments_count":0,"comments_link":"","content":"Ahoj, 1. 6. se blíží, tak začínám řešit co s bambilionem fotek na google photos. \n<pclass=\"separator\"></p>\nZa sebe můžu říct, že gp mi vyhovují - ne snad úplně tím, že jsou zadarmo, ale hlavně způsobem práce s fotkami, možnostmi vyhledávání v nich podle obsahu, vykopírování textu z nich, provázaností s mapami, recenzemi, možnostmi sdílení, automatickým seskupováním a podobně.","feed_id":"5903","feed_title":"abclinuxu - blogy","flavor_image":"","flavor_stream":"","guid":"{\"ver\":2,\"uid\":\"52\",\"hash\":\"SHA1:1277107408b159882b95ca7151a0ec0160a3971a\"}","id":6939327,"is_updated":false,"labels":[],"lang":"","link":"http://www.abclinuxu.cz/blog/Co_to_je/2021/1/kam-s-fotkama","marked":false,"note":null,"published":false,"score":0,"tags":[""],"title":"Kam s fotkama?","unread":true,"updated":1609750800}
time=" 3.568" type="debug" -> feed-downloader: Hooking message took 6 microseconds.
time=" 3.568" type="debug" -> <item>
<title><![CDATA[Man Utd's Cavani 'not comfortable' in England, says father]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani "does not feel comfortable" and could move back to his native South America, his father said.]]></description>
Make sure that you receive only one message with particular URL across all your feeds, plugin/account-wise. All other messages with the same URL are subsequently ignored:
You can select source type of each feed. If you select `URL`, then RSS Guard simply downloads feed file from given location and behaves like everyone would expect.
However, if you choose `Script` option, then you cannot provide URL of your feed, and you rely on custom script to generate feed file and provide its contents to [**standard output** (stdout)]. Data written to standard output should be valid feed file, for example RSS or ATOM XML file.
`Fetch it now` button also works with `Script` option. Therefore, if your source script and (optional) post-process script in cooperation deliver a valid feed file to the output, then all important metadata, like title or icon of the feed, can be discovered :sparkles: automagically :sparkles:.
> **As of RSS Guard 4.2.0, you cannot separate your arguments with `#`. If your argument contains spaces, then enclose it with DOUBLE quotes, for example `"my argument"`. DO NOT use SINGLE quotes to do that.**
Executable file must be always be specified, while arguments not. Be very careful when quoting arguments. Tested examples of valid execution lines are:
| `php tweeper.php -v 0 https://twitter.com/NSACareers` | Scrape Twitter RSS feed file with [Tweeper](https://git.ao2.it/tweeper.git). Tweeper is the utility that produces RSS feed from Twitter and other similar social platforms. |
Note that the above examples are cross-platform. You can use exactly the same command on Windows, Linux or macOS, if your operating system is properly configured.
RSS Guard offers [placeholder](#userd-plac) `%data%` which is automatically replaced with full path to RSS Guard [user's data folder](#userd), allowing you to make your configuration fully portable. You can, therefore, use something like this as a source script line: `bash %data%/scripts/download-feed.sh`.
There are [examples of website scrapers](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/tree/master/resources/scripts/scrapers). Most of them are written in Python 3, so their execution line is similar to `python script.py`. Make sure to examine each script for more information on how to use it.
After your source feed data is downloaded either via URL or custom script, you can optionally post-process it with one more custom script, which will take **raw source data as input**. It must produce valid feed data to [**standard output** (stdout)] while printing all error messages to [**error output** (stderr)].
Typical post-processing filter might do things like CSS formatting, localization of content to another language, downloading of complete articles, some kind of filtering, or removing ads.
It's completely up to you if you decide to only use script as `Source` of the script or separate your custom functionality between `Source` script and `Post-process` script. Sometimes you might need different `Source` scripts for different online sources and the same `Post-process` script and vice versa.
Your notification can also play `.wav` sounds which you can place under your [user's data folder](#userd) and use them via [special placeholder](#userd-plac). Other audio formats are not supported.
(For path to user's data folder, see [User Data Portability](#userd) section.)
This backend offers an "in-memory" database option, which automatically copies all your data into RAM when application launches, and stores it there, making RSS Guard incredibly fast. Data is written back to database file on disk when application exits. This option is not expected to be used often because RSS Guard should be fast enough with classic SQLite persistent DB files. Use this option only with huge amount of article data, and when you know what you are doing.
MariaDB (MySQL) backend is there for users who want to store their data in a centralized way. You can have a single server in your network and use multiple RSS Guard instances to access the data.
* **Portable mode:** This mode allows storing user's data folder in a subfolder **data4** in the same directory as RSS Guard binary (`rssguard.exe` on Windows). This mode is used automatically if non-portable mode detection fails.
RSS Guard stores its data and settings in a single folder. How to find out the exact path, see [here](#userd). RSS Guard allows using the folder programmatically in some special contexts via `%data%` placeholder. You can use this placeholder in following contexts:
* Contents of your [article filters](#fltr) - you can, therefore, place some scripts under your user's data folder and include them via JavaScript into your article filter.
* Contents of each file included in your custom [skins](#skin). Note that in this case, the semantics of `%data%` are little changed and `%data%` points directly to base folder of your skin.
*`source` and `post-process script` attributes for feed's [scraping](#scrap) - you can use the placeholder to load scripts to generate/process the feed from user's data folder.
* Notifications also support the placeholder in path to audio files which are to be played when some event happens. For example, you could place audio files in your data folder and then use them in a notification with `%data%\audio\new-messages.wav`. See more about [notifications](#notif).
* **Standard package with WebEngine-based bundled article viewer**: This variant displays messages/articles with their full formatting and layout in embedded Chromium-based web browser. This variant of RSS Guard should be nice for everyone. Also, installation packages are relatively big.
* **Lite package with simple text-based article viewer**: This variant displays article in a much simpler and much more lightweight web viewer component. All packages of this variant have `nowebengine` keyword in their names. This flavor of RSS Guard does NOT have a JavaScript support and is meant for people who value their privacy.
Both variants of RSS Guard offer ad-blocking functionality via [Adblocker](https://github.com/cliqz-oss/adblocker). Adblocker offers similar performance to [uBlock Origin](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock).
You can find elaborate lists of AdBlock rules [here](https://easylist.to). You can simply copy the direct hyperlinks to those lists and paste them into the **Filter lists** text-box as shown below. Remember to always separate individual links with newlines. The same applies to **Custom filters**, where you can insert individual filters, for example [filter](https://adblockplus.org/filter-cheatsheet) "idnes" to block all URLs with "idnes" in them.
The way ad-blocking internally works is that RSS Guard starts local HTTP browser which provides ad-blocking API, which is subsequently called by RSS Guard. There is some caching done in between, which speeds up some ad-blocking decisions.
You can right-click any item in an embedded web browser and hit the **Save as** button. RSS Guard will then automatically display the downloader, and will download your file. This feature works in [both RSS Guard variants](#webb).
Note that tags in some plugins are [synchronizable](#sfrl). While labels are synchronized with these services, sometimes they cannot be directly created via RSS Guard. In this case, you have to create them via web interface of the respective service, and only after that perform **Synchronize folders & other items**, which will fetch newly created labels too.
> Note that as of RSS Guard `4.1.3`, old skins **vergilius** and **dark** were removed and replaced with **nudus** skins. For now, only **nudus** skins are maintained by RSS Guard developers.
> The skin "API" (see below) is very extensive and allows tweaking the visual part of RSS Guard in many ways without much work.
Creating a custom UI is possible with *skins*. Each skin should be placed in its own root folder and must contain specific files (see the ["plain" example skin]). The [built-in skins](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/tree/master/resources/skins) are stored in folder together with RSS Guard executable, but you can place your own custom skins in a **skins** subfolder in [user's data folder](#userd). Create the folder manually, if it does not exist.
["plain" example skin]: <https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/tree/master/resources/skins/plain>
*`html_*.html` - HTML files which are put together to create a complete HTML pages for various things, like newspaper view, article viewer, or error page
The ["plain" example skin] can be used as a reference for writing your own skins. Go through its [README file](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/tree/master/resources/skins/plain/README) to find more detailed information.
Note that not all skins have to provide a full-blown theming for every UI component of RSS Guard. Skin can provide just a custom HTML/CSS setup for article viewer and a minimal Qt CSS styling for UI controls.
To avoid confusion, the option **Force dark look** becomes available only when **Fusion** (or Linux-only **Windows**) style is used. This option is completely independent from Qt stylesheet defined in skin's `qt_style.qss` file. <!-- TODO: it was removed, right? -->
Appearance of the main window can be tweaked in many ways. You can hide menu, toolbars, status bar, you can also change orientation of article viewer to suit widescreen devices.
RSS Guard offers CLI (command line interface). For overview of its features, run `rssguard --help` in your terminal. You will see the overview of the interface.
You can add feeds to RSS Guard by passing URLs as the command line parameters (arguments). Feed [URI scheme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_URI_scheme) is supported, so that you can call RSS Guard like this:
In order to easily add the feed directly from your web browser of choice, without copying and pasting the URL manually, you have to "open" RSS Guard "with" feed URL passed as an argument. There are [browser extensions](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-with/) which will allow you to do it.
RSS Guard is a C++ application. All common build instructions can be found at the top of [CMakeLists.txt](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/blob/master/CMakeLists.txt).
Here's a quick example of how to build it on Linux:
A simple C++ API allows creating new service plugins. All base <!-- TODO: should it be "basic"?--> API classes can be found in the [**abstract** folder](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/tree/master/src/librssguard/services/abstract). User must create a <!-- TODO: "create" right? --> subclass and implement all interface classes:
| `ServiceEntryPoint` | The base <!-- TODO: Here's "basic" too? or is it the `base` class? --> class which provides basic information about the plugin name, author, etc. It also provides methods which are called when new account is created or when existing accounts are loaded from database. |
| `ServiceRoot` | This is the core "account" class which represents an account node in feed's list, and offers interface for all critical functionality of a plugin, including handlers which are called with plugin's start/stop, marking messages as read/unread/starred/deleted, unassigning labels, etc. |
Perhaps the best approach to writing a new plugin is to copy the [existing one](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/tree/master/src/librssguard/services/greader), and start from there.
Note that RSS Guard can support loading of plugins from external libraries (`.dll`, `.so`, etc.) but the functionality must be polished. At the moment, all plugins are directly bundled with the application, as no one really requested a run-time loading of plugins so far.
Please report all issues/bugs/requests to [Issues page](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/issues). Describe the problem you are having, and include steps taken to cause the issue to occur.
If you report a bug, you must provide the application debug log. Make sure to start RSS Guard from command line (`cmd.exe` on Windows) with `--log` switch and the path where you want to store the log file. For example, with this command: `rssguard.exe --log '.\rssguard.log'` the log file will be saved in a folder with RSS Guard's executable (`rssguard.exe`).
After starting RSS Guard this way, reproduce your issue and attach the log file to your ticket.
2. [Create a Transifex account](http://www.transifex.com/signin) (you can use social networks to login), and work on existing translations. If no translation team for your country/language exists, then ask to create the "localization team" via the website.
**All translators commit themselves to keep their translations up-to-date. If translation is not updated by the author regularly, and only a small number of strings is translated, then those translations along with their teams will eventually be REMOVED from the project!!! At least 50% of strings must be translated for translation to be added to project.**
RSS Guard automatically migrates all your [user data](#userd) if you upgrade to a newer minor version, for example if you update from `3.7.5` to `3.9.1`.
If you decide to upgrade to a new major version, for example from `3.x.x` to `4.x.x`, then existing user data cannot be used. Major versions declared as non-backwards compatible, so such data transition is not supported.
Here is a short DIY manual on how to manually update your `database.db` file to `4.x.x` format. Similar approach can be taken if you use **MariaDB** [database backend](#datab).
Here are SQLs for [old schema](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/blob/3.9.2/resources/sql/db_init_sqlite.sql) and [new schema](https://github.com/martinrotter/rssguard/blob/4.0.0/resources/sql/db_init_sqlite.sql).
In `3.x.x` each plugin/account type had its own table where it kept your login usernames, service URLs etc. In `4.x.x` all plugins share one table `Accounts` and place account-specific data into `custom_data` column. You simply can take all rows from any `*Accounts` table (for example `TtRssAccounts`) and insert them into `Accounts`, keeping all columns their default values, except of `type`, which must have one of these values:
Then you need to go to **Edit** dialog of your account in RSS Guard (once you complete this migration guide) and check for all missing login information etc.
<aid="accid"></a>Once you add the row to the `Accounts` table, it will be assigned a unique integer `id` value, which is used as a foreign key in other DB tables via `account_id` column.
*`source_type`, `post_process`, `encoding`, `type`, `protected`, `username`, `password` columns are removed, and their data is now stored in a JSON-serialized form in a new column `custom_data`. Here is an example of a `custom_data` value:
Columns were reordered and other than that new column `score` with sane default value was added. Therefore, you can simply copy your data in a column-to-column mode.
Other tables like `Labels` or `MessageFilters` are unchanged between these two major RSS Guard versions. But you might need to adjust `account_id` to match DB ID of your account.
