ephemetoot-eliminare-vecchi-messaggi/docs/install.md

Setup & Installation

Install Python 3 and pip

You need to install Python 3 to use ephemetoot. Python 2 is now end-of-life, however it continued to be installed as the default Python on MacOS and many Linux distributions until very recently, so you should check. You will also need to check that pip is installed and pointing to Python3 (not Python2). On some systems this will mean using the command pip3.

Install ephemetoot

Option 1 - get code with git

If you already have git installed on the machine where you're running ephemetoot, you can download the latest release with:

git clone https://github.com/hughrun/ephemetoot.git
cd ephemetoot
git checkout [tagname]

Option 2 - get the code by downloading the zip file

If you don't have git or don't want to use it, you can download the zip file by clicking the green button above and selecting Download ZIP. You will then need to unzip the file into a new directory where you want to run it.

Complete install with pip

From a command line, move into the main ephemetoot directory (i.e. where the README file is) and run:

pip install .

With some Python 3 installations (e.g on MacOS with Homebrew) you may need to use:

pip3 install .

If you do not have permission to install python modules, you may need to use the --user flag:

pip install . --user

Note that you will need to run the script with the same user as ephemetoot will only be installed for that user and not globally.

Obtain an access token

Now you've installed ephemetoot, in order to actually use it you will need an application "access token" from each user. Log in to your Mastodon account using a web browser:

1. Click the settings cog
2. Click on Development
3. Click NEW APPLICATION
4. Enter an application name (e.g. 'ephemetoot'), and give the app both 'read' and 'write' Scopes
5. Click SUBMIT
6. Click on the name of the new app, which should be a link
7. Copy the Your access token string

NOTE: Anyone who has your access token and the domain name of your Mastodon server will be able to:

• read all your private and direct toots,
• publish toots and DMs, and
• delete everything in your account.

Do not share your access token with anyone you do not 100% trust!!!.

Configuration file

As of version 2, you can use a single ephemetoot installation to delete toots from multiple accounts. Configuration for each user is set up in the config.yaml file. This uses yaml syntax and can be updated at any time without having to reload ephemetoot.

Copy example-config.yaml to a new file called config.yaml:

cp example-config.yam config.yaml

You can now enter the configuration details for each user:

setting	description
access_token	required - The alphanumeric access token string from the app you created in Mastodon
username	required - Your username without the '@' or server domain. e.g. hugh
base_url	required - The base url of your Mastodon server, without the 'https://'. e.g. ausglam.space
days_to_keep	Number of days to keep toots e.g. 30. If not value is provided the default number is 365
keep_pinned	Either true or false - if true, any pinned toots will be kept regardless of age
toots_to_keep	A list of toot ids indicating toots to be kept regardless of other settings. The ID of a toot is the last part of its individual URL. e.g. for https://ausglam.space/@hugh/101294246770105799 the id is 101294246770105799
hashtags_to_keep	A list of hashtags, where any toots with any of these hashtags will be kept regardless of age. Do not include the '#' symbol. Do remember the rules for hashtags
visibility_to_keep	Toots with any of the visibility settings in this list will be kept regardless of age. Options are: public, unlisted, private, direct.
archive	A string representing the filepath to your toot archive. If this is provided, for every toot checked, the full toot is archived into individual files named by the toot's id in this writeable directory. Note that the default is for all toots to be archived, not just those that are being deleted. It is generally best to use an absolute file path - relative paths will not work if you call ephemetoot from another directory.

All values other than access_token, username and base_url are optional, however if you include toots_to_keep, hashtags_to_keep, or visibility_to_keep you must make each a list, even if it is empty:

toots_to_keep: # this is not a list, it will throw an error
hashtags_to_keep: 
  - # this empty list is ok
visibility_to_keep: [ ] # this empty list is also ok

If you want to use ephemetoot for multiple accounts, separate the config for each user with a single dash (-), as shown in the example file.

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• Options
• Upgrading and uninstalling