Tutorial: How to Install Newsdash on OpenBSD

Newsdash is a web-based RSS/Atom aggregator that allows you to track and read multiple news and blog feeds from a single unified dashboard. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Newsdash on an OpenBSD server.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites installed on your OpenBSD server:

  • Git
  • Python 3.6 or later
  • pip (Python package manager)
  • virtualenv

Step 1: Clone the Newsdash Repository

To start, clone the Newsdash repository from GitHub using the following command:

$ git clone https://github.com/buzz/newsdash.git

This will create a new directory named newsdash in your current working directory.

Step 2: Create a Virtual Environment

We will be using a Python virtual environment to manage the Python dependencies of Newsdash. To create a new virtual environment, run the following commands:

$ cd newsdash
$ python -m venv venv

This will create a new directory called venv inside the newsdash directory.

Step 3: Activate the Virtual Environment

Next, activate the virtual environment using the following command:

$ . venv/bin/activate

This will activate the virtual environment and change your shell prompt to indicate that you are now working inside the virtual environment.

Step 4: Install Dependencies

With the virtual environment activated, you can now install the dependencies required by Newsdash using the pip package manager. Run the following command to install the dependencies:

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

This will install all the required dependencies listed in the requirements.txt file.

Step 5: Configure Newsdash

Next, we need to configure Newsdash to use a database backend. Open the config.py file in your text editor and modify the database settings as required. For example, to use a SQLite database, set the SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI configuration variable as follows:

SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite:///newsdash.db'

You can also customize other configuration variables as needed.

Step 6: Initialize the Database

Once you have configured Newsdash, initialize the database by running the following command:

$ flask db upgrade

This will create the necessary database tables.

Step 7: Start the Server

Finally, start the Newsdash server using the following command:

$ flask run

This will start a local development server on port 5000. You can now open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:5000 to access Newsdash.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Newsdash on your OpenBSD server. With Newsdash, you can now easily track and read multiple news and blog feeds from a single unified dashboard.