Mt. Molelog

AutoTrack 0+1i

Update: There are newer versions available; please use the newest version unless you have a particular reason not to.

AutoTrack 0+1i is a first cut at an automatic trackback pinger. There are almost certainly problems, and at this point it's probably only suitable for people who are able and willing to help diagnose any problems encountered.

It requires external utilities to perform HTTP GETs and POSTs. The current default configuration uses 'curl', which is the only utility I'm aware of that's suitable. Information on other common tools for systems without curl would be appreciated.

It can run in two modes, 'automatic' and 'semi_auto'; by default, it runs in 'semi_auto' mode. In semi_auto mode, pings will only be sent if the 'autotrack' parameter is given (ie, http://molelog.molehill.org/blox?autotrack=yes); in automatic mode, it's always enabled. In either mode, it keeps track of when it was last enabled, and will only send pings for stories that appear to be newer than that.

Update 11:26am: 0+1.1i released in place, adding a $start_from_now option, set by default. if set, it will send pings only for stories added after it's run the first time, not previously existing stories.

You almost certainly want to run it in semi_auto mode the first time; this will likely take quite a while, as it follows 40 stories' worth of links. If you're the kind of person who edits stories a couple times before being happy with them (as I am), you may want to stay in semi_auto mode permanently.

This doesn't handle trackbacks TO your weblog; for that, use Rael's writeback or the standalone MT tb.cgi.

Installation

1. Verify you have the necessary modules installed; install them if not.
2. download and unzip the plugin.
3. Copy the plugin to your plugins directory
4. Try it out -- load your blog in your browser, with ?autotrack=yes
5. If everything is working, consider setting $debug_level to 0; if not, check your error log to make sure the plugin is being loaded. In semi_auto mode, there's no output at debug level 1unless the plugin is enabled, so you might want to leave it at 1.
6. Drop me a note letting me you're using it and how things are working for you.
7. Enjoy!

Things still to do, maybe:

• parse returns, log errors, maybe figure out how to try again in case of a problem.
• write POD documentation
• write an optional internal LWP implementation

2003-03-23 07:32:00 | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Computers::Internet::Web::Blosxom::Plugins::AutoTrack