ABC Mediawatch RSS Feed Creator

License: MIT

Overview

This application scrapes the “Mediawatch” section of ABC News and generates an RSS feed. It supports both CLI and CGI modes.

Installation

Prerequisites

Optional

Build and Install

Install only (System level)

Grab the latest binary here: https://github.com/arran4/abc-mediawatch-rss/releases/

Install and build as user (User)

  1. Install Go 1.24+
  2. Run go install:
go install github.com/arran4/abc-mediawatch-rss/cmd/abcmediawatchrss@latest

This installs to $HOME/go/bin (typically; check with go env).

Usage

CLI Mode

Generate RSS Feed:

abcmediawatchrss -output /var/www/localhost/htdocs/rss/abcmediawatchrss.xml

CGI Mode

  1. Place abcmediawatchrss-cgi in your server’s CGI directory (e.g., /var/www/htdocs/cgi-bin/abcmediawatchrss-cgi).
  2. Ensure it is executable: 
    
chmod +x /var/www/htdocs/cgi-bin/abcmediawatchrss-cgi
  3. Access it via URL (e.g., http://example.com/cgi-bin/abcmediawatchrss-cgi).

Deployment

rc.d (Cron Job system level)

Add a cron job to run the script periodically: 1. Edit the root crontab:

   sudo crontab -e
  1. Add the following line: 
    
*/15 * * * * /usr/local/bin/abcmediawatchrss -output /var/www/localhost/htdocs/rss/abcmediawatchrss.xml

rc.d (Cron Job user level)

Add a cron job to run the script periodically: 1. Edit the user’s crontab:

   crontab -e
  1. Add the following line: 
    
*/15 * * * * ~/go/bin/abcmediawatchrss -output ~/public_html/rss/abcmediawatchrss.xml

systemd (as root)

  1. Create a systemd service file at /etc/systemd/system/abcmediawatchrss.service:
[Unit]
Description=ABC Mediawatch RSS Feed Creator

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/abcmediawatchrss -output /var/www/localhost/htdocs/rss/abcmediawatchrss.xml
User=apache
Group=apache
  1. Create a systemd timer file at /etc/systemd/system/everyhour@.timer:
[Unit]
Description=Monthly Timer for %i service

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:00:00
AccuracySec=1h
RandomizedDelaySec=1h
Persistent=true
Unit=%i.service

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
  1. Reload systemd and start the service: 
    
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now everyhour@abcmediawatchrss.timer

systemd (as user)

  1. Create a systemd service file at $HOME/.config/systemd/user/abcmediawatchrss.service:
[Unit]
Description=ABC Mediawatch RSS Feed Creator

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=%h/go/bin/abcmediawatchrss -output %h/public_html/rss/abcmediawatchrss.xml
  1. Create a systemd timer file at $HOME/.config/systemd/user/everyhour@.timer:
[Unit]
Description=Monthly Timer for %i service

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* *:00:00
AccuracySec=1h
RandomizedDelaySec=1h
Persistent=true
Unit=%i.service

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
  1. Reload systemd and start the service: 
    
systemctl --user daemon-reload && systemctl --user enable --now everyhour@abcmediawatchrss.timer

Apache VirtualHost Configuration

User

Refer to documentation for setting up public_html directories

Enjoy

http://localhost/~$USERNAME/rss/abcmediawatchrss.xml

System

Add the following configuration to your Apache setup (e.g., /etc/httpd/conf.d/rss.conf):

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/localhost/htdocs/rss
    <Directory "/var/www/localhost/htdocs/rss">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Nginx Configuration

User

Refer to documentation for setting up public_html directories

System

Add this to your Nginx server block:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location /rss/ {
        root /var/www/localhost/htdocs;
        autoindex on;
    }
}

Install

GitHub Releases

Download binaries from: https://github.com/arran4/abc-mediawatch-rss/releases

Homebrew

brew tap arran4/homebrew-tap
brew install abcmediawatchrss

Docker

docker pull ghcr.io/arran4/abc-mediawatch-rss:latest
docker run --rm ghcr.io/arran4/abc-mediawatch-rss:latest --help

Go install

go install github.com/arran4/abc-mediawatch-rss/cmd/abcmediawatchrss@latest

Native packages