The Arsse is a news aggregator server, written in PHP, which implements multiple synchronization protocols. Unlike most other aggregator servers, The Arsse does not include a Web front-end (though one is planned as a separate project), and it relies on existing protocols to maximize compatibility with existing clients.
Information on how to install and use the software can be found in [the manual](https://thearsse.com/manual/), which is available online as well as with every copy of the software. This readme file instead focuses on how to set up a programming environment to modify the source code.
The main repository for The Arsse can be found at [code.mensbeam.com](https://code.mensbeam.com/MensBeam/arsse/), with a mirror also available [at GitHub](https://github.com/mensbeam/arsse/). The GitHub mirror does not accept bug reports, but the two should otherwise be equivalent.
[Composer](https://getcomposer.org/) is required to manage PHP dependencies. After cloning the repository or downloading a source code tarball, running `composer install` will download all the required dependencies, and will advise if any PHP extensions need to be installed. If not installing as a programming environment, running `composer install --no-dev` is recommended.
# Repository structure
## Library code
The code which runs The Arsse, contained in `/arsse.php`, is only a short stub: the application itself is composed of the classes found under `/lib/`, with the main ones being:
| `REST.php` | General protocol handler for CORS, HTTP auth, etc. |
| `Arsse.php` | Singleton glueing the parts together |
The `/lib/Database.php` file is the heart of the application, performing queries on behalf of protocol implementations or the command-line interface.
Also necessary to the functioning of the application is the `/vendor/` directory, which contains PHP libraries which The Arsse depends upon. These are managed by Composer.
## Supporting data files
The `/locale/` and `/sql/` directories contain human-language files and database schemata, both of which are occasionally used by the application in the course of execution. The `/www/` directory serves as a document root for a few static files to be made available to users by a Web server.
The `/dist/` directory, on the other hand, contains samples of configuration for Web servers and init systems. These are not used by The Arsse itself, but are merely distributed with it for reference.
## Documentation
The source text for The Arsse's manual can be found in `/docs/`, with pages written in [Markdown](https://spec.commonmark.org/current/) and converted to HTML [with Daux](#building-the-manual). If a static manual is generated its files will appear under `/manual/`.
In addition to the manual the files `/README.md` (this file), `/CHANGELOG`, `/UPGRADING`, `/LICENSE`, and `/AUTHORS` also document various things about the software, rather than the software itself.
## Tests
The `/tests/` directory contains everything related to automated testing. It is itself organized as follows:
PHPUnit's configuration can be customized by copying its configuration file to `/tests/phpunit.xml` and modifying the copy accordingly.
## Tooling
The `/vendor-bin/` directory houses the files needed for the tools used in The Arsse's programming environment. These are managed by the Composer ["bin" plugin](https://github.com/bamarni/composer-bin-plugin) and are not used by The Arsse itself. The following files are also related to various programming tools:
| `/.gitattributes` | Git settings for handling files |
| `/.gitignore` | Git file exclusion patterns |
| `/.php_cs.dist` | Configuration for [php-cs-fixer](https://cs.symfony.com) |
| `/.php_cs.cache` | Cache for php-cs-fixer |
| `/composer.json` | Configuration for Composer |
| `/composer.lock` | Version synchronization data for Composer |
| `/RoboFile.php` | Task definitions for [Robo](https://robo.li/) |
| `/robo` | Simple wrapper for executing Robo on POSIX systems |
| `/robo.bat` | Simple wrapper for executing Robo on Windows |
In addition the files `/package.json`, `/yarn.lock`, and `/postcss.config.js` as well as the `/node_modules/` directory are used by [Yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/) and [PostCSS](https://postcss.org/) when modifying the stylesheet for The Arsse's manual.
We use a tool called [Robo](https://robo.li/) to simplify the execution of common tasks. It is installed with The Arsse's other dependencies, and its configured tasks can be listed by executing `./robo` without arguments.
The Arsse has an extensive [PHPUnit](https://phpunit.de/) test suite; tests can be run by executing `./robo test`, which can be supplemented with any arguments understoof by PHPUnit. For example, to test only the Tiny Tiny RSS protocol, one could run `./robo test --testsuite TTRSS`.
There is also a `test:quick` Robo task which excludes slower tests, and a `test:full` task which includes redundant tests in addition to the standard test suite
Computing the coverage of tests can be done by running `./robo coverage`, after which an HTML-format coverage report will be written to `/tests/coverage/`. Either [PCOV](https://github.com/krakjoe/pcov), [Xdebug](https://xdebug.org), or [phpdbg](https://php.net/manual/en/book.phpdbg.php) is required for this. PCOV is generally recommended as it is faster than Xdebug; phpdbg is faster still, but less accurate. If using either PCOV or Xdebug, the extension need not be enabled globally; PHPUnit will enable it when needed.
The [php-cs-fixer](https://cs.symfony.com) tool, executed via `./robo clean`, can be used to rewrite code to adhere to The Arsse's coding style. The style largely follows [PSR-2](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-2/) with some exceptions:
The Arsse's user manual, made using [Daux](https://daux.io/), can be compiled by running `./robo manual`, which will output files to `/manual/`. It is also possible to serve the manual from a test HTTP server on port 8085 by running `./robo manual:live`.
The manual employs a custom theme derived from the standard Daux theme. If the standard Daux theme receives improvements, the custom theme can be rebuilt by running `./robo manual:theme`. This requires that [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org) and [Yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/) be installed, but JavaScript tools are not required to modify The Arsse itself, nor the content of the manual.