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authorKatolaZ <katolaz@freaknet.org>2017-07-04 09:54:59 +0100
committerKatolaZ <katolaz@freaknet.org>2017-07-04 09:54:59 +0100
commitdcbf59d229266c2472272f868f1f9712f9ef13bd (patch)
tree4eaf7d40fe7032386050aa6c0d3532bf174af75e /README.md
parentc27ce1940c6c19199f71df96a01d176ba7452191 (diff)
Small changes to README.md. Changed LICENSE to Affero GPL 3+
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-## binnit -- minimal pastebin-like in golang
+## binnit -- minimal pastebin clone in golang
-That's just it. Preliminary version of a minimal, no-fuss
-pastebin-like service in golang.
+That's just it. A minimalist, no-fuss pastebin clone server in
+golang. It supports only two operations:
-It serves pastes in the format:
+* store a new paste, through a POST request
+* retrieve a paste using its unique ID, through a GET request
+
+what else do you need?
+
+## WTF?
+
+`binnit` serves pastes in the format:
mypasteserver.org/abcdef1234567890
and stores them in a folder, one file per paste, whose filename is
-equal to the paste ID. The unique ID of a paste is obtained from the
-SHA256 of the concatenation of title, time, and content. Rendering is
-minimal, but can be enhanced.
+identical to the paste ID. The unique ID of a paste is obtained from
+the SHA256 of the concatenation of title, time, and content. Rendering
+is minimal, on purpose, but based on a customisable template.
`binnit` is currently configured through a simple key=value
configuration file, whose name can be specified on the command line
-through the option `-c <config\_file>`. The available options are:
+through the option `-c <config_file>`. The configurable options are:
* server\_name (the FQDN where the service is reachable from outside)
* bind\_addr (the address to listen on)
* bind\_port (the port to bind)
* paste\_dir (the folder where pastes are kept)
* templ\_dir (the folder where HTML files and templates are kept)
-* max_size (the maximum allowed length of a paste, in bytes. Larger
+* max\_size (the maximum allowed length of a paste, in bytes. Larger
pastes will be trimmed to that length)
* log_fname (path to the logfile)
+## Why another pastebin?
+
+There are hundreds of pastebin-like servers in the wild. But the
+overwhelming majority of them is _overbloated_ software, depending on
+lots of libraries/frameworks/tools, providing a whole lot of useless
+features, and implying a useless amount of complexity.
+
+A paste server must be able to do two things, 1) create a new paste
+and return its ID, and 2) retrieve an existing paste using its
+ID. `binnit` does just and only these two things, in the simplest
+possible way, without any external dependency. If you need more, then
+`binnit` is not for you.
+
+If you want to strip `binnit` down even further, you could consider
+removing:
+
+* sanity checks and error management
+* logging
+* the external configuration file
+* code comments
+
+> It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more
+> to add, but when there is nothing more to remove (Antoine de Saint
+> Exupéry)
+
+## LICENSE
-### TODO
+`binnit` can be used, modified, and redistributed under the terms of
+the GNU Affero General Public Licence, version 3 of the Licence or, at
+your option, any later version. Please see the LICENSE.md file for
+details.
-* provide a better standard template