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Blash is a blog engine (mostly) written in bash.

Blash is not only a simple Blog generator, but also a powerfull tool to create complex sites with its template engine.
As the generated site is purely static, you could publish it where ever you want.

Some examples of sites generated by Blash :

License

This software is a fork on the modification I did on baker made by taylorchu. The original version has been released under GPLv2. So, Blash is also under GPLv2. But, all subsequent modifications, I did, have been publish under the dual license DSSL & WTFPL. All the future modifications will be released under the dual license DSSL & WTPFL and the original work in GPLv2.

Features

Blash is full of features, more or less

  • Templates (design your templates, Blash will fill it with datas), see Template section
  • MarkdownPerl is needed for this feature (all your Mardkown texts are transformed to HTML),
  • Draft/Hidden, see section
  • Tags (call it Tags or categories or whatever you like)
  • RSS feed (Feed valid FeedValidator)
  • Atom feed (Feed valid FeedValidator)
  • Easy Configuration file (easy, if you read the doc)

Usages

Blash is CLI software. This means Command Line Interface. Here are some commands available (execute blash -h to have all commands) :

  • ./blash -h : Give you the help. It's your best friend for running Blash.
  • ./blash -I : Give you the configuration settings.
  • ./blash -p "title" : Create a post with the title and open your default $EDITOR (or vi).
  • ./blash -l : List all your posts with their states.
  • ./blash -b : Generate all your posts with love. Also include the content of the PUBLIC_DIR to your OUTPUT_DIR.
  • ./blash -e id : Edit your post id (using your $EDITOR (or vi)).

Enhance your site

Templates

Templates or Layout is a system where you build your pages, include other pages, make statements, and Blash takes it all and build your site.

All template files MUST have the .md extension.

Templates : structure example

You could for example have a template for the index pages, one for the page containing text only, and another for your photo posts.
All of these pages include a header file. You could have something like this :

+ templates (dir) :
|
+- index.md
|  @include header.md
|
+- posts.md
|  @include header.md
|
+- photos.md
|  @include header.md
|  @include js-photo.md
|  @include css-photo.md
|
+- header.md
|  @include css-global.md
|
+- css-global.md
|
+- js-photo.md
|
+- css-photo.md

Templates : File structure

A Template file is composed of two parts :

  • Header (enclosed by two dashed line ---). Header may contain variables. Headers are similar to headers in posts.
  • Content

Here is an example :

---
colorcss: blue
testing: true
---
@include global-css
@if !testing
	@include {{ colorcss }}
@end

A so **beautiful** test.

Templates : Variables

Variable identifier should only use [A-Za-z_]. Notice that any number is not allowed in a variable name.

{{ var }}

{{ content }} # embed child layout output

Templates : Directives

As you could see, Blash is able to understand directives. Those directives start with a @ and MUST be the first element on a line.
Directives are :

  • @include file : Include part (only content) of a template file. You don't need to add the .md, it's added automatically. See example above.
  • @if variable ... @end : If the variable exists then the content of @if ... @end is added to the template. See example above.
  • @if !variable ... @end : If the variable doesn't exist (or is empty) then the content of @if ... @end is added to the template. Space is not allowed between ! and the variable.
  • @each variable ... @end : variable MUST be an array. Iterate on the content of the array. See example below. The first array key MUST be numbered from 0.
  • @cmd ... @end : Execute the shell code, and embbed the stdout. Be aware that this could have impact on your workstation/server. See example below.

Templates : Directives examples

Example for the @each variable ... @end :

myVar = [
	{
		"title": "first",
		"content": "example1",
	},
	{
		"title": "second",
		"content": "example2",
	},
]

is (internally) encoded as:

myVar_0_title=first
myVar_0_content=example1

myVar_1_title=second
myVar_1_content=example2

and using the following template:

@each myVar
	{{ idx }} : {{ title }} - {{ content }}
@end

becomes:

	0 : first - example1
	1 : second - example2

Please note the idx variable is used internally by Blash.

Example for the @cmd ... @end :

@cmd
  for i in {1..10}; do
    echo "$i"
  done
@end

Templates : Default variables

Currently, Blash is aware of 3 (three) types of pages :

  • The main Index page, formally known as index.html,
  • The tags Indexes page, formally known as index_tags.html,
  • The article page.

Here is a list of default variables sets by Blash :

  • SITE_NAME : String with the Site Name. Available on page : index, tags index, article..
  • SITE_DESC : String with the Site Description.. Available on page : index, tags index, article.
  • GENERATE_INDEX : Bool set to true when the main Index page is generated (set to false for tags Indexex page). Available on page : index.
  • tags_for_index : Array containing name and link to all tags. Available on page : index, tags index, article.
  • NEWDATE : Bool set to true when a NEWSECTION starts. Available on page : index, tags index.
  • newdate : String containing the new section date. Available on page : index, tags index.
  • NEWSECTION : Bool set to true when a NEWSECTION starts. Available on page : index, tags index.
  • NEWENDSECTION : Bool set to true when a NEWENDSECTION has been reached. Available on page : index, tags index.
  • id : Link to article (without .html).
  • summary : Article summary. Available on page : index, tags index, article.
  • tags_for_post : Array containing name and link to tags related to an article. Available on page : article.
  • TAGS_LINK : Deprecated & replaced by tags_for_post. Will be removed soon. String containing list of name/links to tags related to an article. Available on page : article.
  • SUMMARYPRINT : Bool set to true when the summary has to be printed. Available on page : article.
  • SUMMARYPARSED : String with Summary transformed. Available on page : article.
  • title : This is the title of the article. Available on page : article.
  • content : Content of the article. Available on page : article.
  • date : Article Redaction date. Available on page : index, tags index, article.
  • update : Available on page : index, tags index, article.
  • POST_NEXT : Link the next (newer) post (or main index if none available). Available on page : article.
  • POST_PREV : Link the previous (older) post (or main index if none available). Available on page : article.
  • RSS_DATE : String exists when RRS feed is generated .Available on page : index, tags index, article.
  • ATOM_DATE : String exists when Atom feed is generated. Available on page : index, tags index, article.
  • INDEX_GENERATION_DATE : String containing the date of generation. Available on page : index, tags index.
  • ARTICLE_GENERATION_DATE : String containing the date of generation. Available on page : article. *N.B. *: This variable also exists in the array posts named as generation_date.

Posts configuration

The headers in post indicate how Blash has to gerenerate your HTML :

  • title: : The title of post in the index (and in the post). Also used to generate the filename.
  • date: : The date of the post in the form 2015-11-20T11:06:07Z (Created by Blash when generating a new post).
  • update: : The date of the last update in the post (not automatique, same form as date: ). Could be updated with blash -u id.
  • tags: : The list of tags (comma separated) for the post.
  • layout: : The name of layout used to generate the post. The name should have not contain the .md at the end.
  • draft: : When generating your post, Blash put your post in the draft directory if set to true, in out directory either.
  • hidden: : When generating your post, Blash put your post in the hidden directory if set to true, without any reference.
  • summary: : The summary is printed in the index (and could be added in the post).
  • nomarkdown: : When set to true, the post content is not considered as Markdown. So, content stay as is.
  • sumprint: : If set to true, the summary will be added in the beginning of the post (depends on your layout).

Blash configuration

Blash is able to load a config file either by itself (if your config file is named blash.conf) or by using the -f filename.
Here are some variables you could change (in fact all could be changed, it will depend on your needs) :

  • POST_DIR : where to store your markdown files

  • OUTPUT_DIR : Where to store your compiled html files

  • DRAFT_DIR : Where to store your compiled html draft files

  • LAYOUT_DIR : Where to store your layout markodown files (templates)

  • PUBLIC_DIR: Where to store your static content (css, images, js, ...)

  • HIDDEN_DIR: Where to store your hidden post (default is OUTPUT_DIR)

  • SITE_NAME : The site title

  • SITE_DESC : The site description

  • DISQUS : The username of your Disqus account (check the layout)

  • AUTHOR_NAME : Your name

  • AUTHOR_DESC : Speak about yourself

  • AUTHOR_EMAIL : Your email

  • AUTHOR_EMAIL_HASH : Based on your AUTHOR_NAME to make your avatar id

  • AUTHOR_TWITTER: Your Twitter name account

  • AUTHOR_GITHUB : Your Github name account

  • TAGS_BASELIST : When creating a post this Tags list is automatically added

  • TAGS_LINK: The html (based on your layout) to generate tags list. ==tagNameSlugged== will be replaced by the tag name slugged. ==tagName== will be replaced by the tag name.

  • TAGS_LAYOUT : Use this particular Layout (instead of the default index.md) to generate index_tag.html.

  • RSS_SITE_URL : Inform readers where to find your posts when they read the RSS Feed

  • PRINT_ALL_SUMMARY: Add the summary of your post inside your post. Use none, all or user. all and none override the sumprint header.

  • EDITOR: Use this editor to edit your post.

  • BLASH_EXTRA_HEADER: When Blash create a post and adds the header(s) in the post (use :: as separator).

  • BLASH_TIMELINE_COMPARATOR: Blash use this variable to compare date of post to set a new <section>.

  • BLASH_TIMELINE_RENDERER: Blash use this variable to render the test of new <section>.

  • BLASH_EXPORT_POST_TO_TEXT : When set to true copy the post source. This feature has been added when you want to provide source of your posts.

  • BLASH_EXPORT_POST_TO_TEXT_EXT : The .md extension of the copied is removed and replacce by this one. Don't forget to add a . (dot) at the beginning.

  • BLASH_EXPORT_POST_TO_TEXT_OUTPUT_DIR : Where do you want to copy your source files. (Default value is OUTPUT_DIR).

  • BLASH_EXPORT_POST_TO_TEXT_INCLUDE_HEADERS : If you want headers to be copied in the posts.

  • BLASH_NO_AUTO_UPDATE_ON_EDIT : If you edit a post blash will automatically update the field update, unless set to true.

  • BLASH_ON_COPY_IMPLIES_UPDATE : If you duplicate/copy a post blash will automatically update the field update, unless set to false.

  • BLASH_ON_COPY_IMPLIES_EDIT : If you duplicate/copy a post blash will automatically send it to the EDITOR, unless set to false.

  • BLASH_ON_COPY_IMPLIES_RENAME : If you duplicate/copy a post blash will automatically rename the post, unless set to false.

Draft & Hidden posts:

  • Draft posts : You don't have always time to terminate what you write. So, the default value of the header draft: in each post is set to true. This means that when you convert all your posts, those kind of posts are generated in the DRAFT_DIR. It's only to avoid your unfinished publication to be readable by everyone. Drafted posts or not included in the indexes.
  • Hidden posts : You sometimes want to publish something that is relatively secret, the hidden: header is here for that. The hidden posts are generated in the OUTPUT_DIR (by default, and could be override) and not indexed. If you need something more secure, you should select a dedicated directory with at least a per user/password access.

Markdown

It currently uses the implementation from Daring Fireball. As a consequence, perl is needed for blash to work.

blash

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Blash is a blog engine (mostly) written in bash

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