Requirement and documentation fixes

docs/index.rst

@@ -41,9 +41,10 @@ node running Mastodon.
 
 A note about rate limits
 ------------------------
-Mastodons API rate limits per IP. Mastodon.py has three modes for dealing
-with rate limiting that you can pass to the constructor, "throw", "wait"
-and "pace", "wait" being the default.
+Mastodons API rate limits per IP. By default, the limit is 150 requests per 5 minute 
+time slow. This can differ from instance to instance and is subject to change.
+Mastodon.py has three modes for dealing with rate limiting that you can pass to 
+the constructor, "throw", "wait" and "pace", "wait" being the default.
 
 In "throw" mode, Mastodon.py makes no attempt to stick to rate limits. When
 a request hits the rate limit, it simply throws a MastodonRateLimitError. This is

mastodon/Mastodon.py

@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ def __init__(self, client_id, client_secret = None, access_token = None, api_bas
         self.ratelimit_lastcall = time.time()
         self.ratelimit_pacefactor = ratelimit_pacefactor
 
+        if not ratelimit_method in ["throw", "wait", "pace"]:
+            raise MastodonIllegalArgumentError("Invalid ratelimit method.")
+
         if os.path.isfile(self.client_id):
             with open(self.client_id, 'r') as secret_file:
                 self.client_id = secret_file.readline().rstrip()
@@ -521,11 +524,11 @@ def __api_request(self, method, endpoint, params = {}, files = {}, do_ratelimiti
                 raise MastodonAPIError("Could not parse response as JSON, respose code was " + str(response_object.status_code))
 
             # Handle rate limiting
-            try:
-                if 'X-RateLimit-Remaining' in response_object.headers and do_ratelimiting:
-                    self.ratelimit_remaining = int(response_object.headers['X-RateLimit-Remaining'])
-                    self.ratelimit_limit = int(response_object.headers['X-RateLimit-Limit'])
+            if 'X-RateLimit-Remaining' in response_object.headers and do_ratelimiting:
+                self.ratelimit_remaining = int(response_object.headers['X-RateLimit-Remaining'])
+                self.ratelimit_limit = int(response_object.headers['X-RateLimit-Limit'])
 
+                try:
                     ratelimit_reset_datetime = dateutil.parser.parse(response_object.headers['X-RateLimit-Reset'])
                     self.ratelimit_reset = self.__datetime_to_epoch(ratelimit_reset_datetime)
 
@@ -535,20 +538,20 @@ def __api_request(self, method, endpoint, params = {}, files = {}, do_ratelimiti
                     server_time_diff = time.time() - server_time
                     self.ratelimit_reset += server_time_diff
                     self.ratelimit_lastcall = time.time()
-
-                    if "error" in response and response["error"] == "Throttled":
-                        if self.ratelimit_method == "throw":
-                            raise MastodonRatelimitError("Hit rate limit.")
+                except:
+                    raise MastodonRatelimitError("Rate limit time calculations failed.")
+
+                if "error" in response and response["error"] == "Throttled":
+                    if self.ratelimit_method == "throw":
+                        raise MastodonRatelimitError("Hit rate limit.")
 
                         if self.ratelimit_method == "wait" or self.ratelimit_method == "pace":
                             to_next = self.ratelimit_reset - time.time()
                             if to_next > 0:
                                 # As a precaution, never sleep longer than 5 minutes
                                 to_next = min(to_next, 5 * 60) 
                                 time.sleep(to_next)
-                            request_complete = False
-            except:
-                raise MastodonRatelimitError("Rate limit time calculations failed.")
+                                request_complete = False
 
         return response
 

setup.py

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
       version='1.0.1',
       description='Python wrapper for the Mastodon API',
       packages=['mastodon'],
-      install_requires=['requests'],
+      install_requires=['requests', 'dateutil'],
       url='https://github.com/halcy/Mastodon.py',
       author='Lorenz Diener',
       author_email='lorenzd+mastodonpypypi@gmail.com',