FeedGin : Feeds in Pidgin

A Python script that

• fetches feeds (RSS, Atom) from their specified URLs
• shows the updates as messages in a conversation view in pidgin
• keeps track of the time of the updates so that previously shown updates are not shown again

Can be used with any RSS / Atom feeds including:

• Blog updates
• Twitter posts
• GitHub updates, etc.

Requirements

• Python (requires Python 2.7+)
• FeedParser 5.1 - A Python library for parsing various types of feeds

Installation

• Copy the feedgin.py file to a local directory such as ~local/bin/

• Edit the file to setup feeds. Follow the examples in the top of the file.

• Set up a cron job such as:

  */5 * * * * DISPLAY=:0 ./local/bin/feedgin.py

  The above cron-job runs this script every 5 minutes. The DISPLAY=:0 sets up the environment to allow DBUS communication in the cronjob.