[Survey] Yet Another Open Source RSS News Reader?

[Gary Cramblitt]

Because this message is somewhat off-topic, please do not respond to this
newsgroup.  Instead, send replies directly to garycramblitt at comcast.net.
(See below for explanation why I chose to post this survey here.)

This purpose of this posting is to assess the level of interest in a
proposed open source project for an RSS news reader I have written.  For
the time being, I am calling this application News Kiosk.  If you have an
interest in News Kiosk, either as a user, or as a possible developer,
please respond to the e-mail address above.

News Kiosk is (would be) a free open source RSS news reader written in
Python 2.2.1 and wxPython 2.4.0.7.  While the program is brand new, it is
already quite functional, and offers the following features:

1.  Reads any RSS format using the Ultra-liberal RSS parser by Mark
Pilgrim. (http://diveintomark.org/projects/rss_parser/)

2.  Retrieves and parses lists of feeds from syndication services such as
Syndic8 and NewsIsFree using the OPML parser by Fredrik Lundh.
(http://www.effbot.org/zone/effnews.htm)

3.  Fast and lightweight.  Configurable asynchronous retrieval from
multiple feeds.

4.  Architecture based on Principle of Separation.  See _The Art of Unix
Programming_ by Eric Steven Raymond.
(http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/)  The GUI is separate from
Fetch Agents.  Fetch Agents are non-GUI subprocesses responsible for
retrieving and parsing news resources (RSS feeds).  The GUI is responsible
for displaying the results and interacting with the user. This
architecture also permits News Kiosk to be extended by adding additional
Fetch Agents designed to retrieve and parse information of almost any
type.

Although it is written using cross-platform libraries, this application is
targeted primarily towards the Linux platform.  In theory, it should run
under Windows, BSD, and Max OS X, but I have not tried it under these
platforms.  My sense is that these platforms already have many fine RSS
news readers available anyway.

Why another open source RSS news reader?  I wanted an RSS news reader for
my RedHat 8 system.  I began searching the web for a free open source
reader.  I found several possible packages but rejected each of them for a
variety of reasons as outlined below:

1.  NewsMonster (www.newsmonster.org).  This program appears to have many
fine capabilities.  Perhaps too many leading to bloat?  While it is open
source, it requires the Java Runtime Environment, which is itself not open
source.  I am trying not to install *any* software on my system for which
I cannot obtain the source code.  If I wanted closed-source solutions, I'd
go back to Windows.

2.  EffBot by Fredrik Lundh (http://www.effbot.org/zone/effnews.htm). A
basic news reader, it currently does not offer lists of feeds from
syndication services, although Fredrik clearly intends to add that
capability, since I'm using his OPML parser.  Uses Python and Tkinter. Has
some trouble with non-standard RSS feeds.  Fredrik seems to primarily
target the Windows platform.

3.  nntp/rss (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/nntprss).  An
interesting approach that parses RSS feeds and makes them available to any
NNTP (Usenet) news reader application.  Uses Mark Pilgrim's Ultra-liberal
RSS Parser.  Does not seem to support syndication lists. Written in Java,
so I have the same objection to this one as NewsMonster.

4.  Straw (www.nongnu.org/straw/).  Try as I might, I simply could not get
this program to run on my system.  It has quite a number of dependencies. 
It appears that it has become a victim of GTK library creep.

5.  Amphetadesk (http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/).  An open source
project coded in Perl and XML.  Amphetadesk runs in a web browser and
therein lies the problem, at least for me.  The interface just isn't quite
what I'm looking for.  There are a number of other applications that also
run in a web browser.  See http://blogspace.com/rss/readers.

So after looking at these applications and not being fully satisfied with
any of them, I decided to write my own RSS news reader.

Perhaps it would be appropriate to say what News Kiosk is *not*:

1.  It does not keep a database of past articles.  No permanent storage.

2.  No blogging capability.  News Kiosk does not permit you to post to
your personal weblog.

3.  No built-in web browser.  News Kiosk displays a simple summary of each
article as provided by the RSS source, then permits user to read the full
article by launching the link in their favorite browser. This was done to
avoid security issues (cookies, javascript, spyware, etc.)

4.  Not designed for any particular Linux desktop.  Because the GUI is
written using wxPython (wxWindows), it does not support KDE and GNOME
themes, skins, etc.  However, the architecture of News Kiosk does permit
the substitution of other GUIs programmer's might want to write.

5.  Not designed for retrieval from huge numbers of feeds.  A few dozen
subscriptions are appropriate.

So what do you think?  Do you have an interest in News Kiosk, either as a
user or a possible developer?  Do you object to "yet another" RSS news
reader and think my objections to the packages above are unjustified?

Please respond to garycramblitt at comcast.net.

BTW, after writing News Kiosk, I considered applying for project space on
SourceForge.net.  I wondered, however, if yet another RSS news reader
would be well-received.  There has been some discussion recently about the
uncontrolled proliferation of "yet another <fill in blank here>" in the
open source world.  (See http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/774/ and
http://slashdot.org/articles/03/04/04/1313203.shtml?tid=117&tid=185). I
searched quite a while and could find no forums or resources where I could
float the idea of News Kiosk.  I sent an e-mail to the admins at
SourceForge.net asking where they thought I should post this survey.  They
suggested posting in the language-specific group for my application. 
Hence, this posting here in comp.language.python.

Thankyou for your time and consideration.

Gary Cramblitt