panda-2008.9.28: readme.markdown

Panda - simple blogging engine
==============================

Sample file db structure
-------------------------

    db
    |---- blog
    |     |---- 08-09-01 first post
    |     |---- 09-09-02 learn javascript.html
    |
    |---- tag
    |     |---- programming
    |     |---- funny
    |
    |---- static
          |---- About
  

Why
----

* Blogs are stored locally
* Write in Markdown, HTML, reStructuredText or even LaTeX format ( Math equations won't render yet )
* Remote server is a mirror of local repository
* No server side API for publishing / editing, just use Darcs, Git or any SCM
* No need to find external hosting of your videos, images or sound. Put them in public folder ( still managed by SCM if you wish )
* Easy to use, just create a file and the engine takes care of the rest
* Extensible through embedding any HTML snippets
* Use `custom.css` for theming

Quick Demo
-----------

It powers [my blog](http://jinjing.blog.easymic.com) ;)

Note: the demo might run on an experimental branch, so differences from the cabal version could occur.
        
Install
--------

### install [lighttpd](http://www.lighttpd.net/ )


### install panda

    cabal install panda

### bootstrap

    # panda is a kibro project
    kibro new myblog
    cd myblog
    
    # get a template to start
    rm -r db; rm -r public
    git clone git://github.com/nfjinjing/panda-template.git db
    sh db/extra/scripts/bootstrap.sh
    
### run

	kibro start

It should be running on `http://127.0.0.1:3000` now.

Since Panda is based on Kibro, it helps to read how [Kibro](http://chrisdone.com/blog/2008/08/06/kibro-haskell-lighttpd-and-fastcgi/) works.

Goodies
--------

Install `Ruby` / `Rake`, then `rake -T` to see a list of helper commands.

Config
-------

Edit `db/config/site.txt`

    blog_title   = My shiny blog
    host_name    = yourhost.com
    author_email = your_mail@yourhost.com

Restart required. (hint: `rake r`)


Future
------

There are many things could be done. Whatever there will be, the key idea is simplest data / folder structure.

Hacking
--------

Another way to get Panda running with source is:

    # clone the source
    git clone git://github.com/nfjinjing/panda.git myblog
    cd myblog
    
    # get a template to start
    git clone git://github.com/nfjinjing/panda-template.git db
    
    # manually adjust path information for lighttpd
    # edit first 6 lines of app/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf to match your path
    
    # manual staging
    ln -s db/public public
    
    # run
    kibro start
    
I'm heavily using the [MPS](http://github.com/nfjinjing/mps/tree/master ) package which introduces things like

    reject, join, belongs_to, match, gsub
    
and so on.

If the latest git version doesn't build, try `cabal install cgi`; if still no good, try `cabal update; cabal upgrade` to upgrade haskell packages.