The Arsse is a news aggregator server, written in PHP, which implements multiple synchronization protocols. Unlike most other aggregator servers, The Arsse does not include a Web front-end (though one is planned as a separate project), and it relies on existing protocols to maximize compatibility with existing clients.
Information on how to install and use the software can be found in [the manual](https://thearsse.com/manual/), which is available online as well as with every copy of the software. This readme file instead focuses on how to set up a programming environment to modify the source code.
The main repository for The Arsse can be found at [code.mensbeam.com](https://code.mensbeam.com/MensBeam/arsse/), with a mirror also available [at GitHub](https://github.com/mensbeam/arsse/). The GitHub mirror does not accept bug reports, but the two should otherwise be equivalent.
[Composer](https://getcomposer.org/) is required to manage PHP dependencies. After cloning the repository or downloading a source code tarball, running `composer install` will download all the required dependencies, and will advise if any PHP extensions need to be installed. If not installing as a programming environment, running `composer install -o --no-dev --no-scripts` is recommended.
The code which runs The Arsse, contained in `/arsse.php`, is only a short stub: the application itself is composed of the classes found under `/lib/`, with the main ones being:
| `REST.php` | General protocol handler for CORS, HTTP auth, etc. |
| `Arsse.php` | Singleton glueing the parts together |
The `/lib/Database.php` file is the heart of the application, performing queries on behalf of protocol implementations or the command-line interface.
Also necessary to the functioning of the application is the `/vendor/` directory, which contains PHP libraries which The Arsse depends upon. These are managed by Composer.
## Supporting data files
The `/locale/` and `/sql/` directories contain human-language files and database schemata, both of which are occasionally used by the application in the course of execution. The `/www/` directory serves as a document root for a few static files to be made available to users by a Web server.
The `/dist/` directory, on the other hand, contains general and system-specific build files, manual pages, and samples of configuration for Web servers and other system integration. These are not used by The Arsse itself, but are used during the process of preparing new releases for supported operating systems.
The source text for The Arsse's manual can be found in `/docs/`, with pages written in [Markdown](https://spec.commonmark.org/current/) and converted to HTML [with Daux](#building-the-manual). If a static manual is generated its files will appear under `/manual/`.
The Arsse also has a UNIX manual page, also written in Markdown, which can be found under `/manpages/`. [Pandoc](https://pandoc.org/) is needed to convert it to the appropriate format, with the results stored under `/dist/man/`.
In addition to the manuals the files `/README.md` (this file), `/CHANGELOG`, `/UPGRADING`, `/LICENSE`, and `/AUTHORS` also document various things about the software, rather than the software itself.
PHPUnit's configuration can be customized by copying its configuration file to `/tests/phpunit.xml` and modifying the copy accordingly.
## Tooling
The `/vendor-bin/` directory houses the files needed for the tools used in The Arsse's programming environment. These are managed by the Composer ["bin" plugin](https://github.com/bamarni/composer-bin-plugin) and are not used by The Arsse itself. The following files are also related to various programming tools:
In addition the files `/package.json` and `/postcss.config.js` as well as the `/node_modules/` directory are used by [Yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/) and [PostCSS](https://postcss.org/) when modifying the stylesheet for The Arsse's manual.
We use a tool called [Robo](https://robo.li/) to simplify the execution of common tasks. It is installed with The Arsse's other dependencies, and its configured tasks can be listed by executing `./robo` without arguments.
The Arsse has an extensive [PHPUnit](https://phpunit.de/) test suite; tests can be run by executing `./robo test`, which can be supplemented with any arguments understoof by PHPUnit. For example, to test only the Tiny Tiny RSS protocol, one could run `./robo test --testsuite TTRSS`.
There is also a `test:quick` Robo task which excludes slower tests, and a `test:full` task which includes redundant tests in addition to the standard test suite
Computing the coverage of tests can be done by running `./robo coverage`, after which an HTML-format coverage report will be written to `/tests/coverage/`. Either [PCOV](https://github.com/krakjoe/pcov) or [Xdebug](https://xdebug.org) is required for this. PCOV is generally recommended as it is faster than Xdebug. Neither extension need be enabled globally; Robo will enable it when needed.
The [php-cs-fixer](https://cs.symfony.com) tool, executed via `./robo clean`, can be used to rewrite code to adhere to The Arsse's coding style. The style largely follows [PSR-12](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-12/) with some exceptions:
The Arsse's user manual, made using [Daux](https://daux.io/), can be compiled by running `./robo manual`, which will output files to `/manual/`. It is also possible to serve the manual from a test HTTP server on port 8085 by running `./robo manual:live`.
The manual employs a custom theme derived from the standard Daux theme. If the standard Daux theme receives improvements, the custom theme can be rebuilt by running `./robo manual:theme`. This requires that [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org) and [Yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/) be installed, but JavaScript tools are not required to modify The Arsse itself, nor the content of the manual.
