feedwordpress / readme.txt

readme.txt in FeedWordPress 0.992, at readme.txt

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1	=== FeedWordPress ===
2	Contributors: Charles Johnson
3	Donate link: http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/
4	Tags: syndication, aggregation, feed, atom, rss
5	Requires at least: 1.5
6	Tested up to: 2.3.1
7	Stable tag: 0.992
8
9	FeedWordPress is an Atom/RSS aggregator for WordPress. When activated, it syndicates content from feeds you choose into your WordPress weblog.
10
11	== Description ==
12
13	* Author: [Charles Johnson](http://radgeek.com/contact)
14	* Project URI: <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress>
15	* License: GPL 2. See License below for copyright jots and tittles.
16
17	FeedWordPress is an Atom/RSS aggregator for WordPress. It syndicates content
18	from feeds that you choose into your WordPress weblog; if you syndicate several
19	feeds then you can use WordPress's posts database and templating engine as the
20	back-end of an aggregation ("planet") website. It was developed, originally,
21	because I needed a more flexible replacement for [Planet](http://www.planetplanet.org/)
22	to use at [Feminist Blogs](http://feministblogs.org/).
23
24	FeedWordPress is designed with flexibility, ease of use, and ease of
25	configuration in mind. You'll need a working installation of WordPress or
26	WordPress MU (versions [2.3][], [2.2][], [2.1][], [2.0][] or [1.5][]), and also
27	FTP or SFTP access to your web host. The ability to create cron jobs on your web
28	host is helpful but not absolutely necessary. You don't need to tweak any
29	plain-text configuration files and you don't need shell access to your web
30	host to make it work. (Although, I should point out, web hosts that don't
31	offer shell access are bad web hosts.)
32
33	[2.3]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.3
34	[2.2]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.2
35	[2.1]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.1
36	[2.0]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.0
37	[1.5]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_1.5
38
39	== Installation ==
40
41	To use version 0.992 of FeedWordPress, you will need:
42
43	* an installed and configured copy of WordPress version 2.3.x, 2.2.x,
44	2.1.x, 2.0.x, or 1.5.x. (FeedWordPress will also work with the
45	equivalent versions of WordPress MU.)
46
47	* FTP or SFTP access to your web host
48
49	= New Installations =
50
51	1. Download the FeedWordPress archive in zip or gzipped tar format and
52	extract the files on your computer.
53
54	2. Create a new directory named `feedwordpress` in the `wp-content/plugins`
55	directory of your WordPress installation. Use an FTP or SFTP client to
56	upload the contents of your FeedWordPress archive to the new directory
57	that you just created on your web host.
58
59	3. Upgrade the copy of MagpieRSS packaged with WordPress by installing the
60	new copies of `rss.php` and `rss-functions.php` into the `wp-includes`
61	directory of your FeedWordPress installation. These files are stored in
62	the `MagpieRSS-upgrade` directory of your FeedWordPress archive. Strictly
63	speaking, upgrading MagpieRSS is optional; FeedWordPress will run
64	correctly without the upgrade. But if you hope to take advantage of
65	numerous bug fixes, or support for Atom 1.0, multiple post categories,
66	RSS enclosures, or multiple character encodings, then you need to
67	install the upgrade.
68
69	4. Log in to the WordPress Dashboard and activate the FeedWordPress plugin.
70
71	5. Once the plugin is activated, you can go to Syndication --> Options
72	and set (1) the link category that FeedWordPress will syndicate links
73	from (by default, "Contributors"), and (2) whether FeedWordPress will
74	use automatic updates or only manual updates.
75
76	5. Go to the main Syndication page to set up the list of sites that
77	you want FeedWordPress to syndicate onto your blog.
78
79	= Upgrades =
80
81	To upgrade an existing installation of FeedWordPress to version 0.992:
82
83	1. Download the FeedWordPress archive in zip or gzipped tar format and
84	extract the files on your computer.
85
86	2. If you are upgrading from version 0.98 or earlier, then you need to
87	create a new directory named `feedwordpress` in the `wp-content/plugins`
88	directory of your WordPress installation, and you also need to delete
89	your existing `wp-content/update-feeds.php` and
90	`wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress.php` files. The file structure for
91	FeedWordPress has changed and the files from your old version will not
92	be overwritten, which could cause conflicts if you leave them in place.
93
94	3. Upload the new PHP files to `wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress`,
95	overwriting any existing FeedWordPress files that are there. Also be
96	sure to upgrade the MagpieRSS module by uploading `rss.php` and
97	`rss-functions.php` from the `MagpieRSS-upgrade` directory in your
98	archive to the `wp-includes` directory of your WordPress installation.
99
100	3. If you are upgrading from version 0.96 or earlier, immediately log
101	in to the WordPress Dashboard, and go to Options --> Syndicated.
102	Follow the directions to launch the database upgrade procedure. The new
103	versions of FeedWordPress incorporate some long-needed improvements, but
104	old meta-data needs to be updated to prevent duplicate posts and other
105	possible maladies. If you're upgrading an existing installation, updates
106	and FeedWordPress template functions will not work until you've done
107	the upgrade. Then take a coffee break while the upgrade runs. It should,
108	hopefully, finish within a few minutes even on relatively large
109	databases.
110
111	4. If you are upgrading from version 0.98 or earlier, note that the old
112	`update-feeds.php` has been eliminated in favor of a (hopefully) more
113	humane method for automatic updating. If you used a cron job for
114	scheduled updates, it will not work anymore, but there is another,
115	simpler method which will. See [Setting Up Feed Updates](http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/install/#setting-up-feed-updates)
116	to get scheduled updates back on track.
117
118	5. Enjoy your new installation of FeedWordPress.
119
120	== Using and Customizing FeedWordPress ==
121
122	FeedWordPress has many options which can be accessed through the WordPress
123	Dashboard, and a lot of functionality accessible programmatically through
124	WordPress templates or plugins. For further documentation of the ins and
125	outs, see the documentation at the [FeedWordPress project homepage][].
126
127	[FeedWordPress project homepage]: http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/
128
129	== License ==
130
131	The FeedWordPress plugin is copyright © 2005-2007 by Charles Johnson. It uses
132	code derived or translated from:
133
134	- [wp-rss-aggregate.php][] by [Kellan Elliot-McCrea](kellan@protest.net)
135	- [MagpieRSS][] by [Kellan Elliot-McCrea](kellan@protest.net)
136	- [HTTP Navigator 2][] by [Keyvan Minoukadeh](keyvan@k1m.com)
137	- [Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder][] by [Mark Pilgrim](mark@diveintomark.org)
138
139	according to the terms of the [GNU General Public License][].
140
141	This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
142	the terms of the [GNU General Public License][] as published by the Free
143	Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
144	later version.
145
146	This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
147	WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
148	PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
149
150	[wp-rss-aggregate.php]: http://laughingmeme.org/archives/002203.html
151	[MagpieRSS]: http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/
152	[HTTP Navigator 2]: http://www.keyvan.net/2004/11/16/http-navigator/
153	[Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder]: http://diveintomark.org/projects/feed_finder/
154
155	[GNU General Public License]: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
156
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