"postping" is a package that aggregates weblog "trackback pings" into
a Movable Type weblog, to create a "meta-blog" of weblog entries.
The package provides a CGI that can receive trackback pings, as well
as a form for manual submission. Each trackback is encapsulated into
a Movable Type blog entry, and then posted to the weblog.
This package was developed for an earlier version of the Austin Bloggers
meta-blog . We are no longer using this
package, but I'm making it available for people who may find it useful.
See for background
information on this package.
REQUIREMENT: You must have Python version 2.2 (or later) installed on
your system. Some versions of Red Hat Linux, for instance, only install
version 1.5, and you need to manually install the RPM for 2.2.
REQUIREMENT: You must already have Movable Type (or a system that
understands the MT RPCs) installed on the system where you want to
present the Metablog.
OPTIONAL: The system you install "postping" on *may* be different from
the one where you are running Movable Type. You just need to be sure
that you set the "Rpc_Url" setting to point to where the Movable Type
installation resides.
This package is NOT actively supported. While I welcome your feedback,
and will try to provide bugfixes, additional features are not likely.
Chip Rosenthal
=== Installation Instructions ===
A. Configure Movable Type
== ======================
1. Create a weblog (if it doesn't already exist) into which
the articles will be aggregated.
2. Create a Movable Type user with post (only) permissions to
that blog. I call the user "Automatic Poster" but you can call
it whatever you want.
3. Optional: If you want, create a weblog category into which
the aggregated articles will be posted.
B. Install the Library Module
== ==========================
1. Install the postping.py script OUTSIDE of the web directory.
You may choose to install it in the system python library
(something like /usr/lib/python). I prefer to install it into
a private directory (something like /usr/local/lib/python).
2. Change into the directory where you installed that module
and run:
python2 -c 'import postping'
That will compile the module for you. The "python2" is a
Red Hat thing. If you get a "command not found" error then
try plain old "python".
C. Install the CGI Script
== ======================
1. Install the postping.cgi script somewhere in your web directory,
where people will be able to access (and run!) it.
2. Edit that file, and adjust the configuration settings.
3. Edit the top line of the file (the #! line) to be sure it points
to the full pathname of your python interpretor.
4. Change into that directory and run:
chmod +x postping.cgi
5. Now run:
./postping.cgi
* If it produces an XML document (containing an error message)
then everything is OK so far. Go on to the next step.
* If it produces an error such as "bad interpreter" or "no such
file or directory", then you probably didn't do step 3
correctly.
* If it produces an error such as "ImportError: No module named
postping" then in step 2 you probably neglected to adjust
sys.path.append() to point to the directory that contains the
"postping.py" module.
D. Install the HTML Form
== =====================
1. Install the postmanual.html file somewhere in your web directory,
where people will be able to access it.
2. Search for the