# \[ANN\] Rassmalog 1.0.0

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-rassmalog-1-0-0/79096>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 12, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-rassmalog-1-0-0/79096 "2006-12-12T03:20:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![snk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@snk](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/snk)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-rassmalog-1-0-0/79096/1 "2006-12-12T03:20:45Z")

</div>

```
                                      Version 1.0.0 (2006-12-11)
                                      http://rassmalog.rubyforge.org

```

= Introduction

Rassmalog is a static blog engine based on RSS 2.0, YAML, and Textile.  
It  
features an extensible blog formatting mechanism, automatic tagging and  
archiving, and easy configuration.

- It can be easily changed to use _any_ formatting system (see the  
“configuration” section below).

- It is inspired by the Rog[[http://rog.rubyforge.org](http://rog.rubyforge.org)] and  
hobix[[http://hobix.com](http://hobix.com)] blog engines.

_Demonstration_

See {the author’s blog}[[http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~snk/](http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~snk/)] for a  
demonstration.  
Notice how Rassmalog also supports non-English languages.

_Etymology_

The name _Rassmalog_ is derived from  
{Rasmalai}[[Ras malai - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmalai)] (a delicious Indian  
dessert) and is somewhat of a portmanteau of the words RSS, YAML, and  
blog.

== Facilites

At the {project portal}[[http://rubyforge.org/projects/rassmalog/](http://rubyforge.org/projects/rassmalog/)], you  
can:

- {download release packages}[[http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group\_id=2737](http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=2737)]

- {report bugs, submit patches and  
requests}[[http://rubyforge.org/tracker/?group\_id=2737](http://rubyforge.org/tracker/?group_id=2737)]

- {use discussion forums}[[http://rubyforge.org/forum/?group\_id=2737](http://rubyforge.org/forum/?group_id=2737)]

= Requirements

The following software is required:

- Rake[[http://docs.rubyrake.org/](http://docs.rubyrake.org/)]

- RedCloth[[http://whytheluckystiff.net/ruby/redcloth/](http://whytheluckystiff.net/ruby/redcloth/)]

- CodeRay[[http://coderay.rubychan.de/](http://coderay.rubychan.de/)]

If you have RubyGems[[http://rubygems.org/](http://rubygems.org/)] on your system, then you can  
install the above requirements by running the following command:

gem install rake redcloth coderay

== Bypassing the requirements

If you do not wish to install RedCloth and CodeRay, please see the  
section  
named “using another formatting system” below.

= Installation

Simply extract the release package anywhere you want.

== Organization

When you extract the release package, you would see the following:

doc/:: directory that contains API documentation

config/:: directory that contains all configuration files

config/blog.yaml:: the primary configuration file for your blog

config/html.erb:: template used to generate all HTML files

config/rss.erb:: template used to generate the RSS 2.0 feed

config/entry.erb:: template that transforms an entry into Textile

config/format.rb:: defines how text is transformed into HTML

entries/:: directory that contains all blog entry files. The file  
name of a blog entry file can be anything (it does not have  
to  
match the title of the entry). However, the file extension  
of a blog entry file must be either “yaml” or “yml”.

```
        You can organize your blog entry files within

```

subdirectories.  
For example, I like to put all blog entry files related to  
Ruby  
programming within the entries/code/ruby/ directory.

entries/example.yaml:: an example blog entry file.

input/:: directory that contains resources (such as images,  
stylesheets,  
and so on) used by your blog. Everything inside this directory  
is  
automatically copied into the output/ directory when your blog  
is  
generated.

output/:: directory that contains all generated files.

= Usage

In the location where you extracted the release package, run the  
following  
command to see a list of available tasks:

rake -T

To generate your blog, run either of the following commands:

rake  
rake blog

To _forcefully_ regenerate your blog, run the following command:

rake clobber blog

To upload your blog to your website, run the following command:

rake publish

== Configuration

Edit the files inside the config/ directory to suit your taste. These  
files  
are described above in the “Organization” section.

=== Using another text formatting system

If you wish to use a different text formatting system, you can do so by  
editing the “config/format.rb” file (read the description at the top of  
that  
file before making changes).

_Example_: If you replace the contents of the “config/format.rb” file  
with  
the following code, then the all entries will appear within gray-colored

```
elements in the generated HTML files.

  class String
    def to_html
      '
```
' + self + '
```
'

```
end

```

end

In this manner, you can use any formatting system you wish.

= Hacking

You can obtain the latest source code from the Darcs repository:

darcs get [http://rassmalog.rubyforge.org/src/rassmalog/](http://rassmalog.rubyforge.org/src/rassmalog/)
```