Install Stringer RSS reader on Fedora Linux

Stringer is an RSS reader which is used to get the latest updates of blogs and websites. It can be hosted on your own server and accessed over the localhost. It is developed using the Ruby language. This app is based on Sinatra, ActiveRecord, PostgreSQL, Backbone.js, and DelayedJob. It can be run on Heroku, Linux-based VPS with Ruby, Docker, Openshift. One can use their own domain with a stringer by using a CNAME. It can also be used on mobile clients that support Fever.

WHAT WE WILL COVER

In this guide, we will see how to install Stringer RSS reader on a Fedora 33 workstation. Once installed, we can use it to update any website by adding them to our feeds. Let’s get started with the installation process.

PREREQUISITES

Before we begin, ensure the following requirements:

1. Fedora 33 OS installed on your system.
2. An user account with administrative (sudo) access.
3. Access to the internet for downloading various files.

INSTALLING REQUIRED PACKAGES

Step 1. We need to first install the below packages for configuring Stringer. Install those packages with the command:

The above command will install the PostgreSQL database server, OpenSSL, NodeJS, and other dependent packages.

POSTGRESQL SETUP

Step 2. (a) Now initialize the Postgres database and start the PostgreSQL database server with the following commands:

(b) Use the below command to make the Postgres service automatically start at boot:

(c) You can check the status of the service with the command:

CREATING POSTGRES USER AND DATABASE

Step 3. Next, we will create a Postgresql user and a database for Stringer:

You will be asked to enter a password for the Stringer user when you run the above command.

The database can be created with the command:

The above user (stringer) will own this database (stringer_db).

CREATING USER FOR STRINGER

Step 4. (a) We will create a separate system used for installing Stringer. Creating a separate user is necessary for security purposes and managing various dependencies for installing Stringer. Run the below command for creating a user (Stringer) with home directory and bash shell:

(b) Switch to the above user with the command:

INSTALLING RUBY

Step 5. (a) Install rbenv tool for managing multiple versions of Ruby. We will use rbenv with bundler to simplify the installation process. Run the below commands to grab rbenv from github:

(b) Now add rbenv to the PATH of stringer user and run rbenv init command as below:

(c) To install Ruby, clone the repo ‘ruby-build’ to the directory ‘/.rbenv/plugins/’ as shown below:

(d) Source the bash_profile with the command:

(e) Finally, install the Ruby with the command:

INSTALLING BUNDLER

Step 6. Install bundler tool to handle various Stringer’s dependencies:

To rehash the ruby environment, use the command:

In case you want to confirm the installed version of ruby, run:

INSTALLING FOREMAN

Step 7. To run the Stringer, install the Foreman tool with the command:

SETTING UP STRINGER

Step 8. (a) After completing the above steps, we can continue to get the Stringer from Git. Navigate to stringer’s home directory:

(b) Once the above command finishes, move to the below directory:

(c) To install the dependencies for Stringer, use the bundler tool as shown below:

SETTING THE ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

Step 9. (a) To set various environment variables for Postgres database, run the below commands:

(b) Source the bash_profile file and change the directory.

CONFIGURING DATABASE.YML FILE

Step 10. Open database.yml file in the folder /home/stringer/stringer/config/ with any text editor like nano:

Now make the entry of this file look like the one below:

Save and close the file.

Step 11. After modifying the above file, we will run our Postgres database in production mode, using the command:

LAUNCHTHE APPLICATION

Step 12. (a) The last step is to run the Stringer application using the foreman tool:

(b) If everything goes right, the Stringer will be started at the localhost address and listening on the port 5000 as shown above. To check this, open any web browser and navigate to the address: 0.0.0.0:5000

At the very first startup page, you will need to create a password for your account:

Next, it will ask you to import your feed from Google Reader:

On the next page, you can start adding your feed from the below page:

(c) We can also schedule a cron job with the command:

Now put the following entry in the file and save it.

CONCLUSION

We have successfully managed to install and run the Stringer RSS Reader on Fedora 33 OS in this guide. We have learned to manage multiple ruby versions with rbenv, configuring Postgres database, etc. What you can do next is to use this guide to try to install Stringer on Centos and other RedHat-based distros. You can also use the Heroku free plan to deploy and run Stringer.