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https://github.com/ben-xo/dir2cast

Turn a directory of MP3s into a podcast - automatically.
https://github.com/ben-xo/dir2cast

automatic folder itunes mp3 mp3-files php podcast podcast-generator podcasting podcasts rss rss-feed rss-feed-generator rss-generator

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Turn a directory of MP3s into a podcast - automatically.

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README 

        
[![Testing dir2cast](https://github.com/ben-xo/dir2cast/actions/workflows/testing.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/ben-xo/dir2cast/actions/workflows/testing.yml)



dir2cast by Ben XO v1.38 (2023-01-05)

================================================================================



https://github.com/ben-xo/dir2cast/



INTRODUCTION

================================================================================



Hello!



dir2cast is designed to turn a directory of MP3s into a podcast - automatically.

Perfect for, say, radio shows - upload the MP3s to a folder, and use dir2cast.php

as your PodCast URL.



Features:



* For 99% of things, NO CONFIGURATION IS NECESSARY. All you have to do is upload

  dir2cast to your web server, then start uploading media files, and it will

  pick up most of the podcast text straight from the tags in the file (such as

  the artist, title and comment tags.)



* supports MP3, MP4, M4A and M4B files



* dir2cast will automatically use the ID3 fields from your files for the Author,

  Title, etc. ID3v2 is supported, as are the usual tags found in MP4 / M4A / M4B

  files. (Uses getID3, which is bundled with dir2cast.)



* dir2cast will automatically use the cover art embedded in your file as well.



* The generated feed is cached (in the supplied 'temp' folder, or anywhere else

  that you want) and only updated if something in the directory changes - so

  the feed will load fast and put minimal strain on your web server. It only

  regenerates the feed when a new episode is uploaded.



* Comprehensive support for iTunes podcast tags.



* iTunes 'image' supported: just drop a file called itunes_image.jpg in the same

  folder as your media files.



* RSS Description, iTunes Subtitle and iTunes Summary can be set by dropping

  files named description.txt, itunes_subtitle.txt and itunes_summary.txt 

  in the same folder as dir2cast.php - but they are not required. (You can

  also set these in the config).



* You can set a per-file iTunes Summary by creating a text file with the same

  name as the media file (e.g. for file.mp3, create file.txt).



QUICK HOW TO GUIDES

================================================================================



Here are links to a couple of guides on how to set up a podcast, using dir2cast.

Thanks to the people who wrote these guides!



* https://sys.re/files/itunes/ (by nilicule)

* https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/ae37kf/ (by u/wagesj45)



REQUIREMENTS

================================================================================



dir2cast requires PHP 5.3 minimum. It requires the XML extension to be enabled.



It has been tested up to PHP 8. Please file a bug if you find any PHP version

specific problems: https://github.com/ben-xo/dir2cast/issues



dir2cast makes use of getID3 by James Heinrich & Allan Hansen, although it does

not require the whole thing. A cut down version of getID3 is supplied at

https://github.com/ben-xo/dir2cast/. You will need to download this and 

install it with dir2cast.php. The full version of getID3 is available at 

http://getid3.sourceforge.net/ .



INSTALLATION

================================================================================



Please note: the config file will make more sense if you read all of this `README`

before trying the installation instructions.



dir2cast is quite flexible but the general idea is that you add cover art and

tags to your media files (mp3, mp4, m4a and m4b currently supported) and then the

podcast that it generates uses the tags from your files.



1. Edit `dir2cast.ini` to your taste.

2. Upload `dir2cast.php` and `dir2cast.ini` to the web server.

3. Upload `getID3` to a folder called '`getID3`'. (You can download getID3 from

   the same place as dir2cast.)

4. Upload a media file to the same folder as `dir2cast.php`

5. Go to the URL for `dir2cast.php `- e.g. http://example.com/dir2cast.php

6. This is your podcast! Check it's valid at https://podba.se/validate/

   You may need to edit dir2cast.ini some more to get the text you want.

   The generated feed is cached. It will regenerate if you add a new media

   file, but if you want to force a regeneration delete the files from 

   the "`temp`" folder that is created.



UNDERSTANDING HOW THE CACHING WORKS

================================================================================



dir2cast caches the feed so that it only has to renegerate the content when

something changes. It does this by looking at the file-modification times of

the media content, and of `dir2cast.php` and `dir2cast.ini`.



* The feed will be updated no more than once every 5 seconds (`MIN_CACHE_TIME`)

  This is to prevent high load if the feed is hammered by clients.

* The feed will be updated when a media file that is newer than the cache file

  appears in the folder, as long as the media file was not updated in the last

  30 seconds (`MIN_FILE_AGE`). This is so that it doesn't accidentally include

  files which are still being uploaded.

* Empty media files are ignored (nobody enjoys listening to them anyway)

* The feed will be updated when `dir2cast.php` or `dir2cast.ini` are newer

  than the cache file as a convenience when upgrading.



**Notes**:

* Files in the feed appear in order of their modification times (most recent

  first). This is usually the order in which you copy them into the folder, but

  some methods of copying preserve the original times from your upload source.

  If you aren't seeing what you expect, check that these times are in the right

  order. On Linux, you can use the command `touch` to update the modification

  time of a file.

* Extra files (such as the images and .txt descriptions) are NOT checked. If you

  modify these and need to refresh the feed, either delete the cache folder or

  use the `?force=` URL (see `dir2cast.ini` `FORCE_PASSWORD`)



TIPS

================================================================================



CASTING SEVERAL FOLDERS FROM ONE DIR2CAST.PHP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



If you have more than one folder of MP3s that you are casting, you can serve

them all from a single install of dir2cast.php, and customise dir2cast.ini for

each individual folder.



Assuming the following:

* your web root folder is called `htdocs/` and this maps to http://www.mysite.com/

* you installed dir2cast to the folder `htdocs/dir2cast`

* you have two podcasts, and the MP3s live in `htdocs/dir2cast/cast1` and

  `htdocs/dir2cast/cast2`



1. Make 2 extra copies of `dir2cast.ini` (one for each cast), and then edit

   to taste. (Any settings not specified will be taken from the main

   `dir2cast.ini` - the one that is in the same folder as `dir2cast.php`).

2. Upload these additional dir2cast.ini files to the `htdocs/dir2cast/cast1/`

   and `htdocs/dir2cast/cast2/` folders, respectively.



The podcast URLs will now be:



http://www.mysite.com/dir2cast/dir2cast.php?dir=cast1 and

http://www.mysite.com/dir2cast/dir2cast.php?dir=cast2 .



"PRETTY" URLS FOR YOUR PODCASTS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



### If Your Web Server is Apache



I assume you already have PHP working with Apache.



This hint requires your web server to be Apache with '`mod_rewrite`' enabled.



From the example above, your podcast URL will be:



    http://www.mysite.com/dir2cast/dir2cast.php?dir=cast1



...but much nicer would be something along the lines of



    http://www.mysite.com/dir2cast/cast1/rss



To achieve this, you must configure apache with a rewrite rule such as:



    RewriteEngine on

    RewriteRule (.+)/rss$ dir2cast.php?dir=$1 [L]



Put this in your `VHOST` configuration (inside a `` block) or in a

`.htaccess` file alongside `dir2cast.php` .



PLEASE NOTE: just to check that you understand this section... 

* If you use the `RewriteRule` supplied, `dir2cast.php` must be in the folder above

  the MP3 folders. (If this is not the case, you will have to set MP3_BASE in

  the ini file, and change the rule for your circumstance.)



### If Your Web Server is NGINX



I assume you already have PHP working on NGINX



From the example above, your podcast URL would be:



    http://www.mysite.com/dir2cast/dir2cast.php?dir=cast1



Add some configuration like the following to your sites conf



    location = /dir2cast/rss {

      rewrite ^(/dir2cast)/rss $1/dir2cast.php last;

    }



This assumes the URL you want is /dir2cast/rss, and that the URL of dir2cast.php

is /dir2cast/dir2cast.php



TESTING

================================================================================



To run the unit tests:

1. make sure you have xdebug installed. (`pecl install xdebug`)

2. make sure you have composer installed. (`brew install composer # (or similar)`)

3. `cd test && composer install`

4. `./run.sh`



COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

================================================================================



Copyright (c) 2008-2021, Ben XO ([email protected]).



The software is released under the BSD License.



All rights reserved.



Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,

are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:



  * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,

    this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

  * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,

    this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation

    and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

  * Neither the name of dir2cast nor the names of its contributors

    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 

    without specific prior written permission.



THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT

LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR

A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR

CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,

EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,

PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR

PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF

LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING

NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS

SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.



HISTORY

================================================================================



See CHANGELOG.txt