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https://github.com/hedyhli/gelim

minimalist gemini/spartan client, feels a bit like a shell tbh
https://github.com/hedyhli/gelim

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minimalist gemini/spartan client, feels a bit like a shell tbh

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README 

          
# Gelim



[![builds.sr.ht status](https://builds.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim.svg)](https://builds.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim)

[![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/git.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim)](https://goreportcard.com/report/git.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim)

[![libera.chat/#gelim](https://img.shields.io/badge/libera.chat-%23gelim-blue)](irc://irc.libera.chat/#gelim)



A minimalist line-mode smolnet client written in go.



![screenshot](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/gelim-pager.png)



[More screenshots](#screenshots)



You get a simple line-mode browser interface to save and navigate Gemini,

Spartan, and Nex URLs, plus a pager to view pages. Nothing else.



**Table of contents**



* [Features](#features)

* [Install](#install)

  * [Prebuilt binaries](#prebuilt-binaries)

  * [With `go install`](#with-go-install)

  * [Build from source](#build-from-source)

  * [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

* [Usage](#usage)

  * [Quickstart](#quickstart)

* [Navigating a page/document](#navigating-a-pagedocument)

* [The prompt](#the-prompt)

* [Config](#config)

  * [Prompt format options](#prompt-format-options)

  * [Client certificates](#client-certificates)

* [A note about the pager](#a-note-about-the-pager)

  * [Mouse support](#mouse-support)

  * [Search in page](#search-in-page)

* [CLI Options](#cli-options)

* [Screenshots](#screenshots)

* [Behavior details](#behavior-details)

  * [Link indexing](#link-indexing)

  * [Redirects](#redirects)

  * [More...](#more)

  * [Inconsistent behavior?](#inconsistent-behavior)

* [Remotes](#remotes)

* [Discuss](#discuss)

* [Todo](#todo)

* [Patches](#patches)

* [Development](#development)

* [Meta](#meta)

  * [Motivation](#motivation)



## Features



- Quickly visit relative and absolute URLs from the prompt

- Quickly edit the current URL like a GUI URL bar

- Client certificates

- gopher:// protocol support

- [spartan:// protocol](gemini://spartan.mozz.us) support

- [nex:// protocol](https://nex.nightfall.city) support

- Tours, similar to AV-98 to loop between links



## Install



### Prebuilt binaries



Download the latest binary from either SourceHut or GitHub:



- SourceHut: Visit https://git.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim and click on the "release

  notes" link on the latest version shown under "refs"

- GitHub: Visit [the latest release on

  GitHub](https://github.com/hedyhli/gelim/releases/latest) and scroll down to see

  the list of attached assets.



Prebuilt binaries for linux and darwin are provided with both x86 and ARM

architectures.



The tarball archive available for each release includes the **gelim** binary,

the license, this readme, and the `gelim(1)` manpage.



[Skip to usage](#usage)



### With `go install`



```sh

go install git.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim@latest

```



Note that this method does not provide version information



[Skip to usage](#usage)



### Build from source



First, install the dependencies:



* go (>=1.16)



Clone the repo somewhere suitable, such as `/usr/local`:



```sh

git clone https://git.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim

cd gelim

# Recommended to use latest pinned version, rather than @latest

# git checkout v0.0.0

```



Build, optionally set `PREFIX` (default is `PREFIX=/usr/local`):



```

make

```



If all goes well, install gelim.



Remember to use the **same** `PREFIX` too.



```sh

sudo make install



# Or without sudo:

# $ make PREFIX=~/.local install

```



If you don't want to build the manual, you may put your hacker hat on, dive into

the Makefile, and copy the `go build` command used to compile gelim. This lets

you store version info accessible at `--version`.



Or you know what? Just a `go build` works too! The resulting binary will be

in the current directory.



Optionally verify your installation:



```

make checkinstall

```



The gelim binary would be sitting at `$PREFIX/bin/` with manpage at

`$PREFIX/share/man/` :)



### Troubleshooting



* **Something to do with `io.ReadAll`**:



  Gelim requires go version >= 1.16.



If you're having other issues with installation, please send an email to the

[mailing list](mailto:~hedy/inbox@lists.sr.ht).



## Usage



Gelim is a simple program that manages your browsing history and rendering of

pages. It simplifies browsing the internet an action of requesting documents

then displaying them. It provides a simple interface for navigating links found

on documents, manage history, navigate relative URL paths, and delegates the

display of pages to `less(1)`. Think of it as a shell-like wrapper around `curl

... | less` for browsing pages, but for small internet protocols.



### Quickstart



This tutorial will give you a tour of the basic features of gelim. Follow along

to get familiar with the interface.



First, let's enter gelim with a URL.



```

gelim geminiprotocol.net

```

This will bring you to less(1). You can use less to browse the page normally.



> **Note**: if you see something like "-P is not an option", this is because

> your system does not support one of gelim's default options for `less(1)`. You

> should configure your lessOpts to remove the -P option in your

> [configuration](#config).



When you want to visit a link, you have to quit less first. **Press `q`**



The page will be fetched and you'll be in less again.



Now let's try something more interesting.



While you're at the prompt type:

```

rawtext.club

```

Say you don't have an account on rawtext.club yet and would like to sign up.



Go to the bottom of the page, where the link to signing up is provided. **Type `G`**



Then, you have to quit the pager. **Press `q`**



Look for the link number that links to the sign up page, and enter it directly at the prompt.

As of writing, the link number is 38, but keep in mind this number may change when you are

trying this out.

```

38

```

And now you've decided to have a look at rawtext.club's values at the front page on more time.

Unfortunately, the sign up page does not provide a link to go back to home. No worries, you can

directly use the path (prefixed with . or /) at the prompt.



Let's try it out. Quit the pager (**`q`**), and **type `/` and press enter**



Voila, you're at the front page again!



Thanks for trying out this quickstart tutorial, there is still much to explore. Type in **`help`**

from the prompt and check out the commands, have fun!



## Navigating a page/document



Everything in page rendering is handled with less(1). less is called with

options specified from your config file. gelim has no intervention in

pre-processing any keys.



Hence, anything that works in less should work normally when less is called by

gelim.



Useful navigation keys include: `d`/`u`/`PgDn`/`PgUp`/`Space`.



Useful keys for jumping to positions include: `g`/`G`.



Use `q` to quit.



## The prompt



Gelim uses a lightweight readline-like library for parsing the command line

within the line-mode interface. By default, the prompt shows the current URL and

a ">" symbol, this can be [configured](#config).



At the prompt, common line editing keys are supported. Completion for gelim's

commands are also supported through tab and

shifttab.



## Config



For people on a Unix system gelim will look for configuration in

`~/.config/gelim/config.toml`.



Gelim follows XDG specification for deciding where to find config and where to

store data files.



Though you do not need a configuration file to have gelim working.



```toml

# example config



prompt = "-->"

# default: "%U\n>" (the full url of # the current page), a new line and a ">".

# (more info below)



startURL = "example.com"

# default: ""

# the page to visit if starting gelim without a specified link



lessOpts = "-FSXR~"

# will be put in LESS environment variable.

# default: "-FSXR~ -P pager (q to quit)"



searchURL = "gemini://kennedy.gemi.dev/search"



clipboardCopyCmd = "pbcopy"

# Example for MacOS. default = "" (unset)



maxRedirects = 5



index0shortcut = -1

# default: unset (0). an alias for link index 0



maxWidth = 70

# width of each page is max(, maxWidth)

# set to 0 to always use the terminal width.

# set to negative X to use a maxWidth of X but disable centering.



useCertificates = [

    # default: [] (see details below)

    "gemini://astrobotany.mozz.us",

    "gemini://bbs.geminispace.org",

]

```



**clipboardCopyCmd**:



Example for linux with xclip: `xclip -sel c`



Contents to be copied will be piped to the command as stdin.



**maxRedirects**:

- 0: Always confirm redirects

- `>0`: Ask to confirm redirects after a set number of redirects

- `<0`: Never confirm redirects. (Please see [this section](#redirects) for

  behavior details)



**index0shortcut**:



How gelim should treat link index argument "0"; please see [this

section](#link-indexing) for details.



**maxWidth**:



This value is only used for non-preformatted page formats. This includes

gemtext, where each line is a paragraph, but does not include `text/plain` and

Nex protocol directory pages.



### Prompt format options



You can use a number of placeholders for your prompt:



- `%U`: Full url of current page including scheme (gemini://example.com/foo/bar)

- `%u`: Full url of current page without scheme (example.com/foo/bar)

- `%P`: Absolute path of the current url (/foo/bar)

- `%p`: Base path of the current url (bar)

- `%H`: Hostname including port

- `%h`: Hostname without port



Use `%%` for a literal percent character, and percent-prefixed option that is not supported

will be ignored and presented literally.



The query part of the URL is stripped for all options.



Here are some examples:



```

config    resulting prompt

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

"%U>"     "gemini://example.com/foo/bar> "

"%P %%"   "/foo/bar % "

"%z>"     "%z> "

"%%%% $"  "%% $ "

```



Newline characters (`"\n"`) in the prompt are supported. The default prompt is

`%U\n>`, which produces:



```

gemini://example.com/foo/bar

> _

```



Where `_` indicates the cursor position.



### Client certificates



Save your `cert.pem` and `key.pem` files in the gelim config directory (such as

`~/.config/gelim/{cert,key}.pem`). Symlinks are supported.



Then use the `useCertificate` config option to specify the list of URL prefixes

that the client certificate should be used on. For example:



```toml

useCertificates = [

    "gemini://astrobotany.mozz.us/app",

    "gemini://bbs.geminispace.org",

]

```



If the current visiting URL has a prefix from this list, then the client

certificate, if available, will be used.



## A note about the pager



Gelim requires less(1) for paged output. If you don't have that installed, or is

on windows, it will print the page directly and you'll have to scroll the page

yourself (like AV-98). This is a bug and will be fixed in the near future.



### Mouse support



Add `--mouse` (if your version of less supports it) to `lessOpts` option

in your config file.



### Search in page



Type `/` when less is running. See less(1) for more

information.



## CLI Options



```

~> gelim --help

Usage: ./gelim [FLAGS] [URL]



Flags:

  -c, --config string    specify a different config location

                         

  -h, --help             get help on the cli

  -i, --input string     append input to URL ('?' + percent-encoded input)

                         

  -I, --no-interactive   don't go to the line-mode interface

                         

  -s, --search string    search with the search engine (this takes priority over URL and --input)

                         

  -v, --version          print the version and exit

                         

For help on the TUI client, type ? at interactive prompt, or see gelim(1)

```



**Examples**:



Search

```

~> gelim -s "astrobotany"

```



Test your awesome, boring, classic, totally OG CGI scripts (exits immediately)

```

~> gelim example.org/cgi-bin/greet.sh -Ii 'world'

Hello, world!



~>

```



Use it in scripts to show outputs in stdout

```sh

~> cat < python-help.sh

read -p "help> "

gelim do.hedy.dev/help/py -Ii "${REPLY:-help}"

EOF



~> bash python-help.sh

help> input

'Help on built-in function input in module builtins:



input(prompt=None, /)

    Read a string from standard input.  The trailing newline is stripped.



    The prompt string, if given, is printed to standard output without a

    trailing newline before reading input.



    If the user hits EOF (*nix: Ctrl-D, Windows: Ctrl-Z+Return), raise EOFError.

    On *nix systems, readline is used if available.'

```



(Single quotes added on output to aid syntax highlighting.)



Submit your twtxt to antenna

```

~> gelim -I 'gemini://warmedal.se/~antenna/submit' -i 'gemini://do.hedy.dev/tw.txt'

Thank you for your submission! Antenna has now been updated.

```



## Screenshots



**Commands**



![screenshot of `help` command output](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/gelim-cmds.png)



**Tour**



![screenshot of tour command](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/tour.png)



**Edit url**



![screenshot of editing url](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/editurl.png)



**Spartan**



![screenshot of spartan colors](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/spartan-colors.png)



**Links**



![screenshot of links](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/link.png)



**Search**



![screenshot of search command](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/search.png)



**Spartan input**



![screenshot of spartan input functionality](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hedyhli/gelim/master/assets/spartan-input.png)



## Behavior details



A good way to master a piece software is to understand how it works from the

program's perspective.



Let's take a look at some UX details from various parts of gelim that could

require clarification.



- [Link indexing](#link-indexing)

- [Redirects](#redirects)



### Link indexing



Links on a page are numbered starting from 1. If a page has 3 links, the link

indices are 1, 2, and 3.



You can simply type 1, 2, or 3 at the line-mode prompt directly to visit them.



**Negative arguments**



-1 specifies the last link, -2 the second-last link and so on.



This pattern is applied for ALL commands that take in a link index as argument,

such as **link**, **tour**, **history**, **editurl**.



**Multiple arguments**



Commands **link** and **tour** supports multiple link index arguments, for

example:



```

> link 1 2

> tour 3 4 5

```



What they do with those links is dependent on what the command is for.



**Index 0**



This is undefined by default, but can act as a shortcut, set in config

`index0shortcut`.



A hint is printed when you do not set this config value, and you try to use a

`0` for link index:



```

> link 0

[ERROR] Behaviour for index 0 is undefined.

You can use -1 for accessing the last item, -2 for second last, etc.

Configure the behaviour of 0 in the config file.

Example: index0shortcut = -1, then whenever you use 0 it will be -1 instead.

This works for commands history, links, editurl, and tour.

```



**Ranges**



At the moment, ranges of link indices only work for command **tour**.



Ranges can be specified with an upper bound and a lower bound, separated by a

comma. Both bounds can be omitted.



The default value of upper bound is the first link index, and the default value

of lower bound is last link index.



Bounds are inclusive.



Naturally, if both bounds are excluded, all links on current page are selected.



```

gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/> l

[...]

10 gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/capcom/

11 gemini://rawtext.club:1965/~sloum/spacewalk.gmi

12 gemini://calcuode.com/gmisub-aggregate.gmi

13 gemini://caracolito.mooo.com/deriva/

14 gemini://gempaper.strangled.net/mirrorlist/

15 gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/users/



gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/> t 11,

Added 5 items to tour list



gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/> t c

Cleared 5 items



gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/> t ,

Added 15 items to tour list

```



### Redirects



The configuration option to set the maximum allowed automatic redirects is

`maxRedirects`. This is set to 5 by default (following RFC-2068), meaning gelim

will follow redirects 5 times, after which, if there are further redirects, user

will be prompted for what to do.



The command to view the history of redirects following current URL is

`redirects`.



Special values:

- **0**: Ask for input for all redirects

- **<0** (negative): Automatically follow all redirects



Due to implementation and resource limitations, gelim cannot practically follow

an infinite number of redirects, nor can gelim save the history of all previous

redirects and show them all in the `redirects` command.



The command shows a maximum of 10 most recent redirect URLs.



Once the number of unprompted redirects reaches 20, gelim aborts and prints the

10 most recent redirects.



If you wish, you can still copy the last URL from the output and visit the URL

as normal.



**What happens when the max number of redirects is reached**



Consider the example where `maxRedirects` is set to 2 in the configuration file.



This is the behavior of following the redirhell torture test URL:



```

[...]

So, with that said, the first link is to the "Redirection From Hell" test, a test

of a series of temporary redirects, always. The second link is to the next test.



 [1] Redirection From Hell

 [2] 0023

gemini://gemini.thebackupbox.net/test/torture/0022> 1

[WARNING] Max redirects of 2 reached

1 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/20190

2 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/25942



Redirect to:

gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/26941

[y/n]> y

[WARNING] Max redirects of 2 reached

1 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/9114

2 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/4356



Redirect to:

gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/2582

[y/n]>

```



After 2 redirects, the user will be prompted **and the count of redirects

resets**, meaning the user saying "y" to prompt is equivalent to the user

opening a new link of the said URL.



If the total number of times the user gets redirected for a particular website

is 10, and `maxRedirects` is set to 3, the user will be prompted 3 times on

whether to follow a subsequent redirect.



1. 3 redirects followed

1. Continue? yes

1. 3 redirects followed

1. Continue? yes

1. 3 redirects followed

1. Continue? yes

1. 1 redirect followed

1. the page loads and is displayed



Here is an example for the behavior of `redirects` command, following the case

where `maxRedirects` is set to 2:



```

[...]

So, with that said, the first link is to the "Redirection From Hell" test, a test

of a series of temporary redirects, always. The second link is to the next test.



 [1] Redirection From Hell

 [2] 0023

gemini://gemini.thebackupbox.net/test/torture/0022> 1

[WARNING] Max redirects of 2 reached

1 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/32043

2 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/1544



Redirect to:

gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/22150

[y/n]> n

gemini://gemini.thebackupbox.net/test/torture/0022> redir

1 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/32043

2 gemini://thebackupbox.net/test/redirhell/1544

gemini://gemini.thebackupbox.net/test/torture/0022>

```



### More...



You can use `help ` at the prompt to view usage information for a

particular command. If there's anything that is confusing or a pattern/behavior

that is hard to remember, let me know!



Of course, a last resort could be studying the source code directly, remember to

look at the corresponding version which you built gelim from.



### Inconsistent behavior?



If there is any inconsistent behavior in gelim's interface, or if it does not

follow what is described in the docs, please let me know using a method of

contact described below.



## Remotes



- [SourceHut](https://sr.ht/~hedy/gelim)

- [Tildegit (gitea)](https://tildegit.org/hedy/gelim)

- [GitHub](https://github.com/hedyhli/gelim)

- [Codeberg](https://codeberg.org/hedy/gelim)



## Discuss



Chat on the `#gelim` channel on libera.chat IRC.



You can send feature requests or bug reports on

[GitHub](https://github.com/hedyhli/gelim/issues). If you prefer email, feel

free to use my [public inbox](https://lists.sr.ht/~hedy/inbox).



## Todo



See the [ticket tracker](https://todo.sr.ht/~hedy/gelim).



## Patches



Open PRs on the [GitHub repo](https://github.com/hedyhli/gelim/pulls), or if you

prefer patches, use my [public inbox](https://lists.sr.ht/~hedy/inbox).



## Development



```sh

make gelim

make gelim.1

# both

make all # or just make

make clean



make fmt

make checkfmt



# after tagging and pushing

# cp .envrc.example .envrc

# requires goreleaser, and sourcehut and github tokens

make release         # build and publish to GitHub (with goreleaser)

.scripts/release.sh  # uploads artifacts to sourcehut

```



## Meta



Gelim = "**ge**mini" + "**li**ne-**m**ode"-like interface



Pronunciation = Ge like "Jelly", lim like "limits"



### Motivation



This project started off as an "AV-98 with a pager". The line-mode interface is

largely inspired by AV-98, except URLs, links indices and relative paths can be

directly entered at the prompt in addition to line-mode commands. Pages are

rendered with formatting and color, and is automatically sent to a pager for

display.



Gelim is written in Go because I preferred to distribute single binaries.