RSS stands either for 'Really Simple Syndication' (for versions < 1.0, ie 0.9x) or 'RDF Site Summary' (for versions >= 1.0). Either way, RSS is a web technology for, er, something. - http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/ (a general tutorial) - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/ (RSS 1.0) - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/spec (the RSS 1.0 specification) - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/ (RSS 1.0 modules) - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/dc/ (Dublin core module for RSS 1.0) - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/ (syndication module for RSS 1.0) - http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/ (content module for RSS 1.0) - http://backend.userland.com/rss (RSS 2.0) - http://backend.userland.com/rss092 (RSS 0.92) - http://backend.userland.com/stories/rss091 (RSS 0.91) The different versions (0.9x and 1.x) are not simply sequential versions; 0.9x is still being developed, as an alternative to 1.x. 0.9x is simpler, but 1.x is more integrated with other loony web technologies, like XML-in-the-large, RDF, etc. 2.0 is the latest version of 0.9x. There are some perl modules for working with RSS: - http://search.cpan.org/author/EISEN/XML-RSS-0.96/RSS.pm (XML::RSS) - http://search.cpan.org/author/ATRICKETT/XML-RSS-Tools-0.06/Tools.pm (XML::RSS::Tools) An RSS validator sounds like a good idea: - http://feeds.archive.org/validator/ RSS 0.92 seems like the best place to begin. The spec says 0.92 is basically 0.91 with some useless extra options and all the limits removed (Doom/Boom style). 0.91 says it's an XML document, with a root _rss_ element, with a _version_ attribute set to 0.92 or whatever. Inside that is a single _channel_ element, which has metadata and items. The metadata is some combination of: _title_ (channel/website title), _link_ (URL to the website), _description_ (DoesExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), _language_ (using standard codes, like en-uk; actually, the standard says en-gb, which is BadAndRight, but i suggest en-ox), _image_ (an icon for the channel; too complicated to go into here), _managingEditor_ and _webMaster_ (in the form "foo@bar.com (Ferndando Oo)"), _pubDate_ and _lastBuildDate_ (in RFC822 format), _docs_ (pointing to ), _textInput_ (specifying a simple query form for the feed) and some others. The content is a sequence of _item_ elements, each of which can contain _title_, _link_ and _description_ elements, each of which is self-explanatory. Here's a simple-ish RSS file: $text/xml+rss OUSFGWiki http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/view.pl?page=FrontPage A wiki for friends and members of OUSFG, mainly intended for discussion of SF and associated things. en-ox twic@urchin.earth.li (Tom Anderson) twic@urchin.earth.li (Tom Anderson) 11 Nov 2002 1642 GMT 11 Nov 2002 1642 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss092 FrontPage http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/view.pl?page=FrontPage We can't really describe wiki pages. We could pull the first paragraph out, but that would be expensive, and not terribly functional. Working with RSS will probably involve some appreciation of HeadsDecksAndLeads. We now have RSSRecentChanges. This is cool: . CategoryGeekery