Added blog post

author: Sebastiano Tronto <sebastiano@tronto.net> 2022-06-04 00:29:27 +0200
committer: Sebastiano Tronto <sebastiano@tronto.net> 2022-06-04 00:29:27 +0200
commit: a9c4f75f96eda90f0163b308d8c9b2f9ec895eb8 (patch)
tree: 50da1a01ea776bfdc8d899f02a2a5bac7ca7c73a
parent: 4056cc421d02e7b8df426551954814f15195afa9 (diff)
download: sebastiano.tronto.net-a9c4f75f96eda90f0163b308d8c9b2f9ec895eb8.tar.gz
sebastiano.tronto.net-a9c4f75f96eda90f0163b308d8c9b2f9ec895eb8.zip
3 files changed, 198 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/blog/2022-06-04-gemini/gemini.md b/src/blog/2022-06-04-gemini/gemini.md
new file mode 100644
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+# The gemini protocol
+My website is also available as a *gemini capsule* at
+[gemini://tronto.net](gemini://tronto.net).
+Can't open this link? Of course, you'll need a *gemini* browser for that!
+[Gemini](https://gemini.circumlunar.space) is a very young (2019) internet
+protocol similar to the mcuh more famous
+[HTTP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol), with
+the design goal of being much simpler.
+Gemini pages are written in *gemtext*, a very simple markup language that
+offers headers, hyperlinks, lists and little more - notably, there is no
+inline formatting.
+**Disclaimer**: I am not a networking expert, so I will keep this article
+at a very basic level. Nonetheless I may end up writing wrong or inaccurate
+things. If you know this stuff better than me and you spot a mistake, feel
+free to [send me an email](mailto:sebastiano@tronto.net).
+## Protocols: gemini:// and http://
+In the context of computer networks, a *protocol* is a set of rules that
+describes how two different machines should communicate to exchange data.
+If you are viewing this page in a normal web browser, the address in your
+address bar probably starts with `http://` (or `https://`, but let's pretend
+they are the same thing). This means that your device is communicating with
+the server where I have uploaded this page using the *Hypertext Transfer
+Protocol*. Concretely, your browser has sent the server a message such as
+```
+GET /blog/index.html HTTP/1.1
+Host: sebastiano.tronto.net
+```
+And the server has replied something like
+```
+HTTP/1.1 200 OK
+Connection: keep-alive
+Content-Length: 1131
+Content-Type: text/html
+Date: Fri, 03 Jun 2022 14:34:22 GMT
+Last-Modified: Sun, 29 May 2022 11:15:55 GMT
+Server: OpenBSD httpd
+<!doctype html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+        <title> Blog | Sebastiano Tronto </title>
+(...Some more stuff...)
+</html>
+```
+So there is some garbage that you don't care about (your browser does),
+plus the actual content that you want to view. What exact garbage your 
+browser and the server should exchange before one ships actual content
+to the other is exactly what the protocol defines. Calling it "garbage"
+is a bit unfair, because there can be some useful information: for example,
+when the page was last modified, so if your browser has already seen and
+cached this page it does not need to download it again, but there could
+be more stuff such as error messages or redirection paths.
+In contrast, a gemini browser might send a request that looks like
+```
+gemini://tronto.net/blog/index.gmi
+```
+To which a gemini server would respond simply
+```
+20 text/gemini; 
+# Blog
+(...Some more stuff...)
+```
+Very briefly, this is how the two protocols work. You might be wondering how
+exactly your browser is sending and receiving this information. Well, http
+(and gemini) sit on top of other protocols which describe exactly this. These
+other protocols in turn are on top of other protocols and... basically,
+[it's protocols all the way down](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol_suite).
+(If you are curious where I got the server responses from: the UNIX command
+`curl` and the gemini browser [`gmni`](https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/gmni)
+have a `-i` option that allows to see the messages received from the server.)
+## The gemtext markup language
+Web pages are usually sent to your browser in
+[HTML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML) format. There are plenty of
+resources to learn how HTML works, so I will not explain it here.
+Very briefly,
+using tag pairs such as `<h1></h1>`, `<p></p>` or `<a href="..."></a>`,
+an html file tells your browser how to display its content. It may
+also embed images, videos or even executable scripts.
+Gemtext plays the same role for gemini pages, but it has (by design)
+a much more restricted feature set. It's syntax is somewhat similar to
+[Markdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown), another markup language.
+For example, headings and (unordered) lists work in the same way:
+```
+# A title
+## A second-level heading
+There are only 3 levels of heading in gemtext
+### This is the last level
+Lists:
+* one
+* two
+* three
+```
+There is however a fundamental difference in how lines are parsed: in gemtext,
+newlines in the code are preserved. This sounds completely normal for anyone
+used to modern word processors, but it is different from how html, markdown
+and Latex work, just to name a few. In practice, this means that in gemtext
+you nhave to write your paragraphs as long lines, without inserting line breaks
+unless you want the line to be broken at that specific point.
+This may be annoying for people used to old-style line-based editors, such as
+vi, but it makes parsing a gemtext file much simpler.
+There are only three other things you can do in gemtext: links, block quotes
+and preformatted text.
+Links consist of a single line starting with `=>`, followed by a link and
+(optionally) by the text you want to appear instead of the URL of the link.
+```
+=> gemini://tronto.net A link to my homepage
+```
+Blockquotes are simply lines starting with `>`:
+```
+> This is a quote
+```
+Finally, preformatted text is any text between two lines consisting of three
+backticks. It is going to appear as it is when rendered, i.e. your browser
+won't parse any gemtext syntax inside preformatted text.
+````
+```
+This is preformatted text
+It can be useful to display ASCII art, like this
+ /\_/\
+( o.o )
+ > ^ <
+=> This line will not be interpreted as a link
+```
+````
+And that's it, you now know gemtext. There is no inline formatting, no
+embedded media, no CSS - your browser will take care of the styling and
+if you want to view a picture you can just download it and open it with
+an external app.
+## Gemini in practice
+Gemini is basically a very stripped down version of the Internet. To me it
+feels like some kind of very nice, underground web. Some *capsules* I like
+browsing are [smol.pub](gemini://smol.pub) and
+[midnight.pub](gemini://midnight.pub). I don't have an account there
+yet, but I think I will make one at some point. I also check the
+[Antenna feed aggregator](gemini://warmedal.se/~antenna) to discover new
+stuff.
+Basically, if you like the idea of a small and text-only version
+of the internet, you should check out the gemini space.
+The page [geminiquickst.art](https://geminiquickst.art) suggests some
+browsers - I personally use gmnln, but it is more or less an interactive
+curl, you probably won't like it.
+## Conclusions
+I think gemini is an interesting exercise of minimalism, which I like.
+I am not a networking expert, so I don't know what the pros and cons of using
+gemini:// rather than http(s):// are, but I quite like gemtext as a markup
+language. I am not too fond of using long lines, because as a terminal editor
+user I am used to breaking up lines at 70-80 characters, but this is not
+a deal-breaker. However, I still prefer making use of a few of the extra
+features that html offers, such as inline formatting.
+I will keep offering this website in gemtext via gemini://, but it will
+stay html-first. This means that inline links will look a bit ugly in gemini
+and, more annoyingly for the few gemini users, I am always going to use
+http(s) links even when a gemini counterpart is available.
diff --git a/src/blog/blog.md b/src/blog/blog.md
index 34853b1..641b3a0 100644
--- a/src/blog/blog.md
+++ b/src/blog/blog.md
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 [RSS Feed](feed.xml)
+* 2022-06-04 [The gemini protocol](2022-06-04-gemini)
 * 2022-05-29 [The man page reading club: man(1)](2022-05-29-man)
 * 2022-05-21 [Blogs](2022-05-21-blogs)
diff --git a/src/blog/feed.xml b/src/blog/feed.xml
index 6693b07..f7db1ef 100644
--- a/src/blog/feed.xml
+++ b/src/blog/feed.xml
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ Thoughts about software, computers and whatever I feel like sharing
 </description>
 <item>
+<title>The gemini protocol</title>
+<link>https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-06-04-gemini</link>
+<description>The gemini protocol</description>
+<pubDate>2022-06-04</pubDate>
+</item>
+<item>
 <title>The man page reading club: man(1)</title>
 <link>https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-05-29-man</link>
 <description>The man page reading club: man(1)</description>
author	Sebastiano Tronto <sebastiano@tronto.net>	2022-06-04 00:29:27 +0200
committer	Sebastiano Tronto <sebastiano@tronto.net>	2022-06-04 00:29:27 +0200
commit	a9c4f75f96eda90f0163b308d8c9b2f9ec895eb8 (patch)
tree	50da1a01ea776bfdc8d899f02a2a5bac7ca7c73a
parent	4056cc421d02e7b8df426551954814f15195afa9 (diff)
download	sebastiano.tronto.net-a9c4f75f96eda90f0163b308d8c9b2f9ec895eb8.tar.gz sebastiano.tronto.net-a9c4f75f96eda90f0163b308d8c9b2f9ec895eb8.zip

diff --git a/src/blog/2022-06-04-gemini/gemini.md b/src/blog/2022-06-04-gemini/gemini.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d10112 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/blog/2022-06-04-gemini/gemini.md
@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
		1	# The gemini protocol
		2
		3	My website is also available as a gemini capsule at
		4	[gemini://tronto.net](gemini://tronto.net).
		5	Can't open this link? Of course, you'll need a gemini browser for that!
		6
		7	[Gemini](https://gemini.circumlunar.space) is a very young (2019) internet
		8	protocol similar to the mcuh more famous
		9	[HTTP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol), with
		10	the design goal of being much simpler.
		11	Gemini pages are written in gemtext, a very simple markup language that
		12	offers headers, hyperlinks, lists and little more - notably, there is no
		13	inline formatting.
		14
		15	Disclaimer: I am not a networking expert, so I will keep this article
		16	at a very basic level. Nonetheless I may end up writing wrong or inaccurate
		17	things. If you know this stuff better than me and you spot a mistake, feel
		18	free to [send me an email](mailto:sebastiano@tronto.net).
		19
		20	## Protocols: gemini:// and http://
		21	In the context of computer networks, a protocol is a set of rules that
		22	describes how two different machines should communicate to exchange data.
		23	If you are viewing this page in a normal web browser, the address in your
		24	address bar probably starts with `http://` (or `https://`, but let's pretend
		25	they are the same thing). This means that your device is communicating with
		26	the server where I have uploaded this page using the *Hypertext Transfer
		27	Protocol*. Concretely, your browser has sent the server a message such as
		28
		29	```
		30	GET /blog/index.html HTTP/1.1
		31	Host: sebastiano.tronto.net
		32	```
		33
		34	And the server has replied something like
		35
		36	```
		37	HTTP/1.1 200 OK
		38	Connection: keep-alive
		39	Content-Length: 1131
		40	Content-Type: text/html
		41	Date: Fri, 03 Jun 2022 14:34:22 GMT
		42	Last-Modified: Sun, 29 May 2022 11:15:55 GMT
		43	Server: OpenBSD httpd
		44
		45	<!doctype html>
		46	<html lang="en">
		47	<head>
		48	<title> Blog \| Sebastiano Tronto </title>
		49
		50	(...Some more stuff...)
		51
		52	</html>
		53	```
		54
		55	So there is some garbage that you don't care about (your browser does),
		56	plus the actual content that you want to view. What exact garbage your
		57	browser and the server should exchange before one ships actual content
		58	to the other is exactly what the protocol defines. Calling it "garbage"
		59	is a bit unfair, because there can be some useful information: for example,
		60	when the page was last modified, so if your browser has already seen and
		61	cached this page it does not need to download it again, but there could
		62	be more stuff such as error messages or redirection paths.
		63
		64	In contrast, a gemini browser might send a request that looks like
		65
		66	```
		67	gemini://tronto.net/blog/index.gmi
		68	```
		69
		70	To which a gemini server would respond simply
		71
		72	```
		73	20 text/gemini;
		74	# Blog
		75
		76	(...Some more stuff...)
		77	```
		78
		79	Very briefly, this is how the two protocols work. You might be wondering how
		80	exactly your browser is sending and receiving this information. Well, http
		81	(and gemini) sit on top of other protocols which describe exactly this. These
		82	other protocols in turn are on top of other protocols and... basically,
		83	[it's protocols all the way down](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol_suite).
		84
		85	(If you are curious where I got the server responses from: the UNIX command
		86	`curl` and the gemini browser [`gmni`](https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/gmni)
		87	have a `-i` option that allows to see the messages received from the server.)
		88
		89	## The gemtext markup language
		90
		91	Web pages are usually sent to your browser in
		92	[HTML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML) format. There are plenty of
		93	resources to learn how HTML works, so I will not explain it here.
		94	Very briefly,
		95	using tag pairs such as `<h1></h1>`, `<p></p>` or `<a href="..."></a>`,
		96	an html file tells your browser how to display its content. It may
		97	also embed images, videos or even executable scripts.
		98
		99	Gemtext plays the same role for gemini pages, but it has (by design)
		100	a much more restricted feature set. It's syntax is somewhat similar to
		101	[Markdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown), another markup language.
		102	For example, headings and (unordered) lists work in the same way:
		103
		104	```
		105	# A title
		106	## A second-level heading
		107	There are only 3 levels of heading in gemtext
		108	### This is the last level
		109	Lists:
		110	* one
		111	* two
		112	* three
		113	```
		114
		115	There is however a fundamental difference in how lines are parsed: in gemtext,
		116	newlines in the code are preserved. This sounds completely normal for anyone
		117	used to modern word processors, but it is different from how html, markdown
		118	and Latex work, just to name a few. In practice, this means that in gemtext
		119	you nhave to write your paragraphs as long lines, without inserting line breaks
		120	unless you want the line to be broken at that specific point.
		121	This may be annoying for people used to old-style line-based editors, such as
		122	vi, but it makes parsing a gemtext file much simpler.
		123
		124	There are only three other things you can do in gemtext: links, block quotes
		125	and preformatted text.
		126
		127	Links consist of a single line starting with `=>`, followed by a link and
		128	(optionally) by the text you want to appear instead of the URL of the link.
		129
		130	```
		131	=> gemini://tronto.net A link to my homepage
		132	```
		133
		134	Blockquotes are simply lines starting with `>`:
		135
		136	```
		137	> This is a quote
		138	```
		139
		140	Finally, preformatted text is any text between two lines consisting of three
		141	backticks. It is going to appear as it is when rendered, i.e. your browser
		142	won't parse any gemtext syntax inside preformatted text.
		143
		144	````
		145	```
		146	This is preformatted text
		147	It can be useful to display ASCII art, like this
		148	/\_/\
		149	( o.o )
		150	> ^ <
		151	=> This line will not be interpreted as a link
		152	```
		153	````
		154
		155	And that's it, you now know gemtext. There is no inline formatting, no
		156	embedded media, no CSS - your browser will take care of the styling and
		157	if you want to view a picture you can just download it and open it with
		158	an external app.
		159
		160	## Gemini in practice
		161
		162	Gemini is basically a very stripped down version of the Internet. To me it
		163	feels like some kind of very nice, underground web. Some capsules I like
		164	browsing are [smol.pub](gemini://smol.pub) and
		165	[midnight.pub](gemini://midnight.pub). I don't have an account there
		166	yet, but I think I will make one at some point. I also check the
		167	[Antenna feed aggregator](gemini://warmedal.se/~antenna) to discover new
		168	stuff.
		169
		170	Basically, if you like the idea of a small and text-only version
		171	of the internet, you should check out the gemini space.
		172	The page [geminiquickst.art](https://geminiquickst.art) suggests some
		173	browsers - I personally use gmnln, but it is more or less an interactive
		174	curl, you probably won't like it.
		175
		176	## Conclusions
		177
		178	I think gemini is an interesting exercise of minimalism, which I like.
		179	I am not a networking expert, so I don't know what the pros and cons of using
		180	gemini:// rather than http(s):// are, but I quite like gemtext as a markup
		181	language. I am not too fond of using long lines, because as a terminal editor
		182	user I am used to breaking up lines at 70-80 characters, but this is not
		183	a deal-breaker. However, I still prefer making use of a few of the extra
		184	features that html offers, such as inline formatting.
		185
		186	I will keep offering this website in gemtext via gemini://, but it will
		187	stay html-first. This means that inline links will look a bit ugly in gemini
		188	and, more annoyingly for the few gemini users, I am always going to use
		189	http(s) links even when a gemini counterpart is available.
		190


diff --git a/src/blog/blog.md b/src/blog/blog.md index 34853b1..641b3a0 100644 --- a/src/blog/blog.md +++ b/src/blog/blog.md
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
2		2
3	[RSS Feed](feed.xml)	3	[RSS Feed](feed.xml)
4		4
		5	* 2022-06-04 [The gemini protocol](2022-06-04-gemini)
5	* 2022-05-29 [The man page reading club: man(1)](2022-05-29-man)	6	* 2022-05-29 [The man page reading club: man(1)](2022-05-29-man)
6	* 2022-05-21 [Blogs](2022-05-21-blogs)	7	* 2022-05-21 [Blogs](2022-05-21-blogs)


diff --git a/src/blog/feed.xml b/src/blog/feed.xml index 6693b07..f7db1ef 100644 --- a/src/blog/feed.xml +++ b/src/blog/feed.xml
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ Thoughts about software, computers and whatever I feel like sharing
9	</description>	9	</description>
10		10
11	<item>	11	<item>
		12	<title>The gemini protocol</title>
		13	<link>https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-06-04-gemini</link>
		14	<description>The gemini protocol</description>
		15	<pubDate>2022-06-04</pubDate>
		16	</item>
		17
		18	<item>
12	<title>The man page reading club: man(1)</title>	19	<title>The man page reading club: man(1)</title>
13	<link>https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-05-29-man</link>	20	<link>https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-05-29-man</link>
14	<description>The man page reading club: man(1)</description>	21	<description>The man page reading club: man(1)</description>