Dev-Picayune

I haven’t posted in the last week or so. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to, but Blogger was having trouble publishing to any of my blogs. So realizing that my dependence on an outside service is not necessarily a good thing, I am now starting on a new project to create my own blogging software. Currently I am working on a tool to consolidate all my past entries into a single XML file and/or a database. I haven’t yet decided whether to build something truly server based (PHP) or something client based (Python, .NET, Mono, Java). Probably the most useful thing would be a PHP solution that I could post on from anywhere with no client piece. Since my hosting provider doesn’t provide MySQL access for my cheap account, I am thinking of using a plain old “dbm” (Berkley DB I guess).

Another thought has been to use Java to build a very portable and cross-platform client blogging tool. It would store entries in a SQLite or simple database and it could be carried around on a USB drive. But I am afraid that might discourage me a little too much.

One final idea was to have a server piece at the house (possibly to compliment the client piece) that would accept blog entries via an email account/interface. It would allow me to use a real database and I could upload the .XML files to my site without any changes to the site.

Certainly the fastest method for cutting ties with Blogger will be some sort of client solution that emulates creating XML files identical to what Blogger sends now.