Marmotte
marmotte
This is the first article on the Gopher server I'm currently working on, marmotte.
Articles in this series
A Gopher server
As I was mentioning in my previous entry here, I started working on my own Gopher server. This seemed like the logical next step after reviving my gopherhole. Why would I even bother to do such a thing? After all, Gopher is a protocol that lost the popularity contest to HTTP around twenty-five years ago, surely it must be but a relic of a bygone age. Well, I go into some details on the main page of the code repository for the project (see below for the link), but this quote helps understand the main motivation:
I believe that simpler means of publications yield simple means of use, that openness leads to creativity and that putting an emphasis on content attracts an audience with a taste and expectations for high quality content. This tends to create a virtuous circle, where the bar is constantly raised by the audience and, in turn, by the production, trying to meet and then exceed the expectations.
Where to find marmotte?
marmotte lives in my personal git repositories, where its code can be found, as well as the ongoing tasks. Note that I tend not to create a long backlog in advance, but only add tasks when I feel the need (or the impulse) to do so. marmotte is still very much in development, and hasn't been tested beyond the limits of the accompanying unit tests and by running it on my laptop. This very gopherhole still runs on Gophernicus. If you do decide to give it a try, please be cautious and do let me know how it goes (see the Contact page to know how).
Keep also in mind that the code started out as a very quick hack done over the course of a couple of hours, and that I'm only progressively bringing it to decent standards.
Until next time
I intend to give more details about the project as I go, so stay tuned!
