genRSS takes a directory hosted on your website and generates an RSS 2 feed for all media files within the directory. It can operate recursively and look for media files in sub directories. Media files can also be restricted to a given set of extensions.

Suppose you have a web server and a website hosted on that server. genRSS can be run on a given directory on the website to generate a feed from media files in the directory so you can access them with a podcast reader.

The following command launches an HTTP server that serves the current directory

python3 -m http.server

The server will be listening on port 8000 (default). You can also specify the port as an argument:

python3 -m http.server 8080

Go to a web browser and type: http://localhost:8080/. You should get a web page listing of all elements in current directory.

Place the test media directory (contains fake media files) in the directory served by Python HTTP Server and refresh the web page. You should now see and be able to browse the media folder.

Now place genRSS.py into the same directory and try the following examples.

Generate a podcast from mp3 files in "test/media"

The following command generates a feed for mp3 files within test/media directory:

python3 genRSS.py -d test/media -e mp3 -t "My Podcast" -p "My Podcast Description" -o feed.rss

feed.rss should now be visible on the web page. You can visit it or open it with a podcast reader.

If no output file was given (option -o), the result would have been printed out on the standard output. It should look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
   <channel>
      <title>My Podcast</title>
      <description>My Podcast Description</description>
      <link>http://localhost:8080/</link>
      <item>
         <guid>http://localhost:8080/test/media/1.mp3</guid>
         <link>http://localhost:8080/test/media/1.mp3</link>
         <title>1.mp3</title>
         <description>1.mp3</description>
         <pubDate>Sat, 08 Apr 2017 21:19:52 +0000</pubDate>
         <enclosure url="http://localhost:8080/test/media/1.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" length="0"/>
      </item>
      <item>
         <guid>http://localhost:8080/test/media/2.MP3</guid>
         <link>http://localhost:8080/test/media/2.MP3</link>
         <title>2.MP3</title>
         <description>2.MP3</description>
         <pubDate>Fri, 07 Apr 2017 21:19:52 +0000</pubDate>
         <enclosure url="http://localhost:8080/test/media/2.MP3" type="audio/mpeg" length="0"/>
      </item>
   </channel>
</rss>

Generate a podcast from media files in "media" and its subdirectories

python3 genRSS.py -r -d test/media -t "Podcast Title" -p "Podcast Description" -o feed.rss

Generate a podcast from mp3 and ogg files in "media" and its subdirectories

python3 genRSS.py -r -e mp3,ogg -d test/media -t "Podcast Title" -p "Podcast Description" -o feed.rss

localhost:8080 are you host name and your http server port respectively. This pair is automatically used by genRSS as prefix for items in the generated podcast. Alternatively, you can use your machine's IP address instead of localhost. This is particularly useful if you want to access your podcast from another machine or a mobile device that share the same network.

Example:

python3 genRSS.py -e "mp3,ogg" -d test/media -H 192.168.1.5:1234 -t "Podcast Title" -p "Podcast Description" -r -o feed.rss

To run tests type:

python3 genRSS.py --run-tests

or in verbose mode:

python3 genRSS.py --run-tests -v

Wiki: https://github.com/amsehili/genRSS/wiki

MIT: https://github.com/amsehili/genRSS/blob/master/LICENSE