Running FediFetcher as a systemd timer

If you prefer running FediFetcher from a systemd timer you can follow these steps:

1. Get an Access Token, if you haven't done so already.

2. Navigate to the directory /opt:

   cd /opt

3. Clone the FediFetcher repository from GitHub:

   git clone https://github.com/nanos/FediFetcher.git

4. Create a Python Virtual Environment named fedifetcher:

   python3 -m venv fedifetcher

5. Change to the FediFetcher directory:

   cd FediFetcher

6. Activate the virtual environment:

   source /opt/fedifetcher/bin/activate

7. Install the required Python packages from the requirements.txt file:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

8. Deactivate the virtual environment:

   deactivate

9. Configure FediFetcher according to the instructions provided at: Configuration Options.

10. Run FediFetcher for the first time:

    /opt/fedifetcher/bin/python3 find_posts.py -c=artifacts/config.json

11. Create a systemd service file for FediFetcher:

    nano /etc/systemd/system/fedifetcher.service

    Paste the following content (replace User=mastodon with another user, if needed):

    [Unit]
    Description=FediFetcher Service
    After=network.target
    
    [Service]
    Type=simple
    User=mastodon
    WorkingDirectory=/opt/FediFetcher
    ExecStart=/opt/fedifetcher/bin/python find_posts.py -c=artifacts/config.json
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    

12. Create a systemd timer file for FediFetcher.

    nano /etc/systemd/system/fedifetcher.timer

    Paste the following content:

    [Unit]
    Description=FediFetcher Timer
    
    [Timer]
    OnCalendar=*-*-* *:*:00
    Persistent=true
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=timers.target
    

    Explanation:

    • OnCalendar: This option defines when the timer should elapse. The format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. *-*-* *:00:00 means every hour, *-*-* *:*:00 means at the start of every minute. So, the timer will trigger every minute. More informations.
    • Persistent=true: This option ensures that if the system is unable to trigger the timer at the specified time (e.g., if the system is asleep or powered off), it will run the missed events when the system is next awake or powered on.
    • WantedBy=timers.target: This specifies that the timer should be enabled when the timers.target is active, which is usually during system startup.

13. Reload the systemd daemon configuration:

    systemctl daemon-reload

14. Start the FediFetcher timer and enable it to start at every system boot:

    systemctl start --now fedifetcher.timer

With these steps, FediFetcher should be successfully set up on your system and automatically started to fetch posts regularly.

Updating FediFetcher

It's important to stay up to with FediFetcher so you always get the latest features and bugfixes.

Please refer to the Updating FediFetcher documentation for more information.