| File/Directory | Location | Description |
/AmphetaDesk
/AmphetaDesk.app
/AmphetaDesk.exe |
Runtime |
These are the runtime files built from
AmphetaDesk.pl as per our build instructions. These files
have all the necessary libraries and XS code, as well as the
Perl interpreter. The .exe is the Win32 runtime, the .app is
the OS X runtime, and the other is the Classic Mac
runtime (the XS code under Classic is loaded from the
shared libs directory). |
| /AmphetaDesk.log |
- |
The actual logfile from either the
source or runtime versions of AmphetaDesk. If this file
doesn't exist, then it is automatically created. Each time
AmphetaDesk is run, it will overwrite the old logfile if
it's larger than 250k and start afresh. If something weird's
happening with AmphetaDesk, there's a good chance we can
find out why by looking in here. |
| /AmphetaDesk.pl |
Both |
The wrapper code that loads our
true code from the lib directory. This
file should be kept as simplistic as possible - it really serves
only as a launching pad for our
compilation. |
| /README.txt |
Both |
This is just a simple and quick
README file that instructs the user how to install
AmphetaDesk on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux machines.
A duplicate copy exists in the docs
directory. Other README.txt files are spread out through
the other directories, and serve as quick introductions
to the files within. |
| File/Directory | Location | Description |
| /data/myChannels.opml |
- |
This file is created when the user
first runs AmphetaDesk and contains a default set of shipped
channels. As the user customizes their AmphetaDesk, this
file is continually updated. Deleting this file will
cause the default channels to be loaded again. For more
information about this file, see XML: myServices. |
| /data/mySettings.xml |
- |
mySettings.xml defines all of the
user's preferences, hopes, and dreams. If this file is
missing, AmphetaDesk will use default entries, else the
entries within this file override them. For more information
about this file, see XML: mySettings. |
| /data/channels/* |
- |
This directory holds all of the saved
data and metadata from the channel feeds. The contents are
always changing (whether it be because of new channels being
added, or old files being deleted). If this directory
doesn't exist, AmphetaDesk will create it. |
| /data/internal/* |
- |
This directory is automatically
created if missing, and holds interim files that AmphetaDesk
creates as it lives and breathes. Currently, this means only
the version.txt file, below. |
| /data/internal/version.txt |
- |
The version.txt file is used to check
whether the currently running AmphetaDesk is the latest
version available. Each time AmphetaDesk is run, we check
this file against the remote version.txt
to see if any changes has occurred. If so, we display the contents
of the file in the AmphetaDesk window. |
| /data/lists/* |
Both |
This directory is created automatically
if it doesn't exist and holds all the service lists that
AmphetaDesk uses during it's lifetime. Lists are updated
on a set period - the only list currently used is services-channels-recent.xml. |
| /data/lists/services-channels-recent.xml |
-
Both |
This is referenced whenever people
click to "Add A Channel". It's a slimmed down version of the
complete
list available from Syndic8.com,
removing all sites that haven't been updated within the 30
days. This file does not need to be distributed with the
runtime because it will be downloaded if it doesn't exist,
but it does make the user's initial loading of AmphetaDesk a
bit longer (and more confusing), so we're currently
recommending against it. For more information, check out
XML: Services Lists. |
| File/Directory | Location | Description |
| /docs/* |
-
Both |
This is the directory where the file
you're currently reading is stored. This directory is not
required in distributed runtimes (as all the template links
point to the disobey.com
site), but at the moment, it's be insane NOT to include it.
The files in this directory won't be explained, since
they're not crucial to the running of AmphetaDesk (you can
gain a good enough idea by looking at the Documentation
Index of AmphetaDesk). |
| File/Directory | Location | Description |
| /lib/AmphetaDesk.pm |
Both |
This Perl module is the "router"
of AmphetaDesk, setting up the runtime environment,
starting the internal webserver and GUI, and processing
all incoming requests off to their respective modules.
It loads all the other modules from the lib directory. |
/lib/AmphetaDesk/Channels.pm
/lib/AmphetaDesk/ChannelsList.pm
/lib/AmphetaDesk/MyChannels.pm |
Both |
The three modules that do most of the
work for AmphetaDesk. Channels.pm controls the parsing,
download and storage of our RSS or scriptingNews files,
ChannelsList.pm covers the display of the OPML export of
Syndic8.com, and
MyChannels.pm manipulates the user's subscription list. |
/lib/AmphetaDesk/OS/Linux.pm
/lib/AmphetaDesk/OS/MacOS.pm
/lib/AmphetaDesk/OS/MacOSX.pm
/lib/AmphetaDesk/OS/Windows.pm |
Both |
These four files handle the OS
specific portions of AmphetaDesk - they control GUI routines,
API handlers for the browsers, and other things that can
change from OS to OS. Which file to use is determined at
runtime from within AmphetaDesk. |
| /lib/AmphetaDesk/Settings.pm |
Both |
Settings.pm handles the creation
and manipulation of the mySettings.xml file, and also
contains all the default settings should that file not
exist. If certain required directories do not exist, this is
where they're automatically created. |
| /lib/AmphetaDesk/Utilities.pm |
Both |
Routines not related to anything
else, such as whitespace cleaning, logfile output,
character encodings, and message storage. It's full
of generic routines for everyone's use. Yum. |
| /lib/AmphetaDesk/Versioning.pm |
Both |
This module currently doesn't do much
- it merely downloads a version.txt
file and compares the version number within to the
locally running copy. In future versions of AmphetaDesk,
it'll be able to automatically download and update to newer
versions. |
| /lib/AmphetaDesk/WebServer.pm |
Both |
Merely a subclass of HTTP::Daemon,
the sole purpose of this routine is to tweak our internal
webserver's identification. Fickle. Check out the
POD for HTTP::Daemon
for more information. |
| /lib/AmphetaDesk/WWW.pm |
Both |
Most of the routines within this file
are wrappers around various LWP::UserAgent
functions, thus this module concerns itself with access to
the web - downloading data, reading HTTP headers, etc. |
/lib/Text/*
/lib/XML/* |
Both |
CPAN accessible code relating to our
template processing and XML parsing. For more information on
these modules, see the Text::Template
and XML::Simple documentation. |
| File/Directory | Location | Description |
/shared libs/*
/lib/shared libs/* |
Runtime (Mac) |
This directory and its contents
ONLY exist on a compiled Classic Macintosh runtime and is necessary
for proper operation. It contains various C/XS libraries
compiled for use with MacPerl. |
| File/Directory | Location | Description |
/templates/*
/templates/gui/* |
Both |
You can find detailed descriptions of
all these files in the template/skinning
portion of the documentation. They control the AmphetaDesk
look and feel of the webpages, and the gui
subdirectory controls the icons and logos of the runtime. |
