Bitter
=======

Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Nolan Eakins <sneakin@semanticgap.com>

Bitter is licensed and distributed under the MIT software license which can be found in the "MIT-LICENSE" file alongside the source code.

* Table of contents
{:toc}


Introduction
=============

Bitter is a simple microblogger. It only allows small posts, called Bits, which can be created over the web or as a text message.

Features
---------

Here's a brief list of Bitter's features:

* Fully specified using rSpec.
* Support for sending and receiving bits via TextMarks.com.
* Multi-user
* RSS feeds
* Uptime that matches your server's


Getting Started
================

The Source
-----------

Full access to Bitter's complete source code history is available using [Git](http://git.or.cz/).

Just run the following to get the code:

    git clone http://git.oss.semanticgap.com/bitter.git

And you'll find everything in the new "bitter" directory.

You can also browse the code online by visiting [Bitter's Repository](http://git.oss.semanticgap.com/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=bitter.git;a=summary).

Basic Setup
------------

Bitter is just like a typical Rails application. To get going, at your shell do:

    cd $BITTER
    $EDITOR config/database.yml           # setup your database 
    rake deps
    rake db:migrate
    ./script/server

And point your browser at http://localhost:3000/ for a quick test. You can now setup Mongrel or Passenger up to serve your Bitter.

You will also need to register a user account to be able to login and bit your heart out.

TextMarks
----------

Textmarks.com provides a free SMS text message publishing service. They provide a keyword and a very simple API to send and receive text messages. Bitter allows text messages to be sent and received via a keyword at TextMarks. You will need an API key and some other information to enable TextMarks.

The TextMark config is located in "BITTER_ROOT/config/initializers/text_marks.rb". You just need to fill in each value to something like:

    module TextMarks
      Config = {
        'enabled' => true,
        'apik' => 'your api key',
        'auth_user' => 'your cell phone #',
        'auth_pass' => 0000,
        'tm' => 'your textmark',
        'recv_key' => 'the shared secret allowing TM to post'
      }
    end

Once that is setup, all you should need to do is send a text message to your TextMark. It'll churn around for a bit and should get posted directly to Bitter if the phone number matches a registered user.


Help and Support
=================

You're not guarenteed any kind of support, but if you need help you can try dropping an email to support at semanticgap dot com. You should receive an answer.