Disclaimer:

This project involves scraping public data from Mastodon timelines. While this data is generally publicly accessible, it's important to note that scraping and archiving such data may have implications, especially if it involves sensitive information or terms of service violations.

I am not responsible for any misuse or unauthorized use of the scraped data. It is the user's responsibility to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and terms of service when storing, archiving, or using the data.

Required Environment Variables

Variable Name	Description	Default Value	Format
DB_NAME	Database file name	(Required)	Must end in *.json
BOT_TOKEN	Telegram bot token	(Required)	Standard Telegram bot token format
TAG	Mastodon timeline tag	(Required)	Text with no spaces
CHANNEL_NUMID	Telegram channel number ID	(Required)	Telegram channel number ID format
ADMIN_NUMID	Telegram bot admin/reviewer number ID	(Required)	Telegram user number ID format

Optional Environment Variables

Variable Name	Description	Default Value	Format
CUSTOM_INSTANCE	Custom Mastodon instance URL	https://haminoa.net	URL format

Note: All environment variables except CUSTOM_INSTANCE are required for the project to function.

Running the Project

Published Executable

1. Download the published executable for your operating system from the project releases.
2. Navigate to the directory containing the downloaded executable in your terminal.

Providing Environment Variables:

• Windows:
  • Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory containing the executable.
  • Set environment variables before running the program using the set command. For example:

  set DB_NAME=my_data.json BOT_TOKEN=your_telegram_bot_token TAG=important_data CHANNEL_NUMID=1234567890 ADMIN_NUMID=9876543210
  your_project_name.exe
  

• macOS/Linux:
  • Open a terminal and navigate to the directory containing the executable.
  • Set environment variables before running the program using the export command. For example:

  export DB_NAME=my_data.json BOT_TOKEN=your_telegram_bot_token TAG=important_data CHANNEL_NUMID=1234567890 ADMIN_NUMID=9876543210
  ./your_project_name
  

Replace your_project_name with the actual name of the downloaded executable file and your own environment variable values.

Using dotnet run

1. Ensure you have .NET 8 installed on your system.
2. Open a terminal and navigate to the root directory of your project where the .csproj file resides.

Providing Environment Variables:

There are two ways to provide environment variables when using dotnet run:

A. Using the DOTNET_VARIABLES environment variable:

Set the DOTNET_VARIABLES environment variable to a semicolon-separated list of key-value pairs for your environment variables. For example:

export DOTNET_VARIABLES="DB_NAME=my_data.json;BOT_TOKEN=your_telegram_bot_token;TAG=important_data;CHANNEL_NUMID=1234567890;ADMIN_NUMID=9876543210"
dotnet run

B. Using a .env file:

1. Create a file named .env in the root directory of your project.
2. Add each environment variable on a separate line in the format KEY=VALUE. For example:

DB_NAME=my_data.json
BOT_TOKEN=your_telegram_bot_token
TAG=important_data
CHANNEL_NUMID=1234567890
ADMIN_NUMID=9876543210

3. Run the following command:

dotnet run

Remember to replace your_telegram_bot_token, my_data.json, important_data, 1234567890, and 9876543210 with your actual values.