SimpleRedditRSSBot

SimpleRedditRSSBot

Simple Reddit RSS Bot for submitting RSS feed links to subreddit(s). It keeps cache of newest 10 000 links submitted in a cache file per subreddit. URLs in RSS feeds are not resubmitted to a subreddit if there are duplicates.

Setup bot app config

Register a new user for your bot in Reddit. Verify email. Set proper details. Create new app @ https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps/ type is script. See Reddit documentation for details.

Client ID can be read below app's name for example:

MyBotAppExample
personal use script
sgdbfseyseghbgsef <- Client id

Secret is listed separately in the same app page.

Create a directory for the bot

$ mkdir redditrssbot
$ cd redditrssbot

Full path is now for example /home/raspi/redditrssbot

Now download the latest release to this directory.

Rename config.json.dist to config.json.

{
  "user": "reddit username you registered for this bot, for example my_simple_bot",
  "pass": "reddit password you registered this bot",
  "cid": "your bot's app client id from https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps/",
  "secret": "your bot's app secret from https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps/"
}

Setup feed URLs

Rename feeds.json.dist to feeds.json.

{
  "subreddit": "my_news", Default subreddit name
  "feeds": [
    {
      "subreddit": "", Subreddit to post to, uses default if empty
      "title": "news", Title for logs, not used in reddit side
      "prefix": "", Prefix for links (not implemented)
      "suffix": "", Suffix for links (not implemented)
      "fid": "", Flair ID for links (not implemented)
      "flair": "", Flair text for links (not implemented)
      "url": "" RSS URL
    },
    {
      "subreddit": "my_patch_news", Second feed, etc
      "title": "patches", Title for logs, not used in reddit side
      "prefix": "", Prefix for links (not implemented)
      "suffix": "", Suffix for links (not implemented)
      "fid": "", Flair ID for links (not implemented)
      "flair": "", Flair text for links (not implemented)
      "url": "" RSS URL
    }
  ]
}

Setup automatic submits to reddit with SystemD

Rename systemd.service.dist to redditbot.service.

Rename systemd.timer.dist to redditbot.timer.

Configure .service:

[Unit]
Description=Reddit RSS Bot Service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
# !! Change these:
WorkingDirectory=/home/raspi/redditbot
ExecStart=/home/raspi/redditbot/redditrssbot-x64

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Enable the .service file in user mode:

$ systemctl --user enable redditbot.service

Configure .timer:

[Unit]
Description=Reddit RSS Bot Timer

[Timer]
# Wait after boot
OnBootSec=10min
# run every X duration
# Recommended 1 hour (1h)
# Reddit is very strict how often links should be 
# submitted so use at least one hour sleep time. 
# Otherwise the bot will be banned.
OnUnitActiveSec=1h
Unit=redditbot.service

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Enable and start the redditbot.timer timer in user mode:

$ systemctl --user enable redditbot.timer
$ systemctl --user start redditbot.timer

Check that the timer is listed:

$ systemctl --user list-timers

Check the logs with journalctl --user -xe.

Troubleshooting

SystemD user timer doesn't work when I log out

You must enable linger to your user as root as follows:

$ sudo loginctl enable-linger <user>

For example:

$ sudo loginctl enable-linger raspi