Newsboat – RSS/Atom Feed Reader for Linux Terminals

If you are a Linux user who likes to keep up with the latest news and articles from your favorite websites and blogs, Newsboat is a great RSS/Atom feed reader that can help you achieve this within your terminal. Newsboat is free, open-source, and offers a highly customizable experience to users, making it an ideal choice for Linux users who value flexibility and efficiency.

This article provides a complete guide on how to install and use Newsboat, including adding and managing feeds, navigating articles, and using keyboard shortcuts to optimize your workflow. Whether you are a beginner or an expert Linux user, this article will help you get started with Newsboat and ensure you never miss out on important updates from your preferred sources.

Requirements

Before installing Newsboat, make sure your Linux distribution has the following dependencies installed −

• GCC

• C++ Standard Library

• libcurl

• libxml2

• json-c

• ncursesw

Installation Method

• Launch a terminal window on your Linux system.

  You can usually find a terminal application by searching for "terminal" in your application launcher or menu.

• Check if your Linux distribution already has Newsboat in its default package repository.

  This will vary depending on your Linux distribution, but you can usually search for packages using the command âˆ’

apt-cache search [package-name]

Replace [package-name] with "newsboat" to search for Newsboat in the package repository.

• If Newsboat is found in the package repository, install it using the appropriate package manager command for your distribution.

• A command that can be used on Ubuntu or Debian is âˆ’

sudo apt-get install newsboat

• On Fedora, use the command âˆ’

sudo dnf install newsboat

• On Arch Linux, use the command âˆ’

sudo pacman -S newsboat

After running this installation command, the terminal will give something like this. The variation may depend on the operating system.

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libcurl4 libjson-c4 libncursesw6
Suggested packages:
  w3m
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libcurl4 libjson-c4 libncursesw6 newsboat
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 465 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,667 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 libjson-c4 amd64 0.12.1-1.3ubuntu0.3 [18.6 kB]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 libcurl4 amd64 7.58.0-2ubuntu3.16 [215 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 libncursesw6 amd64 6.1-1ubuntu1.18.04 [1,118 kB]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 newsboat amd64 2.10-1 [112 kB]
Fetched 465 kB in 1s (578 kB/s)    
Selecting previously unselected package libjson-c4:amd64.
(Reading database ... 170211 files and directories currently installed.)

• If Newsboat is not available in the package repository, you can download the source code from the Newsboat website and compile it yourself.

• Visit the Newsboat website at https://newsboat.org/ to download the source code.

• Extract the source code archive to a directory on your system.

• Open a terminal in the extracted directory and run the following commands âˆ’

make
sudo make install

This will compile the Newsboat source code and install the executable and configuration files on your system.

• Once Newsboat is installed, you can launch it by typing "newsboat" in a terminal window.

• The first time you run Newsboat, it will create a configuration file at ~/.newsboat/config.

• You can edit this configuration file to customize Newsboat's settings and add RSS/Atom feeds.

Using Newsboat Feed Reader in the Linux Terminal: A Guide

• Launching Newsboat âˆ’ After installing Newsboat, you can launch it by typing newsboat in the terminal. This will open the Newsboat interface in your terminal window.

$ newsboat

Output

$ newsboat

       __     _
      / /__  (_)___  ___  ____
 __  / / _ \/ / __ \/ _ \/ __/
/ /_/ /  __/ / / / /  __/ /_
\____/\___/_/_/ /_/\___/\__/

0 Unread | 0 Total
- Hacker News                 https://news.ycombinator.com/rss
- CNN Top Stories             http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss

[feedlist]

This is the initial output of Newsboat, showing the ASCII art logo and the list of available feeds. The first line shows the number of unread and total articles, and below that is a list of the subscribed feeds.

Note that this output may look different depending on which feeds you have subscribed to and how many unread articles you have.

• Adding a Feed âˆ’ To add a new feed to Newsboat, you can use the -a option followed by the feed URL. For example, to add the Hacker News feed, type the following command:

$ newsboat -a https://news.ycombinator.com/rss

Output

Adding feed "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss"...
Downloaded 30 articles (0 new).

This will add the Hacker News feed to your Newsboat subscriptions. You can add as many feeds as you like using this command.

• Navigating through Feeds and Articles − After adding feeds, you can use the arrow keys to navigate through them. You can use the j and k keys to move down and up, respectively. You can also use the gg and G keys to move to the top and bottom of the list, respectively.

  Once you have selected a feed, you can press Enter to view the articles in that feed. You can use the same arrow keys to navigate through the articles.

• Marking Articles as Read âˆ’ To mark an article as read, simply move the cursor to the article and press the m key. This will change the color of the article title to indicate that it has been read.

• Opening Articles in Browser âˆ’ You can also open an article in your web browser by pressing the o key. This will open the article in your default browser.

• Updating Feeds âˆ’ To update your feeds, use the -u option:

$ newsboat -u

Output

$ newsboat -u
Downloading https://news.ycombinator.com/rss...
Downloaded 30 articles (0 new).
Downloading https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml...
Downloaded 20 articles (1 new).
Downloading https://www.nytimes.com/sitemap.xml...
Downloaded 100 articles (5 new).

This command updates all of the feeds in your Newsboat subscriptions and downloads any new articles. The output shows the status of each feed, including the number of articles downloaded and the number of new articles found. In this example, 3 feeds were updated, with a total of 125 articles downloaded and 6 new articles found.

• Exiting Newsboat âˆ’ To exit Newsboat, simply press the q key. This will close the Newsboat interface and return you to the terminal prompt.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Newsboat is a great and considerable RSS/Atom feed reader for Linux users who prefer to work in the terminal most of their time. It's easy to use and highly configurable, with a range of useful features including offline reading and filtering options. In addition, it's quick and simple to install through your Linux distribution package manager. Whether you're a casual reader or a power user, Newsboat is a reliable and efficient way to stay up-to-date with your favorite websites and blogs.