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 an excellent RSS/Atom feed reader designed for terminal environments. Newsboat is free, open-source, and offers a highly customizable experience, making it an ideal choice for Linux users who value flexibility and efficiency in their workflow.

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 productivity. Whether you are a beginner or an expert Linux user, this guide will help you get started with Newsboat and ensure you never miss important updates from your preferred sources.

Requirements

Before installing Newsboat, ensure your Linux distribution has the following dependencies installed

• GCC compiler

• C++ Standard Library

• libcurl (for HTTP/HTTPS requests)

• libxml2 (XML parsing)

• json-c (JSON support)

• ncursesw (terminal UI)

Installation

Method 1: Package Manager Installation

Most Linux distributions include Newsboat in their default repositories. Here are the installation commands for popular distributions

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install newsboat

Fedora:

sudo dnf install newsboat

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S newsboat

After installation, you should see output similar to this:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libcurl4 libjson-c4 libncursesw6
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

Method 2: Compile from Source

If Newsboat is not available in your distribution's repository, you can compile it from source:

wget https://newsboat.org/releases/2.34/newsboat-2.34.tar.xz
tar -xf newsboat-2.34.tar.xz
cd newsboat-2.34
make
sudo make install

Getting Started with Newsboat

Initial Launch

Launch Newsboat by typing the following command in your terminal:

newsboat

The first time you run Newsboat, you'll see the interface with an empty feed list:

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

0 Unread | 0 Total

[feedlist]

Adding RSS/Atom Feeds

There are two ways to add feeds to Newsboat:

Method 1: Command Line

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

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

Method 2: Configuration File

Edit the ~/.newsboat/urls file and add feed URLs, one per line:

nano ~/.newsboat/urls

Add your feeds:

https://news.ycombinator.com/rss
https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml
https://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/HomePage.xml

Navigation and Usage

Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Updating Feeds

Update all feeds from the command line:

newsboat -r

Downloading https://news.ycombinator.com/rss...
Downloaded 30 articles (2 new).
Downloading https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml...
Downloaded 20 articles (1 new).

Key Features

• Offline Reading Articles are downloaded and stored locally for offline access

• Customizable Interface Extensive configuration options via ~/.newsboat/config

• Filtering and Search Advanced filtering capabilities for managing large feeds

• Podcast Support Built-in podcast downloading with podboat

• Scripting Support Integration with external scripts and tools

Configuration Example

Create a basic configuration file at ~/.newsboat/config:

# Refresh feeds every 30 minutes
refresh-on-startup yes
auto-reload yes
reload-time 30

# Browser to use for opening articles
browser "firefox %u"

# Colors
color article cyan default
color info green black

Conclusion

Newsboat is an excellent RSS/Atom feed reader for Linux users who prefer terminal-based applications. Its lightweight design, extensive customization options, and powerful keyboard shortcuts make it ideal for efficient news consumption. With offline reading capabilities and seamless integration into command-line workflows, Newsboat provides a reliable way to stay updated with your favorite content sources.