maxbutt

An Emacs client for erlbutt, the Erlang implementation of the Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB) protocol. maxbutt talks to a running erlbutt node over Erlang distribution (via Distel) and lets you browse feeds and tangle threads, post and reply, follow/block, and manage the node — all from Emacs.

Prerequisites

• Erlang/OTP with the bundled erlang-mode Emacs files (Distel needs them; they ship under $(erl -eval 'io:format("~s/emacs",[code:lib_dir(tools)])' -s init stop -noshell)).
• Emacs 29+ (the autoloads target uses loaddefs-generate).
• markdown-mode — used to render post bodies. Install via your package manager (e.g. M-x package-install RET markdown-mode).
• A running erlbutt node reachable over distribution, with the maxbutt .beam files on its code path. For a local dev node, point erlbutt's vm.args at maxbutt's ebin, e.g. -pa /path/to/maxbutt/ebin (or set SSB_EXTRA_PA). The node's cookie must match the one Emacs uses (the erlbutt dev node defaults to erlbutt).

Build

make base      # erlang .beam + elisp .elc + maxbutt-autoloads.el
make info      # build the Info manual (doc/maxbutt.info)
make all       # base + info + postscript

Install

make install        # elisp/ebin/src -> $(prefix)/maxbutt/...
make info_install   # Info manual -> $(prefix)/info, registered with install-info

prefix defaults to ~/.emacs.d and is overridable:

make install prefix=/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp

If your markdown-mode is not auto-detected from ELPA, point the build at it:

make MARKDOWN_DIR=/path/to/markdown-mode base

Emacs configuration

Add the installed elisp directory to load-path, load the autoloads, and run Distel's setup. With the default prefix:

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/maxbutt/elisp")
(require 'maxbutt-autoloads)   ; M-x ssb-browse-feed etc. become available
(require 'distel)
(distel-setup)

;; Point at your erlbutt node (this is the default).
(setq ssb-node 'erlbutt@localhost)

;; So C-h i finds the manual.
(add-to-list 'Info-additional-directory-list "~/.emacs.d/info")

(require 'maxbutt-autoloads) defers loading the package until you first invoke a command; use (require 'ssb-feed) instead if you prefer to load it eagerly.

Connecting and using it

With the node running and ssb-node set, the entry commands are:

• M-x ssb-browse-feed — browse a feed by its @<pubkey>=.ed25519 id
• M-x ssb-my-id — show the local node's own feed id
• M-x ssb-following — list who a feed follows
• M-x ssb-post — compose and publish a post
• M-x ssb-dialer-toggle — turn the node's automatic peer dialing on/off

Inside a feed buffer, n/p move between messages, RET opens one, t opens its tangle thread, f browses an author's feed, F/U/B follow/unfollow/ block, and W lists who someone follows. See the Info manual (C-h i, then the Maxbutt entry) or the commentary in elisp/ssb-feed.el for the full set.

Building a distribution

make dist     # -> dist/maxbutt-<version>.tar.gz (+ .sha256)

produces a self-contained archive of the built elisp, erlang beams, source, and the Info manual.

Origin

This code was originally forked from a branch of Distel, otp-26. The Erlang folks had changed the term format, so Distel needed a few hacks to work again.

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