README.txt

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                                  MAFA

                              Michael Lee
                             ━━━━━━━━━━━━━


Table of Contents
─────────────────

A Small Demo
Installation
.. Prerequisite
.. Option 1: Cargo install (recommended)
.. Option 2: Build from source
.. Option 3: Prebuilt binaries
Mafa is for me?
What is Mafa
.. How Mafa works
.. Why Mafa
.. About Mafa
Supported modules
Contributing
License





A Small Demo
════════════

  /(captured by [LICEcap])/

  <./demo.gif>


[LICEcap] <https://www.cockos.com/licecap/>


Installation
════════════

Prerequisite
────────────

  Mafa does not work alone, below are programs that it depends on:

  1. firefox (91 or later)

  2. curl (any version)

  3. tar (any version)

  4. gzip (any version)


Option 1: Cargo install (recommended)
─────────────────────────────────────

  This is recommended because by `cargo install', you always get the
  latest stable version of Mafa.

  If you have Cargo installed, then you can

  ┌────
  │ cargo install mafa
  │ 
  │ # check installed version
  │ mafa --version
  └────


Option 2: Build from source
───────────────────────────

  ┌────
  │ # grab the source
  │ git clone https://github.com/imichael2e2/mafa
  │ 
  │ # into source directory
  │ cd mafa
  │ 
  │ # build
  │ cargo build --release --features imode,twtl,gtrans
  │ 
  │ # check built version
  │ ./target/release/mafa --version
  └────


Option 3: Prebuilt binaries
───────────────────────────

  Check [releases].


[releases] <https://github.com/imichael2e2/mafa/releases>


Mafa is for me?
═══════════════

  Mafa is for you if Mafa has whatever you can make use of.

  However, Mafa is *NOT* for you if

  • You want to browse websites without a web browser. (Mafa needs
    Firefox)

  • You want to see every detail of a website. (Use your favorite web
    browser instead)

  • You plan to crawl a whole website and extract all its data. (A
    dedicated web crawler or data scraper does a better job)


What is Mafa
════════════

  Mafa is a command-line tool that helps people interact with online
  websites in a terminal(tty). It accesses websites through
  /modules/. Modules are child programs that rely on [WebDriver] to do
  their job. Each module has a fixed destination website and has a
  specific job for that site. With modules, users can browse websites
  without interacting with web browsers directly. The supported modules
  are listed [below].


[WebDriver] <https://www.w3.org/TR/webdriver>

[below] See section Supported modules

How Mafa works
──────────────

  Mafa leverages [WebDriver] to achieve its goals. More specifically,
  Mozilla's [GeckoDriver] is in use. With WebDriver, Mafa can act like a
  human, browsing websites naturally for its user.


[WebDriver] <https://www.w3.org/TR/webdriver>

[GeckoDriver] <https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver>


Why Mafa
────────

Usable & Convenient
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  Unlike other counterparts, Mafa strives to balance usability and
  convenience: Mafa will try its best to finish the task on its own or
  instruct users to open web browser directly if it cannot perfectly
  handle the situation(such as in cases where the website is equipped
  with CAPTCHA or requires user login). What Mafa tries to be is a
  browser companion, *not* a replacement.


Neutral
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  The underlying WebDriver backs by a nearly full-functional web
  browser. Overall, Mafa default *not* to subjectively strip any feature
  a website user or provider can take advantage of, just like on a
  normal full-functional web browser.

  Therefore there is no reason for providers to particularly prevent
  Mafa from accessing their websites, which likely leads to a negative
  result for *both* sides.

  It is noteworthy that Mafa does not wipe out the user identity by
  default, as a regular web browser does. It is essential for website
  providers because while many websites abuse user privacy, there are
  always ones collecting it for a good reason, such as [Ecosia].


[Ecosia] <https://www.ecosia.org>


Stable & Long-lasting
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  One of Mafa's goals is to handle websites stably for a relatively long
  period. Modern web pages are famous for their dynamic characteristic.
  However, Mafa can handle those dynamic and unpredictable web pages as
  effortlessly as the static ones.


About Mafa
──────────

  Mafa is initially developed for (*M*)aking (*A*)PI (*F*)ree
  (*A*)gain. Here "free" is the same word defined in [What is Free
  Software?], i.e., as in "free speech", not as in"free beer". Some
  websites provide their data /publicly/ but do not publish
  corresponding APIs to access it, while others offer their data
  /publicly/ in their carefully designed websites and APIs but with even
  more carefully designed pricing. Those websites are blocking users
  from accessing their /public/ data by either not providing APIs or
  providing ones with non-trivial barriers, examples of disrespecting
  users' freedom.

  Mafa is the one who fights against them and protects web users'
  freedom. Because Mafa believes that as long as the data is publicly
  accessible for all users without discrimination, the APIs to access it
  should be as well.


[What is Free Software?]
<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html>


Supported modules
═════════════════

  • IMODE: Interactive mode.

  • TWTL: Twitter users' timeline.

  • GTRANS: Google translation service.


Contributing
════════════

  Mafa is still in early development, any contribution is welcomed!


License
═══════

  Mafa is proudly licensed under GPLv3.

  See LICENSE-GPL for details.