Liferea (short for Linux Feed Reader) is a
news aggregator
In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader, RSS reader or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, ...
for online news feeds and
podcasts. It supports the major feed formats including
RSS/
RDF and
Atom
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas, a ...
and can import and export subscription lists in
OPML
OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is an XML format for outlines (defined as "a tree, where each node contains a set of named attributes with string values"). Originally developed by UserLand as a native file format for the outliner appl ...
format. Liferea is intended to be a fast, easy to use, and easy to install news aggregator for
GTK+
GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and prop ...
that can be used with the
GNOME
A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...
desktop. Liferea features a script manager, in which users can add custom scripts that run whenever a certain action occurs.
Pronunciation
The lead programmer of Liferea, Lars Windolf, who is
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, pronounces the name of the software .
Distinguishing features
To easily read linked articles or
weblog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
comments, Liferea allows reading websites using an embedded
WebKit
WebKit is a browser engine developed by Apple and primarily used in its Safari web browser, as well as on the iOS and iPadOS version of any web browser. WebKit is also used by the BlackBerry Browser, PlayStation consoles beginning from the ...
-based browser. Additionally, the user can configure an
external browser (e.g.
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
,
Web
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
,
Konqueror
Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems (such as local files, files on a remote FTP server and files in a disk image). It forms a core part of t ...
) with which to open links.
It supports a number of different feed formats including RSS/RDF,
CDF, Atom,
OCS, and OPML, many of which its contemporaries cannot.
By sorting subscriptions into folders, the user can read all headlines of a folder at once. By enabling a filtering preference, all previously read headlines of the folder can be hidden.
Similar to the mail client
Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
, Liferea supports search folders, which allow the user to save searches. Each search folder contains all headlines that match its user-defined search rules.
Liferea can synchronize with online services such as
Tiny Tiny RSS and
The Old Reader to allow reading news feeds from multiple devices.
Browser integration
In
Web
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
there is a news feed subscription extension, which allows adding news feeds when viewing websites.
For
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
1.5+ there is an extension (FeedBag) that allows adding subscriptions by simple clicking the LiveBookmarks icons in the Firefox address bar.
Since Firefox 2.0+, Liferea can be used without a special extension. To subscribe to new feeds from within Firefox, the Liferea helper script "liferea-add-feed" has to be configured in the Firefox feed subscription preferences.
See also
*
Comparison of feed aggregators
The following is a comparison of RSS feed aggregators. Often e-mail programs and web browsers have the ability to display RSS feeds. They are listed here, too.
Many BitTorrent clients support RSS feeds for broadcasting (see Comparison of BitT ...
References
External links
*
{{Aggregators
Atom (Web standard)
GNOME Applications
News aggregators that use GTK
Free software programmed in C
News aggregator software
Applications using D-Bus