I wrote a Gemini Mention script in Go
Author: -fab- <fab@redterminal.org> License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Published on: Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:23:36 +0200 Last updated: Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:23:36 +0200
I'm developing a Gemini Mention CGI script in Go. I've been working on it for about 2-3 days, and I already set up my gmid Gemini Server with FCGIWrap to support Gemini Mentions yesterday.
go-gemini-mention on Codeberg.org repository (www)
I was under the impression that I couldn't use Bash, Perl, or Python for this because I'm running my capsule in a gmid chroot. I thought this meant I didn't have access to these tools. Now I know that the FastCGI wrapper itself has access to the system as the gmid user, so there was no need to put all the code into a single binary.
I LOVE Go!
There wasn't really a need to build this as a Go binary, but I like Go—I really like it. I've experimented with it for about 3-4 weeks, and I'm already on my second project after go-gopherproxy. The things I'm developing aren't very complicated and have a small set of features to develop, so they'll be finished someday.
Maybe go-gemini-mention can be used on multi home machines
I'm unsure of the program's usefulness for multi-home Gemini servers. It has a hardcoded path to its configuration file in the home directory of the user ('~/.mention.yml') it's running as. Because I need to use a FastCGI wrapper, I can only use it as a single user. It might be possible for multiuser machines with full CGI support to allow users to have their own configuration files if they run their CGI scripts directly (rather than as the Gemini server's user ID).
Already not many features to add anymore
Because Gemini Mention is such a simple protocol, it doesn't need many features. The main focus now will be fixing bugs and cleaning the code. As I mentioned, I’m already using it on my FreeBSD machine after 10 hours of work. Hopefully, there are no risky security holes, but I need to monitor it.
If you still have not heared about Gemini Mentions look at the RFC of barcadi55:
bacardi55's gemini-mention-rfc on Codeberg.org (www)
So Go is fun!
I enjoy tinkering with Go and its excellent toolchain. You can easily build and test on Linux and then create a binary for FreeBSD. The resulting binary is self-contained, with no dependencies, which I appreciate. The language itself is a refreshing mixture of C++ and Python, but I find C++ too dangerous and Python dependencies to be a frustrating mess. It seems Go has addressed many of the challenges present in both languages.
All in all - Have fun!
-fab-
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