returning to this prototype, trying to run it again

.gitignore

@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
+venv/
 *.pem
 __pycache__

README.md

@@ -1,4 +1,50 @@
 # AP test in Flask 
 
-This is a testing area! :)
+A basic ActivityPub server written in Flask, that listens to follow requests, based on this tutorial: <https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2018/06/how-to-implement-a-basic-activitypub-server/>
+
+This is a testing area :), to see if it is possible to use Python and Flask to write a small server that speaks ActivityPub.
+
+This repository was sparked from a curiosity in federation and light-weight (static) website making.
+
+Operating on the level of the ActivityPub protocol will hopefully give some insights in the way that networks on the Fediverse federate with each other. 
+
+* What are the minimal requirements to run an Activity Pub server?
+* How could a static site federate its content with the Fediverse? 
+* How are ActivityPub feeds similar and different from RSS feeds?
+* How can such server be used? What kind of publishing tools can be imagined?
+* What ActivityPub "objects" (is that the right term?) can we try out and use, next to the commonly used "Note" object?
+
+# Install this prototype
+
+When you run this prototype on a server, you could connect to the Fediverse.
+
+## Prepare your server
+
+For this you need to following:
+
+* a subdomain for the server, for example: `ap.example.com`
+* a SSL certificate for this domain, for which you could use: `certbot` from <https://letsencrypt.org/>
+* a reverse proxy configuration, relaying the subdomain to the Flask application running on port `5010` (by default)
+
+Once this is set up, you can install this prototype.
+
+## Install the prototype
+
+Make a virtual environment:
+
+`$ python3 -m venv FOLDERNAME`
+
+Activate the environment:
+
+`$ source FOLDERNAME/bin/activate`
+
+Install the dependencies:
+
+`$ pip install -r requirements.txt`
+
+Run the Flask application:
+
+`$ python3 run.py`
+
+
 

requirements.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+certifi==2020.11.8
+chardet==3.0.4
+click==7.1.2
+Flask==1.1.2
+idna==2.10
+itsdangerous==1.1.0
+Jinja2==2.11.2
+MarkupSafe==1.1.1
+pkg-resources==0.0.0
+pycryptodome==3.9.9
+requests==2.25.0
+urllib3==1.26.2
+Werkzeug==1.0.1
+

tada.py → run.py

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ A...P...
 # Config
 DOMAIN = 'https://ap.virtualprivateserver.space'
 # domain = 'http://localhost:5000' # for local testing only, ActivityPub doesn't allow the usage of http:// (it only accepts https://)
+
 def publicKey():
 	if not os.path.exists('./public.pem'):
 		os.system('openssl genrsa -out private.pem 2048')
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ def publicKey():
 		PUBLICKEY = publicKey.replace('\n', '\\n')  # JSON-LD doesn't want to work with linebreaks, 
 													# but needs the \n character to know where to break the line ;)
 		return PUBLICKEY
+
 INBOX = []
 
 # Create the application.
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ APP = flask.Flask(__name__)
 def index():
 	""" Displays the index page accessible at '/' """
 	
-	content = 'test - index ({})'.format(DOMAIN)
+	content = f'This ActivityPub Server is running !!! (exciting): ({ DOMAIN })'
 	return content
 
 @APP.route('/.well-known/webfinger', methods=['GET'])
@@ -55,7 +57,6 @@ def webfinger():
 		json = flask.render_template('webfinger.json', query=query, actor=actor, domain=DOMAIN)
 		resp = flask.Response(json, status=200, mimetype='application/json')
 		return resp
-
 	else:
 		return 'no query'
 
@@ -68,7 +69,6 @@ def return_actor(actor):
 
 	preferredUsername = actor   # but could become a custom username, set by the user, stored in the database
 								# this preferredUsername doesn't show up yet in Mastodon ...
-
 	json = flask.render_template('actor.json', actor=actor, preferredUsername=preferredUsername, publicKey=publicKey(), domain=DOMAIN) # actor = alice
 	resp = flask.Response(json, status=200, mimetype='application/json')	
 	return resp
@@ -87,10 +87,10 @@ def inbox(actor):
 	"""
 
 	if flask.request.method == 'GET':	
-		return '''This has been a <em>{}</em> request. <br>
-		It came with the following header: <br><br><em>{}</em><br><br>
-		You have searched for the actor <em>{}</em>. <br>
-		This is <em>{}</em>'s shared inbox: <br><br><em>{}</em>'''.format(flask.request.method, flask.request.headers, actor, DOMAIN, str(INBOX))
+		return f'''This has been a <em>{ flask.request.method }</em> request. <br>
+		It came with the following header: <br><br><em>{ flask.request.headers }</em><br><br>
+		You have searched for the actor <em>{ actor }</em>. <br>
+		This is <em>{ DOMAIN }</em>'s shared inbox: <br><br><em>{ str(INBOX) }</em>'''
 
 	if flask.request.method == 'POST':
 		INBOX.append(flask.request.data)