v4.1.10

Change log

• Fixes bug that prevents disabling of backfill options (#37)

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• No action needed.

If you are running locally

• Get the latest copy of find_posts.py

v4.1.9

Change log

• When getting context for posts in the home timeline, we'll now also backfill the profiles of any users mentioned in posts on your home timeline. If your home timeline contains posts by accounts you don't follow (e.g. because you are following hashtags), these accounts will also be backfilled.
• When backfilling user profiles, we are now also pulling in context of (i.e. replies to) any posts we backfill, allowing us to see complete conversations on users' profiles.
• We can now fetch context for posts originating on Pixelfed instances. (#30)
• The artifacts/state directory is now configurable (#29) - thanks @arachnist
• Fixes Docker image name (#34)

New configuration options

The following new configuration options are available with this release:

Environment Variable Name	Command line flag	Notes
BACKFILL_WITH_CONTEXT	--backfill-with-context	Set to 0 to disable fetching remote replies while backfilling profiles. This is enabled by default, but you can disable it, if it's too slow for you.
BACKFILL_MENTIONED_USERS	--backfill-mentioned-users	Set to 0 to disable backfilling any mentioned users when fetching the home timeline. This is enabled by default, but you can disable it, if it's too slow for you.
--	--lock-file	Location for the lock file. If not specified, will use lock.lock under the state directory. Not relevant when running the script as GitHub Action.
--	--state-dir	Directory storing persistent files, and the default location for lock file. Not relevant when running the script as GitHub Action.

Note

Because FediFetcher is now backfilling profiles of every one you don't follow that appears on your home timeline, the first few times you'll execute FediFetcher after this update, it may run for a long time. Because FediFetcher caches profiles that it has backfilled, it'll then catch up relatively quickly (as long as you don't leave too long gaps between executions), and once it had caught up, I noticed no significant speed difference.

If you find FediFetcher too slow after this update, and want to turn off backfilling profiles of accounts mentioned in your home timeline, you can set the BACKFILL_MENTIONED_USERS / --backfill-mentioned-users and/or BACKFILL_WITH_CONTEXT/--backfill-with-context options to 0.

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• Update your fork, if you wish to use any of the new options. Otherwise no action is needed.

If you are running locally

• Get the latest copy of find_posts.py

v4.1.8

Change log

• When getting context for posts in the home timeline, we'll now also backfill the profiles of any users mentioned in posts on your home timeline. If your home timeline contains posts by accounts you don't follow (e.g. because you are following hashtags), these accounts will also be backfilled.
• When backfilling user profiles, we are now also pulling in context of (i.e. replies to) any posts we backfill, allowing us to see complete conversations on users' profiles.
• We can now fetch context for posts originating on Pixelfed instances. (#30)
• The artifacts/state directory is now configurable (#29) - thanks @arachnist
• Fixes Docker image name (#34)

New configuration options

The following new configuration options are available with this release:

Environment Variable Name	Command line flag	Notes
BACKFILL_WITH_CONTEXT	--backfill-with-context	Set to 0 to disable fetching remote replies while backfilling profiles. This is enabled by default, but you can disable it, if it's too slow for you.
BACKFILL_MENTIONED_USERS	--backfill-mentioned-users	Set to 0 to disable backfilling any mentioned users when fetching the home timeline. This is enabled by default, but you can disable it, if it's too slow for you.
--	--lock-file	Location for the lock file. If not specified, will use lock.lock under the state directory. Not relevant when running the script as GitHub Action.
--	--state-dir	Directory storing persistent files, and the default location for lock file. Not relevant when running the script as GitHub Action.

Note

Because FediFetcher is now backfilling profiles of every one you don't follow that appears on your home timeline, the first few times you'll execute FediFetcher after this update, it may run for a long time. Because FediFetcher caches profiles that it has backfilled, it'll then catch up relatively quickly (as long as you don't leave too long gaps between executions), and once it had caught up, I noticed no significant speed difference.

If you find FediFetcher too slow after this update, and want to turn off backfilling profiles of accounts mentioned in your home timeline, you can set the BACKFILL_MENTIONED_USERS / --backfill-mentioned-users and/or BACKFILL_WITH_CONTEXT/--backfill-with-context options to 0.

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• Update your fork, if you wish to use any of the new options. Otherwise no action is needed.

If you are running locally

• Get the latest copy of find_posts.py

v4.1.7

Change log

• When getting context for posts in the home timeline, we'll now also backfill the profiles of any users mentioned in posts on your home timeline. If your home timeline contains posts by accounts you don't follow (e.g. because you are following hashtags), these accounts will also be backfilled.
• When backfilling user profiles, we are now also pulling in context of (i.e. replies to) any posts we backfill, allowing us to see complete conversations on users' profiles.
• We can now fetch context for posts originating on Pixelfed instances. (#30)
• The artifacts/state directory is now configurable (#29) - thanks @arachnist
• Fixes Docker image name (#34)

Note

Because FediFetcher is now backfilling profiles of every one you don't follow that appears on your home timeline, the first few times you'll execute FediFetcher after this update, it may run for a long time. Because FediFetcher caches profiles that it has backfilled, it'll then catch up relatively quickly (as long as you don't leave too long gaps between executions), and once it had caught up, I noticed no significant speed difference.

If you find FediFetcher too slow after this update, and want to turn off backfilling profiles of accounts mentioned in your home timeline, you can set the BACKFILL_MENTIONED_USERS / --backfill-mentioned-users option to 0.

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• No action needed.

If you are running locally

• Get the latest copy of find_posts.py
• Supply the --lock-file and/or --state-dir arguments, if desired.

v4.1.6

Change log

• We can now backfill posts of users that are mentioned in notifications
• Added a sample bash script for a setting up a cron job for FediFetcher
• Provided a quick start / recommended configuration
• Deprecated the USER / --user option.
• Changed the logic with which FediFetcher decides which profiles to re-fill.

Please read the announcement post for more details: https://blog.thms.uk/2023/03/fedifetcher-backfills-notifications?utm_source=github

Full Changelog: v4.1.5...v4.1.6

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• Update your fork
• If you wish to make use of the option to backfill posts of users that are mentioned in notifications:
  • Add the read:notifications scope to your token, and regenerated it, if needed
  • Add the FROM_NOTIFICATIONS environment variable. I suggest 1 as a starting point.
  • If you currently use MAX_FOLLOWERS or MAX_FOLLOW_REQUESTS I would suggest removing these, as FROM_NOTIFICATIONS should backfill new followers / follow requests, unless you have turned off notifications for these.

If you are running locally

• Get the latest copy of find_posts.py
• If you wish to make use of the option to backfill posts of users that are mentioned in notifications:
  • Add the read:notifications scope to your token, and regenerated it, if needed
  • Add the --from-notifications=1 as argument to your job.
  • If you currently use --max-followers or --max-follow-requests I would suggest removing these, as --from-notifications should backfill new followers / follow requests, unless you have turned off notifications for these.

v4.1.5

mastodon_get_replies is now FediFetcher

mastodon_get_replies has always been a pain to both say and type, and also now only covers about 50% of the functionality of FediFetcher, so it's time for a rename

Other changes

• Hopefully finally fixes the intermittent errors when getting the latest release (#25, #26) - thanks @shiruken

Update instructions

If running FediFetcher as GitHub Action

• Please update your fork

If running FediFetcher as a cron job

• No action needed.

v4.1.4

mastodon_get_replies is now FediFetcher

mastodon_get_replies has always been a pain to both say and type, and also now only covers about 50% of the functionality of FediFetcher, so it's time for a rename

Other changes

• Hopefully finally fixes the intermittent errors when getting the latest release (#25, #26) - thanks @shiruken

Update instructions

If running FediFetcher as GitHub Action

• Please update your fork

If running FediFetcher as a cron job

• No action needed.

v4.1.3

Change log

• For GitHub Action: Retry fetching the latest release in case of failure (#25)
• For GitHub Action: Keep the workflow alive (#24)
• Fix bug in calling monitoring callback urls
• Update Kubernetes example and README for persistence (#14 - thanks @nikdoof)
• Create artifacts directory in docker image, if it doesn't exists (#22 - thanks @shiruken)

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• Update your fork

If you are running locally

• Get the latest copy of find_posts.py

v4.1.2

Change log

• Temporarily disables keep alive workflow (#23)

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• Update your fork

If you are running locally

• Not relevant.

v4.1.1

Change log

• Fetch remote replies to bookmarks (#19)
• File based locking to prevent overlapping executions of the script in cron mode (#18)
• Implement Support for Dead Man Switch monitoring (#20)
• Prevent schedule from being disabled after 60 days (#17)

Update instructions

If you are running from Git Hub Actions

• Update your fork
• If you wish to use dead man monitoring, provide the ON_START, ON_DONE, and/or ON_FAIL environment variables as desired.
• If you wish to use the option to fetch remote replies for bookmarks:
  • Add the read:bookmarks scope to your Access Token
  • Re-generate your access token
  • Supply the new ACCESS_TOKEN as an action secret
  • Supply MAX_BOOKMARKS as environment variable

If you are running locally

• Fetch the latest version
• Provide the --lock-hours parameters as a value greater than 0
• If you wish to use dead man monitoring, provide the --on-start, --on-done, and/or --on-fail argument, as desired.
• If you wish to use the option to fetch remote replies for bookmarks:
  • Add the read:bookmarks scope to your Access Token
  • Re-generate your access token
  • Supply the new ACCESS_TOKEN as an action secret
  • Supply the --max-bookmarks argument to the script