| 1 | |
| 2 | TightURL |
| 3 | Version 0.1.3.2 |
| 4 | |
| 5 | What is it? |
| 6 | ----------- |
| 7 | |
| 8 | TightURL is a LAMP-based (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) blind redirection |
| 9 | service similar to TinyURL, designed for personal or company use by |
| 10 | those who prefer not to use external services, or cannot use them for |
| 11 | legal or logistical reasons. It may run correctly on a WAMP server |
| 12 | (Windows Apache MySQL PHP), but it is unknown if it does or not. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | The major consideration in the design was the ability to customize |
| 15 | the application without altering program code. All browser output |
| 16 | except fatal error messages is produced by HTML-based templates. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | A fair amount of customization is possible simply by setting a few |
| 19 | configuration variables in the configuration file or editing the |
| 20 | included HTML template files. Under no circumstances does the program |
| 21 | script file ever have to be edited, unless you're a developer. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | The primary reason for a blind redirection service is to avoid |
| 24 | e-mailing URLs to people that are broken when received, because the |
| 25 | recipient's e-mail program is unable to pick up the rest of the URL |
| 26 | after a line-wrap. It is called a blind redirection service because |
| 27 | you can't tell where you'll end up just by looking at the link. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | For the purposes of TightURL, we want to generate the shortest |
| 30 | redirection URL possible, thus we use a blind redirection URL, and |
| 31 | encourage the use of mod_rewrite or the "404-page Method" to achieve |
| 32 | the shortest possible URL. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | Can I use it without getting a special domain for it? |
| 35 | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| 36 | Yes. The requirement for TightURL to be considered useful is the |
| 37 | ability is to create a URL that won't wrap in a plain text e-mail |
| 38 | message. That means the upper limit is about 72 characters of URL. |
| 39 | A worst case scenario looks like this: |
| 40 | |
| 41 | http://www.a-really-quite-long-name.com/~example01/tighturl.php?i=abcdef |
| 42 | |
| 43 | Even this example can actually be made 10 characters shorter in most |
| 44 | cases without needing to ask the webmaster for special settings: |
| 45 | |
| 46 | http://www.a-really-quite-long-name.com/~example01/t/?i=abcdef |
| 47 | |
| 48 | See INSTALL for more details on how to "squeeze" your base URL down |
| 49 | to the smallest possible size. |
| 50 | |
| 51 | Why was it written? |
| 52 | ------------------- |
| 53 | |
| 54 | This software was written for the oldest reason in the Free Software |
| 55 | book; to scratch an itch. The author had been looking for some |
| 56 | Free Software to run his own URL shortening service. Finding no Free |
| 57 | Software that fit the bill, and wanting a first PHP project to work |
| 58 | on, TightURL was born. Issuing an HTTP Redirect is not exactly |
| 59 | rocket science, what the URL shortening service is really providing |
| 60 | is convenience and processing resources. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | The software itself can be boiled down to a very few lines if it is |
| 63 | hard-wired to its configuration values and output screens. But |
| 64 | since the author had been looking for some cookie-cutter software and |
| 65 | couldn't find any, he decided to write this so that hopefully no one |
| 66 | else will have to. It can be cosmetically tweaked from the config |
| 67 | file very easily, and in more depth by editing the HTML templates. |
| 68 | |
| 69 | |
| 70 | Additional Disclaimer |
| 71 | --------------------- |
| 72 | |
| 73 | Original author's code sucks. He is a rank amateur, evertything a |
| 74 | professional developer despises. (I wouldn't run code written by me |
| 75 | if I were you.) |
| 76 | |
| 77 | Contributing (code) to TightURL |
| 78 | ------------------------------- |
| 79 | |
| 80 | Patches welcome. Critical advice welcomed if gently given. |
| 81 | Access to CVS or Arch possible, please contact maintainer. |
| 82 | ron-a-t-vnetworx.net |
| 83 | |
| 84 | The Latest Version |
| 85 | ------------------ |
| 86 | |
| 87 | Details about the latest stable and development versions are |
| 88 | available at the TightURL Web site at http://tighturl.com/ . |
| 89 | |
| 90 | Documentation |
| 91 | ------------- |
| 92 | |
| 93 | The documentation available as of the date of this release is the |
| 94 | contents of this README file. Additional documentation is available |
| 95 | at runtime in the browser for using TightURL. |
| 96 | |
| 97 | Requirements |
| 98 | ------------ |
| 99 | |
| 100 | PHP - Should work with any version >= 4.3.0 |
| 101 | MySQL - Should work with versions greater than >= 3.x |
| 102 | |
| 103 | Features |
| 104 | -------- |
| 105 | |
| 106 | * Can create very short URLs using mod_rewrite or the "404 Method" |
| 107 | * ID size kept very short by using Base-36 IDs |
| 108 | * The same URL entered more than once always returns the same ID |
| 109 | * All output is generated by templates. |
| 110 | * Site design is controlled by a single template. |
| 111 | |
| 112 | Known Limitations |
| 113 | ----------------- |
| 114 | |
| 115 | TightURL probably works under Windows with Apache and MySQL, but we |
| 116 | have no way of knowing for sure until someone reports they've tested it |
| 117 | and it works. One possible problem would be if TightURL can't find |
| 118 | nslookup on the PATH. The Windows version uses nslookup as a kluge for |
| 119 | missing functionality in PHP for Windows. |
| 120 | |
| 121 | Coming Features |
| 122 | --------------- |
| 123 | |
| 124 | Please see the file called TODO. |
| 125 | |
| 126 | Installation |
| 127 | ------------ |
| 128 | |
| 129 | Please see the file called INSTALL for detailed installation |
| 130 | instructions. |
| 131 | |
| 132 | Anti-spam Features |
| 133 | ------------------ |
| 134 | |
| 135 | A problem with blind redirection services is they can be abused by |
| 136 | spammers to conceal the domains their spam is trying to get people to visit. |
| 137 | The TightURL Library attempts to screen out other known redirection |
| 138 | services, Windows executables, and matches against your local blacklist. |
| 139 | |
| 140 | To keep spammers and phishers from abusing TightURL, it checks the URI |
| 141 | blacklists at multi.surbl.org and black.uribl.com . TightURL will refuse to |
| 142 | add URLs that appear on these URI BLs. You can add additional URI BLs. |
| 143 | |
| 144 | Licensing |
| 145 | --------- |
| 146 | |
| 147 | Please see the file called LICENSE. |
| 148 | |
| 149 | Acknowledgments |
| 150 | ---------------- |
| 151 | |
| 152 | The TightURL developer(s) acknowledge the following copyrighted works |
| 153 | that make up portions of the TightURL software: |
| 154 | |
| 155 | Bad Behavior |
| 156 | |
