Blosxom is a
free-software weblog program (and simple
content management system
A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content (content management).''Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy''. Ann Rockley, Pamela Kostur, Steve Manning. New ...
) written in
Perl
Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offici ...
by
Rael Dornfest. It uses the pre-existing
file system
In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...
instead of a
database management system
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases span ...
, unlike most blog software.
The design of Blosxom is minimalist. It is distributed as a single Perl script, and all configuration is done by editing this script. All of the weblog entries are stored as plain text files consisting of a headline, optional headers or meta-information (if using certain plugins), and a blank line followed by the post body. New display styles can be added by creating template files called flavours. Blosxom can operate as a
CGI script or produce static
HTML
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
files. By default, Blosxom supports showing recent posts, doing content categorization, content retrieval by date (and
permalinking based on that), and
RSS
RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...
feeds. It can be extended with dozens of available
plugins
Plug-in, plug in or plugin may refer to:
* Plug-in (computing) is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program.
** Audio plug-in, adds audio signal processing features
** Photoshop plugin, a piece of software t ...
.
Blosxom has inspired derivatives in various languages, including PyBlosxom (in
Python
Python may refer to:
Snakes
* Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia
** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia
* Python (mythology), a mythical serpent
Computing
* Python (pro ...
),
Blojsom (in
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
),
Clojsom (in
Clojure), Blosxonomy (in
Ruby
A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sa ...
),
Blosxom.PHP (in
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group ...
), and
Hobix (in Ruby).
Blosxom and its derivatives tend to be used by people who prefer to write weblog postings with a text editor, instead of in a web-based interface. However, there are plugins for web-based posting to a Blosxom weblog, too. There are also plugins, which support external feedback systems like
Disqus
Disqus () is an American blog comment hosting service for web sites and online communities that use a networked platform. The company's platform includes various features, such as social integration, social networking, user profiles, spam and ...
,
IntenseDebate
Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The com ...
and similar services.
In February 2013 "BlosHome 1.0.6 alpha" was released, which allows users to write, edit and update Blosxom-based blogs straight from the desktop (
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
only).
BlosHome 1.0.6 alpha EN/FR for Windows
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Further reading
*
*
Notes and references
External links
Official Blosxom website
{{Perl
Free content management systems
Blog software
Free software programmed in Perl
Software using the MIT license
Free static website generators