marcus-web/docs/gopher-code-review.md

Gopher Integration Code Review

Date: 2026-01-13 Reviewer: Claude (Opus 4.5) Status: Ready for deployment

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Summary

Implementation of gopher integration for marcus-web is complete. The system converts Hugo blog posts with phlog: true frontmatter to gopher-friendly plain text and deploys them to SDF gopherspace.

7 commits total | All tests passing | 1 critical bug found and fixed

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Files Created

scripts/gopher/ascii_art.py

ASCII art assets and helper functions for gopher content.

Contents:

• Post header (MNW owl logo)
• Category headers (Fun Center, Frank's Couch, Beercalls)
• Post footer (SDF box)
• Series-to-directory mapping
• Movie metadata ASCII table generator
• Text wrapping utilities

Review: Clean, well-organized. All art fits within 70-char line width constraint.

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scripts/gopher/convert_to_gopher.py

Main conversion script: markdown to gopher text.

Key functions:

• parse_frontmatter() - YAML extraction
• extract_links() - Converts [text](url) to text [1] with footer references
• convert_headings() - # → section headers, ## → subheadings
• convert_formatting() - **bold** → *bold*, *italic* → _italic_
• convert_code_blocks() - Fenced blocks → 4-space indented
• handle_imdbposter() - Hugo shortcode → ASCII movie table
• wrap_paragraphs() - 70-char line wrapping

Review: Solid implementation. Handles edge cases well. The imdbposter conversion extracts viewing info tables and preserves them as plain text.

Fixed bug: Added sys.path.insert() for imports to work when called from shell script.

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scripts/gopher/generate_gophermaps.py

Generates gophermap index files for categories.

Outputs:

• blog/gophermap - Main index with category links and post counts
• blog/fun-center/gophermap - Tech posts listing
• blog/franks-couch/gophermap - Movie reviews listing
• blog/beercalls/gophermap - Beer logs listing (when posts exist)

Review: Properly formats gophermap syntax with tab-separated fields. Sorts posts by date (newest first). Includes ASCII art headers per category.

Fixed bug: Same sys.path fix as convert_to_gopher.py.

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scripts/gopher/update_root_gophermap.py

Generates updated root gophermap with "FROM THE WEB" section.

Review: Contains full gophermap template. One-time use script for initial setup. Includes dynamic =echo directives for latest post detection.

Note: This needs to be run manually after first deployment:

python3 scripts/gopher/update_root_gophermap.py
scp gopher_build/gophermap mnw@sdf.org:~/gopher/gophermap

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Files Modified

scripts/remote_publish.sh

Added --gopher and --gopher-only flags.

Changes:

• Argument parsing with help text
• Conditional Hugo deployment (skipped with --gopher-only)
• Gopher build: runs convert + generate scripts locally
• rsync with --delete to sync to SDF
• Permission fixing on remote (644 files, 755 dirs)

Review: Good error handling via set -e. Clear output messages. The --delete flag means removing phlog: true from a post will remove it from gopher on next deploy.

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scripts/new_techpost.py

Added phlog prompt after summary input.

Changes:

• New prompt: "Publish to gopher phlog? (y/N)"
• Added phlog parameter to create_post()
• Frontmatter now includes phlog: true/false

Review: Clean integration. Defaults to "no" which is appropriate.

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scripts/import_letterboxd.py

Added phlog prompt after viewing details.

Changes:

• Prompt added in import_movie() function
• phlog parameter passed to create_draft_post()
• Frontmatter updated

Review: Good placement - asks after all other inputs are collected.

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scripts/new_movie.py

Added phlog prompt after TMDB fetch.

Changes:

• Same pattern as other scripts
• Frontmatter includes phlog field

Review: Consistent with other scripts.

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.gitignore

Added gopher_build/ to ignore list.

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requirements.txt

Added pyyaml dependency.

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Content Changes

Three posts enabled for gopher with phlog: true:

• content/posts/blog-posting.md (Fun Center)
• content/posts/recovering-failed-ubuntu-upgrade.md (Fun Center)
• content/posts/megalopolis.md (Frank's Couch)

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Bug Found and Fixed

Critical: Import Path Issue

Problem: from ascii_art import ... failed when scripts were invoked from remote_publish.sh because Python couldn't find the module.

Root cause: When running python3 scripts/gopher/convert_to_gopher.py from the project root, Python's working directory doesn't include scripts/gopher/.

Fix: Added to both convert and generate scripts:

import sys
from pathlib import Path
sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).parent))

Commit: b5bb06e

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Minor Issues Fixed

1. No-op regex removed - re.sub(r"_([^_]+)_", r"_\1_", text) did nothing
2. Unused variable removed - in_code_block = False was never used

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Testing Performed

1. Conversion test: python3 scripts/gopher/convert_to_gopher.py --all - 3 posts converted
2. Gophermap test: python3 scripts/gopher/generate_gophermaps.py - All maps generated
3. Output verification: Manually inspected generated .txt files and gophermaps
4. Import fix verification: Re-ran after fix, all working

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Deployment Checklist

• git push to sync with origin
• Run ./scripts/remote_publish.sh --gopher for first deployment
• Run python3 scripts/gopher/update_root_gophermap.py to generate root map
• scp gopher_build/gophermap mnw@sdf.org:~/gopher/gophermap to update root
• Verify at gopher://sdf.org/1/users/mnw/blog/
• Test via web proxy: https://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw?a=gopher://sdf.org/1/users/mnw/blog/

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Future Considerations

1. Beercalls: No beercall posts have phlog: true yet. The category exists but is empty.

2. Movie metadata: The megalopolis.md post doesn't have year, director, runtime, or genres in frontmatter, so the ASCII movie table only shows title and web link. Consider backfilling metadata for better gopher output.

3. Link handling: External links become numbered references. Very long URLs may look awkward in the links section but are functional.

4. Line wrapping: Code blocks preserve formatting. Very long single words won't wrap (expected behavior).

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Commit History

b5bb06e Fix import path issue in gopher scripts
2f20e02 Add pyyaml to requirements.txt (Phase 6)
96e350c Add phlog: true to existing posts for gopher (Phase 5)
2941c7b Add phlog prompt to post creation scripts (Phase 4)
99495eb Add gopher deployment to remote_publish.sh (Phase 3)
468d238 Add gophermap generation scripts (Phase 2)
c4c18ed Add gopher integration core infrastructure (Phase 1)

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Verdict

Ready for deployment. All functionality implemented per the integration plan. One critical bug was found during review and fixed. Code is clean, well-structured, and tested.