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Gophernicus serves Gopher holes at gopher://atl.sh/~username on port 70. Each user’s content lives in ~/public_gopher/.

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How it works

Gopher client → Gophernicus (:70, systemd socket-activated)
                → /home/username/public_gopher/
Gophernicus is socket-activated via gophernicus.socket. It maps tilde selectors to user home directories using the -u flag, which tells it to look for public_gopher/ inside each user’s home.

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Gophermap format

Create ~/public_gopher/gophermap to define your hole’s menu. Each line is tab-separated: 
iWelcome to my gopher hole	fake	(NULL)	0
i	fake	(NULL)	0
1My projects	/~username/projects	atl.sh	70
0About me	/~username/about.txt	atl.sh	70
hMy website	URL:https://atl.sh/~username	atl.sh	70

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Item type codes

TypeMeaning
iInformational text (no link)
0Text file
1Directory / submenu
7Search query
hHTML link (prefix URL with URL:)
9Binary file
gGIF image
IOther image
If no gophermap exists, Gophernicus generates a directory listing automatically.

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Plain text files

Any .txt file in ~/public_gopher/ is served as a type-0 text document. No special formatting needed — just write plain text.

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Configuration

Gophernicus is configured via /etc/default/gophernicus: 
GOPHERNICUS_OPTS="-h atl.sh -r /var/gopher -u public_gopher"
FlagValuePurpose
-hatl.shHostname in generated links
-r/var/gopherDocument root
-upublic_gopherUser directory name (for tilde selectors)

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Ansible configuration

FilePurpose
roles/services/tasks/gopher.ymlInstall, config deploy, enable socket
roles/services/templates/gophernicus.env.j2Config template
roles/services/defaults/main.ymlDefault variables
Key variables:
VariableDefaultDescription
gopher_port70Listening port
gopher_hostname{{ pubnix_domain }}Hostname for generated links
gopher_root/var/gopherDocument root
gopher_user_dirpublic_gopherUser subdirectory name

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Clients

  • lynx — installed on the server: lynx gopher://atl.sh/~username
  • Firefox with OverbiteNX extension
  • Lagrange — multi-protocol graphical client

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Troubleshooting

Hole returns empty or “error”
  • Home directory must be 711: chmod 711 ~
  • public_gopher must be 755: chmod 755 ~/public_gopher
  • Check gophermap syntax — tabs must be real tab characters, not spaces
  • Test locally: echo "/~username" | nc localhost 70
Socket not listening
  • Check: systemctl status gophernicus.socket
  • Restart: sudo systemctl restart gophernicus.socket