Safari RSS databases in Mac OS X Tiger - or Monkeys and Ninjas and Pirates and Robots, oh my!
Hey, what do you know? The database used by Syndication.framework on OS X is accessible with SQLite 3, assumedly by virtue of Core Data. Check out this barely presentable capture of what I just did in a shell window:
[11:34:49] deusx@Caffeina2:~/Library/Syndication$ sqlite3 Database3 SQLite version 3.0.8 Enter ".help" for instructions sqlite> .tables Articles Sources sqlite> .schema Articles CREATE TABLE Articles (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, source_id INTEGER,author TEXT,title TEXT,contentType INT(1), contents TEXT,excerpt TEXT,GUID TEXT,permalink TEXT,iconURL TEXT, categories TEXT,date DATETIME,dateReceived DATETIME,unread INT(1), flagged INT(1),collapsed INT(1),noComments INT(1)); CREATE INDEX ArticleCurrents ON Articles (noComments); CREATE INDEX ArticleDates ON Articles (date); CREATE INDEX ArticleDatesRcvd ON Articles (dateReceived); CREATE INDEX ArticleSources ON Articles (source_id); CREATE INDEX ArticleUnreads ON Articles (unread); sqlite> .schema Sources CREATE TABLE Sources (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,URL TEXT, subscribed INT(1),title TEXT,iconURL TEXT,date INT,lastCheck INT, lastUpdate INT,slider INT(1),description TEXT,homePage TEXT, timespan INT(1),sort INT(1),HTTPdate VARCHAR,feedHash VARCHAR(40), FOAFURL TEXT,protocol VARCHAR,lastError VARCHAR,maxDays INT(2), maxArticles INT(2),x_monkey TEXT,x_ninja TEXT,x_pirate TEXT, x_robot TEXT); sqlite> select * from Sources; id|URL|subscribed|title|iconURL|date|lastCheck|lastUpdate|slider|description|homePage|timespan|sort|HTTPdate|feedHash|FOAFURL|protocol|lastError|maxDays|maxArticles|x_monkey|x_ninja|x_pirate|x_robot 1|http://www.apple.com/main/rss/hotnews/hotnews.rss|1|Apple Hot News||141617700|141648125|141648128|||http://www.apple.com/hotnews/|||Tue, 28 Jun 2005 02:15:00 GMT|150fdf111cd223367f5c0cb8d28c65ec2a4ec195||RSS||||||| 2|http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wpa/MRSS/newreleases/limit=25/rss.xml|1|iTunes 25 New Releases|/images/rss/badge.gif|141577349|141648124|141648126|||http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/com.apple.jingle.app.store.DirectAction/viewNewReleases?pageType=newReleases&id=1|||Mon, 27 Jun 2005 18:02:29 GMT|8a2c02423581414b223f4533f0bf89211e1aa6c7||RSS||||||| ... sqlite> select * from Articles; id|source_id|author|title|contentType|contents|excerpt|GUID|permalink|iconURL|categories|date|dateReceived|unread|flagged|collapsed|noComments 2003|5||'Mactel' desktops may offer triple-threat OS|0||Also: GE, IBM and GM: the welfare kings|http://news.com.com/News.com+Extra/2001-9373_3-0.html?part=rss&tag=rsspr.5748612&subj=news|http://news.com.com/News.com+Extra/2001-9373_3-0.html?part=rss&tag=rsspr.5748612&subj=news|||140527020|140612922|1|||0 2004|5||Virtual property becomes a reality|0||Blog: With the recent sentencing of a Chinese man who murdered an acquaintance in a dispute over a virtual sword, talk of the growing...|http://news.com.com/2061-10786_3-5748748.html?part=rss&tag=5748748&subj=news|http://news.com.com/2061-10786_3-5748748.html?part=rss&tag=5748748&subj=news|||140579040|140612922|1|||0
There's one piece up there that had me do a coffee spit-take, though:
x_monkey TEXT,x_ninja TEXT,x_pirate TEXT,x_robot TEXT
Seems like the Syndication Wars have progressed, and the various sides have enlisted all of these combatting factions. Monkey vs Robot, Pirates vs Ninja--I only wonder whether the Ninjas and Robots will ally against the Monkeys and Pirates? It just seems natural.
shortname=safarirssdb
Archived Comments
The column names were inspired by the freebie game Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot published by Atomic Sock Monkey. It's fun! Try it!
The fact that there are weird column names was inspired by sqlite's (then-)inability to add columns to existing tables. So the last time I had to break the schema to add a new column, I added four more as a reserve.
Needless to say, the contents, schema and very existence of that database are subject to change without notice, etc. etc.