# Conference Check Script

This Python script checks if the websites for future tech conferences are live.
It is designed to be run from a cron job. If a conference website is live, the
script sends an email notification.

## Requirements

- Python 3
- Requests library (`pip install requests`)

## Usage

1. Clone the Git repository containing the script:

   ```bash
   git clone https://git.4angle.com/edward/conference-check.git conference-check
   ```

2. Modify the `conferences` list in the script to include the conferences you
   want to monitor. Each entry should be a tuple containing the conference name
   and its URL.

3. Configure the email settings in the script:

   - `MAIL_FROM`: The email address from which notifications will be sent.
   - `MAIL_TO_NAME`: The recipient's name.
   - `MAIL_TO_ADDRESS`: The recipient's email address.
   - `SMTP_HOST`: The SMTP server hostname.

4. Set up a cron job to run the script periodically. For example, to run it every hour:

   ```bash
   0 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/conference-check/check.py
   ```

## Script Description

- The script uses the `requests` library to make HTTP requests to the
  conference websites.

- It checks for specific messages in the website content to determine if the
  website is not live (e.g., "404 Not Found" or "500 Internal Server Error").

- If a conference website is live, the script extracts the web page title and
  sends an email notification with the conference details.

## Customization

You can customize the script further by modifying the following:

- `not_here_list`: Add or remove messages that indicate the website is not live.
- `AGENT` and `headers`: Modify the user-agent and headers used for HTTP requests.

### How to Run

To execute the script manually, run the following command:

```bash
/usr/bin/python3 /path/to/conference-check/check.py
```

## Example

To add a conference to the `conferences` list, use the following format:

```python
("Example Conference", "https://example-conference.com/2024/")
```

## License

This script is provided under the MIT License. You can find the full license
text in the `LICENSE` file.

## Author

Edward Betts (Contact: edward@4angle.com)