conference-check/README.md

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# 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/script.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.
## Example
Here's an example of how to add a conference to the `conferences` list:
```python
("Example Conference", "https://example-conference.com/")
```
## 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)