Introduction

RSS is offered by many websites, especially blogs and news sites. With an RSS feed, you can "watch" a website for news, which is extremely practical, especially for websites that only create new content very irregularly. This saves you the annoying and often unsuccessful visit to see if something has changed in the meantime. Just like me :)

FreshRSS is a very lightweight open source RSS feed reader that allows you to set up your own instance on servers. This provides full control over the feed data, allows custom configurations, mobile support and features such as import/export, filters, categories and tags. In smaller environments, an SQL server can be dispensed with, all data is stored in an SQLite database per user. This makes backups very easy again.

Why use RSS?

Although social media and other modern platforms are becoming increasingly popular, there are still users who appreciate the control over their information sources and the flexibility of RSS without being spammed by obscure algorithms. One very popular service is feedly, which I've been using for years for lack of serious competition, but I'm glad to have finally found a serious alternative.

• RSS makes it possible to subscribe to content from various sources and read it in one central location
• RSS usually does not require registration or the provision of personal information
• RSS feeds usually contain less or no advertising than many other online platforms

Goals

The aim of this guide is to operate a FreshRSS server based on FreeBSD on your own FreeBSD Server. In order to be able to use FreshRSS publicly, an OPNsense firewall is required with part 2.

• FreshRSS article series:
  • Part 1: Install and run locally
  • Part 2: Using publicly behind an OPNsense firewall
  • Part 3: Update and Backup
  • Extra: First steps and tips