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Bloxsom is the best blog tool available:

http://www.blosxom.com/

But I've written my own.

Seth

If you don't mind a little perl, http://www.blosxom.com/ is pretty neat. I use it and it's real easy to get up and going, just set up directories, change a few config things, and bam. No db, no php, nothing extra. Very nice and very extensible if you need it.

Have you checked out Blojsom (Java based) or Bloxsom (Perl based). I had similar requirements to you a year or so back and either one of those hit the spot quite nicely.

You might want to look at Blosxom, which tends to operate this way.

I started using blosxom for Octopodial Chrome several years ago and have been very happy with it. Besides the original perl blosxom, there's PyBlosxom (a port to Python) and my own pre-alpha Lisp Blosxom. This last is a port to Common Lisp; it doesn't work yet, but someday I hope that it'll be pretty nice.

Here's a better link to the actual project, not Rael's personal blog: Bloxsom

And, last time I checked, Bloxsom was written in Perl, not PHP, although there is a PHP implementation (IIRC).

One nice feature of Bloxsom is that it doesn't use a database back end. It uses the directory structure, and blog entries are merely text files placed in the appropriate directory (or folder, if you're using the Mac paradigm). The top line of the text file is the headline, all that follows is the entry.

Another nice thing about bloxsom is that while a base installation is very simple and barebones, it has a plug-in architecture, making it very customizable and extensible.

All in all, bloxsom is great for someone like me with just a little technical proficiency. I've set it up several times and played with it, but I never kept up with updating. I just don't have a need to share my every thought and experience with the world and I'm lazy.

However, I'm setting something up for a company with which I'm associated, and I'm considering using it for their News section. We might be setting up an OS X server, so we might even use blojsom, the Java port of bloxsom.

I've had my eye on Roller for a long time (I think it is bundled with mac osx too). Is anyone using this? http://www.rollerweblogger.org/

Blosxom is pretty good for a 17k perl script. It's getting a little dated, but the next version (v3) is usable although still in the testing stages. Have a look at their Yahoo mailing list (linked from the Blosxom website) to see what's going on with it.

I use v2 of the software and have no qualms, although I wouldn't mind a larger list of plug-ins.

Use alternatives!
Why not an app called Blosxom?
It's tiny Perl scripts.

It seems unfortunate that an open-source organization is getting caught doing something possible shady. It is really unfortunate because there are people out there that will hold F/OSS projects to a higher standard.

I have never used Wordpress and so do really know much first hand about it as a program. But it does seem to fill a certain niche in the blog software arena. For myself, I will continue to use Blosxom.

Mark talks in his article about finding a good tool for taking templates and applying them to a bunch of pages.

Along with tt2site, blosxom is another good FOSS tool for generating a site. Many people (including myself) use blosxom as a CGI module and render the pages on the fly, but if you've got a high traffic site you can run a quick command and generate all the pages as static HTML as Rael does on Blosxom.com itself.

Blosxom errs on the side of simplicity, rendering each text file as an "article" or "blog entry" based on its timestamp and the subdirectory to determine order and category. Once you become accustomed to the idea of each piece of content being an article it's easy to see how many sites can be implemented in that way, with a list of links pointing to categories or the permalink of various articles. While blosxom is not a point-n-click tool, it is extremely efficient once you get your site initially set up. When I have a new idea for my site, I simply add a new text file in the appropriate subdirectory (or make a new one if there is no category that fits). The article immediately shows up on the front of my site, and then filters down into its category page as it is displaced by more current articles.

Conversely, I use Dreamweaver at work where we have an existing site designed and need more granular control of each page. I've also found it invaluable to be able to sit with our various project directors and visually create their page with them while they direct and give input. The lack of a WYSIWYG tool for editing template based HTML files is the only thing keeping my work computer an M$ pc.

Completely neglected in this discussion so far have been CMS's like postnuke and phpnuke, zope, and others (including slashcode). Distributing the ability (and responsibility) for updating pages and sections of a site while keeping everything template based is a key function of CMS's. In many cases, frequently updated sites would benefit from switching to a CMS rather than constantly updating their static pages.

bluefish meets my needs.

blosxom is very powerful, very flexible.

I use a combination of blosxom, which I also use to write my blog, and blagg, which reads my feeds and generates blog entries of the new entries in a separate "news" category. In fact, I have replaced blagg with a rewrite in Python that I call (obviously) plagg, but I haven't done its web page yet, so stay tuned...

You can think of it as just a diary. Another way to think of it is as a content management system. With the site I'm playing with at the moment (see my homepage link if interested), I'm not using it as a diary at all. I'm using Blosxom and, with plugins provided and created on my own, I'm pretty much using it as a publishing system. I write articles, schedule their publishing date, and pretend people read them :-).

Why do people want something already made for them? Why reinvent the wheel. A good engineer is a lazy engineer. Best to get up and running quickly. Lots of reasons, I should think. For me, the search for the right software took longer than getting the site ready once I found it. Blosxom provides enough easy-to-use customizability that the site looks the way I want it to look.

Blog software is just a tool and a starting point. Take it wherever your imagination lets you.

Here's the link:

Blosxom

I've used Blosxom, and it pretty much rocks. I haven't used the latest version, with the plug in architecture, but it looks sweet.

I concur. After reading your message, I decided to give Blosxom a shot. 15 minutes later I had a bunch of entries running in my first blog ever.

use a tool that will allow you to migrate your data

I use iBlog myself, but Bloxsom lets you just save as text files and put them in folders for organization. it's easily the most reassuring system as far as being able to move your data when you want. I used it for a bit, works as advertised.

Let me suggest Blosxom to you. It's a blog system, it's file based, it's plain text, it's customizable. Perfectly well suited for someone who's a master of only vi :)

They are missing SnipSnap, an fantastically easy to install java GPLd blog/wiki server. Try it out at snipsnap.org.

I've been looking for a piece of blogging software that doesn't require a SQL server. I've been using MovableType, storing its data in a BerkleyDB file. However, I'd like to move away from MovableType (for licensing issues, as well as usability issues)

Bloxsom and Blojsom both use the filesystem to store blog entries, and require no database.

Just this weekend I decided to move my own personal site over to a CMS/Blog system to make updating it even easier. I spent a while doing similar research, and ultimately ended up chosing Bloxsom as the right tool for my needs. It took me only 15 minutes to set everything up, and only a few more hours to write my first plug-in. Blosxom probably isn't the right tool for most applications, but for a personal site it met my needs precisely. In fact, I even migrated another site off of Moveable Type that same weekend.

Again, I documented the (rather brief) decision making process here.

Bloxs... Blosxom, despite its tricky name, can operate as a CGI script or it can generate static HTML and RSS files. A small and sweet app overall, nicely extendable too. All you need is Perl to run it locally.

Sounds like you've already got a solution, but others should really consider Blosxom - it's truly free (not just GPL), and in additoin to being really easy to use, has a bunch of advantages, the bidggest of which is that it understands the concept of using a heirarchical file system to organize posts.

I'll second or third that. Blosxom is a very powerful, very simple tool (the upcoming version 3.0, which has grown significant in size, is a scandalously large 15KiB in size! :-)

Blosxom allows an extension of its features via Plugins, which allows you to get the features you want without also getting loaded up on the ones you don't. I didn't care for MT's CMS with its various logins, complex scripts, etc.

The other feature that I really enjoy in Blosxom is the easy easy easy syndication; all you do is add /index.rss to your blog's URL, and you have an RSS 0.91 feed. And since Blosxom is heirarchical, people can choose to read an RSS feed of only a specific portion of you blog if they want with no additional work on your part.

So yeah, ditch MT and go Blosxom. You won't regret it!

I read a article about blosxom in Linux Journal recently. Sounds like a pretty sane Blogging system.

b2evo This is what I would recommend people check out first.
BBlog (requires PHP version 4.1 or greater & MySQL version 3.23 or greater)
Bit 5 Blog
blosxom (only need ability to run CGI scripts)
drupal.org (mySQL or similar required)
LiveJournal.org
MyPHPblog/Simplog (seems to require MySQL would have to download to be sure.)
Nucleus (requires PHP version 4.0.6 or higher and access to a MySQL database version 3.23.38 or higher)
Pivot (only php required)
pLog (requires PHP 4.1.x or higher and MySQL 3.1.x or higher)
Scoop (requires Apache with mod_perl and mySQL)
TikiWiki (requires PHP 4.1+ and MySQL. Very powerful software.)
WordPress (requires PHP version 4.1 or greater and MySQL version 3.23.23 or greater.)

I just switched from Movable Type to Text Pattern and I couldn't be happier. It's more CMS like AND easier to use (granted MT was easy to use but Txp feels much smoother). It makes a good separation of content and display and has a few goodies that make this feel natural.

Sounds like you've already got a solution, but others should really consider Blosxom - it's truly free (not just GPL), and in additoin to being really easy to use, has a bunch of advantages, the bidggest of which is that it understands the concept of using a heirarchical file system to organize posts. Blog entries are simply text files thrown into the appropriate directory. Blosxom can also generate pages dynamically, as most blogs do, or statically, allowing batch updates if you want.

It's written in Perl, and has a large and rapidly growing collection of "plug-ins" that extend its functionality, often in ways that is similar to (or sometimes better than Movable Type's. don't be fooled by its simplicity and small size - Blosxom does nearly everything the larger packages do, and is much, much, easier and more flexible than any other blog program I've run across.

Blosxom really is one of the most impressive programs I've seen in some time. It's worth checking out, and should be considered as an alternative to Movable Type, GreyMatter, Blogger, and the rest more often than it is. Fortunately, a growing number of hosting providers offer Blosxom support, since it's so easy and reliable.

I just switched from Movable Type to Text Pattern and I couldn't be happier. It's more CMS like AND easier to use (granted MT was easy to use but Txp feels much smoother). It makes a good separation of content and display and has a few goodies that make this feel natural.

Sounds like you've already got a solution, but others should really consider Blosxom - it's truly free (not just GPL), and in additoin to being really easy to use, has a bunch of advantages, the bidggest of which is that it understands the concept of using a heirarchical file system to organize posts. Blog entries are simply text files thrown into the appropriate directory. Blosxom can also generate pages dynamically, as most blogs do, or statically, allowing batch updates if you want.

It's written in Perl, and has a large and rapidly growing collection of "plug-ins" that extend its functionality, often in ways that is similar to (or sometimes better than Movable Type's. don't be fooled by its simplicity and small size - Blosxom does nearly everything the larger packages do, and is much, much, easier and more flexible than any other blog program I've run across.

Blosxom really is one of the most impressive programs I've seen in some time. It's worth checking out, and should be considered as an alternative to Movable Type, GreyMatter, Blogger, and the rest more often than it is. Fortunately, a growing number of hosting providers offer Blosxom support, since it's so easy and reliable.

bloxsom and pybloxsom (a port of the original Perl) offer an elegant plugin-based architecture with a gentle learning curve if you want to set up your own blog. And because so little is hardcoded into the app itself, you can leverage it to do all sorts of non-traditional sites; I wrote a plugin to enable a webcomic in a few hours.

My friend uses it.

http://www.blosxom.com/

Tried Plone, tried Movable Type, looked at PHPNuke -- all were overkill for my little blog.

I settled on Blosxom. It's a Perl CGI script. Once it's set up and going, all the user needs to do is make directories (categories) and put text files (posts) in them. It's dead easy.

It doesn't come with picture upload features, but there are several modules you can add, including one that interfaces with Gallery.

And of course there's .Mac, but that's already been said.

My blog is a very basic example of a Blosxom site.