# Shorten

Shorten is an extremely simple Sinatra based URL shortener. There is almost no UI and only the most 
basic of functionality.

You can see an example of this service running at [➼.ws][example]. 

File uploading with an Amazon S3 backend has been recently uploaded and works but is known to be very buggy. YMMV.

## Installation


### Clone
	
	$ git clone git://github.com/amdavidson/shorten.git
	

### Install required gems
	
	$ gem install rack sinatra sequel anybase pg
	
Optional: Install the [Heroku][heroku] gem if you want to deploy on Heroku.
	
	$ gem install heroku
	

### Deploy

In the application directory run the following commands

	$ heroku create

Configure the application per below.

	$ git push heroku master


### Configure

Open <code>main.rb</code> in your favorite editor and change this block: 
	Shorten = OpenStruct.new(
		:base_url => "http://xn--8gi.ws/",
		:service_name => "&#x27bc;.ws",
		:button_text => "&#x27bc;",
		:path_size => 4
	)	
	
	
	
### Enjoy

You now have your own running URL shortener. Now use [domai.nr][domainr] or [name.com][name] to find 
yourself an available, short URL and reconfigure <code>main.rb</code>
	
	
## History 

This is a fork of the original [Shorten][orig_url] application created by [Andrew Pilsch][author]. 
I made some updates to randomize the shortened URL in the style of [bit.ly][bitly] and 
[tr.im][trim]. I have also modified the software to be easy to deploy to Heroku.






[orig_url]: http://blog.pilsch.com/past/2009/6/7/shorten_your_own_damn_urls/
[author]: http://andrew.pilsch.com/
[example]: http://xn--8gi.ws
[bitly]: http://bit.ly
[trim]: http://tr.im
[heroku]: http://heroku.com
[domainr]: http://domai.nr
[name]: http://name.com