Apus

A social wall for conferences with additional features.

The name Apus is based on Apus Apus, Latin for common swift. This is a bird species that is extremely adapted to a life in the air and can stay in the air for around ten months almost without interruption and can reach speeds of more than 200 km/h during flight maneuvers. This bird breeds in a wall, flies reliably for extremely long periods without crashing and is also extremely fast. Hopefully all of this also applies to Apus: fast execution, uninterrupted and reliable operation!

See:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_swift
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apus_(bird)

Screenshots

Apus supports localization. Screenshots are in different languages.

Apus screenshot with default theme

Apus screenshot with BaselOne theme

Apus screenshot with Java Forum Stuttgart theme

Apus screenshot with JavaLand theme

Features

Show posts from Social Media

Platform	Status
BlueSky	SUPPORTED
Instagram	- TODO -
LinkedIn	- TODO -
Mastodon	SUPPORTED
Threads	- TODO -
Twitter	- TODO -

Show event agenda

Event	Plugin
BaselOne	SessionizePlugin
CyberLand	DoagPlugin
Java Forum Nord	SessionizePlugin
Java Forum Stuttgart	JavaForumStuttgartPlugin
JavaLand	DoagPlugin
Voxxed Days Zürich	- TODO -

And more

Feature	Status
Running text with updates	- TODO -
Show sponsor information	SUPPORTED
Use event based styling	SUPPORTED

Build

Maven

Apus uses Maven to build the project. Please use standard Maven commands to build what you need:

Command	What it does
./mvnw	compile and run the app
./mvnw clean	cleanup generated files and build artefacts
./mvnw compile	compile the code without running the tests
./mvnw test	compile and run all tests
./mvnw package	compile, test, and create a JAR file to run it with Java directly
./mvnw verify	compile, test, package, and run analysis tools

There is no need to run the install or deploy tasks. They will just run longer, produce unnecessary output, burn energy, and occupy your disk space. Don't just blindly run mvn clean install...

Docker

Apus comes with a complete dockerized build for production use. It is not recommended to use the self-contained build for development purposes. Please take a look at the section about Production Build below.

Running and debugging

Running from the command line.

To run from the command line, run ./mvnw and open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Running and debugging in Intellij IDEA

• Locate the Application.java class in the project view. It is in the src folder, under the main package's root.
• Right-click on the Application class
• Select "Debug 'Application.main()'" from the list

After the server has started, you can view the UI at http://localhost:8080/ in your browser. You can now also attach breakpoints in code for debugging purposes, by clicking next to a line number in any source file.

Running and debugging in Eclipse

• Locate the Application.java class in the package explorer. It is in src/main/java, under the main package.
• Right-click on the file and select Debug As --> Java Application.

Do not worry if the debugger breaks at a SilentExitException. This is a Spring Boot feature and happens on every startup.

After the server has started, you can view it at http://localhost:8080/ in your browser. You can now also attach breakpoints in code for debugging purposes, by clicking next to a line number in any source file.

Configuration

Apus can be started without any specific configuration. All configuration options have working default values.

Configuration Options

To modify the default configuration values, just specify environment variables with the following names:

Environment Variable	Default	Description
ADMIN_PASSWORD		The hashed password to get admin access (empty = disabled).
BLUESKY_HASHTAGS		A list of comma separated hashtags for BlueSky posts (empty = disabled).
BLUESKY_INSTANCE	public.api.bsky.app	The BlueSky instance used to read the posts from (empty = disabled).
BLUESKY_POST_API	[1]	The URL of the BlueSky API to read the posts (empty = disabled).
CUSTOM_STYLES		Inject custom styles into the user interface (see explanations below).
DOAG_EVENT_API	[2]	The URL of the DOAG event API to read the conference agenda.
DOAG_EVENT_ID	0	The ID of the DOAG event to read the conference agenda (0 = disabled).
EVENT_DATE_ADJUST		Adjust the date of the event in days, ISO-8601 formatted (empty = disabled).
EVENT_DEMO_ROOM_COUNT	0	Number of rooms for the event demo plugin (0 = disabled).
EVENT_IMAGE_URL		The URL of the image to be shown below the event agenda (empty = no image).
EVENT_NEXT_SESSION_TIMEOUT	60	Number of minutes a session is shown before it starts (0 = disabled).
EVENT_SHOW_EMPTY_ROOMS	true	Show (true) or hide (false) empty event rooms.
EVENT_SHOW_LEGEND	true	Show (true) or hide (false) the event room legend.
EVENT_UPDATE_FREQUENCY	5	How often (in minutes) to update event data (0 = disabled).
FILTER_LENGTH	500	Hide social media posts which exceed this length (0 = disabled).
FILTER_REPLIES	true	Hide social media posts which are replies.
FILTER_SENSITIVE	true	Hide social media posts which contain sensitive information.
FILTER_WORDS		Hide social media posts which contain these words.
JFS_DB_URL		The URL of the database file for Java Forum Stuttgart.
MASTODON_HASHTAGS		A list of comma separated hashtags for Mastodon posts (empty = disabled).
MASTODON_IMAGE_LIMIT	1	Limit number of images per post (0 = no limit).
MASTODON_IMAGES_ENABLED	true	Enable or disable images in mastodon posts.
MASTODON_INSTANCE		The Mastodon instance used to read the posts from (empty = disabled).
SOCIAL_COLUMNS	3	How many columns to be used for social media posts.
SOCIAL_DEMO_POST_COUNT	0	Number of posts for the social demo plugin (0 = disabled).
SOCIAL_HEADLINE		Overwrite the headline for social media posts (empty = don't overwrite).
SESSIONIZE_EVENT_API	[3]	The URL of the Sessionize API to read the conference agenda.
SESSIONIZE_EVENT_ID	0	The ID of the Sessionize event to read the conference agenda (0 = disabled).
SESSIONIZE_SPEAKER_API	[4]	The URL of the Sessionize API to read the speaker information.
TZ	UTC	The timezone used for date and time calculations.

The environment variables will override the default values. Some default values might be too long to be displayed in this table. They are marked with a number in square brackets and can be looked up in the following list:

1. https://%s/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.searchPosts?q=%s
2. https://meine.doag.org/api/event/action.getCPEventAgenda/eventId.%d/
3. https://sessionize.com/api/v2/%s/view/Sessions
4. https://sessionize.com/api/v2/%s/view/Speakers

The EVENT_DATE_ADJUST option uses the ISO-8601 period formats PnYnMnD and PnW. Examples:

Example	Description
P5D	+5 days
P3M	+3 months
P2Y	+2 years
P4W	+4 weeks
P1Y2M3D	+1 year, +2 months, +3 days
P1Y2M3W4D	+1 year, +2 months, +25 days (3 weeks and 4 days)
P-1Y2M	-1 year, +2 months (minus is valid for the year only)
-P1Y2M	-1 year, -2 months (minus is valid for the whole expression)

Custom Styles

You can modify the styles of the user interface using CSS variables. The CSS variables must be set using the environment variable CUSTOM_STYLES in key and value pairs. The key is the variable to be set and must start with two dashes (--). Keys and values must be separated by a colon (:). Multiple key and value pairs are separated by a semicolon (;). Example:

--name-of-variable-one:value1;--name-of-variable-two:value2

The following table contains the CSS variables you can modify to change the user interface and their default values:

CSS Variable	Default	Description
--event-background-color	#e7eaee	The color for the background of the event agenda.
--event-title-color	#262626	The color for the title of the event agenda.
--event-text-color	#262626	The color for the text of the event agenda.
--event-running-session-color	#ffffff	The color for the background of rooms with running sessions.
--event-next-session-color	#eeeeee	The color for the background of rooms with sessions starting next.
--event-closed-room-color	#cccccc	The color for the background of closed rooms.
--event-room-border	1px solid #909090	The border for the event room.
--event-image-position-bottom	10px	The position of the optional event image relative to the bottom.
--event-image-position-left	10px	The position of the optional event image relative to the left.
--event-image-width	auto	The width of the optional event image.
--event-image-height	auto	The height of the optional event image.
--social-background-color	#e7eaee	The color for the background of the social wall.
--social-title-color	#262626	The color for the title of the social wall.
--social-text-color	#262626	The color for the text of the social wall.
--social-post-background-color	#ffffff	The color for the background of social posts.
--social-post-border	1px solid #909090	The border for the social posts.
--speaker-avatar-background-color	transparent	The color for the background of speaker avatars.
--speaker-avatar-border	none	The border for the speaker avatars.

Default values may change in newer versions of Apus. The custom styles of some events are documented below.

BaselOne

--event-background-color: #9a1445;
--event-title-color: #ffffff;
--event-text-color: #ffffff;
--event-running-session-color: #7248f0;
--event-next-session-color: #7248f0;
--event-closed-room-color: #7248f0;
--event-room-border: 1px solid #000000;
--event-image-border: 1px solid #000000;
--event-image-width: 250px;
--event-image-height: 250px;

--social-background-color: #7248f0;
--social-title-color: #ffffff;
--social-text-color: #000000;
--social-post-background-color: #ffffff;
--social-post-border: 1px solid #000000;

--speaker-avatar-background-color: transparent;
--speaker-avatar-border: none;

Java Forum Stuttgart

--event-background-color: #fcb913;
--event-title-color: #000000;
--event-text-color: #000000;
--event-running-session-color: #fff8dd;
--event-next-session-color: #fff8dd;
--event-closed-room-color: #fff8dd;
--event-room-border: 1px solid #000000;

--social-background-color: #fff8dd;
--social-title-color: #000000;
--social-text-color: #000000;
--social-post-background-color: #ffffff;
--social-post-border: 1px solid #fcb913;

JavaLand

--event-background-color: #000000;
--event-title-color: #ffffff;
--event-text-color: #262626;
--event-running-session-color: #79fffe;
--event-next-session-color: #00f1ef;
--event-closed-room-color: #00c2c1;
--event-room-border: none;

--social-background-color: #272727;
--social-title-color: #ffffff;
--social-text-color: #262626;
--social-post-background-color: #ffa8a8;
--social-post-border: none;

Create Hashed Password

For security reasons the password is not stored in cleartext. Apus requires the password to be hashed using bcrypt. Of course, Apus can do this for you. Start the JAR file providing the parameter -p followed by the password you want to create a hash for. The output will show you two lines of code. The first line contains the hashed password and the second line contains the same hashed password, but with the dollar signs escaped ready to copy and paste it into a docker-compose.yaml. Example:

java -jar apus.jar -p 12345
Hashed password for environment variable: $2a$10$nybQbl/iY8SRJkfHJVncS.L5.OC3KJ6VRBYVAID7qnUqwylmn/BtK
Hashed password for Docker Compose file: $$2a$$10$$nybQbl/iY8SRJkfHJVncS.L5.OC3KJ6VRBYVAID7qnUqwylmn/BtK

Configuration Files

All configuration files are completely optional and stored in an .apus subdirectory of the home directory of the user running Apus.

File	Description
blockedProfiles	This file contains blocked profiles, one per line.
hiddenPostIds	This file contains IDs of hidden posts, one per line.

Production

Production Build

Maven

You can use Maven to build Apus for production. Just specify the production profile. Example:

./mvnw clean package -Pproduction

Docker

To create a production build for Apus it is highly recommended to use Docker or Podman. Apus comes with a complete dockerized self-contained build. You don't need to have Maven or Java installed, Docker or Podman is enough. The Docker build file contains everything needed, just start a standard Docker build with the following command:

docker build -t apus .

This might run for a while and will produce a Docker image tagged apus on your local system.

Run in Production

It is highly recommended to use Docker or Podman to run Apus in production. Use the following command line as an example:

docker run \
    --name apus \
    -p 80:8080 \
    -v $HOME/.apus:/home/apus/.apus \
    -e ADMIN_PASSWORD=sEcrEt \
    -e DEMO_ROOM_COUNT=12 \
    -e MASTODON_INSTANCE=mastodon.social \
    -e MASTODON_HASHTAGS=java \
    -e TZ=CET \
    -d \
    --rm \
    mcpringle/apus

Short explanation, consult the Docker or Podman documentation for more information about all available options for running an image.

Option	Explanation
--name apus	Specify the name for the running instance.
-p 80:8080	Make Apus available on host port 80
-e KEY=value	Configure Apus using environment variables.
-d	Run Apus in daemon mode (background).
--rm	Remove the container when stopping Apus.
mcpringle/apus	The Docker image to be started.

Modify this command according your needs and consult the configuration section above for more information about how to configure Apus. The Docker image of Apus will be pulled from Docker Hub automatically when not available locally.

Plugin Support

Event Plugins

Apus uses a simple plugin technology to import the agenda of various events. Plugins are currently available for the following events:

Plugin	Supported Events
EventDemoPlugin	Creates fake session data for demo purposes.
DoagPlugin	CloudLand, CyberLand, JavaLand, KI Navigator
JavaForumStuttgartPlugin	Java Forum Stuttgart
SessionizePlugin	BaselOne, Java Forum Nord

Plugins for other events are planned.

Social Plugins

Apus uses a simple plugin technology to import posts from various social media services. Plugins are currently available for the following services:

Plugin	Supported Services
BlueSkyPlugin	BlueSky Social
MastodonPlugin	Mastodon
SocialDemoPlugin	Creates fake social posts for demo purposes

Plugins for more social media services are planned.

Plugin Development

Everyone is welcome to contribute a plugin themselves. The implementation is very simple. There are two types of plugins: EventPlugin and SocialPlugin. For a new plugin, a new package is created under swiss.fihlon.apus.plugin.event or swiss.fihlon.apus.plugin.social, based on the plugin type. The implementation is carried out in this new package. Implement one of these two interfaces depending on the plugin type you want to contribute and annotate the class with @Service.

If your implementation requires a configuration, the Configuration class must be extended accordingly. Add a property and corresponding setters and getters in the marked sections. Implement the settings object as a record in your new plugin package. Take one of the existing plugins as a template. Default settings belong in the file application.properties and the corresponding schema is stored in additional-spring-configuration-metadata.json. Of course, this README.md must also be adapted.

Communication

Matrix Chat

There is a channel at Matrix for quick and easy communication. This is publicly accessible for everyone. For developers as well as users. The communication in this chat is to be regarded as short-lived and has no documentary character.

You can find our Matrix channel here: @project-apus:ijug.eu

GitHub Discussions

We use the corresponding GitHub function for discussions. The discussions held here are long-lived and divided into categories for the sake of clarity. One important category, for example, is that for questions and answers.

Discussions on GitHub: https://github.com/McPringle/apus/discussions
Questions and Answers: https://github.com/McPringle/apus/discussions/categories/q-a

Contributing

Good First Issues

To find possible tasks for your first contribution to Apus, we tagged some of the hopefully easier to solve issues as good first issue.

If you prefer to meet people in real life to contribute to Apus together, we recommend to visit a Hackergarten event. Apus is often selected as a contribution target in Lucerne, Zurich, and at the JavaLand conference.

Please join our developer community using our Matrix chat to get support and help for contributing to Apus.

Sign-off your commits

It is important to sign-off every commit. That is a de facto standard way to ensure that you have the right to submit your content and that you agree to the DCO (Developer Certificate of Origin).

You can find more information about why this is important and how to do it easily in a very good blog post by Josef Andersson.

Add an emoji to your commit

We love to add an emoji to the beginning of every commit message which relates to the nature of the change. You can find a searchable list of possible emojis and their meaning in the overview on the gitmoji website. If you prefer, you can also install one of the plugins that are available for almost all common IDEs.

AI Generated Code

AI generated source code is based on real existing source code, which is copied in whole or in part into the generated code. The license of the original source code with which the AI was trained is not taken into account. It is not clear which license conditions apply and how these can be complied with. For legal reasons, we therefore do not allow AI-generated source code at all.

Contributors

Special thanks for all these wonderful people who had helped this project so far (emoji key):

Marcus Fihlon 📆 🤔 💻 🎨	Jean-Christophe Gueriaud 💻	Marlon 🐛	tlangdun 🔧	MarkusBarthlen 🔧	Max Albrecht 🚇 🔧	Stefan Mallia 💻
jzfrank 💻	Interactiondesigner 🎨	Itchy 💻 🎨	Max 🎨	Adrian Perez 🚇	patlecat 💻	Mateusz Halada 💻
Lennart 💻	RIJU MONDAL 🚇	Hendrik 💻

Copyright and License

AGPL License

Copyright (C) Marcus Fihlon and the individual contributors to Apus.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.