What is DirCaster?
DirCaster is a PHP script that allows one to very easily start Podcasting MP3 files from their web host. This allows original content creators to easily provide a feed for the Juice Podcast Receiver, jPodder, and other "podcatching" software. The feed is also fully iTunes compliant!
Simply drop the dircaster.php script (and accompanying files) into a directory on the web server and it will generate a valid RSS feed suitable for Juice Podcast Receiver, etc., based off the MP3 files (with appropriate ID3 tag information) in that directory. To broadcast a new MP3 file, simply upload it to the same directory that contains the DirCaster script and files.
DirCaster was originally written by Ryan King at www.shadydentist.com. The ID3 class from is from frummel. There is no license or warrantee expressed, implied, enclosed, etc. The project has many contributors and more are welcome to join the effort! Contact the current maintainer, Dr. Bill Bailey, at DrBill [AT] DirCaster.org for more information! (Please replace the "[AT]" with an "@" sign. This helps prevent spam to our e-mail address... thanks!)
Feed information is based on ID3 tags within the MP3 files that you post to the directory containing the DirCaster script. The information can be added to your MP3 file using a tool like "MP3 Tag Tools," another great Open Source project! Or, the excellent FREE tool called "MP3tag" located at: https://www.mp3tag.de/en/
The current version:
DirCaster
Version 1.0 - Updates below:
Major update to DirCaster by Chris Arndt -
arndtc@gmail.com - added these updates:
Added README.md and documentation.
Centered table to cleaned up the page layout.
Update getID3() library by James Heinrich to v1.9.20
(2020-06-30)
Updated index.php to use config_inc.php Updated
index.php table to add duration Updated index.php layout and
misc code cleanup Updated changlelog for HEAD to point to git
log
Fixed PHP7 errors
ALERT! We now have enhanced DOCUMENTATION!
NOTE: In the file override.php - check location for jquery! (Search file for the term "jquery" and read note.)
The prior version:
DirCaster Version .09k - Swapped out getID3() library by James Heinrich to later version (as of February 26, 2018) to fix metatag parsing errors
Earlier Versions:
DirCaster Version 0.9j - Added the capability to edit the override .txt files viaa web interface. You may now go to: https://yourdomain.com/dircaster/override.php and edit theoverride files (your URL will vary, of course.) Be sure to set your file attributes to allow writing. Please read allnotes, and other documentation to fully understand this new function.
DirCaster Version 0.9i - Added "The Cloud Option" - A
method of
allowing media files to be stored in another location than in
the
DirCaster directory, for instance, in a Cloud storage
location,
like
Amazon S3. This would also allow the use of
Amazon Cloudfront to
better distribute media world-wide. The override '.txt' tag
[enclosureURL] DID NOT WORK
in previous versions, it has been corrected in this new
(.9i)
version.
Added override '.txt' tag for PubDate, to allow conrol
of the
date
when a media file is posted. Format must be in an
iTunes
compatible
string, such as:
Sat, 01 Sep 2012 18:37:48 -0700 NOTE:
If you downloaded 0.9i on the day of release, PLEASE
re-download to get the
latest, greatest version NOW!
DirCaster Version 0.9h - Fixed an issue that caused newer
versions of PHP to break DirCaster's ability to display the
description
of a file from the later (new) version of getid3
(getid3-1.9.1-20110810) - also fixed a date issue. Please be
sure that
the timezone is specified in your php.ini, i.e. =
date.timezone = "America/New_York"
DirCaster Version 0.9g - Added logic to allow placing media
files
in a separate directory. Numerous bug fixes. Thanks to
Lars
Hermerschmidt!
DirCaster Version 0.9f - Added logic to increase or decrease
web server
time by 1 hour. Can be used in case of bad web server times
due to
annual time shifts.
DirCaster Version 0.9e - Fixed a bug in displaying comments in the feed listing.
DirCaster Version 0.9d - Item duration code modified to
handle
media files with duration over 60 minutes. Made the
system more
modular.
DirCaster Version 0.9c - Added in the ability to define a
variable that
allows for the use of an enclosurePrefix for such
systems
as the Raw Voice Media Stats system (TechPodcasts,
Blubrry.)
For more information on Blubrry Stats, see this link.
DirCaster V0.9b - Added in a guid change to allow for
multiple files that had the same file date in the feed, and
identifies
them as "false" for permalinks.
DirCaster V0.9a - Added a test so that the ?ft=[filetype]
would display ONLY
files that are
listed in the "sftypes" list
DirCaster V0.9 - Revised item GUID tag to be more unique, Added channel keyword tag, Aligned XML tag indent. Looks better when reviewing raw XML. Added parameter to allow the selection of a single file type: dircaster.php?ft=[filetype]
DirCaster V0.8a added logic to obtain <item> overrides from a text file. (See the override.1st file for details.)
The latest version can be downloaded at this link: DirCasterV1-0.zip