I do like to use Mail.app in Mac OS X. I use it for emails and I use it for newsfeeds.
However, I have one particular problem with it, which is: It’s able to import RSS and Atom feeds, but cannot export a file which lists all of the RSS/Atom feeds that you have subscribed too. If this information was exported into the OPML format, then it would be able to be imported into many different feed readers (such as the superior OpenLink Data Space Feed Manager, or the Google Reader or the NetNewsWire)
Well. This afternoon I created something awesome, it’s quite a small Ruby program which creates an OPML file of your feeds which can then be uploaded to other feed readers. I call it MailAppToOPML.
It’s a Google Hosted project and is available through the MailAppToOPML Google Code Space.
Why Ruby?
It’s simple, it’s available on Leopard natively and I am quite fond of it’s blend of Object Oriented and Functional Programming styles.
Why would I want to export it from Mail.app?
You might find that having your RSS and Atom feeds in Mail.app is quite restrictive. For example if you imported the subscriptions into OpenLink Data Space Feed Manager then you would have the added benefit of your feeds being in a well established methodology known as Linked Data (for those techies out there, that means that you’ll be able to SPARQL your feeds!). You may also want to create a neat little widget (WUPnP) for your website which displays current items in your feeds, so that you can share a bit of your knowledge space (Universe of Discourse).
How to use it?
Simply download it from the MailAppToOPML Google Code Space, and then launch terminal. Run the file (mailapptoopml.rb) by dragging it onto terminal and pressing the enter key. It will then tell you where the outputted file is.
Shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Let me know if you encounter any errors though, I’ll be happy to fix ‘em.