Checking your feed #

This page is for producers and administrators who want to be sure a podcast feed is right before a directory or a listener finds out it is not. Run these checks after building the feed, after changing an export, and after any change to the site's host name, HTTPS or proxy.

Contents #

1. In the RSS list
2. In the browser
3. On the command line
4. The episodes
5. When a change does not show
6. Checklist

In the RSS list #

Setup > RSS shows a card per export (RSS feeds). Check:

• Active, and the format Apple Podcasts (RSS 2.0 + iTunes);
• Feed address: the public host, https://, then /rss/feed/<access URL>;
• Sources: the show folder, the episode class, no "(missing)";
• no Needs attention marker. It lists a missing address, no source, or a source that no longer exists.

In the browser #

Open the feed address in a private window, so you see it as a visitor does. Most browsers show the XML or offer to download it; use "view source" if needed. Look for:

• <rss version="2.0" ...> with the itunes namespace;
• the channel's title, description, itunes:image href="...", itunes:category, itunes:owner;
• one <item> per episode, newest first;
• in each item an <enclosure url="..." length="..." type="..."/>.

On the command line #

The feed is served with Content-Type: application/rss+xml and a Last-Modified header; a request with a matching If-Modified-Since gets 304 Not Modified (kernel/private/classes/views/rss/feed.php).

# headers of the feed
curl -sI https://www.example.com/rss/feed/example-show

# the first lines of the feed
curl -s https://www.example.com/rss/feed/example-show | head -40

# headers of an episode file: size, type, range support
curl -sI "https://www.example.com/content/download/123/456/example-show-042.mp3"

# a range request, as players and apps make it: expect 206 Partial Content
curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' -H 'Range: bytes=1024-2047' \
  "https://www.example.com/content/download/123/456/example-show-042.mp3"

Replace the host, access URL and download address with your own; copy the download address from the feed's enclosure url. The file headers come from eZFile::downloadHeaders() (lib/ezfile/classes/ezfile.php): Content-Length, Accept-Ranges: bytes, Content-Disposition and Content-Type.

The episodes #

For each new episode compare the feed with the file:

When a change does not show #

The feed is cached for settings/site.ini [RSSSettings] CacheTime seconds, 1200 as shipped. The RSS card's Last written says when the cached copy was written. Wait, or ask an administrator to clear the RSS cache:

php bin/php/ezcache.php --clear-id=rss_cache --allow-root-user

Podcast apps and directories also cache feeds on their side, on their own schedule; Exponential cannot make them fetch sooner.

Checklist #

• To do: The feed answers with 200 and application/rss+xml.
• To do: Addresses use the public host and https://.
• To do: Artwork address opens the image.
• To do: Every item has an enclosure with a real type and length.
• To do: Range requests answer 206.
• To do: Old episodes kept their guid.
• To do: No test or draft episode is listed.

Related pages #

• The podcast feed explained
• Troubleshooting feeds and media
• Submitting to podcast directories
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.