====== Glossary ======

Plain-language definitions for the jargon used across the tilde pages. Terms with a full page elsewhere link there. Adapted from the [[https://github.com/brennanbrown/tilde|tilde repo]] wiki.

^ Term ^ Definition ^
| alpine | Terminal email client, successor to pine. Config in ''.pinerc''. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_(email_client)|Wikipedia]] |
| ascii art | Pictures drawn with plain text characters. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII_art|Wikipedia]] |
| astrobotany | A gardening game on the gemini protocol at ''gemini://astrobotany.mozz.us''. Water daily; 5 dry days kill the plant. Tied to your TLS client certificate |
| bashblog | A blog engine that is a single bash script: ''bb.sh post'' turns markdown into static HTML plus RSS. [[https://github.com/cfenollosa/bashblog|GitHub]] |
| bbj | "Bulletin Butter & Jelly": a text-based forum shared across the tildeverse. [[https://bbj.tildeverse.org/|bbj.tildeverse.org]] |
| bbs | Bulletin Board System: a computer dialed into by modem for forums, mail, files. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system|Wikipedia]] |
| bink | tilde.town's file-sharing tool: put files in ''~/.bink'' and get a link |
| botany | Command-line virtual plant game. Water daily or it dies; neighbours can water for you. [[https://github.com/jifunks/botany|GitHub]] |
| byobu | A friendly wrapper around tmux/screen: persistent terminal sessions with status bars. [[https://www.byobu.org/|byobu.org]]. See [[terminal:tools:tmux_byobu|tmux & byobu]] |
| capsule | What a site on the gemini protocol is called |
| cgi | Common Gateway Interface: lets a web server run a script to generate a page on request. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Gateway_Interface|Wikipedia]] |
| dotfile | A hidden file or directory whose name starts with a dot (''.bashrc'', ''.config/''). Holds user configuration. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_file_and_hidden_directory|Wikipedia]] |
| dovecot | Mail server software running IMAP on tilde.club; writes index files inside the maildir. [[https://www.dovecot.org/|dovecot.org]] |
| finger | A very old protocol for asking a server about a user; reads ''.plan'' and ''.project''. See [[protocols:finger:start|Finger]] |
| geek code | A 1993 signature format encoding interests and skills as a compact symbol string. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek_Code|Wikipedia]] |
| gemini | A lightweight protocol simpler than the web: ''.gmi'' pages, mandatory TLS, no cookies or scripts. See [[protocols:gemini:start|Gemini]] |
| gemlog | A blog on a gemini capsule: dated ''.gmi'' files indexed newest-first |
| gopher | A menu-driven document protocol from 1991, before the web. See [[protocols:gopher:start|Gopher]] |
| guestbook | A page or file where visitors leave public notes |
| home directory | Your private directory on a shared unix system, written ''~'' |
| htaccess | ''.htaccess'': per-directory Apache config (redirects, access rules) |
| irc | Internet Relay Chat: the decades-old chat protocol tildes still use. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC|Wikipedia]] |
| irssi | A terminal IRC client. [[https://irssi.org/|irssi.org]]. See [[terminal:tools:irssi|irssi]] |
| maildir | Email storage format: each message is one file, sorted into ''new/'', ''cur/'', ''tmp/''. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maildir|Wikipedia]] |
| mbox | The older mail format: one file holding many messages concatenated. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox|Wikipedia]] |
| micro | A friendly terminal editor with familiar keybindings. [[https://micro-editor.github.io/|micro-editor.github.io]] |
| moo | A text-based virtual world of rooms and programmable objects, older than IRC. tilde.town has one at ''/town/moo''. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOO|Wikipedia]] |
| motd | "Message of the day": the greeting a unix system prints at login, from ''/etc/motd''. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motd_(Unix)|Wikipedia]] |
| plan | ''.plan'' and ''.project'': files read by finger. ''.project'' is a one-line bio; ''.plan'' is what you are doing now |
| prosaic | A cut-up poetry generator: feed it source texts and a template (haiku, sonnet) and it assembles poems. [[https://github.com/vilmibm/prosaic|GitHub]] |
| public_html | The directory a shared server publishes as your website root: ''public_html/index.html'' becomes ''host/~user/'' |
| pubnix | Public access unix system: a shared unix machine giving accounts to the public. See [[tilde:history|Pubnix History]] |
| rsync | The standard tool for syncing directories; copies only what changed. See [[terminal:tools:rsync|rsync]] |
| shell | The command-line interpreter you talk to when you log in. bash, csh, ksh, mksh, zsh are dialects. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_shell|Wikipedia]] |
| sieve | A language for filtering email on the server: sort, reject spam, auto-reply. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sieve_(mail_filtering_language)|Wikipedia]] |
| ssh | Secure Shell: the encrypted protocol for logging in and moving files. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell|Wikipedia]] |
| symlink | A file that points to another path, like a shortcut programs treat as real. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link|Wikipedia]] |
| tar | The tape archiver: bundles a tree into one file (''tar czf'' compresses). Useful where rsync is unavailable. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_(computing)|Wikipedia]] |
| terminal multiplexer | Software (tmux, screen, byobu) that keeps sessions alive after disconnect. How you stay on IRC around the clock |
| tilde | A shared unix server where each user gets a ''~'' directory and a ''host/~user'' URL. See [[tilde:tildeverse|The Tildeverse]] |
| town square | tilde.town's world-writable communal directory, ''/town/square''. See [[tilde:town_square|Town Square]] |
| ttbp | "tilde.town blogging platform," invoked as ''feels'': a diary tool where each day is one plaintext entry. [[https://github.com/modgethanc/ttbp|GitHub]] |
| weechat | An extensible terminal IRC client. [[https://weechat.org/|weechat.org]] |

===== See Also =====

  * [[tilde:start|tilde.town]]
  * [[tilde:join|Joining a Tilde]]
  * [[tilde:tildeverse|The Tildeverse]]
  * [[tilde:history|Pubnix History]]
  * [[terminal:start|Terminal]]
  * [[start|Return to wiki home]]