static site checker

usage

NAME
ssc - analyse static web site source


SYNOPSIS
ssc [...] directory
ssc -f config
ssc


DESCRIPTION
ssc (the Static Site Checker) is an opinionated HTML nit-picker, intended for
people, such as its author, who hand code websites. It doesn't just check
static websites for broken links, dubious syntax, and bad semantic data, it
will actively complain about things that are perfectly legal but just a little
bit untidy.

Except when serving CGI queries, it recursively scans the directory looking
for HTML source files to analyse. It produces a list of errors, warnings,
comments, and other hints of imperfection. Once complete, it summarises
internal site inconsistencies, and can produce some simple statistics.

ssc ignores scripts.


COMMAND LINE ONLY SWITCHES

These options are only available on the command line:

-f file                 Load configuration from file, which should be in .INI
                        file format. See CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT below.

-F                      Load the configuration file .ssc/config in the current
                        directory.

-h                      Show a summary of switches and exit.

-V                      Show version details and exit.

--validation            Show attribute extensions and exits. Attribute
                        extensions are additional values that can be
                        associated with attributes on many X/HTML elements.


COMMAND LINE AND CONFIGURATION FILES SWITCHES

These options are available on the command line and in configuration files:

--corpus.article        Prefer the content of 
 when gathering corpus
                        text.

--corpus.body           Prefer the content of  when gathering corpus
                        text. This is the default.

--corpus.main           Prefer the content of 
 when gathering corpus
                        text.

--corpus.output file    Dump XML corpus of site into file. This is intended
                        for use by a local search engine. If none of
                        --corpus.article, --corpus.body, or --corpus.main are
                        specified, the content of  is used. If more than
                        one are specified, then the text collected depends on
                        a page's content. This is incompatible with
                        --shadow.update.

--general.css           Do NOT process .css files.

--general.custom EL     Define a custom element  for verifying the IS
                        attribute. May be repeated.

--general.datapath dir  Look for any configuration, caches, and other useful
-p dir                  files, in this directory.

--general.error x       If nits of the specified category or worse are
-E                      generated, then exit with an error code. Values are:
                        'catastrophe', 'error' (the default), 'warning',
                        'info', or 'comment'.

--general.ignored EL    ignore attributes and content of the element . May
                        be repeated.

--general.lang LA       If an X/HTML file does not have a language / dialect
                        specified (e.g. "en" for generic English, "en_IE" for
                        Irish English, "lb_LU" for Luxembourgish, etc.),
                        default to 'LA'. If not given, the default is your
                        system default, or, if none, then "en_US" (standard
                        American English).

--general.maxfilesize n Do not process HTML source files that exceed n bytes
                        in size (default: 4M). Specify 0 for unlimited,
                        although be warned that ssc is stunningly stupid in
                        such circumstances and may even attempt to load files
                        that exceed available memory.

--general.output        Output to the specified file. If this switch is not
-o file                 used, standard output is used.

--general.nochange      Report what ssc would do, but don't do it.
-n

--general.progress      Dump progress information to standard output. This can
-D                      intefere with formatted output.

--general.rdf           Check RDF attributes. This option currently
                        underperforms. An extension to properly support RDF
                        and RDFa is en route.

--general.rel           Only mention  REL values, found neither in the
                        living standard nor at microformats.org, in debug
                        output.

--general.slob          Ignore perfectly legal but inefficient, indeed
                        thoroughly slobby, HTML, such as being far too lazy to
                        get round to bothering to close elements.

--general.ssi           Process Server Side Includes. Although ssc can process
-I                      many server side includes, it cannot process those
                        containing formulae. Note that processing SSIs may
                        cause incorrect line numbers to be mentioned when an
                        issue is described.

--general.verbose x     Output nits to the specified verbosity: 'catastrophe',
-v                      'error', 'warning', 'info', 'comment' (the default),
                        or '0' for silence. Additional values are available
                        when debugging. Each level includes its preceding
                        level, so, for example, 'warning' will also output
                        'catastrophe' and 'error' nits.

--html.rfc1867          Ignore the RFC 1867 (INPUT=FILE) extension when
                        processing HTML 2.0

--html.rfc1942          Ignore the RFC 1942 (tables) extension when processing
                        HTML 2.0.

--html.rfc19802         Ignore the RFC 1980 (client side image maps) extension
                        when processing HTML 2.0.

--html.rfc2070          Ignore the RFC 2070 (internationalisation) extension
                        when processing HTML 2.0.

--html.tags             When an HTML file is loaded that contains no DOCTYPE,
                        ssc normally presumes it's an HTML 1 file. This switch
                        tells it to presume the file follows an earlier HTML
                        Tags specification (the one at CERN). This is
                        overridden by --html.version.

--html.title n          If <TITLE> text is longer than n characters, say so.
-z n                    This applies to child text of a header <TITLE>
                        element, not the value of TITLE attributes.

--html.version X        If no doctype (or xml header) is specified, presume
                        version X of HTML. X can be:
                            tags        HTML tags (1991, informal),
                            1.0         HTML 1.0 (June 1993 draft),
                            +           HTML Plus (November 1993 draft),
                            2.0         HTML 2.0 (RFC 1860),
                            3.0         HTML 3.0 (March 1995 draft),
                            3.2         HTML 3.2,
                            4.0         HTML 4.0,
                            4.1         HTML 4.01,
                            4.2         XHTML 1.0,
                            4.3         XHTML 1.1 core,
                            4.4         XHTML 2.0 (December 2010 draft),
                            5.0         W3 HTML 5.0,
                            5.1         W3 HTML 5.1,
                            5.2         W3 HTML 5.2,
                            5.3         W3 HTML 5.3 (October 2018 draft),
                            2005/1/1    WhatWG WebApps draft (January 2005),
                            ...
                            2007/1/1    WhatWG WebApps draft (January 2007),
                            2007/7/1    WhatWG HTML 5 (July 2007),
                            ...
                            2021/10/1   WhatWG HTML 5 (October 2021),

                            XHTML 1.0   XHTML 1.0,
                            XHTML 1.1   XHTML 1.1 core,
                            XHTML 2.0   (December 2010 draft),
                            XHTML 5.x   XHTML corresponding to equivalent W3
                                        HTML.

                        Although you can specify exact dates for versions of
                        the WhatWG HTML 5 living standard, currently only
                        broad versions published in January and July are
                        supported (and April & October 2021). It is expected
                        that, as the standard develops, more precision will be
                        applied to changes in ssc analysis.

                        Certain versions of HTML offer variants, such as loose
                        and strict definitions. ssc picks those up from the
                        <!DOCTYPE …> in the HTML file, if any, and
                        carelessly ignores them.

                        Validation of XHTML is not strict.

                        Just to remind you, there are no guarantees of
                        accuracy (or inaccuracy).

                        Copies of the appropriate standards can be found
                        online at source.

--link.301              Normally, when ssc checks external links
-3                      (--link.external), it does not report http forwarding
                        errors 301 and 308. Use this switch to have it do so.

--link.external         Check external links, e.g. those not on the site being
-e                      checked. This requires a copy of curl on the path.
                        Note that, no matter what the switch, ssc will NOT
                        check certain special site names, such as example.com.

--link.internal         Check internal links, e.g. those within the website
-l                      being checked.

--link.once             Only report each broken external link once. If, for
-O                      example, the site has a number of references to a page
                        that does not exist, ssc will only report the first
                        instance of the broken link. Note that, even if it
                        reports every occurrence of the link, it will only
                        check it the first time it encounters it (requires
                        --link.external).

--link.revoke           Do not check whether https links' certificates have
-r                      been revoked (requires --link.external).

--link.xlink            Check crosslink IDs on the site being analysed. For
-X                      example, if a link goes to /index.html#id, then, when
                        this switch is set, ssc will verify that the id exists
                        and that it is not hidden.

--math.version          Presume this version of MathML (1, 2 or 3). The
                        following versions are supported:
                                0   work it out from the (HTML) version of the
                                    file being analysed,
                                1   MathML 1,
                                2   MathML 2,
                                3   MathML 3,
                                4   MathML 4 (December 2020 draft).

--microdata.microdata   Check microdata found in WhatWG microdata attributes
-m                      (itemprop, itemtype, etc.). Note that ssc only knows
                        about schema.org and n.whatwg.org microdata.

--microdata.export      Export schema.org microdata encountered. This data is
                        exported in JSON format.

--microdata.root DIR    When exporting microdata with --microdata.export,
                        write files into the directory DIR. ssc will create
                        the directory tree structure as appropriate.

--microdata.version x.y Test for schema.org microdata version X.Y
                        The following values are valid:
                                version 2: 2.0 to 2.2;
                                version 3: 3.0 to 3.9;
                                versions 4.0, 5.0, 6.0;
                                version 7: 7.0 to 7.04;
                                versions 8.0, 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 13.0.
                        If .Y is omitted, .0 is presumed.

--microdata.virtual v=d When exporting microdata using --microdata.export,
                        export the contents of virtual directory 'v' to 'd'.
                        'v' must match a directory identified with
                        --site.virtual. For example:
                            --microdata.virtual virtual=X:\virtual.

--microformat.verify    Verify Microformats data in class and rel attributes
-M                      (see https://microformats.org/).

--microformat.export    Export microformat data encountered in JSON format.
                        This option will write files in the same directory as
                        the source, with the extension .json.

--microformat.version x Presume microformats version x. The following values
                        are current accepted:
                                1   microformats version 1 only,
                                2   microformats version 2 only,
                                3   both microformats versions 1 and 2.

--nits.catastrophe n    redefine nit n as a catastrophe; may be repeated (the
                        value of n can be determined using --nits.nids below).

--nits.codes            Output nit codes.

--nits.comment n        Redefine nit n as a comment; may be repeated (the
                        value of n can be determined using --nits.nids).

--nits.debug   n        Redefine nit n as a debug message; may be repeated
                        (the value of n can be determined using --nits.nids).

--nits.error n          Redefine nit n as an error; may be repeated (the
                        value of n can be determined using --nits.nids).

--nits.format F         Specify the output format; F is a template file (see
                        OUTPUT TEMPLATE below).

--nits.info n           Redefine nit n as information; may be repeated (the
                        value of n can be determined using --nits.nids).

--nits.nids             Output nit ids, which can be used to redefine nits.

--nits.quote X          Specify quote style when using nit.format. X can be
                        one of 'text' or 'html'.

--nits.silence n        Silence nit n; may be repeated (the value of n can be
                        determined using --nits.nids).

--nits.warning n        Redefine nit n as a warning; may be repeated (the
                        value of n can be determined using --nits.nids).

--shadow.changed        When shadowing a site that has been previously
                        shadowed, only copy/link files that have changed.

--shadow.comment        Do not delete comments when writing shadow pages.

--shadow.copy X         Create a shadow directory structure from source HTML
                        files, with errors removed and some things tidied up.
                        X can be:
                                no     copy nothing (default);
                                pages  write 'fixed' source files, ignore non
                                       source files;
                                hard   set up hard links to non-source files
                                       (requires source and shadow directories
                                       to be on the same disk);
                                soft   set up soft links to non-source files;
                                all    copy non HTML files too;
                                dedu   copy non HTML files too, but
                                       deduplicate them, changing links in
                                       HTML source if necessary;
                                report only report duplicates (no shadowing).
                        ssc cannot convert between versions of HTML, nor
                        between HTML and XHTML. The soft and hard link options
                        are only available on systems that support them.

--shadow.enable         Enable shadowing (set by other shadow options). If
                        shadowing is enabled, but shadow.root is not set, SSC
                        will litter the site source directories with .ndx
                        files.

--shadow.file f         Write ssc's shadow cache to file f, to accelerate
                        future shadowing of the same content.

--shadow.ignore ext     When shadowing, ignore files with this extension (may
                        be repeated).

--shadow.info           Add a comment at or near the top of each shadowed HTML
                        file noting its generation time.

--shadow.msg text       Insert a comment containing the text at the top of
                        every generated page. Note that, if any SSI included
                        file is updated, the comment will appear whether or
                        not the original page is updated.

--shadow.root dir       Where to write the shadowed site.

--shadow.ssi            Do NOT resolve SSIs when shadowing, even if
                        --general.ssi is set.

--shadow.space          Leave excess/repeated spaces and blank lines in the
                        shadowed files untidily untouched.

--shadow.update         Only examine files that have changed since the last
-u                      time ssc ran. This is incompatible with --corpus.file.
                        This requires --shadow.file. Nits of files that have
                        not changed will not be reported.

--shadow.virtual v=d    When shadowing virtual directories, output the shadow
                        of virtual directory 'v' to directory 'd'. 'v' must
                        match a directory set up using --site.virtual.

--site.domain domain    The domain name of the site is 'domain'. This can be
-S domain               repeated. This is used to identify any URL that is
                        apparently external but is actually internal to the
                        site.

--site.extension ext    Treat files with this extension as X/HTML source
-x ext                  files. This may be repeated. Files with extension
                        .html are always checked.

--site.index file       This is the name of the index file in a directory.
-i file                 This can be repeated. This is used for checking
                        internal links.

--site.root dir         This is the root of the website to analyse. ssc will
-g dir                  recursively scan the directory analysing any HTML
                        files it finds. The default is the current directory.

--site.virtual v=d      The HTML virtual directory 'v' is located in actual
-L v=d                  directory 'd' on the local filesystem. For example:
                            --site.virtual virtual=D:\actual

--stats.meta            Produce statistics on <META> usage in <HEAD>. Note
                        that pragmas reported (http-equiv) are those found in
                        the HTML source, not those returned by the HTTP
                        protocol. Remember that many web servers (not all)
                        will remove some pragmas when serving pages.

--stats.page            Produce statistics for each source file encountered.

--stats.summary         Produce a summary of overall statistics for the
                        website.

--svg.version x         Presume any SVG code encountered is this version,
                        unless the SVG code itself specifies a version.
                        Versions recognised:
                            1.0,
                            1.1,
                            1.2 (really 1.2/tiny),
                            1.2/tiny,
                            1.2/full (May 2004 draft, incomplete, any conflict
                                      with tiny always resolved in favour of
                                      tiny),
                            2.0,
                            2.1 (april 2021 draft).
                        If this switch is not used, and some SVG code does not
                        identify its version, the version is derived from the
                        version of the host X/HTML code.

--validation.minor x    When validating W3 HTML 5 source code, using this
-m x                    minor version of W3 HTML 5. Valid values are 0, 1, 2,
                        and 3. WhatWG versions are determined by date,
                        corresponding roughly to the date of the (online)
                        publication of the specific version. See the
                        --html.version switch.

--validation.microdata  Validate (schema.org) microdata.

--validation.*          Add a permitted value to a particular HTML
                        enumeration. Can be repeated. Extendable enumerations
                        include charset, class (valid values may also be
                        picked up from CSS files), colour, currency,
                        http-equiv, lang, metaname, mimetype, rel, SGML, and
                        many others. A full set of possible enumerations can
                        be listed using the --validation switch.


CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT

If a configuration file is used, it should be in INI file format. All content
is optional.

Section and option names are derived from the long form switch name, which
consists of SECTION.OPTION, laid out in the format:
[SECTION]
OPTION=yes
OPTION=123456

Switches that do not have a long form version cannot be used in a
configuration file.

Each ssc tests (in the toast folder) has a configuration file; browse them for
examples.


ENVIRONMENT

QUERY_STRING            Run under OpenBSD's httpd server. See notes below.
SSC_CONFIG              If no configuration file is given on the command line,
                        use this one
SSC_ARGS                Preliminary command line parameters

If, when SSC is run, the environment variable QUERY_STRING is set to an
OpenBSD httpd server CGI value that includes the parameter html.snippet, then
SSC will nitpick that snippet only. Some other parameters are processed,
including general.verbose and html.version.


EXIT STATUS
If no significant nits are found, ssc exits with 0, otherwise it exits with a
value > 0.


OUTPUT TEMPLATE

Warning: output templates is work in progress, and may be subject to
significant breaking change in future versions of ssc.

The --nit.format switch allows control of output format. It takes a file name.
The format of that text file is a sequence of fixed section names, enclosed in
square brackets on their own lines, each optionally followed by text. In that
text, certain specific identifiers, enclosed in brace pairs, are substituted.
For example:

[dog-section]
My pet dog {{dog-name}} is a {{bad-dog}}.

For examples, browse toast/output/*.nit

If no file is specified, or if the file cannot be loaded, a default template is
used.

Note also the --nit.quote switch.


EXAMPLES

To verify the version of ssc:
ssc -V

To check the static web side source directory /home/site/wwwroot:
ssc /home/site/wwwroot

To check a static website for example.com,  in the current directory, that
uses server side includes, including verification of external links, with very
verbose output:
ssc -e -I -x html -x shtml -s example.com -v 5 -i index.shtml

To check a static web side in the current directory, with a virtual directory,
verifying microformats:
ssc -L vitual=/home/site/virtual -M

To check a static web site using a configuration file:
ssc -f config.file

A simple configuration file might contain:
[general]
verbose=4
output=simple.out
[site]
domain=example.edu
extension=html
index=index.html
root=simple

A configuration file to check a site against HTML 5.2 and SVG 1.1 might
contain:
[general]
output=site.out
class=yes
[link]
check=yes
[site]
domain=example.edu
extension=html
index=index.html
root=site
[html]
version=5.2
[svg]
version=1.1

A configuration file to check against a particular WhatWG living standard,
gathering statistics:
[general]
output=jan21.out
[html]
version=2021/01/01
[link]
check=yes
[microdata]
version=11.0
[site]
domain=example.edu
extension=html
index=index.html
root=site
[stats]
summary=yes
meta=yes

A configuration file to shadow copy and deduplicate a site might contain:
[general]
output=dedu.out
class=yes
[site]
domain=example.edu
extension=html
index=index.html
root=site
[shadow]
copy=5
root=shadow
file=dedu.ndx

A configuration file to export microdata preparing against schema.org version
7.2 might contain:
[general]
output=export.out
class=yes
[site]
domain=example.edu
extension=html
index=index.html
root=site
[link]
check=yes
[microdata]
export=yes
root=export
version=7.2


PREPARING and UPDATING a SITE

These files are based on the steps I take to update an OpenBSD website.

Presumine a directory containing the following:
site.conf    ssc configuration file for a website
site         shadow output produced by ssc

Then I run a script like this:

ssc -f site.conf
upload.sh site /var/www/site-upload server user 0
ssh user@server "cd /var/www ; mv site x ; mv site-upload site ;
mv x site-upload ; ln -sf site htdocs"

upload.sh is a macos bash script that can be found among the source code. Note
that I have rather naughtily replaced OpenBSD's httpd document directory
/var/www/htdocs with a link.

Here is site.conf:

[general]
verbose=info
class=yes
output=site.out
ssi=yes
ignore=pre
rpt=yes

[html]
version=2021/04/01

[link]
check=yes
xlink=yes

[microformat]
verify=yes

[site]
domain=example.com
extension=html
extension=shtml
index=index.shtml
root=corrupt_source

[stats]
summary=yes

[shadow]
copy=dedu
root=site
file=site.ndx
ignore=inc
info=yes


SEE ALSO
tidy
linkchecker


HISTORY
ssc is written by Dylan Harris, https://ssc.lu/.