- What is newznab-tmux used for?
- Newznab-tmux is a maintained fork of the Newznab Usenet indexer and the backend engine behind NNTmux. It crawls NNTP servers, parses article headers, organizes releases, and exposes search through a Sphinx or Manticore index. It is intended for operators running a private, self-hosted indexer with Newznab-compatible APIs, NZB generation, and admin tooling.
- How do I install newznab-tmux?
- Treat it as a full Laravel application rather than a library: clone the repository, run composer install, configure the environment file for database, Redis, and search, then run migrations and build front-end assets. You also need to configure a web server, scheduler, and long-lived queue workers. A simple composer require is not the supported installation path.
- Can I composer require nntmux/newznab-tmux into an existing Laravel app?
- No, newznab-tmux is a complete Laravel application despite being published under a Composer name. Adopting it means running and operating the service, or forking and vendoring it into your own deployment process. It fits best in an existing Laravel estate that already runs Redis, a queue supervisor, and a relational database.
- Which PHP and Laravel versions does newznab-tmux 4.2 support?
- The 4.2 release implies a PHP 8.3 or newer floor for the test suite because phpunit moves to 12.5. Confirm the runtime PHP matrix and Laravel constraints in composer.json before assuming CI parity. The application also depends on Laravel Horizon and Laravel Scout, so validate those versions together.
- Is MariaDB required or just the default database for newznab-tmux?
- MariaDB becomes the default database connection in 4.2, but that does not automatically make it a hard requirement. Upgraded installs can pin an explicit MySQL 8 connection, but you should verify character set and collation defaults, JSON column handling, and generated-column behavior. Check the project documentation for the supported database matrix.
- How do I set up Sphinx or Manticore search with newznab-tmux?
- Newznab-tmux uses Sphinx or Manticore for full-text release search, integrated through an external Laravel Scout driver. You need to run the search backend, configure the Scout driver and connection, index releases, and keep the index synchronized as new articles arrive. Review the documented deployment for the assumed Scout driver and Redis topology.
- What Redis, Horizon, and queue worker setup does newznab-tmux need?
- The application uses Laravel Horizon for Redis-backed queues and TMux-based worker management for parallel background jobs. Plan for Redis plus long-lived queue workers managed by Supervisor or systemd, along with the Laravel scheduler. Horizon minor upgrades can change supervisor or Redis key behavior, so validate them with running workers.
- Can I run newznab-tmux on PostgreSQL or serverless hosting?
- PostgreSQL is a poor fit because the application assumes MySQL or MariaDB, and 4.2 makes MariaDB the default connection. Serverless and managed runtimes without long-lived queue workers are also a poor fit. In a non-Laravel or serverless-first estate, deploy it as a standalone sidecar service behind a reverse proxy with its own datastore.
- How do I upgrade newznab-tmux from 4.1 to 4.2 safely?
- Take a database snapshot, pin the database connection explicitly, and confirm whether the upgrade includes schema migrations or is purely application-level. Review custom Blade views for the spatie/laravel-html migration because attribute escaping and form construction can change, and rebuild assets after the JavaScript refactor. Then validate Horizon with running workers and manually smoke-test admin surfaces that lack automated coverage.
- Is newznab-tmux actively maintained, and what are the alternatives?
- Newznab-tmux is a maintained fork of Newznab with regular upstream fixes and compatibility updates for modern PHP. The provided context does not document a security disclosure process or release cadence, so treat patching as self-managed unless the repository states otherwise. Alternatives include upstream Newznab and other self-hosted Usenet indexers, which should be evaluated on maintenance activity, Laravel fit, and operational requirements.