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new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e6ed7e
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diff --git a/.shi2.sh.swp b/.shi2.sh.swp
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diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f9aadb5..6a9aaf8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,33 +1,131 @@
-#shi
+# shi
 **SH**ell **I**mageboard
 
-no php, no js, just POSIX shell, gnu coreutils, nc, html and css
+the programming equivalent of a shitpost
+(second edition)
 
 ### features
+- its all POSIX sh
+	- seriously
 - posting
 - replies
 - images
 - timestamps
 - more
 
-### to use it
-- `git clone <this repo>`
-- `cd <this repos folder>`
-- `touch log.txt`
-- `cp templates/mainindex.html ./index.html`
-- point your web server to ./index.html
-- to run shi
-	- `./shi.sh &`
-	- `tail -f log.txt`
-- to make a board:
-	- `mkdir -p boards/<boardname>`
-	- `cp templates/index.html.template boards/<boardname>/index.html`
-	- `cp templates/main.css.template boards/<boardname>/main.css`
-- to stop shi
-	- `killall shi.sh`
-- to post to shi
-	- copy the script at the top of the board into your terminal
-	- hit enter, follow the prompts
+### how to set up
+- clone this repo
+- cd to this repo
+- `. ./console.sh` to start the shi console
+	- `start_listener` to start lisenting for posts
+- you might want to do `tail -f log.txt` in another terminal to see whats going on
+### how backends work
+- shi has a builtin framework for swappable backends both for post recieving and storage,
+currently there is:
+	- tar backend
+		- like the old version of shi
+		- recives tar files through nc and generates posts
+		- bad
+		- dont use it
+	- http backend
+		- listens for an http POST request with form data
+		- allows user-friendly html post form
+		- cool
+		- good
+	- file db backend
+		- stores posts as a series of text files in folders
+		- unchanged from old shi
+		- ok
+- **how backends work**
+	- **listening**
+		- a backend is a shell script with a `listen` function
+		- this function is expected to coninuosly output post data it recives like so:
+		```
+		New post
+		board:<board name>
+		parent:<parent of post>
+		user:<user>
+		title:<title>
+		content:<content>
+		image_name:<name of image>
+		image content:<base64 encoded image>
+		End new post
+		```
+		- as long as the backend has a listen function that outputs data to stdout like this, 
+		shi doesn't care where it comes from.
+	- **db**
+		- a db backend is simply a shell script provinding the following funtions:
+			- `path_to_post <post id>`
+			- `create post <board> <parent> <user> <title> <content> <image_name> <image_content> <post_id> <post_type>`	
+			- `get_post_data <post_data_path> <item>
+			- note that since these functions are both in the same file, `post_data_path` can be in any format you desire
+			- again, shi doesn't care how this is done, only that it follows this format
+			
+### anatomy of a post
+- user
+	- name of user who posted the post
+- title
+	- title of post
+	- this will be ignored for replies
+- content
+	- the text content of a post
+- thumb_path
+	- optional, filesystem path to the thumbnail of the post's image
+- image_path 
+	- optional, filesystem path to the image
+- html_path
+	- path to where the html of the post is stored
+- post_id
+	- unique numerical id of the post
+- post_type
+	- type of post, specifies what template to use
+	- currently there is 'oppost' and 'reply' supported
+- replies
+	- newline separated list of post_id's for all the replies to the op post
+	- a trailing /. is added to prevent `find` from seeing `post_data_path` itself
+
+### defining new post templates
+- edit your template of choice in the 'templates' folder, 
+- {{{ TRIPLE BRACES }}} will be replaced with their respective variables
+
+### style notes
+- if it can be done in a single line, you can set a variable to it,
+otherwise declare the variable as empty and then set it to your operation
+- follow shellcheck
+
+# files n folders
+- boards
+	- where all the html for the boards is stored
+- console.sh
+	- souce this to allow you to control shi
+- globals.sh
+	- global variables (really just settings)
+- inbox
+	- where posts data is cached before being processed
+- latest
+	- the id of the latest post
+	- very important!!
+- LICENSE
+	- free software, free society
+- log.txt
+	- log
+- problems.txt
+	- current issues with shi
+- README.md
+	- this file
+- reset.sh
+	- debug script that nukes all boards and completly resets shi
+	- don't use this unless you've really screwed up
+- shi.sh
+	- memories
+- templates
+	- templates
+- util.sh
+	- utility functions employed by console.sh
 
 
-i know the file permissions are weird i'll fix them at some point
+
+
+this whole rewrite started because of a feature request by desvox. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of responding to http requests with sh, this feature was not added.
+
+Sorry desvox :(
diff --git a/console.sh b/console.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5ad49d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/console.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+. ./globals.sh
+. ./util.sh
+. ./shi2.sh
+
+alias log="tail -f $log_file"
+
+echo "Your shell is now a shi console!"
+oldps1="$PS1"
+PS1="shi>"
+listener_pid=""
+
+
+start_shi() {
+	start_listener &
+	listener_pid="$!"
+	echo "Started shi"
+}
+
+stop_shi() {
+	kill -- -"$listener_pid"
+#	kill -- -$(ps -o pgid= $listener_pid | grep -o [0-9]*)
+	echo "Stopped shi"
+}
+
+restart(){
+	stop_shi
+	. ./globals.sh
+	. ./util.sh
+	. ./shi2.sh
+	echo "Reloaded source files"
+	start_shi
+}
+
+#tail -f "$log_file" & # uncomment this if you want constant log output to console
+
+
+cleanup() {
+	PS1="$oldps1"
+	alias log="log"
+}
+
+trap cleanup EXIT INT TERM
diff --git a/file_db_backend.sh b/file_db_backend.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..27f6b84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/file_db_backend.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# the file/folder db backend
+# since the backend provides both the add_post and fetch_post
+# functions the data path can be in whatever format you like
+# TODO: Post deletion, both on front and backend
+
+# NOTE: A post db path should always begin at $board_dir
+
+. ./globals.sh
+
+
+path_to_post() {
+        post_id="$1"
+        find "$board_dir" -maxdepth 4 -name "$post_id" -not -path '*/\.*'
+}
+
+create_post() {
+        # This function takes strings correspoding to post
+        # data and stores them in the boards folder in the
+        # shi folder/file format
+
+
+        local board="$1"
+        local parent="$2"
+        local user="$3"
+        local title="$4"
+        local content="$(echo "$5" | tr '\a' '\n')" # change the BEL characters back to newlines
+        local image_name="$6"
+        local image_content="$7"
+        local post_id="$8"
+        local post_type="$9"
+
+	echo "Adding data for post with id $post_id" >> "$log_file"
+
+        local post_directory="$board_dir/$board/$parent/$post_id" # where the post data will be stored
+	post_directory="$(realpath "$post_directory")"
+
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] board: $board" >> "$log_file"
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] parent: $parent" >> "$log_file"
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] user: $user" >> "$log_file"
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] title: $title" >> "$log_file"
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] content: $content" >> "$log_file"
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] image_name: $image_name" >> "$log_file"
+	# uncomment this if you want base64 spam vvv
+#       echo "image_content: $image_content" >> "$log_file"         
+#        echo "image_content: $image_content" | head -c 50 >> "$log_file"         
+	echo "[file_db_backend.sh] post id: $post_id" >> "$log_file"
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] post type: $post_type" >> "$log_file"
+
+        if [ -z "$user" ]; then echo "[file_db_backend.sh] ERROR: no user" >> "$log_file"; return 1; fi
+        if [ -z "$content" ]; then echo "[file_db_backend.sh] ERROR: no content"; return 1; fi
+        if ! (mkdir -p "$post_directory")
+        then
+                echo "[file_db_backend.sh] ERROR: could not create post dir" >> "$log_file"
+                return 1
+        fi
+
+	local image_path="$post_directory/$image_name"
+
+        echo "$user" > "$post_directory/user"
+        echo "$title" > "$post_directory/title"
+        echo "$content" > "$post_directory/content"
+        echo "$post_type" > "$post_directory/type"
+        if [ -n "$image_name" ] && [ -n "$image_content" ]
+        then
+                echo "$image_content" | base64 -d  > "$image_path"
+		echo "$image_name" > "$post_directory/image_name"
+        fi
+
+	if command -v convert > /dev/null && [ -n "$image_name" ]
+	then
+		local thumb_path="$post_directory/thumb_$image_name.jpg"
+		echo "[file_db_backend.sh] 'convert' found, generating thumbnail" >> "$log_file"
+		# convert the image to a jpeg
+		if echo "$image_path" | grep '.gif'
+		then
+			convert "$image_path"'[0]' "$thumb_path"
+		else
+			convert "$image_path" "$thumb_path"
+			echo "[file_db_backend.sh] converted image to jpeg" >> "$log_file"
+		fi
+		# re-compress the jpeg to be under 100kb
+		convert "$thumb_path" -define jpeg:extent=100kb "$thumb_path"
+		echo "[file_db_backend.sh] re compressed image at $thumb_path" >> "$log_file"
+	fi
+
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] Finished adding post $post_id on $(date)" >> "$log_file"
+        echo "[file_db_backend.sh] post dir: $post_directory" >> "$log_file"
+
+	echo "$post_directory"
+
+        return 0
+}
+
+get_post_data() {
+	# this function is given a post id and a data item to be 
+	# retrieved. It returns the value of the requested item
+
+	# TODO: file path caching
+
+	local post_data_path="$1"
+	local item="$2"
+	local image_path=""
+
+	echo "[file_db_backend.sh] Got request for $item from post at $post_data_path" >> "$log_file"
+
+	if ! [ -d "$post_data_path" ]; then return 1; fi
+
+	case "$item" in "parent")
+		basename $(realpath "$post_data_path/..")
+		;;
+	"user")
+		cat "$post_data_path/user"
+		;;
+	"title")
+		cat "$post_data_path/title"
+		;;
+	"content")
+		cat "$post_data_path/content"
+		;;
+	"thumb_path") # where the post's image is stored on the filesystem
+		echo "thumb_$(cat "$post_data_path/$image_name").jpg"
+		;;
+	"image_path") # where the post's image is stored on the filesystem
+		image_path="$post_data_path/$(cat "$post_data_path/image_name")"
+		if [ -f "$image_path" ]
+		then
+			echo "$image_path"
+		else
+			echo ""
+		fi
+		;;
+	"html_path") # where the post's html is on the filesystem
+		echo "$post_data_path/index.html"
+		;;
+	"post_id")
+		basename "$post_data_path"
+		;;
+	"post_type")
+		cat "$post_data_path/type"
+		;;
+	"replies")
+		# Newline separated list of post_id for all replies to the 
+		# specified post
+		# A trailing /. is added to prevent find from seeing 
+		# post_data_path itself
+
+		find "$post_data_path" \
+			-mindepth 1 \
+			-type d \
+			-iname '[0-9]*' \
+			-printf '%p\n' | sort	
+		;;
+	esac
+}
+
+# no paths, only use the post id
diff --git a/globals.sh b/globals.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b4eabff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/globals.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+port="7070"
+log_file="./log.txt"
+board_dir="./boards"
+template_dir="./templates"
+latest_file="./latest"
+inbox="./inbox"
+image_types="(\.png|\.jpg|\.gif)"
+shi_sub_url="/shi" # the sub url shi is being run from (eg. http://domain.tld/[shi/])
diff --git a/http_backend.sh b/http_backend.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..bf29691
--- /dev/null
+++ b/http_backend.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+. ./globals.sh
+
+
+echo "Using http backend." >> "$log_file"
+
+gen_post_data_from_file() {
+# TODO: if variables are unset by the end, set them to "error"
+	local file="$1"
+	local board=""
+	local parent=""
+	local user=""
+	local title=""
+	local content=""
+	local image_name=""
+	local image_content=""
+
+	# find the form boundary
+	local boundary="$(grep -am1 \
+			"Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=" \
+			$file | cut -f 2- -d "=")"
+
+	local in_boundary="0"
+	local data_type=""
+	local file_upload_start="" # the line at which binary file data starts (if any)
+	local iterator="0"
+	echo "New post"
+	while read -r line
+	do 
+		iterator="$(( iterator + 1 ))"
+		# dont read the binary data contained in files,
+		# as it will break the script
+		if echo "$line" | grep -q 'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="fileupload";'
+		then
+			file_upload_start="$iterator"
+			break
+		fi
+
+		# if a boundary is seen
+		if echo "$line" | grep -q -- "$boundary"
+		then
+			# and we are not already in a boundary
+			if [ "$in_boundary" -eq 0 ]
+			then
+			# then we are now in a boundary
+				in_boundary="1"
+			else
+			# otherwise, we are in a new boundary,
+			# so reset data_type
+				data_type=""
+			fi
+		fi
+
+		# if we are in a boundary, the beginning of form data is seen,
+		# and we are not already reading form data
+		if [ "$in_boundary" -eq "1" ] \
+			&& echo "$line" \
+				| grep -q "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=" \
+			&& [ -z "$data_type" ]
+		then
+
+			data_type=$(echo "$line" | cut -f 2 -d '"')
+		fi
+
+		case "$data_type" in "post_to")
+			# remove LFs from line
+			line="$(echo "$line" | tr -d '\r')" 
+			
+			# if our post is a reply
+			if echo "$line" | grep -qE "[0-9]$"
+			then
+				# set parent to the post it is replying to
+				parent="$(find $board_dir \
+						-maxdepth 3 \
+						-name "$line" \
+						-not -path '*/\.*')"
+				# make sure the parent post exists
+				if [ -z "$parent" ]; then return 1; fi
+				# and set the board value to the board it is to be posted to
+				board="$(basename `dirname "$parent"`)"
+				# then change the parent value from adirectory path to a plain string
+				parent="$(basename `realpath "$parent"`)"
+			else # otherwise the post is a oppost
+				# set the board value appropriately
+				board="$line"
+			fi
+			;;
+		"name")
+			user="$(echo "$line" | tr -d '\r')"
+			;;
+		"title")
+			title="$(echo "$line" | tr -d '\r')"
+			;;
+		"content")
+			# carrige returns need to be removed from multiline content
+			content="$content$(printf "\n%s\n" "$line" | tr -d '\r')"
+			;;
+		"fileupload")
+			echo "read line of fileupload"
+			;;
+		esac
+	done < "$file"
+
+	# remove the first line from content, which is html form junk
+	content="$(echo "$content" | sed -e '1,2d' | tr '\n' '\a')"
+	image_name="$(sed -n "$file_upload_start"p $file \
+			| grep -oE 'filename=".*' \
+			| cut -f 2 -d '"' \
+			| tr -d '"' )"
+	image_content="$(sed -e "1,$(( file_upload_start + 2 ))d" "$file" | base64 -w 0)"
+
+	echo "board:$board"
+	echo "parent:$parent"
+	echo "user:$user"
+	echo "title:$title"
+	echo "content:$content"
+	echo "image_name:$image_name"
+	echo "image_content:$image_content"
+	echo "End new post"
+	rm "$file"
+}
+
+get_request() {
+	submission_id="$(date '+%s%N')" # unique id of the submission
+	printf "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r
+Date: %s\r
+Server: BSD Netcat/lmao\r
+Connection: close\r
+Content-Type: text/html\r\n\r\n
+<script>window.close();</script>\n" "$(date -Ru | sed -e 's/\+0000/GMT/')" \
+	| nc -lp "$port" -w 3 | head -c 1000000000 > "$inbox/$submission_id"
+
+	mv "$inbox/$submission_id" "$inbox/$submission_id.submission"
+}
+
+listen() {
+	while true
+	do
+		# TODO: scale to allow for posting in rapid succession
+		get_request
+		for post in $(find "$inbox" -iname "*.submission")
+		do
+			gen_post_data_from_file "$post"
+		done
+	done
+}
+trap break EXIT INT TERM
diff --git a/main.css b/main.css
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..3d0097a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main.css
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+html *
+{
+   color: #fff !important;
+   font-family: monospace !important;
+}
+
+div.postContainer {
+	border-style: solid;
+	padding-left: 5px;
+	margin: 0px;
+	margin-top: 5px;
+	width: 75%;
+	float: left;
+	border-width: 1px;
+	/*display: inline;*/
+}
+
+div.opContainer {
+	border-style: solid;
+	border-width: 1px;
+	padding: 0px 5px;
+	max-width: 1000px;
+	margin: 0px;
+	overflow: hidden;
+}
+
+div.opContainer + div.opContainer {
+	margin-top: 10px;
+}
+
+div.postHeader {
+	padding: 0px;
+}
+div.opContent {
+	/*display: inline;*/
+}
+
+div.postContent {
+	width: 100%;
+	height: 100%;
+}
+	
+p.opText {
+	/*font-family: sans;*/
+	padding-bottom: 2px;
+	margin: 0px;
+	margin-top: 2px;
+	padding-bottom: 10px;
+	font-size: 12px;
+	height: 12px;
+	display: inline;
+}
+
+p.postText {
+	/*font-family: sans;*/
+	word-wrap: break-word;
+	padding-left: 5px;
+	padding-bottom: 2px;
+	margin: 0px;
+	margin-top: 2px;
+	font-size: 12px;
+}
+p.imageName {
+	margin: 0;
+	margin-top: -5px;
+	font-size: 10px;
+}
+
+div.imageContainer {
+	height: 100%;
+	width: 20%;
+	padding-right: 5px;
+	float: left;
+	display: block;
+}
+img.postImage {
+	max-width: 100%;
+	height: auto;
+	width: auto;
+}
+div.reply {
+	border-style: double;
+}
+p.box {
+	border-style: double;
+}
+p.postTitle {
+	margin: 0px;
+	font-size: 14px;
+	display: inline-block;
+	padding-left: 9%;
+}
+a.postHeaderText {
+	margin: 1px;
+	font-size: 10px;
+	display: inline-block;
+}
+
+p.replyHeaderText {
+	margin: 1px;
+	font-size: 10px;
+	display: inline-block;
+}
+
+body {
+	padding: 20px;
+	background-color: black;
+}
diff --git a/post.sh b/post.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..96c9699
--- /dev/null
+++ b/post.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+readdat () { read -r var; echo "$var" | grep -qE "[a-Z].*" || var=$2; echo "$var" > "$1"; };echo "Post to:"; read -r parent; echo "$parent" | grep -qE "([a-Z]|[1-9]).*" || exit;postdir=$(echo "$parent"-"$RANDOM");mkdir ./"$postdir" && cd ./"$postdir" || exit; echo "Name (blank for anonymous):";readdat "user" "Anonymous";echo "Title (blank for none):";readdat "title" "";echo "Absolute path to image (blank for none):";read -r imagepath; echo "$imagepath" | grep -qE "[a-Z].*" && if test -f
+"$imagepath"; then cp "$imagepath" .;else echo "could not find $imagepath";fi;echo "Post text (Ctrl-D to finish):"; cat > content; cd ..; tar -cf "$postdir".tar ./"$postdir";
diff --git a/problems.txt b/problems.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..497daa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/problems.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+incredibly slow to post images
+
+not entirely synchronus, a post is lost if it is received at the same time as another
+
+tar backend has no clean way to exit, leaves an orphan nc process behind
+
+css in post page
+test rapid succession posting
+	- I think it works?
+test replies in post html
+
diff --git a/reset.sh b/reset.sh
index ee6fbed..e07d72a 100755
--- a/reset.sh
+++ b/reset.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+# DEBUG PURPOSES ONLY
+# USERS SHOULD USE THE FUNCTION PROVIDED IN util.sh!
+
 echo '0' > latest
 echo "" > log.txt
+rm -rf ./inbox/*
 for board in boards/*
 do
 	echo reseting board "$board"
@@ -15,3 +19,4 @@ do
 
 	done
 done
+pkill -f nc
diff --git a/shi/README.md b/shi/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9aadb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shi/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#shi
+**SH**ell **I**mageboard
+
+no php, no js, just POSIX shell, gnu coreutils, nc, html and css
+
+### features
+- posting
+- replies
+- images
+- timestamps
+- more
+
+### to use it
+- `git clone <this repo>`
+- `cd <this repos folder>`
+- `touch log.txt`
+- `cp templates/mainindex.html ./index.html`
+- point your web server to ./index.html
+- to run shi
+	- `./shi.sh &`
+	- `tail -f log.txt`
+- to make a board:
+	- `mkdir -p boards/<boardname>`
+	- `cp templates/index.html.template boards/<boardname>/index.html`
+	- `cp templates/main.css.template boards/<boardname>/main.css`
+- to stop shi
+	- `killall shi.sh`
+- to post to shi
+	- copy the script at the top of the board into your terminal
+	- hit enter, follow the prompts
+
+
+i know the file permissions are weird i'll fix them at some point
diff --git a/shi.sh b/shi/shi.sh
similarity index 84%
rename from shi.sh
rename to shi/shi.sh
index 018e084..0b3a42a 100755
--- a/shi.sh
+++ b/shi/shi.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ IFS=''
 LOG=log.txt
 TEMPLATEDIR="templates"
 
-
+alias echo='echo [shi.sh]:'
 newPost() {
 	POSTTYPE=$2
 	POSTNUM=$(basename "$1")
@@ -150,45 +150,48 @@ addPostToBoard() {
 	cat "$TEMPFILE" > "$BOARDDIR"/index.html
 
 }
-
+addNewPost() {
+	post="$1"
+	if basename "$post" | grep -qE "[0-9]$" && [ "$(basename "$post")" -gt "$2" ]
+	then
+		TEMPFILE=$(mktemp)
+		if dirname "$post" | grep -qE "[0-9]*+/[0-9]*$" # If reply generate a reply
+		then
+			echo "Post type: reply" > $LOG
+			PARENT=$(dirname "$post" | sed 's/^.*\/\([0-9]\+\)/\1/')
+			while read -r line
+			do
+				if echo "$line" | grep -q "<!--END REPLIES $PARENT-->"
+				then
+					newPost "$post" "reply"
+					printf "\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--END REPLIES %s-->\n" "$PARENT"
+				else
+					echo "$line"
+				fi
+			done < "$post/../index.html" > "$TEMPFILE"
+			cat "$TEMPFILE" > "$post/../index.html"
+			addPostToBoard "$(dirname "$post")"
+		else # Else generate an op post
+			echo "Post type: OP post" >> $LOG
+			while read -r line
+			do
+				echo "$line"
+				if echo "$line" | grep -q "<!--BEGIN POSTS-->"
+				then
+					newPost "$post" "oppost"
+				fi
+			done < "$(dirname "$post")/index.html.template" > "$TEMPFILE"
+			cat "$TEMPFILE" > "$post"/index.html
+			rm "$TEMPFILE"
+			addPostToBoard "$post"
+		fi
+	fi
+}
 update() {
 	echo "Posting started at $(date -u)" >> $LOG
 	find "$1" | while read -r post
 	do
-		if basename "$post" | grep -qE "[0-9]$" && [ "$(basename "$post")" -gt "$2" ]
-		then
-			TEMPFILE=$(mktemp)
-			if dirname "$post" | grep -qE "[0-9]*+/[0-9]*$" # If reply generate a reply
-			then
-				echo "Post type: reply" > $LOG
-				PARENT=$(dirname "$post" | sed 's/^.*\/\([0-9]\+\)/\1/')
-				while read -r line
-				do
-					if echo "$line" | grep -q "<!--END REPLIES $PARENT-->"
-					then
-						newPost "$post" "reply"
-						printf "\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--END REPLIES %s-->\n" "$PARENT"
-					else
-						echo "$line"
-					fi
-				done < "$post/../index.html" > "$TEMPFILE"
-				cat "$TEMPFILE" > "$post/../index.html"
-				addPostToBoard "$(dirname "$post")"
-			else # Else generate an op post
-				echo "Post type: OP post" >> $LOG
-				while read -r line
-				do
-					echo "$line"
-					if echo "$line" | grep -q "<!--BEGIN POSTS-->"
-					then
-						newPost "$post" "oppost"
-					fi
-				done < "$(dirname "$post")/index.html.template" > "$TEMPFILE"
-				cat "$TEMPFILE" > "$post"/index.html
-				rm "$TEMPFILE"
-				addPostToBoard "$post"
-			fi
-		fi
+		addNewPost "$post"
 	done
 	echo $(( $2 + 1 )) > ./latest
 	echo "Posting finished at $(date -u)" >> $LOG
diff --git a/shi2.sh b/shi2.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c3a7d8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shi2.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,364 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# TODO: gif support and thumbnails if Imagemagick is installed
+# TODO: More comments
+# TODO: discard reply if parent doesnt exist, right now shi hangs
+
+backend="./http_backend.sh"
+db_backend="./file_db_backend.sh"
+
+. ./globals.sh
+. ./util.sh
+. "$backend"
+. "$db_backend"
+
+
+sanitize_text() {
+	# Sanitizes text, the first argument is the text to be
+	# sanitized, the rest represent what sanitations should be applied
+	# (html, sed, etc.)
+
+	# sed sanitation will prepend a leading backslash to sed characters
+	# html sanitation will escape '&', '<', and '>' and replace newlines 
+	# with '<br>' tags
+
+	# NOTE: 'sed' must be placed before 'html" in the options if they
+	# are both specified (This should be fixed later)
+
+	local text="$1" # text to be sanitized
+	
+	for option in "$@" # parse options to find specified sanitations
+	do
+		case "$option" in "$text")
+			;; # if it is the first option, ignore it
+		"sed")
+			echo "sanitizing text $text for $option" >> $log_file
+			text="$(echo "$text" \
+				| sed -e 's/&/&amp;/g' \
+				      -e 's/</\&lt;/g' \
+				      -e 's/>/\&gt;/g' \
+				      -e 's/\([-$^*()+{\[\.?\/]\)/\\\1/g')"
+			;;
+		"html")
+			echo "sanitizing text $text for $option" >> $log_file
+			text="$(echo "$text" \
+				| sed -e ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n/<br>/g')"
+			;;
+		esac
+	done
+	
+	echo "$text"
+}
+
+get_op_post_html() {
+	# Get the html of an op post if it has already been generated
+	local temp_file="$(mktemp)"
+	local post_db_path="$1"
+	local post_html_path="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "html_path")" 
+	local post_id="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "post_id")"
+	local trim="$2" # how many replies to get
+	local post_replies="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "replies")"
+
+	# id of the most recent reply to be included on the board page
+	local reply_lim="$(echo "$post_replies" | sed -n "$trim"p | tail -c 1)"
+
+	echo "REPLIES $post_replies" >> "$log_file"
+	cat "$post_html_path" \
+	| sed -e ':a' -e 'N' -e '$!ba' \
+	      -e "s/.*\(<!--BEGIN OP POST $post_id-->.*<!--END OP POST $post_id-->\).*/\1/g" \
+	> "$temp_file"
+
+	sed -i -e ':a' -e 'N' -e '$!ba' \
+	    -e "s/<!--BEGIN REPLY $(( post_id - trim ))-->.*<!--END OP POST $post_id-->//g" \
+	    "$temp_file"
+
+	cat "$temp_file"
+
+#	printf "<!--END REPLIES %s-->\n</div>\n</div>\n<!--END OP POST %s-->" \
+#		"$post_id" "$post_id"
+
+	rm "$temp_file"
+}
+
+gen_post_html() {
+	# Takes a path to a database entry and generates html
+	# based on it's content
+	
+	# TODO: implement thumbnails	
+	# TODO: separate html frontend to enable creation of other frontends
+	# eval
+
+	local post_db_path="$1" # db path to post
+	local template_path="" # filesystem path to the post template to be used
+
+	echo "[Genereate post html]" >> "$log_file"
+	
+	echo "Generating post html for $post_db_path" >> "$log_file"
+	local date="$(date -u)"
+	local user="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "user")"
+	local title="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "title")"
+	local content="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "content")"
+	local image_path="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "image_path")"
+	local image_size=""
+	local image_name=""
+	local post_id="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "post_id")"
+	local post_type="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "post_type")" 
+
+
+	# http path to post directory (generated from html path)
+	local post_url_path="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "html_path")" 
+	post_url_path="$(dirname "$post_url_path")"
+
+	# http path to image
+	local image_url_path=""
+
+	# http path to thumbail
+	local thumb_url_path=""
+
+	# truncate the url path to start at $board_dir
+	case "$post_type" in "oppost")
+		post_url_path="$(echo "$post_url_path" \
+				      | rev \
+				      | cut -f -4 -d '/' \
+				      | rev)" 
+		;;
+	"reply")
+		post_url_path="$(echo "$post_url_path" \
+				      | rev \
+				      | cut -f -5 -d '/' \
+				      | rev)" 
+		;;
+	esac
+
+	post_url_path="$shi_sub_url/$post_url_path"
+	
+	if [ -z "$image_path" ] # if no image is found
+	then
+		post_type="$post_type"-noimage # specify the post type as imageless
+		echo "Image path is null, -noimage post" >> "$log_file"
+	else
+		image_size="$(du -h "$image_path" | cut -f 1)"
+		image_name="$(basename "$image_path")"
+		image_url_path="$post_url_path/$image_name"
+		thumb_url_path="$post_url_path/thumb_$image_name.jpg"
+	fi
+
+	template_path="$template_dir/$post_type".template
+
+	content="$(sanitize_text "$content" sed html)" # sanitize content
+	title="$(sanitize_text "$title" sed)" # sanitize title for sed
+	post_url_path="$(sanitize_text "$post_url_path" sed)" # sanitize post url for sed
+	image_url_path="$(sanitize_text "$image_url_path" sed)" # sanitize image path for sed
+	thumb_url_path="$(sanitize_text "$thumb_url_path" sed)" # sanitize image path for sed
+
+	# read through the appropriate template and replace 
+	# placeholders with their actual values
+	while read -r line 	
+	do
+		echo "$line" \
+		| sed -e "s/{{{ POSTNUM }}}/$post_id/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ POSTURL }}}/$post_url_path/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ DATE }}}/$date/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ USER }}}/$user/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ POSTTITLE }}}/$title/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ POSTTEXT }}}/$content/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ IMAGEPATH }}}/$image_url_path/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ THUMBPATH }}}/$thumb_url_path/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ IMAGENAME }}}/$image_name/g" \
+		      -e "s/{{{ IMAGESIZE }}}/$image_size/g"
+	done < "$template_path"
+}
+
+insert_post() {
+	# TODO: cache (?) the position of <!--BEGIN POSTS--> in the html
+	# currently a large and exponential slowdown
+
+	# read from a cache file, if it doesn't exist, make it
+
+	local post_db_path="$1" # path to the post data
+	local target_html="$2" # the html to be modified
+	local trim="3" # how many replies to display on the main board page
+
+	echo "[Insert post into html]" >> "$log_file"
+	echo "Inserting post $post_db_path into $target_html" >> "$log_file"
+
+	local post_id="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "post_id")"
+	local post_type="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "post_type")"
+	local post_replies=""
+	local parent=""
+	local temp_file="$(mktemp)"
+
+	local replace="" # regex to find the exitsing post's html
+	local insert_at="" # html will be inserted after the line containing this string
+	
+	case "$post_type" in "oppost")
+		replace="<!--BEGIN OP POST $post_id-->.*<!--END OP POST $post_id-->"	
+		insert_at="<!--BEGIN POSTS-->"
+		;;
+	"reply")
+		# In the future, we will want to display replies in reverse chronological order
+		parent="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "parent")"
+		replace="<!--BEGIN REPLY $post_id-->.*<!--END REPLY $post_id-->\n"
+		insert_at="<!--BEGIN REPLIES $parent-->"
+		;;
+	esac
+
+	# remove any existing instances of the post in the html
+	sed -i \
+	-e ':a' \
+	-e 'N' \
+	-e '$!ba' \
+	-e "s/$replace//g" "$target_html"
+
+
+	while read -r line
+	do
+		echo "$line"
+		if echo "$line" | grep -qE "$insert_at"
+		then
+			echo "Inserting html at line $line matching $insert_at" >> "$log_file"
+			if [ "$post_type" = "oppost" ]
+			then
+				post_replies="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "replies")"
+				if [ -n "$post_replies" ]
+				then
+					get_op_post_html "$post_db_path" "$trim"
+				else
+					gen_post_html "$post_db_path"
+				fi
+			else
+				gen_post_html "$post_db_path"
+			fi
+		fi
+			
+	done < "$target_html" > "$temp_file"
+	cat "$temp_file" > "$target_html"
+	
+	
+#	NOTE: This section only applies when regenerating an entire board
+#	If the post is an oppost, we will need to also generate the replies
+#	if [ "$post_type" = "oppost" ]
+#	then
+#		# NOTE: Very redundant, find a way to process both files at once
+#		post_replies=$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "replies" | tac)
+#		for reply_db_path in $post_replies
+#		do
+#			echo "Inserting "$reply_db_path" into post html" >> "$log_file"
+#			insert_post "$reply_db_path" "$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "html_path")"
+#		done
+#		
+#		# NOTE: This will break if the board directory has spaces
+#		for reply_db_path in $(echo $post_replies | cut -f "$trim"- -d ' ')
+#		do
+#			echo "Inserting "$reply_db_path" into board html" >> "$log_file"
+#			insert_post "$reply_db_path" "$target_html"
+#		done
+#	fi
+}
+
+start_listener() {
+	# This function reads a continuous stream of data
+	# (provided by the `listen` function from a user
+	# specified backend) and generates posts from the
+	# data it receives.
+
+	local status=0 # 0 is normal, 1 is receiving post data
+
+	local board=""
+	local parent=""
+	local user=""
+	local title=""
+	local content=""
+	local image_name=""
+	local image_content=""
+	local post_id=""
+	local post_type=""
+	local post_html_path=""
+
+	local latest=""
+	
+	listen | while read -r line
+	do
+	
+		if [ "$line" = "End new post" ]
+		then
+			echo [New post] >> "$log_file"
+			status=0
+			latest="$(cat "$latest_file")"
+			post_id="$(( latest + 1 ))"
+			post_db_path="$(create_post \
+				"$board" \
+				"$parent" \
+				"$user" \
+				"$title" \
+				"$content" \
+				"$image_name" \
+				"$image_content" \
+				"$post_id" \
+				"$post_type")"
+
+			post_html_path="$(get_post_data "$post_db_path" "html_path")"
+			parent_html_path=""
+			parent_db_path=""
+			
+			
+			if [ "$post_type" == "oppost" ]
+			then
+				cp "$board_dir/$board/index.html.template" "$post_html_path"
+				insert_post "$post_db_path" "$post_html_path"
+				insert_post "$post_db_path" "$board_dir/$board/index.html"
+			else
+				parent_html_path="$board_dir/$board/$parent/index.html"
+				parent_db_path="$board_dir/$board/$parent"
+				insert_post "$post_db_path" "$parent_html_path"
+				insert_post "$parent_db_path" "$board_dir/$board/index.html"
+			fi
+
+			
+			echo "$post_id" > "$latest_file" # update the latest post file
+			echo "Finished adding post $post_id at $(date)"
+		fi
+	
+		if [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+		then
+			key="$(echo "$line" | cut -f 1 -d :)" value="$(echo "$line" | cut -f 2- -d :)"
+			
+			echo "Reading key $key from backend" >> "$log_file"
+			case "$key" in "board")
+				board="$value"
+				;;
+			"parent")
+				parent="$value"
+				if [ -z "$parent" ]
+				then
+					post_type="oppost"	
+				else
+					post_type="reply"
+				fi
+				;;
+			"user")
+				user="$value"
+				;;
+			"title")
+				title="$value"
+				;;
+			"content")
+				content="$value"
+				;;
+			"image_name")
+				image_name="$value"
+				;;
+			"image_content")
+				image_content="$value"
+				;;
+			esac
+		fi
+
+		if [ "$line" = "New post" ]
+		then
+			echo "Processing new post" >> "$log_file"
+			status=1
+		fi
+	done
+}
+
+trap break EXIT INT TERM
diff --git a/tar_backend.sh b/tar_backend.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..85710f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tar_backend.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Tar listening backend.
+# This backend looks for tarfiles in the folder specified by $inbox.
+# It then un-tars them and and gets the username, title and post content
+# from their respecively named files. It will use the first image matching
+# one of $image_types types as the image for the post.
+
+# TODO: Trap the exit signal to kill nc
+# or maybe use telnet
+
+# TODO: make this file backend agnostic
+
+. ./globals.sh
+
+echo "Using tar backend." >> "$log_file"
+gen_post_from_dir() {
+	local dir="$1"
+	local post_to="$(basename "$dir" | sed 's/-.*//g')" # where the post wants to go
+
+	local board=""
+	local parent=""
+	local user=""
+	local title=""
+	local content=""
+	local image_name=""
+	local image_content=""
+
+	local image_path=""
+
+	
+	echo "New post"
+	if echo "$post_to" | grep -qE "[0-9]$" # if our post is a reply
+        then
+		# set the parent to the post it is replying to
+                parent="$(find $board_dir -maxdepth 3 -name "$post_to" -not -path '*/\.*')"
+		# make sure the parent post exists
+		if [ -z "$parent" ]; then echo "Parent post does not exist" && return 1; fi
+
+		# and set the board value to the board it is to be posted to
+                board="$(basename `dirname "$parent"`)"
+		# then change the parent value from a directory path to a plain string
+		parent="$(basename `realpath "$parent"`)"
+        else # otherwise, the post is an OP post.
+		# set the board value to the board it is to be posted to
+                board="$post_to"
+        fi
+
+	image_path="$(find "$dir" | grep -Em1 "$image_types")"
+	if ! [ -z "$image_path" ]
+	then
+		image_name="$(basename "$image_path")"
+		image_content="$(cat "$image_path" | base64 -w 0)"
+	fi
+
+	user="$(cat "$dir/user")"
+	content="$(tr '\n' '\a' < "$dir/content")" # change newline characters to BEL
+	title="$(cat "$dir/title")"
+
+	echo "board:$board"
+	echo "parent:$parent"
+	echo "user:$user"
+	echo "title:$title"
+	echo "content:$content"
+	echo "image_name:$image_name"
+	echo "image_content:$image_content"
+	echo "End new post"
+	
+	return 0
+}
+
+listen() {
+	# NOTE: Tar extraction takes a nontrivial amount of time, which
+	# means if two connections were made in close succecion
+	# there is a possibility that the second connection would
+	# not receive the "busy" signal, and send it's data anyways
+	#
+	# additionally, there should be a way to prevent the sending of
+	# malicious data to interfere with normal post processing
+	#
+	# to prevent zip bombs, break the tar -x -C operation up and use 
+	# `zcat $file | head -c $file_limit`
+
+	blocker_pid="" # the pid of the loop that sends the busy signal
+	while nc -lp "$port" | tar -x -C "$inbox"
+	do
+		(while true
+		do 
+			echo "Busy" | nc -lp 7070
+		done)>/dev/null & blocker_pid="$!"
+
+		for dir in $inbox/*
+		do
+			echo "Got post" >> "$log_file"
+			gen_post_from_dir "$dir"
+			rm -rf "$dir"
+		done
+		kill "$blocker_pid" >/dev/null
+	done
+}
diff --git a/templates/index.html.template b/templates/index.html.template
index 31637b6..64d6c34 100755
--- a/templates/index.html.template
+++ b/templates/index.html.template
@@ -15,9 +15,15 @@
 		 a description for the board
 		</p>
 		<br>
-		<p style="text-align:left;font-size: 9px; margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%">
-			readdat () { read -r var; echo "$var" | grep -qE "[a-Z].*" || var=$2; echo "$var" > "$1"; };echo "Post to:"; read -r parent; echo "$parent" | grep -qE "([a-Z]|[1-9]).*" || exit;postdir=$(echo "$parent"-"$RANDOM");mkdir ./"$postdir" && cd ./"$postdir" || exit; echo "Name (blank for anonymous):";readdat "user" "Anonymous";echo "Title (blank for none):";readdat "title" "";echo "Absolute path to image (blank for none):";read -r imagepath; echo "$imagepath" | grep -qE "[a-Z].*" && if test -f "$imagepath"; then cp "$imagepath" .;else echo "could not find $imagepath";fi;echo "Post text (Ctrl-D to finish):"; cat > content; cd ..; tar -cf "$postdir".tar ./"$postdir";rm -rf "$postdir"; echo "posting..."; nc -q2 [the adress shi is at] [the port shi is running on] < "$postdir".tar
-		</p>
+		<form>
+		Name: <br>
+		<input type="text" name="username"> <br>
+		Post title: <br>
+		<input type="text" name="title"> <br>
+		Content: <br>
+		<input type="text" name="content"> <br>
+		<input type="submit" value="Submit"> <br>
+		</form>
 		<br>
 		<div class="posts">
 		<!--BEGIN POSTS-->
diff --git a/templates/main.css.template b/templates/main.css.template
index 3d0097a..87ac843 100755
--- a/templates/main.css.template
+++ b/templates/main.css.template
@@ -106,3 +106,9 @@ body {
 	padding: 20px;
 	background-color: black;
 }
+input {
+	background-color: black;
+}
+textarea {
+	background-color: black;
+}
diff --git a/templates/oppost-noimage.template b/templates/oppost-noimage.template
index 4645fb5..df379a3 100755
--- a/templates/oppost-noimage.template
+++ b/templates/oppost-noimage.template
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 			<!--BEGIN OP POST {{{ POSTNUM }}}-->
 				<div class="opContainer"> 
 					<div class="postHeader">
-						<a class="postHeaderText" href="{{{ POSTNUM }}}/index.html">Post #{{{ POSTNUM }}} by {{{ USER }}}    {{{ DATE }}}</a>
+						<a class="postHeaderText" href="{{{ POSTURL }}}">Post #{{{ POSTNUM }}} by {{{ USER }}}    {{{ DATE }}}</a>
 						<p class="postTitle">{{{ POSTTITLE }}}</p>
 					</div>
 					<div class="opContent">
diff --git a/templates/oppost.template b/templates/oppost.template
index a7b29cc..72468f1 100755
--- a/templates/oppost.template
+++ b/templates/oppost.template
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 			<!--BEGIN OP POST {{{ POSTNUM }}}-->
 				<div class="opContainer"> 
 					<div class="postHeader">
-						<a class="postHeaderText" href="{{{ POSTNUM }}}/index.html">Post #{{{ POSTNUM }}} by {{{ USER }}}    {{{ DATE }}}</a>
+						<a class="postHeaderText" href="{{{ POSTURL }}}">Post #{{{ POSTNUM }}} by {{{ USER }}}    {{{ DATE }}}</a>
 						<p class="postTitle" >{{{ POSTTITLE }}}</p>
 					</div>
 					<div class="opContent">
 						<div class="imageContainer">
-							<a href="/shi/{{{ IMAGEPATH }}}" target="_blank">
-							<img class="postImage" src="/shi/{{{ THUMBPATH }}}" alt="{{{ IMAGENAME }}}">
+							<a href="{{{ IMAGEPATH }}}" target="_blank">
+							<img class="postImage" src="{{{ THUMBPATH }}}" alt="{{{ IMAGENAME }}}">
 							</a>
 							<p class="imageName"> {{{ IMAGENAME }}} ({{{ IMAGESIZE }}})</p>
 						</div>
diff --git a/templates/reply.template b/templates/reply.template
index 7783fcd..2cdccdb 100755
--- a/templates/reply.template
+++ b/templates/reply.template
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 							</div>
 							<div class="postContent">
 								<div class="imageContainer">
-									<a href="/shi/{{{ THUMBPATH }}}" target="_blank">
-									<img class="postImage" src="/shi/{{{ IMAGEPATH }}}" alt="{{{ IMAGENAME }}}">
+									<a href="{{{ THUMBPATH }}}" target="_blank">
+									<img class="postImage" src="{{{ IMAGEPATH }}}" alt="{{{ IMAGENAME }}}">
 									</a>
 									<p class="imageName"> {{{ IMAGENAME }}} ({{{ IMAGESIZE }}})</p>
 								</div>
diff --git a/util.sh b/util.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..14ef9d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# These are the functions that are run by the admin to manage posts
+
+file_path_to_post() {
+	post_id="$1"
+	find "$board_dir" -maxdepth 4 -name "$post_id" -not -path '*/\.*'
+}
+
+delete_post() {
+	post_id="$1"
+	rm -rf "$(path_to_post "$post_id")"
+}
+
+regen_board() {
+	. ./shi2.sh
+	board="$1"
+	posts="$(find "$board" \
+		-mindepth 1 \
+		-maxdepth 1 \
+		-type d \
+		-iname '[0-9]*' \
+		-printf '%p\n' | sort)"
+	for post in $posts
+	do
+		echo "Generating post $post"
+		insert_post "$post" "$board/index.html"
+	done
+
+}