gistfile1.rb

require 'rubygems'
require 'curb'
require 'cgi'

# expand a tiny url to a real large url, use twitter api and the tiny url see who wins
def tiny2real(tiny_url)

  # send both in a multi handle the first back wins
  mh = Curl::Multi.new

  # set up a head request to the tiny url
  ch1 = Curl::Easy.new(tiny_url) do|curl|
    curl.head = true 
  end

  # set up a GET request to twitter's service
  ch2 = Curl::Easy.new("http://search.twitter.com/hugeurl?url=#{CGI::escape(tiny_url)}")

  @response = ""

  ch1.on_complete { puts "HEAD wins"; mh.remove ch2;  ch1.header_str.scan(/Location: (.*)$/); @response = $1.strip; }

  ch2.on_complete { puts "GET wins";  mh.remove ch1; @response = ch2.body_str }

  mh.add ch1
  mh.add ch2

  mh.perform

  @response

end

if $0 == __FILE__
  require 'test/unit'
  class SomeTests < Test::Unit::TestCase
    def test_tiny2real
      assert_equal "http://lists.rpmfusion.org/pipermail/rpmfusion-developers/2008-August/000804.html",
                   tiny2real("http://tinyurl.com/d9w5fy")
    end
  end
end