Aim

The v3 API will cease to function from 1 Mar 2020 so we need to use v4.

Requirements

• A Linux computer (not a Raspberry Pi - installing Py3.7 was going to be too much effort)
• A bit.ly account (get a free one from dev.bitly.com)
• An access token from the above
• Python 3.7 (I'm using a conda environment)
• bitlyshortener python module

Installation

• Get Miniconda from https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html
• Install miniconda3

bash Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh

Initialise conda

eval "$(${HOME}/miniconda3/bin/conda shell.bash hook)"

Create an environment for bitly4

conda create -n bitly4 -y python=3.7

Activate it

conda activate bitly4

Install the bitlyshortener in this environment

pip install bitlyshortener

Get auth_token from bit.ly and add this to bitly4.py to replace "authTokenFromBitLy"

Add the bitly4.sh and (modified) bitly4.py scripts to ${HOME}/bin. Add ${HOME}/bin to your $PATH} if you like.

Running the script

bitly4.sh LONG_URL

From the Pi:

ssh other_linux_host bin/bitly4.sh LONG_URL
#eg
RESPONSE=$(ssh zenbook bin/bitly4.sh \"${URL}\")