snac
Oh well lesson learned which I'm sure I'll forget. 🙄
A new week has begun, and 2025 is getting closer to its end. The question we should all ask ourselves is this: what have we done, and what can we do, to make the Fediverse a better place?
The Fediverse is for everyone. The Fediverse belongs to everyone. We should not wait for someone else to do something. We can start ourselves.
- Follow people who post content that interests you. You do not always have to agree. Constructive disagreement helps us grow.
- Always remain respectful and civil. This is what can make the difference between the Fediverse and social platforms that profit from anger. Let us make it a place we want to go, not a place we feel forced to go just to prove someone wrong.
- Make it a better place for yourself. Our timelines are exactly what we choose them to be. This takes a bit more effort, but the result will be far more satisfying.
- Help administrators identify problems. Pointless criticism is useless. Doing your part, on the other hand, is priceless.
- Boost what you believe is worth boosting. That is how things spread. If quote posts are available, explain why you shared something. You can also share content you disagree with, if you think it may be interesting for the people who follow you.
- Do not approach people coming from other platforms with closure or arrogance. It takes time to understand and adapt. Acting like schoolteachers helps no one.
- The Fediverse belongs to everyone, therefore it belongs to no one. If you run your own personal instance, that is your kingdom, but you could be defederated by everyone and end up alone. If that is your goal, fine. Otherwise, remember that federation is, at the same time, an honor, a responsibility, and a privilege.
- Have fun. Grow. Live. The Fediverse is an extension of your life.
If you have questions, ask. You will find many people who will be more than happy to answer.
And to you, who are reading this, thank you for being here.
#Fediverse #Mastodon #snac #snac2 #akkoma #pleroma #gotosocial #honk #mitra #SocialNetworks #Lemmy #PeerTube #Misskey #Sharkey
A small compendium of the Fediverse platforms I use/know well.
In the past few days, I revisited some of my old Fediverse instances since some friends asked me to help them set up a new one. I also took the chance to perform maintenance on some leftover instances. Here's my experience:
Akkoma: My oldest instance still running, opened in 2022. It was offline for a few months (3/4). I updated everything to the latest version and restarted it. I’m not sure why, but it’s extremely slow, with a heavy load on Postgres and many queries just to open the main page. I like Akkoma - I'll investigate further.
GoToSocial: I updated a friend's instance - GoToSocial itself was up-to-date, but the underlying system wasn’t. I noticed that once it exceeds 2000 followings, it becomes a bit slow. The database is PostgreSQL, but that's not the issue. The GoToSocial process becomes somewhat heavy on the VPS. Still, it's very usable and a software with great potential, in my opinion. The Mastodon API is implemented quite well and works with the major software.
Mitra: It seems well-built. The person had around 1000 followers and followings on a Mastodon account, which they moved from a large instance. No speed issues, though sending a message makes the server “heavy” for a bit, but it’s temporary. The Mastodon API is partially implemented, but the software is advancing quickly, and I find its native interface quite pleasant.
Snac2: I've always had a soft spot for Snac2. The lack of a database and some design choices make it an excellent solution for small instances. For example, sending posts to all known instances increases visibility and interaction. Its basic, JavaScript-free interface is very clear, though it might not be the best for those used to Mastodon. But the Mastodon API is improving version by version, and I think the developer is doing an excellent job. It struggles a bit with larger numbers, but that's due to the underlying file system, not the software itself. If "move" support (both in and out) were added, I would recommend it to anyone starting self-hosting for single-user or small community instances because "move" is one of the options that gives the most freedom in Fediverse software.
Mastodon: My “old” personal instance was stuck at version 4.1.x and had been offline for a few months. I updated the FreeBSD Jail and upgraded Mastodon to 4.2.12 and then to 4.3.0-beta1. No issues. I also helped a friend (who had an old Pleroma-based instance they barely used) migrate. This user has around 5000 followers and followings - Mastodon is running on FreeBSD on a VPS (arm64) for just over 3 euros a month, with no significant issues (apart from media storage, but that's not Mastodon’s fault). Mastodon is sometimes said to be heavy, and that's partly true, but its modularity ensures that even in cases of overload, queues may slow down, but navigation and the local timeline remain reasonably fast. I think this is a good thing for any larger-scale use of an instance.
In short, I think things are moving in the right direction, and the software is evolving nicely. Well done, devs!
#Fediverse #Akkoma #GoToSocial #Mitra #Snac2 #Snac #Mastodon #SelfHosting #InstanceManagement #FreeBSD #OpenSource
As many users have asked for it, there is now an option to make the number of followed and following accounts public (still disabled by default). These are only the numbers; the lists themselves are never published.
Some fixes to blocked instances code (posts from them were sometimes shown).
Fixed non-appearing buttons Approve and Discard if the account requesting a follow were being followed.
https://comam.es/what-is-snac
If you find #snac useful, please consider contributing via LiberaPay: https://liberapay.com/grunfink/
#snacAnnounces
This release has been inspired by the songs All Is Lost by #KatieGarfield and All Is Not Lost by #TonyAnderson.
Migration from a snac account to a Mastodon one has been implemented. Please see snac(8) (the administrator manual) for more information.
Fixed a bug in argument parsing regarding some special characters (contributed by ndagestad).
Fixed image emojis in the public profile bio.
https://comam.es/what-is-snac
If you find #snac useful, please consider buying grunfink a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/grunfink
#snacAnnounces
This release has been inspired by the song State of Independence versioned by #DonnaSummer.
#SelfHosted #HomeLab
This instance and account are dedicated to the automatic publication of new blog articles, similar to an RSS feed but on the #Fediverse.
I decided to create a dedicated instance because #snac is small and efficient, and it supports pledge and unveil on #OpenBSD, exponentially increasing security - a perfect setup for my @OpenBSDAms VM.
In the coming days, I will publish an article on how I manage everything, including the small program created specifically for this purpose, which can also be used for other solutions/purposes.
Follow this account if you want to stay updated on the blog's news.
#ITNotes #RunBSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #Linux #SysAdmin #IT
Added a new user option to collapse top level threads by default.
Added a new disable_block_notifications boolean field to server.json to disable the notifications of Block activities.
Added a new strict_public_timelines boolean field to server.json to only show an account's posts and boosts (no trees) in public timelines.
Fixed repeated images in posts from some implementations (those that include an image both as an attachment and as an <img> tag inside the post content).
Added a small HTML/CSS tweak to improve post previews from some implementations (contributed by nyanide).
Notifications for EmojiReact activities now show the emoji.
New command-line action insert, to insert a post by its URL in a user's timeline.
Fixed bad processing/rendering of URLs with two or more @ symbols.
https://comam.es/what-is-snac
If you find #snac useful, please consider contributing via LiberaPay: https://liberapay.com/grunfink/donate
#snacAnnounces
This release has been inspired by the song Subways Of Your Mind by #FEX.
Snac2 is an excellent software solution for accessing the Fediverse. It is lightweight, very easy to compile and install, has minimal dependencies, and the development is progressing along a clear, clean, and logical path - thank you, @grunfink
Since last December, BSD Cafe has had, among its services, a snac instance - https://snac.bsd.cafe - which has been used sparingly, mainly by some for testing purposes. I’ve kept it as a 'testing' option.
In light of the interest it is generating (we now have stable users) and given that development is evolving to allow for both inbound and outbound movement, I have decided to designate it as a stable solution for accessing the Fediverse and to consider it a primary service of the BSD Cafe.
It has always received the utmost attention, I have consistently updated it promptly, and it has always been accessible, but I have also modified all the descriptions to clarify that it is a stable and definitive solution.
For more information, there is always a dedicated page on our wiki: https://wiki.bsd.cafe/snac.bsd.cafe
Stay Tuned!
#BSDCafe #BSDCafeServices #BSDCafeAnnouncements #snac #snac2 #Fediverse #Mastodon
Snac2 is an excellent software solution for accessing the Fediverse. It is lightweight, very easy to compile and install, has minimal dependencies, and the development is progressing along a clear, clean, and logical path - thank you, @grunfink
Since last December, BSD Cafe has had, among its services, a snac instance - https://snac.bsd.cafe - which has been used sparingly, mainly by some for testing purposes. I’ve kept it as a 'testing' option.
In light of the interest it is generating (we now have stable users) and given that development is evolving to allow for both inbound and outbound movement, I have decided to designate it as a stable solution for accessing the Fediverse and to consider it a primary service of the BSD Cafe.
It has always received the utmost attention, I have consistently updated it promptly, and it has always been accessible, but I have also modified all the descriptions to clarify that it is a stable and definitive solution.
For more information, there is always a dedicated page on our wiki: https://wiki.bsd.cafe/snac.bsd.cafe
Stay Tuned!
#BSDCafe #BSDCafeServices #BSDCafeAnnouncements #snac #snac2 #Fediverse #Mastodon
Since last December, BSD Cafe has had, among its services, a snac instance - https://snac.bsd.cafe - which has been used sparingly, mainly by some for testing purposes. I’ve kept it as a 'testing' option.
In light of the interest it is generating (we now have stable users) and given that development is evolving to allow for both inbound and outbound movement, I have decided to designate it as a stable solution for accessing the Fediverse and to consider it a primary service of the BSD Cafe.
It has always received the utmost attention, I have consistently updated it promptly, and it has always been accessible, but I have also modified all the descriptions to clarify that it is a stable and definitive solution.
For more information, there is always a dedicated page on our wiki: https://wiki.bsd.cafe/snac.bsd.cafe
Stay Tuned!
#BSDCafe #BSDCafeServices #BSDCafeAnnouncements #snac #snac2 #Fediverse #Mastodon
Some tweaks for better integration with https://bsky.brid.gy (the BlueSky bridge by brid.gy).
A corner case bug in the media proxying code has been fixed.
Hashtags can now include underscores.
The server now creates a pidfile inside the data directory.
Mastodon API: fixed a crash in the notification code, fixed autocapitalization in the OAuth login field (contributed by fkooman).
https://comam.es/what-is-snac
If you find #snac useful, please consider contributing via LiberaPay: https://liberapay.com/grunfink/
#snacAnnounces
This release has been inspired by the song Take Me To The River by #Kaleida.
Migration from a Mastodon account to a snac one has been implemented. Please see snac(8) (the administrator manual) for more information.
Mastodon API: fixed timelines/public (it was showing less posts that it should).
Fixed over-zealous caching to the public timeline.
Some HTML tweaks and fixes to the web interface.
https://comam.es/what-is-snac
If you find #snac useful, please consider buying grunfink a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/grunfink
#snacAnnounces
This release has been inspired by the painting The Hands Resist Him by #BillStoneham.
Sometimes I am asked what the BSD Cafe is - what service of the BSD Cafe is considered the heart of it all. The BSD Cafe began its journey with the Mastodon instance, and other services gradually followed. For some, it might be the repository of their projects, while for others, it’s the Matrix room where they discuss their passions. For some, it’s the feed reader, for others, a way to know their IP address. There are those who see it as the sticker collected at EuroBSDCon or received by mail. For many, it serves as a base from which to start self-hosting their services on BSD systems, and it remains a gathering place among friends, a space to visit even if one doesn't primarily use it as a home.
Whatever it is for you, thank you. Because I am proud of the BSD Cafe, of what it has become, and of what it represents. In this place, I have forged relationships with people I already knew and met wonderful individuals who share their experiences, ideas, and passions in the true spirit of the BSD Cafe, which is to be positive and constructive. This way, we all grow, learning something new every day.
Whatever the BSD Cafe represents for you, I can tell you what it means to me: a group of friends, regular visitors or not, who exemplify that the world would be a much better place if the spirit adopted in all contexts were the same.
It’s late for #ThankYouTuesday, but I thank you all the same.
#BSDCafe #ThankYou #Grateful #Mastodon #Snac #Matrix #Lemmy #Forgejo #FreshRSS #Miniflux #MyIP #DokuWiki
There are some things that folk used to running #Mastodon might not like. For example it does not show any follower or following numbers to any instances. So people using Mastodon will see 0 followers and 0 following even though those Snac uses may have 100's of followers .
You do get a people tab on the snac interface that is just a list divided into people following you and people you follow but no numbers. This is an intentional design feature by the author @grunfink who stated.
I haven't implemented a simple count of following / followers on purpose; I consider all metrics in network media inherently toxic, because it's a way of comparing the relative success of people. This is also why, as seen from other Fediverse implementations, snac accounts always report 0 / 0 connections.
https://codeberg.org/grunfink/snac2
If you follow me here I'm letting you know that I'm moving to @justine on my own #ActivityPub instance called #Snac .
I'll not really be tooting on bsd.cafe anymore but I will keep this account alive as you never know what the future holds.
At the moment there is no way for me to transfer all my amazing followers over to my new instance but work is in progress to resolve that by the Snac dev.
But if you'd still want to follow me then please do give me a follow on the above link ?
Thank you ♥️
For today's #ThankYouTuesday, I want to thank @grunfink
Their already excellent #snac improves with every release, and they are always available, friendly, and positive.
The world could really be a better place with more people with their skills and attitude.
#ThankYouTuesday #gratitude #opensource #community #positivevibes
Exactly one year ago, I launched the snac instance of BSD Cafe: https://snac.bsd.cafe
Some users gave it a try and decided to self-host. Others have kept it as a secondary account, while some use it regularly.
Happy anniversary, snac.bsd.cafe - and thanks to @grunfink for the ongoing development and improvement, always staying true to the principles of simplicity and integrity.
#BSDCafeServices #BSDCafe #snac #snac2 #Fediverse #SocialNetworks
Some users gave it a try and decided to self-host. Others have kept it as a secondary account, while some use it regularly.
Happy anniversary, snac.bsd.cafe - and thanks to @grunfink for the ongoing development and improvement, always staying true to the principles of simplicity and integrity.
#BSDCafeServices #BSDCafe #snac #snac2 #Fediverse #SocialNetworks
Announcing FediMeteo – Weather in the Fediverse!
Please Note: due to high traffic, the site may occasionally be unreachable.
UPDATE: Ireland has just been added
Weather has always influenced our lives: from agriculture to outdoor activities, to extreme events that, thanks to modern technology, can now be predicted with greater reliability. Personally, weather plays a significant role in my daily decisions, which is why I decided to create a service tailored for the Fediverse.
FediMeteo uses Open-Meteo data to publish updates every 6 hours, including current weather conditions, forecasts for the next 12 hours, and predictions for the upcoming days. Each country is served by its own dedicated instance (e.g., it.fedimeteo.com for Italy), managed through snac to ensure simplicity and efficiency in publishing.
You can follow FediMeteo directly in the Fediverse (on Mastodon and compatible platforms), via RSS, or by visiting the dedicated page for your city (e.g., fr.fedimeteo.com/paris).
Currently supported countries include:
Austria, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands – with many more regions coming soon!
FediMeteo is hosted on a FreeBSD-based VPS, with each country isolated in its own jail to ensure security and scalability.
Visit the main site to explore the national instances and start following your local weather updates today:
https://fedimeteo.com
Happy weather monitoring to all! 🌦️
FediMeteo is dedicated to my grandfather, who every evening would give me the weather forecast based on TV, radio, and his personal experience. He would convince me that the weather would be bad, so he had an excuse to accompany me to school instead of me going alone.
#FediMeteo #Announcements #FreeBSD #FediMeteo #WeatherForecasts #Weather #Meteo #snac #Fediverse #Mastodon
Fixed regression in link verification code (contributed by nowster).
Added ipv6 support for the https frontend connection (contributed by hb9hnt).
New "Like by URL" operation (contributed by dheadshot).
Added support for a Mastodon-like /share link sharing URL, like the one provided by sites like https://mastodonshare.com/ and such. To be able to use it, you must reconfigure your https proxy to redirect /share to snac (see snac(8)).
New linux landlock (sandboxing) support for enhanced security (contributed by shtrophic). It's still a bit experimental, so you have to enable it explicitly by recompiling with the WITH_LINUX_SANDBOX directive (e.g. make CFLAGS=-DWITH_LINUX_SANDBOX).
Some search fixes regarding repeated matches.
The export_csv cmdline operation now exports the CSV files inside a user's export/ subdirectory instead of the current directory.
All CSV files to be imported must now be stored inside a user's import/ subdirectory instead of the current directory.
Mastodon API: more timeline paging tunings (contributed by nowster), post language selected in apps is properly set.
The command-line operation note new reads the LANG environment variable to set the post's language.
A new command-line operation, note_unlisted, allows posting "unlisted" or "quiet public" posts.
The maximum number of entries in users' RSS feeds and in outboxes can now be set via the max_public_entries variable in the server.json file.
Fixed broken support for Audio objects.
Made xmpp and mailto URLs clickable.
https://comam.es/what-is-snac
If you find #snac useful, please consider contributing via LiberaPay: https://liberapay.com/grunfink/
#snacAnnounces
This release has been inspired by the painting Judith Slaying Holofernes by #ArtemisiaGentileschi.
Dear friends of the BSD Cafe,
As 2024 comes to an end, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve built together during the first full year of life for BSD Cafe. Launched on 20 July 2023, this project has grown far beyond what I could have imagined. While I haven’t tracked full uptime data, I can confidently say that the downtime was less than 30 minutes overall - even though the main VM hosting our services moved multiple times (including a switch from a Proxmox hypervisor to bhyve on FreeBSD, for the sake of alignment with our mission). In a world filled with over-engineered HA systems, we’ve outperformed many “big-name” cloud providers. Not bad for a community project, right?
For me, this has been an incredible journey. The users here are not just participants - they’re collaborators, and their positivity has been inspiring. The content shared and created at BSD Cafe has been valuable not only to the BSD community but beyond. What truly sets BSD Cafe apart is the openness for dialogue and exchange. Whether it’s social media posts, Matrix discussions, repositories in our brew, or RSS feeds, people seem to genuinely appreciate what we create and the conversations we foster.
BSD Cafe is a journey - one that grows, evolves, and continues. Our goal isn’t endless growth (we’re a community, not a business) but rather to maintain a welcoming, inclusive space where everyone feels a sense of positivity and belonging. For me, opening any service with “bsd.cafe” in the domain brings joy and pride. That’s the spirit I’ve tried to convey, and I hope it resonates with all of you, whether you’re active BSD Cafe users or friends of the community.
Promoting self-hosting and #OwnYourData has, as a side effect, inspired some users to “go solo” with their own setups. But even then, they remain part of BSD Cafe - in spirit, in purpose, and in connection.
Here’s a look at what we’ve achieved together this year:
- mastodon.bsd.cafe: 370 total users
Active in the past month: 207
Active in the past six months: 286
- snac.bsd.cafe: 14 total users
Active in the past month: 7
- blendit.bsd.cafe: 61 registered users
- matrix.bsd.cafe: 23 users
- brew.bsd.cafe: 29 users - 80 repositories
- freshrss.bsd.cafe: 25 users
- miniflux.bsd.cafe: 11 users
- press.bsd.cafe: 9 users
- myip.bsd.cafe: Constantly used by various users
- wiki.bsd.cafe: Could use a bit more love and content, but it fulfills its role as a functional homepage.
- tube.bsd.cafe: Still in testing - Peertube 7.0 update is on the way.
For detailed stats from our reverse proxy and general router (excluding media services, which generate most traffic but are handled via caching reverse proxies), you can check here - updated hourly: https://netstats.bsd.cafe
The journey of BSD Cafe continues, and I look forward to seeing where 2025 will take us. Together, we’ve built something special - something driven by passion, shared purpose, and a little bit of the BSD magic that makes all of this possible.
Here’s to a new year full of joy, serenity, and connection. Thank you for being part of this adventure.
Wishing you all a fantastic 2025 - and THANK YOU!
Stefano
#BSDCafe #BSDCafeServices #BSDCafeAnnouncements #BSDCafeUpdates #Fediverse #HappyNewYear #Mastodon #Snac #snac2 #lemmy #matrix #dokuwiki #forgejo #freshrss #miniflux #wallabag #peertube #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #RunBSD #BSD