(This is a repost of this reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1fbv41n/what_are_the_things_that_makes_a_selfhostable/, I wanna ask this here just in case folks in this community also have some thoughts about it)
What are the things that makes a selfhostable app/project project good? Maybe another way to phrase this question is, what are the things that makes a project easier to self-host?
I have been developing an application that focuses on being easy to selfhost. I have been looking around for existing and already good project such as paperless-ngx, Immich, etc.
From what I gather the most important thing are:
- Good docs, this is probably the most important. The developer must document how to self-host
- Less runtime dependency–I’m not sure about this one, but the less it depends on other services the better
- Optional OIDC–I’m even less sure about this one, and I’m also not sure about implementing this feature on my own app as it’s difficult to develop. It seems that after reading this subreddit/community, I concluded that lots of people here prefer to separate identity/user pool and app service. This means running a separate service for authentication and authorization.
What do you think? Another question is, are there any more good project that can be used as a good example of selfhostable app?
Thank you
Some redditors responded on the post:
- easy to install, try, and configure with sane defaults
- availabiity of image on dockerhub
- screenshots
- good GUI
I also came across this comment from Hacker News lately, and I think about it a lot
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40523806
This is what self-hosted software should be. An app, self-contained, (essentially) a single file with minimal dependencies.
Not something so complex that it requires docker. Not something that requires you to install a separate database. Not something that depends on redis and other external services.
I’ve turned down many self-hosted options due to the complexity of the setup and maintenance.
Do you agree with this?
Docker is the thing that sandboxes your services from the host OS. I’d rather use Podman because of the true non-root mode, but Docker is still based. Plus, you can use Docker Swarm if you don’t want to switch to Kubernetes (though you don’t have easy storage integration for persistence).
Docker is also the thing that allows the distribution of the app as “single file with minimal dependencies”.
Not a single app, not minimal dependencies. It’s a file that gets processed and creates many gigabites of leftovers, with an enormous runtime and piles of abstractions
The problem is when Docker is used to gift wrap a mess. Then there are rotting dependencies in the containers. The nice thing about Debian packaged things is the maintainer is forced to do things properly. Even more so if they get it into the repos.
My preference is Debian Stable in LXC or even KVM for services. I only go for Docker if that is the recommended option. There is stuff out there where the recommend way is their VM image which is full of their soup of Dockers.
Docker is in my pile of technologies I don’t really like or approve of, but don’t have the energy to really fight.