Slowly exploring the lemmy ecosystem, since I don’t want to use reddit, and was wondering if selfhosting would be a good idea?

  • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬English
    1·
    1 year ago

    Many of the parts can be swapped out for alternatives, shared with other services

    Let’s go through it.

    1. proxy: image: nginx:1-alpine I already have one running, why do I now need another one installed als another container exclusively for Lemmy?
    2. pictrs: image: asonix/pictrs:0.4.0-beta.19 I have no other use for this except for Lemmy, why do I need another container just for this application I never heard of?
    3. postgres: image: postgres:15-alpine I have absolutely no use for Postgres. Why do I need to install a database server as container just for being used by Lemmy, and Lemmy only?

    And then, yes, of course, lemmy and lemmy-ui

    So 5 different containers (and 4 volumes, and 2 networks) all set up only for Lemmy, cluttering my setup – not counted in all the volumes, containers, and networks set up by the 3 additional containers.

    And since I’m pinned to specific versions I need to manually check new/changed dependencies when updating Lemmy instead of just rebuilding the container.

    I still see no point in that.

    • underiskEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      It is common to run more than one application in a given server. Nginx, for example, is widely used as a reverse proxy and web server for operating multiple containerized applications on the same server. Postgres is a commonly used database that can potentially be used on hundreds of applications simultaneously. Duplicating them on all containers would just create a mountain of problems and waste resources for no real benefit.

      If all you’re running is lemmy then why are you so upset about containers “cluttering” up things? What is there to clutter up, your docker ps output ? If you want, just pretend the host is itself a container running lemmy (which it might just be, depending on your host!). Alternately, make your own nested container that just does a docker-compose up and pointlessly duplicate all the services you want. Complaining that the container managers don’t do this for you, to the detriment of others who don’t share your specific niche, is just blatantly entitled and absurd.

      • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬English
        1·
        1 year ago

        Nginx, for example, is widely used as a reverse proxy

        I use it as reverse proxy already. Why do I need to install a reverse proxy for Lemmy?

        If all you’re running is lemmy then why are you so upset about containers “cluttering” up things?

        That’s the thing: i don’t.

        But maybe I should get a real or virtual machine used exclusively for Lemmy and adding its Docker environment to my current Portainer installation.

        • underiskEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I use it as reverse proxy already. Why do I need to install a reverse proxy for Lemmy?

          You don’t. Configure the one you already have and just remove that entry from your docker-compose. This is exactly why they’re handled as separate containers.

          • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬English
            2·
            1 year ago

            And by “configuring” you mean nothing more than simply setting up the connection from example.com:443 to the machine and exposed port? That would at least solve 1 out of 5 issues I have … :)

            • underiskEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              Yeah, basically. Can’t really give more details without knowing your specific setup but you can look into the nginx container lemmy uses to see if there’s a config in there you can just copy over to your existing container. You may also need to make sure lemmy is using the same virtual network as your nginx container.

              • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬English
                1·
                1 year ago

                I have a strong feeling against manually messing with any upstream code (in the broadest sense containers are upstream code) so I’m totally not going to just “copy over” some configuration and potentially break my current setup.

                I’m fine with forwarding a request on example.com:443 to whatever port in one of the Lemmy containers is needed.

                I’ll likely look into this whole mess of a setup when I have time to spare for it. Maybe just deploying a (virtual) machine with Docker just for Lemmy is the cleanest way. As said: I have zero other use for any of the software needed by Lemmy …

                • underiskEnglish
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  nginx containers are usually set up to have a directory outside the container which is used to handle configuration files without disturbing the “upstream” container itself. The common setup in there is to have one file handling each website that nginx is proxying. So when I suggest copying it over, what im saying is to look for that file lemmy is using, and bring it over into that directory and altering it to suit your specific set up.

                  • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬English
                    1·
                    1 year ago

                    I configure example.com:443 to be proxy’d to whatever port is needed and enable Let’ Encrypt for that using the nice web interface that comes with the proxy manager container.

                    None of my containers complained so far … I don’t think that Lemmy is any different here besides the containers and volumes mess it causes.