Solved Pixelfed, Federated Image Sharing

[yusf]

https://pixelfed.org/

A service very much like Instagram, but federated. There seems to be quite some enthusiasm around ActivityPub-based projects in general, also including Prismo, Anfora and Funkwhale.

[heliostatic]

Yes please!

[will]

pinging for this as well. Having a suite of self hosted federated apps would be awesome!

[murgero]

@will If you look at my thread history, you will find a tutorial on how to install this on the LAMP app for use right now in Cloudron

Edit: here is the tutorial: https://forum.cloudron.io/post/5246

[will]

@murgero Awesome, thanks!

[scooke]

@murgero said in Pixelfed, Federated Image Sharing:

https://forum.cloudron.io/post/5246

Cool! Will give it a try.

[echokos]

I’m surprised this hasn’t gained more traction.

[A Former User]

Pixelfed is recommended by both PRISM Break and PrivacyTools
https://prism-break.org/en/all/#media-publishing
https://www.privacytools.io/providers/social-networks/#social

[doodlemania2]

All - I have begun packaging this based on instructions found here as well as basing it off of PHP Lamp. It's still VERY rough (IE, doesn't fully build yet), but would appreciate some eyes on it.

https://git.cloudron.io/doodlemania2/pixelfed

Currently, I'm trying to decide whether the initial setup goes in Dockerfile (would think so) or in start.sh in the uninitialized section. It's been a VERY long while since I attempted to package something, so am more than a little rusty

Also, my run.sh is doing an artisan migrate force on each run - thinking that is a good thing cause run wouldn't know if the container updated, but maybe there's another pattern somewhere that is better.

cc: @girish

[murgero]

@doodlemania2 Using start.sh is not a good idea since the code is in a readonly filesystem - Gotta do the build and most the setup in Dockerfile during packaging.

[doodlemania2]

@murgero the app lives in data, not code, so it should be okay, but I'm open to putting it in the Dockerfile anyways to make initial startup faster. One of the challenges is that upstream doesn't do releases, we're just pulling from a branch. Will ponder some more on it though.

[murgero]

@doodlemania2 EDIT: Nevermind - I see now how you have to set it up. The only change I would make is instead of copying from /app/code/pkg, I would just put the source in /app/data/ so the user can dynamically update their instance.

[doodlemania2]

So, /app/data isn't available to work with during docker build, so it has to be in startup.sh, but once the app gets published, it will stay current via CR's processes and of course, end customers are able to modify /app/data as they see fit via terminal.

One thing I'm struggling with (almost fixed), is how to copy everything from pkg over to the /app/data inclusive of dot files and folders, otherwise, artisan gets fussy. More soon!

[murgero]

@doodlemania2 Yes it is, just put this at the top of Dockerfile:

RUN mkdir -p /app/data

[doodlemania2]

Just a quick update to those watching this space. I've got the app loading the DB and getting up and running now. Last things to deal with are:

1. An apache error that throws out a 403, probably my .htaccess
2. Moving the logs to /run
3. Try one more time to leverage /app/code but at least this way works!

[doodlemania2]

The app is finished packaging and works pretty well! Final Cloudron specific tweaks like tests, medialinks, etc and then I guess it can publish. If you want it now, you can grab it from my repo: https://git.cloudron.io/doodlemania2/pixelfed and do cloudron install

[murgero]

@doodlemania2 How does it handle cloudron server reboots? Has this been tested? It wont try to reinstall pixelfed will it

Do you have documentation on how to update the code on new releases of pixelfed?

[doodlemania2]

It's destined to be a standard app for Cloudron so will support server reboots, etc. Some tweaks will need to be made by the CR teams for it to move into the app store but will work with them on those over the coming days.

[stantropics]

@doodlemania2 Awesome, thank you so much! I would love to test it, but do you know if there is any way to "migrate" once its release officially in the appstore?

[murgero]

@stantropics You would need to backup and restore the database and public files (like user uploads since PixelFed is an image hosting service like IG)

[doodlemania2]

Correct, also make sure to do a backup of the database. The app as it is now supports the in built cloudron backup, so it SHOULD work for you, but no promises

[A Former User]

Pixelfed can be accessed on Android from Fedilab --- a multifunctional client to access the distributed Fediverse
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/fr.gouv.etalab.mastodon/

[murgero]

@Hillside502 Fedilab is a decent client too - used it for a while when I was still in the AP scene. Works great on Pleroma too I heard?

[A Former User]

@murgero AP?

[jdaviescoates]

@Hillside502 said in Pixelfed, Federated Image Sharing:

AP?

I'd guess ActivityPub

[murgero]

@Hillside502 @jdaviescoates is correct - AP is short for ActivityPub (the backend for communication in Mastodon, and a supported protocol in Pixelfed )

[blavkm]

@doodlemania2

Hi, I am not a expert but I understand many things and I am learning everyday, can you guide me how to use your package on Cloudron? or point me where to look?

Thanks in advice, and thanks to @murgero that point me out about your package.

[doodlemania2]

You can clone the repo locally and deploy it with the Cloudron CLI: https://cloudron.io/documentation/custom-apps/cli/#installing

[blavkm]

@doodlemania2 thanks

[stantropics]

Thanks to @doodlemania2, @mehdi, @girish and everybody who has worked on this so far - it looks pretty good and I cannot wait to have it as an official app.

Just wanted to share my current experience and my thoughts with the community.
While testing it I found there are two aspects that can be improved:

1. Federation does not work and even configuring it in .env to

ACTIVITY_PUB=true
REMOTE_FOLLOW=true
ACTIVITYPUB_INBOX=true
ACTIVITYPUB_SHAREDINBOX=true

doesn't seem to make it work. I'm tinkering with it but haven't found a solution so far.

2. .env should be placed somewhere under /app/data so it can be edited by the user (e.g. for changing the instance name, activating/deactivating ActivityPub, setting max filesize etc.).

Unfortunately, something like

COPY .env /app/data/storage/config/.env
RUN ln -fs /app/data/storage/config/.env /app/code/pkg/.env

in the Dockerfile does not work. Pixelfed can't load the config correctly as it throws errors during startup.

[stantropics]

I solved issue number one today using those config parameters for AP:

## Activity Pub
ACTIVITY_PUB=true
AP_REMOTE_FOLLOW=true
AP_INBOX=true
AP_SHAREDINBOX=true
AP_OUTBOX=true
ATOM_FEEDS=true
NODEINFO=true
WEBFINGER=true

Furthermore I got the information that in ordner to make federation work you need to follow a person from another instance and a person of this instance need to follow you so the other instance knows about yours.

[girish]

@stantropics +1, will you be submitted a PR to @doodlemania2 's repo?

I am just finishing up metabase, I can look into getting pixelfed published after that.

[mehdi]

@stantropics said in Pixelfed, Federated Image Sharing:

Unfortunately, something like
COPY .env /app/data/storage/config/.env
RUN ln -fs /app/data/storage/config/.env /app/code/pkg/.env

in the Dockerfile does not work. Pixelfed can't load the config correctly as it throws errors during startup.

That is normal. As /app/data is a volume, it does not exist yet during build time, it is only there at runtime. So you cannot put stuff there in the dockerfile and expect it to be there. You can, however, do just the ln part, and do the copy as a cp in start.sh.

[stantropics]

@girish said in Pixelfed, Federated Image Sharing:

@stantropics +1, will you be submitted a PR to @doodlemania2 's repo?

This is now done.

@mehdi said in Pixelfed, Federated Image Sharing:

That is normal. As /app/data is a volume, it does not exist yet during build time, it is only there at runtime. So you cannot put stuff there in the dockerfile and expect it to be there. You can, however, do just the ln part, and do the copy as a cp in start.sh.

Makes sense! However, the code does work. When I do a cat /app/code/pkg/.env inside the apps terminal (in recovery mode as it won't start up) it prints the entire and correct config.
I have created this issue to work on it:
https://git.cloudron.io/doodlemania2/pixelfed/-/issues/1

If someone can help to move the config I would appreaciate it.

[girish]

@stantropics said in Pixelfed, Federated Image Sharing:

However, the code does work

Yes, that's because docker has a "feature" that if it copies files from the docker image into a volume on first run. So, if you put files in /app/data in Dockerfile, it gets copied over on first run into the /app/data volume. For cloudron packages, we don't use this feature (by convention) since this feature is kind of arcane.

[stantropics]

The genius @mehdi helped to finally get the config-problems solved. I have put everything in a MR under https://git.cloudron.io/doodlemania2/pixelfed/-/merge_requests/4

• Config rework
• Activity Pub activation
• Move config to /app/data

Now let's get this official

[scooke]

@doodlemania2 Just did it, worked well, thanks. But it seems to start out with 256MB of ram, and crashes right away. Anyway to have it start with more ram?

[stantropics]

@scooke Latest MR is not merged yet. I am increasing RAM in this one:
https://git.cloudron.io/doodlemania2/pixelfed/-/merge_requests/4/diffs?commit_id=bba93ea1da4da8c83388014361ea85db120b1bb3

However, my first test shows that it is still not enought. For me, this only happens after setup. After this it runs smooth, even with 256MB of RAM.

[scooke]

@stantropics Interesting, yes, I noticed the same thing. But I increased the ram anyway to 2048.

[stantropics]

@scooke That is what I do, but it might not be possible for users with smallers instances.

[scooke]

@stantropics true

[girish]

Thanks a lot I will take a look soonish. Looks like all the hard works is done!

[doodlemania2]

I've merged that in @stantropics ... @girish may not accept it for production given it uses /app/data, but maybe!

[mattp]

Hi, based on this thread it seems PixelFed might be headed to the App Store? If yes, is there a ballpark on timing? I'm stoked to add this but trying to decide whether I should wait for the App Store or do it manually now.

[doodlemania2]

Yep! I hear they are working on it soonish. +@girish FYI

[murgero]

@mattp Honestly I'd wait. If you need ActivityPub right now, Nextcloud has an addon you can install to enable it. Which would allow you to speak to friendica, Matodon, pleroma, etc etc.

Then once this is in the appstore, you can move your data.

[girish]

@doodlemania2 I have started the work here https://git.cloudron.io/cloudron/pixelfed-app

[girish]

Pixelfed is now published in unstable Thanks a lot @doodlemania2 , I will lock this thread. I have created a category for pixelfed under apps.