Are you using Firefox? Did you know you can self-host the sync server on Cloudron? (you know ... because you can). I have just tested this, and it works between Firefox on Ubuntu and Android.
Here is a tutorial for anyone interested:
Replication Guide: Adapting Syncstorage-RS for Cloudron
This guide explains how to take the original mozilla-services/syncstorage-rs repository and adapt it for a single-container deployment on Cloudron with PostgreSQL.
1. Create the Manifest (CloudronManifest.json)
Cloudron requires a manifest file to understand the application requirements. Create this file in the root of the repository.
CloudronManifest.json:
{
"manifestVersion": 2,
"title": "Syncstorage-RS",
"author": "Mozilla Services",
"description": "Firefox Sync storage server built with Rust",
"version": "0.21.1",
"httpPort": 8000,
"addons": {
"postgresql": {
"version": "14.9"
}
},
"healthCheckPath": "/__heartbeat__"
}
2. Create the Start Script (cloudron-entrypoint.sh)
Cloudron provides database credentials through environment variables (CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_*). We need a script to bridge these variables into the format expected by Syncstorage-RS.
cloudron-entrypoint.sh:
#!/bin/bash
set -eu
# Default values
SYNC_HOST="${SYNC_HOST:-0.0.0.0}"
SYNC_PORT="${SYNC_PORT:-8000}"
SYNC_MASTER_SECRET="${SYNC_MASTER_SECRET:-}"
# 1. Detect Cloudron PostgreSQL addon
if [ -z "${CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_HOST:-}" ]; then
echo "Error: PostgreSQL addon not found. Please ensure it is installed." >&2
exit 1
fi
# 2. Convert Cloudron vars to Syncstorage connection strings
# We use the same DB for both storage and token management
POSTGRES_USER="${CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_USERNAME}"
POSTGRES_PASSWORD="${CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD}"
POSTGRES_HOST="${CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_HOST}"
POSTGRES_PORT="${CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_PORT}"
POSTGRES_DATABASE="${CLOUDRON_POSTGRESQL_DATABASE}"
export SYNC_SYNCSTORAGE__DATABASE_URL="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST}:${POSTGRES_PORT}/${POSTGRES_DATABASE}"
export SYNC_TOKENSERVER__DATABASE_URL="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST}:${POSTGRES_PORT}/${POSTGRES_DATABASE}"
export SYNC_TOKENSERVER__RUN_MIGRATIONS="true"
# 3. Validate required config
if [ -z "$SYNC_MASTER_SECRET" ]; then
echo "Error: SYNC_MASTER_SECRET must be set in the Cloudron Environment tab." >&2
exit 1
fi
# 4. Start the application
exec /app/bin/syncserver "$@"
3. Adapt the Dockerfile (Dockerfile.cloudron)
The original Dockerfile often uses modern features like Docker BuildKit (e.g., --mount=type=cache or --chmod in COPY) which might not be supported in all environments. We created a "clean" version that works with standard Docker.
Key Changes Made:
- Set Defaults: Set
SYNCSTORAGE_DATABASE_BACKEND and TOKENSERVER_DATABASE_BACKEND to postgres at the top of the file.
- Remove BuildKit mounts: Removed all instances of
--mount=type=cache... from RUN commands to allow building without BuildKit enabled.
- Remove inline chmod: Changed
COPY --chmod=0755 to standard COPY followed by a RUN chmod +x command.
- Inject Start Script: Added the
cloudron-entrypoint.sh and set it as the ENTRYPOINT.
Fragment of changes in the final stage:
# ... after all builds ...
COPY --from=builder /app/bin /app/bin
COPY cloudron-entrypoint.sh /app/cloudron-entrypoint.sh
# BuildKit-compatible chmod replacement
RUN chmod +x /app/cloudron-entrypoint.sh
USER app:app
ENTRYPOINT ["/app/cloudron-entrypoint.sh"]
4. Building and Pushing
To build the image using the new Dockerfile and push it to Cloudron:
# 1. Build locally
docker build -f Dockerfile.cloudron -t syncstorage-rs:cloudron .
# 2. Push to Cloudron Registry
docker tag syncstorage-rs:cloudron CLOUDRON_IP:5000/syncstorage-rs:cloudron
docker push CLOUDRON_IP:5000/syncstorage-rs:cloudron
5. Summary of logic
- Single Container: We package the Rust binary and its Python dependencies into one image.
- PostgreSQL Integration: Instead of separate containers for Sync and Token databases, we point both services to the single PostgreSQL database provided by Cloudron.
- Auto-Migrations: We set
SYNC_TOKENSERVER__RUN_MIGRATIONS="true" so the database schema is created automatically on the first start.
- Security: The
SYNC_MASTER_SECRET is the only manual configuration required, ensuring data is encrypted at rest.
