
Self-host the web with ArkOS - mtw
https://arkos.io
======
kristopolous
The real solution is a distributed hosting and traditional interfacing system.
Like YaCy but genetic.

People participate in it like in SETI@Home, Tor, or the mersenne prime number
search.

"Site" code gets deployed in a git/bittorrent mashup with a web-of-trust
system of signed certificates.

Code can be federated and distributed and not rely on a single point, ie
github.

People access it by running their own modified DNS server that gets updated
with the serving "exit nodes". (Part of the hypothetical client)

It is essentially Tor but no crazy onion URLs, direct connections, and
divestment at the back end.

The user downloads the client, runs it and that's it.

Pick some TLD that sounds safe for the taking, like .!com and we're good to
go.

There's even a trendy new currency that makes ecommerce viable using this
system. ;). It's all there.

I've implemented bits and pieces over the years. But never gotten the full
model working.

Everything from domain registration to fair load balancing all have hard, but
feasible solutions.

And what do you get for it? The same freedom that bittorrent and bitcoin give
you, but for everything. You get it all.

~~~
MikusR
So basically Freenet?

~~~
kristopolous
Yes. There's lots of examples of this... Just none doing all the parts I'm
thinking of

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zapt02
Having run a similar setup (self-configured) on a Raspberry Pi I see one major
issue - the Pi has an ability to damage your file system after prolonged use.
I've had this consistently happen every 60-90 days of use. There are hundreds
of reports of it in the forums. (Search for Raspberry Pi corrupt filesystem on
Google)

My question is - how do you plan to account for this?

~~~
jcook818
Several ways - arkOS already has a tool
([https://github.com/jacook/logrunner](https://github.com/jacook/logrunner))
for buffering logs in RAM before they are written to disk, thus reducing
probably the top cause for SD card wear on webserver Pis. Its RAM footprint is
lightweight, and it makes a huge difference over time. Secondly, with a
successful crowdfund campaign the project will be able to install both to SD
card AND to a USB-connected drive. Meaning that boot gets written to SD and
data is stored on an external device, something more hardy than a cheap SD
card. :) Finally, backup services (plural because there will be a couple
different options for people to choose from) will be made a part of the core
framework, making regular backups easy and data loss less of a nightmare.

~~~
zapt02
Logrunner seems very useful, will try it out.

With a powered USB drive it would be a nice setup!

But I feel that Drydock and arkOS CONNECT do not fit your model. Setting up
central backup and a VPN for your Pi is essentially just another service. The
point of this was to get rid of the middleman, yet you conveniently introduce
yourself as one?

~~~
jcook818
I totally understand the impression. But the goal with arkOS is to help people
securely self-host with as much stability as possible. Since self-hosting is a
complex and occasionally troublesome thing, some people may need help in
getting properly connected. So the only reason we consider hosting those
services is to help with these ends. If someone needs the services in order to
self-host, I think it is better that they use them, rather than not being able
to self-host at all. Any services will be 100% optional and up to the end
user.

~~~
zapt02
I appreciate you taking the time to write informed answers!

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jkrems
I think "secure" and "cloud" are pretty misleading. In terms of security (if
it's about my personal mail/calendar) my bigger concern would be that my data
is lost, e.g. not backed up properly, deceptible to hardware failures. As for
"cloud" \- I can't see much on the page that would have remotely the same
properties as a "cloud" solution. Maybe that's why they put it in quotation
marks? Still, very misleading imho.

~~~
jcook818
There are steps taken to address security and stability concerns. See my other
commends on this item. Also you may need to look beyond just the front page -
can't put everything we want to do and plan to do on the front page at once.
:)

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j7
What about ISPs that block port 80? Does arkOS handle that? I don't see how it
could.

~~~
ajvb
[https://github.com/cznweb/deluge](https://github.com/cznweb/deluge) \- Server
for DynDNS/request tunnelling to arkOS nodes
[https://arkos.io/deluge](https://arkos.io/deluge)

^ is in the works

~~~
inconshreveable
I've made ngrok completely open source and permissively licensed, I'd suggest
using it rather than reinventing your own. Feel free to contact me about it.

~~~
jcook818
Thanks -- we are checking it out and definitely considering working it into
our implementation

