

Join Diaspora with these 25 simple steps (github) - broohaha
https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/wiki/Installing-and-Running-Diaspora

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kylec
One of the big disadvantages to using web frameworks like Rails or Django for
open web applications is that the deployment is very tedious, at least
compared with something like PHP. Something that requires having root access
to a *nix server and takes 25 steps to install is never going to be mainstream
- you need something that a 13-year-old could put up on a shared hosting
account (i.e. phpBB) to really get traction.

~~~
dazzawazza
I deploy django+myapp+modules in to a virtualenv[1] without any permissions
other than default user perms in a Unix box. The only 'tricky' bit is setting
up the database, that requires more permissions (and for good reasons).

It's completely possible to make to make it simple in any language. I agree
with the point that currently the Diaspora installion instructions are a bit
excessive though.

[1]- <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv>

~~~
mcrittenden
But then you still leave the user responsible for getting the site up and
running under mod_wsgi, etc., correct?

~~~
dazzawazza
yep, they can deploy via any modern web server but you're right I don't really
have any control over that. I don't see the difference to PHP though, you
still need to install PHP modules, additional php libraries (via PEAR maybe),
set permissions etc.

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trotsky
A lot of that is packaging issues. While they might never be able to get it
down to a one click install, one installer script could probably take care of
most of those steps at some point.

I haven't looked at diaspora in 3-4 months, but based on where it was then I
find it hard to believe that anyone should be downloading and running it right
now that isn't a developer/SA type and expecting a fair degree of pain. In
that way the install process is a bit of a gatekeeper. If they made it super
ultra easy to install and run but code quality / feature completion was still
in the toilet what would they have gained? No reason for them to work on the
installer right now.

I'm not too sure diaspora is going to end up all wine and roses, but they only
claim to be in "alpha" release for now, give the kids a break.

 _THIS IS PRE-ALPHA SOFTWARE AND SHOULD BE TREATED ACCORDINGLY. PLEASE, DO NOT
RUN IN PRODUCTION. IT IS FUN TO GET RUNNING, BUT EXPECT THINGS TO BE BROKEN._

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xiongchiamiov
While the idea of Diaspora is nice and all, I'm not going to start using it
until someone convinces me that I don't need to audit every code change.
Removing commit access for all of the core developers would be a fantastic
start.

For those who aren't aware of the issues[0] that were revealed several months
ago, Diaspora's devs made some rudimentary security mistakes. Yes, it's an
alpha, but as pointed out in the HN thread (which I did not save, and am too
lazy to search for), this was _basic_ security - the stuff you have to keep in
mind from the start, not stick on later.

[0]: [http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/09/22/security-lessons-
learned...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/09/22/security-lessons-learned-from-
the-diaspora-launch/)

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jonknee
In practice it's meant to run like email--most people don't register a domain,
provision a server and install a mail server / webmail app / spam blocker.
They just use an existing server, be it their ISP, Gmail, Yahoo, an employer,
or whoever. It's nice that I can set up my own, but it's also not the path
that 99.999% of people take.

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simonhamp
Someone stick it on the EC2 public instances list... There's your 3-step
setup...

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rchowe
Most people won't have to do this. Most people will just join an existing
site. Diaspora is much more significant in that it solves the gay bar problem
of social networking ([http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-
networ...](http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-network-v2))
and that it lets you export your data. It remains to be seen if they make the
system of "aspects" simple enough.

That said, it's a little annoying that a supposedly open product can't be
installed in one command.

~~~
jedsmith
> Diaspora is much more significant in that it solves the gay bar problem of
> social networking

I had to go through the slides to understand this: basically, it said in the
case of a woman they did research on, she commented and liked photos of her
friends at the gay bar, but her ten-year-old students could see those comments
too. The thesis was that a bunch of her social groups that shouldn't interact
were forced to interact on Facebook.

Now that that's overwith (if you were as confused as I was), how does Diaspora
solve this? I'm honestly asking. Do you not see updates on another service, or
something?

~~~
rchowe
It created "Aspects", or groups of friends, and you post things to specific
aspects or to all aspects. Only the people in that aspect will see updates.

~~~
Stevenup7002
So, Facebook groups?

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mcantor
I think there's a typo in the submission--this looks like installation
instructions, as opposed to just "join & use" instructions.

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ynniv
What an improvement over the tedious Java version which would run with "java
-jar diaspora.jar" (or a double click on Mac/Windows)!

~~~
wycats
I didn't realize that Java now comes with MySQL and a Redis server bundled.

~~~
ynniv
So DON'T USE THEM. Srsly, are we professionals or script kiddies here?

If you're going to provide an alternative to Facebook, you can damn well make
something from appropriate technologies. pg doesn't even use a database for
Hacker News, and while it has it's problems, it does quite well. That fact
that 5 people agreed with you disappoints me.

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robryan
At least the instructions are thorough. Someone with a small amount of system
admin knowledge could probably get it up and running. They could have just
gave a short explanation that only anyone who does develops web apps or system
admins all the time would understand.

~~~
logic
I got a pod up and running a day or so after the initial code drop, as a test
to see where things were at (which I toyed with briefly, then removed; I
haven't poked at it much since then).

Please trust me when I say, the instructions available today are vastly better
then the state of play when they initially released; if you didn't have some
Rails experience going into it at the time, you were probably not the target
audience. ;)

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jefe78
I plan on deploying this over the next few days to a fresh server for the
'lulz' factor.

As mentioned already, I really did expect something a little more simplified
for an open-source application. That guide is most likely going to take a
couple of hours to work through.

Sure, it'll be worth it, but should it be that complicated. Someone should try
and script this using Fabric! :P

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elvirs
I was starting to lose my faith in diaspora as months went by and there was no
progress to be seen but I love the concept of a service with distributed
infrastructure. If diaspora proves it to be a working and applicable model I
think a lot of other services will emerge using similar models. especially
music stuff, think new napster.

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gogocoder
What a joke. Doesn't work on Windows. Fine, I'll buy that. Doesn't support IE.
How hard is it to just use a good CSS Reset these days? We knew this wasn't
going to kill Facebook, but it's not even going to get laughed at if only 2
people can use it.

~~~
ceejayoz
Facebook's server-side code wouldn't work on Windows, either. IE support is
coming according to the page, but it makes sense to develop initially for the
more standards-compliant browsers.

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jaredstenquist
25 steps? The conversion on this funnel must be < 0.00000001%

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Matt_Rose
I tried these instructions and got bupkis.

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wuster
TWENTY-FIVE steps is not "simple". =)

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fairlyodd
All I can say is _LOL_

