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gemini

so many choices of server software! appealing possibilities for privacy control and for collecting several people's posts together.

16 Nov 2022

gemini hosting

  • i want it even if you don’t
  • (but if user friendly enough, who wouldn’t?)
  • i’ve got to sift through and suss out multiuser options for nice, simple gemini server software. alternatively…?: flounder? bit uggo but, if i remember right, lets you post from a web browser? or was that whatever breadpunk use for their “slice” posts… gemlog.blue?
  • could theoretically use gemini’s capacity to recognise trusted browsers to enable people to choose who can read certain posts/sites/sections? (and if slow shell media includes gemini client software, maybe could set up so that can have local-only pages visible to anyone visiting via ssh? slash, anyone who is syncing something like an offpunk cache from the server to their personal device?)
  • also there are some lovely options for using a feed aggregator to cluster public posts together? (following the standard for Subscribing to gemini pages for a local gmisub or comitium offering perhaps the easiest in, although maybe something worthwhile could be done with tinylogs?)

working title snailspace
guess who's working from memory and scant bookmarks

12 Dec 2022

yes, oh the passwordless perblogging possibilities…

in a tiny pocket of the weekend, i finally… launched my (not so personal) personal capsule out into gemini space? capsule being a site. of the oodles of alternatives, i figured i might as well chose the (serving) software with the jazziest name. as yet, no disappointment.

(though i also recall having gmid and a sprinkle of others on my shortlist, erm, more the turn of the decade when i last considered the field).

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

note that i haven't tested the multiuser features yet myself, but if we adopt mol for snailhuddle:

  • you get your own capsule at snailhuddle.org/~username
  • admins can have that seamlessly connect to your "public_gemini" folder on the server
  • you can easily define different settings for different parts of your capsule, such as who can access stuff and what language it is in!
  • if you don’t want anything of yours accidentally going out into geminispace, admins can effortlessly bar molly brown from having the slightest clue about your account (because by default she doesn’t)

also:

  • molly generates a page linking to all users whose capsules are presently hooked up
  • it shoould be possible to keep that listing restricted to certain visitors, or off the internet entirely, if we prefer

but:

  • mol doesn’t serve multiple domains at once. if you wanted to make some of your huddle-hosted geminising available at your own domain (gemini​://example.example) we would have to call in a different piece of software for that (or modify molly).
  • molly brown hasn't had any revisions to her code in, what, a couple of years? it's possible no-one is checking in on her for problems. on the other hand, the gemini protocol is extremely simple and cautious, which—compared to typical web software endeavours—tends to reduce the incidence of security gashes.
  • unlike flounder and gemlog.blue, molly herself does not invite you to make posts from a browser, nor does she ensure your gemlogs stick to any subscription standards.

furthermore:

  • molly brown can accommodate server‐side scripts; we could (theoretically?) run apps… or simple tools or interactive fictions or…

working title snailspace

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