Hosting my own Tildes - ~tildes

clerical_terrors

March 16, 2019

Link

I would recommend against hosting unstable software in production, if you do not fully understand how it works. Because that's going to mean you won't be able to fix any kind of problem yourself....

I would recommend against hosting unstable software in production, if you do not fully understand how it works. Because that's going to mean you won't be able to fix any kind of problem yourself. Remember that Tildes is in it's Alpha version (i.e. not stable nor feature complete) and despite it running surprisingly smoothly you can expect some level of technical troubles.

24 votes

[10]

Comment deleted by author

Link

[9]
haykam821 (OP)
March 16, 2019
Link Parent
I'm triyng to get an actual production environment so a few people can chat around in it.

I'm triyng to get an actual production environment so a few people can chat around in it.

4 votes
1. [8]
  orangse
  March 16, 2019
  Link Parent
  Not trying to be "that guy", but why not just use another piece of software designed for an end user? It would be way easier to just set up a server using Discord or a chatroom with Signal. Or...
  
  Not trying to be "that guy", but why not just use another piece of software designed for an end user? It would be way easier to just set up a server using Discord or a chatroom with Signal. Or even a private subreddit, if you need the link aggregation setup.
  
  12 votes
  1. [6]
    hungariantoast
    March 16, 2019 (edited March 17, 2019)
    Link Parent
    I'd recommend Discourse over all of those proprietary systems. Not only does it not require any sort of app or extra software, but it's free and open source software as well. Plus, if OP doesn't...
    
    I'd recommend Discourse over all of those proprietary systems. Not only does it not require any sort of app or extra software, but it's free and open source software as well.
    
    Plus, if OP doesn't want to self host, they have options for that.
    
    EDIT: Signal is free and open source software, and I'm a goof who can't use search engines. It can also be self hosted.
    
    22 votes
    
    [2]
    Crestwave
    March 17, 2019
    Link Parent
    Isn't Signal also FOSS? You also don't need to self-host it, although it doesn't have a website client.
    
    Isn't Signal also FOSS? You also don't need to self-host it, although it doesn't have a website client.
    
    9 votes
    
    hungariantoast
    March 17, 2019
    Link Parent
    Hm, it totally is. I actually looked it up when I wrote that comment just to make sure, but obviously didn't look close enough. I'll update my comment to reflect reality.
    
    Hm, it totally is. I actually looked it up when I wrote that comment just to make sure, but obviously didn't look close enough. I'll update my comment to reflect reality.
    
    5 votes
    
    [3]
    haykam821 (OP)
    March 16, 2019
    Link Parent
    It doesn't have threaded comments from what I've seen.
    
    It doesn't have threaded comments from what I've seen.
    
    2 votes
    
    [2]
    Crestwave
    March 17, 2019
    Link Parent
    Do you need nested comment threads like here or just one level? Mattermost has the latter.
    
    Do you need nested comment threads like here or just one level? Mattermost has the latter.
    
    8 votes
    
    haykam821 (OP)
    March 17, 2019
    Link Parent
    I was looking for nested comment threads.
    
    I was looking for nested comment threads.
  2. haykam821 (OP)
    March 16, 2019
    Link Parent
    Because that's not self-hosted.
    
    Because that's not self-hosted.
    
    2 votes

[25]

haykam821 (OP)

March 16, 2019

Link

I mentioned this to @Deimos as well but I never was able to find out how.

3 votes

[24]
Amarok
March 16, 2019
Link Parent
Sometime I think we'll have a guide for how to build a Tildes site, but as it's still in alpha and all that info is in Deimos' head at the moment (and only there) I doubt it's high on the priority...

Sometime I think we'll have a guide for how to build a Tildes site, but as it's still in alpha and all that info is in Deimos' head at the moment (and only there) I doubt it's high on the priority list for him.

6 votes
1. [23]
  Deimos
  March 16, 2019 (edited March 16, 2019)
  Link Parent
  No, I do actually have a document written up that's a list of everything that needs to be done to get it running on a fresh server. I could just paste it for you if you want, @haykam821, but I'd...
  
  No, I do actually have a document written up that's a list of everything that needs to be done to get it running on a fresh server. I could just paste it for you if you want, @haykam821, but I'd agree with the other people here that it's probably not a great idea if you're not quite experienced with administration-type tasks.
  
  I'm sure you'd be able to get it running, but it wouldn't be a complete list of everything you need to do to set up the server, and I don't have explanations for how to do a bunch of general administration tasks that you would need to.
  
  For example:
  
  Are you familiar with how to secure a Linux server, including doing things like configuring user account permissions, firewall, etc.?
  
  Are you familiar enough with SQL to be able to connect to the database, examine the tables and run update statements? The only way to do things like set a user as an admin is to connect to the database and run an UPDATE to give them the correct permissions.
  
  Are you familiar with git to be able to add the site's repo as a remote, and know how to pull down the code, update it after I make future changes, etc.?
  
  If a service fails to launch or crashes for some reason, do you know to use systemd to figure out what's wrong and restart it?
  
  (There's certainly more than that too, the overall point is that it's very much not a "turnkey" system)
  
  20 votes
  1. [22]
    hungariantoast
    March 17, 2019
    Link Parent
    If you wouldn't mind sharing it, I'd love to see it. Some of the administration tasks you mentioned are things I've never done, but it sounds like an excellent opportunity to learn. Plus, I too...
    
    If you wouldn't mind sharing it, I'd love to see it. Some of the administration tasks you mentioned are things I've never done, but it sounds like an excellent opportunity to learn.
    
    Plus, I too have kind of, sorta, maybe thought about the idea of using a fork of Tildes for a discussion forum about a specific subject, like a video game that I've always wanted to make.
    
    10 votes
    
    [20]
    Deimos
    March 17, 2019 (edited March 23, 2019)
    Link Parent
    Here's what's in the document. As I said, these should be most of the steps to solely get Tildes to work on a fresh Ubuntu 16.04 server, but doesn't cover all the other things like setting up...
    
    Exemplary
    
    Here's what's in the document. As I said, these should be most of the steps to solely get Tildes to work on a fresh Ubuntu 16.04 server, but doesn't cover all the other things like setting up permissions correctly, ssh security, firewall, etc. Most are the actual commands to run, but comment lines (starting with #) are descriptions of something that needs to be done but not the specific commands to do it.
    
    adduser tildes usermod -aG sudo tildes # clone tildes and tildes-static-sites repos into /home/tildes sudo ln -s /home/tildes/tildes/tildes /opt/tildes sudo ln -s /home/tildes/tildes/salt/salt /srv/salt sudo ln -s /home/tildes/tildes/salt/pillar /srv/pillar sudo ln -s /home/tildes/tildes-static-sites/output /opt/tildes-static-sites sudo mkdir /etc/salt sudo cp /home/tildes/tildes/salt/minion /etc/salt/minion # edit /etc/salt/minion and change id to "prod" wget -O - https://repo.saltstack.com/apt/ubuntu/16.04/amd64/latest/SALTSTACK-GPG-KEY.pub | sudo apt-key add - echo 'deb http://repo.saltstack.com/apt/ubuntu/16.04/amd64/latest xenial main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/saltstack.list sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install salt-minion sudo systemctl stop salt-minion sudo systemctl disable salt-minion # copy /opt/tildes/production.ini.example to production.ini and replace placeholders sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install python-certbot-nginx sudo certbot certonly --manual -d tildes.net -d *.tildes.net -d tild.es -d *.tild.es --preferred-challenges dns-01 --server https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory sudo salt-call --local state.highstate
    
    And these are commands that usually need to be done after every time you pull down new code updates:
    
    sudo salt-call --local state.apply -l info alembic upgrade head sudo systemctl reload gunicorn.service
    
    18 votes
    
    [4]
    adrianbblk
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    There's an error with the nginx service journalctl -xe Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 nginx[30716]: nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 systemd[1]:...
    
    There's an error with the nginx service
    
    journalctl -xe
    
    Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 nginx[30716]: nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: nginx.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1 Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: Failed to start A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server. -- Subject: Unit nginx.service has failed -- Defined-By: systemd -- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel -- -- Unit nginx.service has failed. -- -- The result is failed. Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: nginx.service: Unit entered failed state. Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: nginx.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. Sep 01 10:29:13 AMS-148750 sudo[30709]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root Sep 01 10:29:14 AMS-148750 sshd[30707]: Failed password for invalid user wa from 35.202.27.205 port 46046 ssh2 Sep 01 10:29:14 AMS-148750 sshd[30707]: Received disconnect from 35.202.27.205 port 46046:11: Bye Bye [preauth] Sep 01 10:29:14 AMS-148750 sshd[30707]: Disconnected from 35.202.27.205 port 46046 [preauth] Sep 01 10:29:32 AMS-148750 sshd[30728]: Invalid user david from 145.239.169.177 Sep 01 10:29:32 AMS-148750 sshd[30728]: input_userauth_request: invalid user david [preauth] Sep 01 10:29:32 AMS-148750 sshd[30728]: pam_unix(sshd:auth): check pass; user unknown Sep 01 10:29:32 AMS-148750 sshd[30728]: pam_unix(sshd:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=145.239.169.177 Sep 01 10:29:34 AMS-148750 sshd[30728]: Failed password for invalid user david from 145.239.169.177 port 1781 ssh2 Sep 01 10:29:34 AMS-148750 sshd[30728]: Received disconnect from 145.239.169.177 port 1781:11: Bye Bye [preauth] Sep 01 10:29:34 AMS-148750 sshd[30728]: Disconnected from 145.239.169.177 port 1781 [preauth]
    
    systemctl status nginx.service
    
    ● nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2019-09-01 10:32:53 CEST; 9s ago Process: 30614 ExecStop=/sbin/start-stop-daemon --quiet --stop --retry QUIT/5 --pidfile /run/nginx.pid (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Process: 30817 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -q -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Main PID: 12526 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Sep 01 10:32:53 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: Starting A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server... Sep 01 10:32:53 AMS-148750 nginx[30817]: nginx: [emerg] getpwnam("nginx") failed in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:1 Sep 01 10:32:53 AMS-148750 nginx[30817]: nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed Sep 01 10:32:53 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: nginx.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1 Sep 01 10:32:53 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: Failed to start A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server. Sep 01 10:32:53 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: nginx.service: Unit entered failed state. Sep 01 10:32:53 AMS-148750 systemd[1]: nginx.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
    
    [3]
    unknown user
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    The nginx user is missing. Whether this is because it should exist and doesn't, or because nginx is configured incorrectly, I can't say.
    
    nginx: [emerg] getpwnam("nginx") failed in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:1
    
    The nginx user is missing. Whether this is because it should exist and doesn't, or because nginx is configured incorrectly, I can't say.
    
    adrianbblk
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    There was a problem with the ssl certificate, was missing. not Its working.
    
    There was a problem with the ssl certificate, was missing. not Its working.
    
    1 vote
    
    [2]
    
    Comment deleted by author
    Link Parent
    
    Deimos
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    They're set up in the SaltStack "pillar" (kind of like global config): https://gitlab.com/tildes/tildes/blob/master/salt/pillar/prod.sls That file should be in /srv/pillar if you set up the...
    
    They're set up in the SaltStack "pillar" (kind of like global config): https://gitlab.com/tildes/tildes/blob/master/salt/pillar/prod.sls
    
    That file should be in /srv/pillar if you set up the symlinks shown above, and after editing it you'll need to run salt again to update the files:
    
    sudo salt-call --local state.apply -l info
    
    1 vote
    
    [15]
    adrianbblk
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    How to create the admin user? Or what it is ? 😁
    
    How to create the admin user? Or what it is ? 😁
    
    [14]
    Deimos
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    Connect to the database and run UPDATE users SET permissions = '"admin"' WHERE username = 'whatever';
    
    Connect to the database and run UPDATE users SET permissions = '"admin"' WHERE username = 'whatever';
    
    2 votes
    
    [3]
    adrianbblk
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    some help to connect to the database, the whole installation was almost automatically :D And yeah a server noob here too :D Thanks a lot 🙏
    
    some help to connect to the database, the whole installation was almost automatically :D
    And yeah a server noob here too :D
    
    Thanks a lot 🙏
    
    [2]
    Deimos
    September 1, 2019
    Link Parent
    psql -U tildes tildes will open a command-line client to the database.
    
    psql -U tildes tildes will open a command-line client to the database.
    
    2 votes
    
    adrianbblk
    September 2, 2019
    Link Parent
    Amazing. Thanks. Is there a way to open the registrations without and invite? 🤔
    
    Amazing. Thanks.
    
    Is there a way to open the registrations without and invite? 🤔
    
    [10]
    laurcrisst
    January 10, 2020
    Link Parent
    Hello, This line UPDATE users SET permissions = '"admin"' WHERE username = 'whatever'; isn't working on my side. UPDATE 0 Also how to set a password for the admin user?
    
    Hello, This line UPDATE users SET permissions = '"admin"' WHERE username = 'whatever'; isn't working on my side. UPDATE 0 Also how to set a password for the admin user?
    
    [9]
    Deimos
    January 10, 2020
    Link Parent
    You have to change the 'whatever' to a username that exists. It will be easiest to register the admin user through the site itself, and change its password through the site instead of trying to do...
    
    You have to change the 'whatever' to a username that exists. It will be easiest to register the admin user through the site itself, and change its password through the site instead of trying to do it manually.
    
    [8]
    laurcrisst
    January 10, 2020
    Link Parent
    I see, but I'm still a bit confused. Tildes registration is not open, so I'm unable to create a new user. There's already a user "tildes" into the database, I make it the admin, but how to login...
    
    I see, but I'm still a bit confused.
    Tildes registration is not open, so I'm unable to create a new user. There's already a user "tildes" into the database, I make it the admin, but how to login if I don't know the password and it cannot be changed from the database side since it is using the hash method?
    
    [7]
    Deimos
    January 10, 2020
    Link Parent
    You shouldn't be using the "Tildes" user, that's intended for attributing actions performed automatically by the site, such as automatically-scheduled topics. You should create a new user and make...
    
    You shouldn't be using the "Tildes" user, that's intended for attributing actions performed automatically by the site, such as automatically-scheduled topics. You should create a new user and make it an admin.
    
    1 vote
    
    [6]
    laurcrisst
    January 10, 2020
    Link Parent
    How to create a new user? I should have to insert the new user directly into the database? It is safe?
    
    How to create a new user? I should have to insert the new user directly into the database? It is safe?
    
    [5]
    Deimos
    January 10, 2020
    Link Parent
    You can use pshell to do it, as shown here (ignore the parts related to the group if you don't also want to add a group):...
    
    You can use pshell to do it, as shown here (ignore the parts related to the group if you don't also want to add a group): https://docs.tildes.net/instructions/development-setup#set-up-a-custom-user-and-group-optional
    
    [4]
    adrianbblk
    January 10, 2020
    Link Parent
    don't waste your time. pshell does not work on ubuntu, at least I wasn't able to make it works.
    
    don't waste your time. pshell does not work on ubuntu, at least I wasn't able to make it works.
    
    [3]
    Deimos
    January 11, 2020
    Link Parent
    You were probably trying to run it outside of the Vagrant VM, instead of ssh-ing in and running it inside.
    
    You were probably trying to run it outside of the Vagrant VM, instead of ssh-ing in and running it inside.
    
    1 vote
    
    [2]
    adrianbblk
    January 11, 2020
    Link Parent
    No, I did that from the Vagrant VM Here's what the terminal print (tildes) vagrant@ubuntu-xenial:/opt/tildes$ pshell development.ini Traceback (most recent call last): File...
    
    No, I did that from the Vagrant VM
    
    Here's what the terminal print
    
    (tildes) vagrant@ubuntu-xenial:/opt/tildes$ pshell development.ini Traceback (most recent call last): File "/opt/venvs/tildes/bin/pshell", line 10, in <module> sys.exit(main()) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyramid/scripts/pshell.py", line 22, in main return command.run() File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyramid/scripts/pshell.py", line 142, in run self.env = self.bootstrap(config_uri, options=config_vars) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyramid/paster.py", line 111, in bootstrap app = get_app(config_uri, options=options) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pyramid/paster.py", line 30, in get_app return loader.get_wsgi_app(name, options) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/plaster_pastedeploy/__init__.py", line 125, in get_wsgi_app return loadapp( File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 253, in loadapp return loadobj(APP, uri, name=name, **kw) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 275, in loadobj context = loadcontext( File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 299, in loadcontext return _loaders[scheme]( File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 326, in _loadconfig return loader.get_context(object_type, name, global_conf) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 457, in get_context context = self._context_from_use( File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 480, in _context_from_use context = self.get_context( File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 410, in get_context return loadcontext(object_type, name, File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 299, in loadcontext return _loaders[scheme]( File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 334, in _loadegg return loader.get_context(object_type, name, global_conf) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 624, in get_context entry_point, protocol, ep_name = self.find_egg_entry_point( File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/paste/deploy/loadwsgi.py", line 645, in find_egg_entry_point pkg_resources.require(self.spec) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 900, in require needed = self.resolve(parse_requirements(requirements)) File "/opt/venvs/tildes/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 786, in resolve raise DistributionNotFound(req, requirers) pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound: The 'tildes' distribution was not found and is required by the application (tildes) vagrant@ubuntu-xenial:/opt/tildes$
    
    1 vote
    
    laurcrisst
    January 13, 2020
    Link Parent
    What happens with #564 ?
    
    What happens with #564 ?
    
    Amarok
    March 17, 2019
    Link Parent
    I'd like to see this. Part of the attraction of making Tildes open source is the satisfaction of seeing what uses others find for the code.
    
    I'd like to see this. Part of the attraction of making Tildes open source is the satisfaction of seeing what uses others find for the code.
    
    7 votes

[2]

adrianbblk

March 3, 2020

Link

The login says "Unknown error" Any idea what could cause this error?

The login says "Unknown error"
Any idea what could cause this error?

Soptik
March 3, 2020
Link Parent
Try to look into logs, everything should be there. You might be able to see in which part of the source code is the issue. After examining source code, you should be able to understand what went...

Try to look into logs, everything should be there. You might be able to see in which part of the source code is the issue. After examining source code, you should be able to understand what went wrong and how to fix it.

2 votes