this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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I gone through a lot of hosting service providers and unfortunetly cannot find a single one that can be used without running nonfree programs, all of them require loading bulky obfuscated JavaScript apps.

I know of Codeberg Pages for static sites for example, but it is not suitable for any business or professional use.

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[–] aksdb@feddit.de 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What exactly do you mean? Typically you go to a website, register the domain, setup payment and then setup the nameserver. No need to install anything on your end.

Same with hosting. You sign up, setup payment, order a machine (root or virtual) and then you get SSH credentials and are good to go.

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He wants one he an run without adding an exception on NoScript.

Personally, I don't know of any.

[–] aksdb@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

I mean ... that's basically how the internet works today. And even if you don't "run" proprietary stuff on your end, their service as a whole is still proprietary. So it seems like a pointless battle, IMO.

I would rather ensure to use a browser where I trust its sandbox to properly isolate the shit it has to run inside.

[–] cnx 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The question wasn't about avoiding installing but running proprietary software.

[–] aksdb@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But as I said: once the DNS entries are set up, everything is routed directly to your machine. What runs there is completely in your hands. Same with VPS/root server: SSH is free. Pick the client you like.

I don't know of a single registrar or hoster that I can't run without libre software.

[–] cnx 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

once

I get thy stand on this, personally I also have to compromise my software freedom to register my domains, but again OP asked to avoid X and saying after doing X you won't have to is not answering the question.

[–] aksdb@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But he said "proprietary software to run", not to "setup" or "register" or whatever.

[–] cnx -4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ah yes, I bet thou canst also skip the booting part when thou runst software on thy compooter. And Jehovah (or an idol of thy choice) forbids any configuration or upgrade requiring a reboot.

Any domain registrar/hosting provider that does not require propietary software to run?

If thou dissectst this even more clearly thou wouldof noticed OP asked about running a domain registrar or hosting provider, not using their service. Also the word was propietary.

Now, if thou excuse OP's imperfect English thou can find a clearer description below:

one that can be used without running nonfree programs

Like virginity, it's either with or without innit, or doth thou prefer thy olive oil lightly fucked?

[–] matejc@matejc.com 9 points 1 year ago

What are you talking about? What nonfree programs? Can you give an example? Btw, for VPS you normally just need ssh, and that is free and even OSS.

[–] Norgur@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

There are people who stick to principles and there are people who stick to a form of the present they wished had come to fruition but never came.

[–] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why not just go with a VPS? Then you can run whatever software you like.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Still need to somehow buy VPS and I can't find a provider that do not require additional software.

[–] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I am confused why you think it requires additional software. For example, I personally use DigitalOcean, and that allows you to spin up servers via their website. No extra software needed.

[–] Euphoma@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I think he's calling the website that is running non-free javascript as an additional piece of software based on his commment on "bulky obfuscated JavaScript apps."

[–] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So...he wants to email somebody to create a server for him? This seems highly impractical and unnecessary lol.

[–] cnx 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The separation is pedantic, but you can have dynamic websites without JS or with free ones. The argument is basically the server-side software only see the data you input, but client-side malware can extract information or do other nasty things you can't observe or prevent.

[–] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I get what you mean, but OP's gonna have a hard time finding any website, much less a VPS provider, that doesn't have Javascript in it and for good reason. There's things like remote consoles and status dashboards that simply don't work without Javascript.

If its really a concern, you can run the Javascript in a separate browser instance, but I find that precaution to be completely unnecessary because if you don't trust your VPS provider, why would you trust that they won't do anything to your server or use your payment info for nefarious purposes? The Javascript is the least of OP's concerns IMHO.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or just via web browser that can show websites and does not run any random script that was send to it.

Something like that would be seen as huge deal when talking about mobile or desktop programs, but somehow when browsers do not show how many MB of additional software they downloaded to build a webpage (that in my opinion should already be build by the server) somehow we all assume there is no software.

[–] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Something like that would be seen as huge deal when talking about mobile or desktop programs

That's because mobile and desktop programs have far more access to your system compared to Javascript programs that run in a permissioned sandbox. They are not the same thing.

that in my opinion should already be build by the server

Eh, that's debateable honestly. Sometimes pages built by dynamic Javascript have much a much better and fluid UI experience than server-side rendering, which require slow full-page reloads. To each their own though, there's benefits and disadvantages to both methods.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When registering on DigitalOcean: "You need JavaScript to run this app".

Okey, so let's check this scripts: https://ui-cdn.digitalocean.com/registration-next/399776b27f10a89571b17850f82383af2841fa66/static/js/main.9e36ba61.js

Seems like an extra software to me.

[–] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You need Javascript to run things like remote consoles and metrics dashboards. I don't think its something you can really avoid tbh.

Why do you want to avoid Javascript so badly in this case? If its a matter of trust, a VPS provider can do far more damage by just using your payment information or messing with your server directly.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

Web remote console or live metrics are understandable. But requiring scripts to register or show a header is something I try to avoid. And not because of security or privacy but out of principle of simplicity and healthy web ecosystem.

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Dreamhost

Or buy a domain somewhere like Gandy or namecheap and host the website on a VPS somewhere

[–] cnx 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Gandy or namecheap

I'm pretty sure they require proprietary client-side scripts to function as well.

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have no idea what you're talking about. I never needed anything with Gandy to register a domain. I don't see why one would either.

[–] Markaos@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

JavaScript. Your browser downloads and runs it automatically and the vast majority of people either don't consider it a problem at all or just accept that they can't choose what software they run on their computer. This person apparently wants to avoid websites with proprietary JavaScript if possible.

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah they explained themselves after, wasn't clear from the original post when I posted.

[–] pc_admin@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You can use Ansible to create domain names and register URLs on most popular hosting providers/registrars.

You shouldn't avoid platforms just because they have non-free websites, that's extreme bro.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Eventually I can use those sites, but I am curious is there is at least one provider that does not require running their code on my computer and just send me the HTML (actual site).

[–] Clearwater@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

No reputable registrar requires you to run an executable on your machine. JavaScript is as far as it'll get.

I'm sure many registrars work without JS, but if I had to be sure of any one in particular, it'd be Njalla. They even have an onion site and accept monero, so they almost certainly function without JS.

[–] pc_admin@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

If you want extremely low overhead you can use the API directly with curl. Most hosting providers/registrars allow this.

[–] clmbmb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think you know what you mean/want. I never had any registrar requiring me to install anything to have my domain registered with them. The same is true about hosters too.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de -1 points 1 year ago

You didn't, but your browser was even if it doesn't tell you.

[–] cnx 2 points 1 year ago

static sites [are] not suitable for any business or professional use

I wouldn't agree with this statement, there are plenty of businesses and professionals who are only on the interwebs to share their contact, biography or product knowledge base.

That being said, there are VPS providers running on libre software like vpsFree.cz which I use and can recommend. There should be more out there but I don't keep track them, sorry.

There's much thinner chance there exists a registrar caring about thee or thy software freedom though. People at sr.ht, LLC talks about setting up one but so far it's just talks.

OpenNIC registrar (only be.libre seems to be functional) work without JS and thou can prolly ask them to license the site freely but non-ICANN domains are not practical for business or professional use due to the low adoption.

[–] shadoodled@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

https://nic.eu.org/ I think would satisfy the simplicity requirement. It's as barebones as it can be. But you can't technically register a domain with it. You choose one of the subdomains under eu.org and register a subdomain under it.

[–] anzo@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

I'm unsure but maybe hetzner admin panel is usable without JS.

[–] TheInsane42@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

What do you need?

I run 2 vps'es via Hetzner, 1 for dns (primary), mail and webhosting and 1 for dns (secondary). No javascript needed for those hosts. The web interface to the provider requires scripting to be able to order them and pay the monthly bill, but my sites run script free on Linux. The sites on there are plain text sites. (files edited with vi and uploaded to the dorresponding shell account)

BTW the vps'es are for a minute hosting company, works perfectly.

[–] tootbrute@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Oracle free tier is fine for messing around