simple-nixos-fediverse/README.md

# Fediverse VMs

This repo is, for now, an attempt to familiarize myself with NixOS options for Fediverse applications, and build up a configuration layer that will set most of the relevant options for you (in a semi-opinionated way) given some high-level configuration. This is in the same vein as [nixos-mailserver](https://gitlab.com/simple-nixos-mailserver/nixos-mailserver).

Eventually, this will be tailored to high-throughput multi-machine setups. For now, it's just a small configuration to run in VMs.

## Running the VMs

you can build a VM using

```bash
nixos-rebuild build-vm --flake .#<vm_name>
```

where `<vm_name>` is one of `mastodon`, `peertube`, `pixelfed`, or `all`

and then run it with
```bash
./result/bin/run-nixos-vm
```

You can then access the apps on your local machine (using the magic of port forwarding) at the following addresses

- Mastodon: <http://mastodon.localhost:55001>
  - You will have to "accept the security risk"
  - It may take a minute for the webpage to come online. Until then you will see "502 Bad Gateway"
  - (NOTE: currently broken) email sent from the mastodon instance (e.g. for setting up an account) will be accessible at <https://mastodon.localhost:55001/letter_opener>

- PeerTube: <http://peertube.localhost:9000>
  - The root account can be accessed with username "root". The password can be obtained by running the following command on the VM:
    ```bash
    journalctl -u peertube | perl -ne '/password: (.*)/ && print $1'
    ```
  - Creating other accounts has to be enabled via the admin interface. `Administration > Configuration > Basic > Enable Signup` or just add an account directly from `Administration > Create user`. But functionality can also be tested from the root account.

## debugging notes

- it is sometimes useful to `cat result/bin/run-nixos-vm` to see what's really going on (e.g. which ports are getting forwarded)
- relevant systemd services:
  - mastodon-web.service
  - peertube.service
  - unclear yet which pixelfed services are useful
- you can ssh to the machine using `ssh -p 2222 root@localhost`

# TODOs

- [ ] set up a domain name and a DNS service so we can do deploy this to an actual machine
- [ ] set up an email service
- [ ] add logging
  - [ ] errors / logs
  - [ ] performance
- [ ] switch to garage / s3 storage
  - SEE: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/admin/optional/object-storage/
- [ ] decouple the postgres database from this machine
- [ ] test with high use / throughput
- [ ] configure scaling behaviour
  - SEE: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/admin/scaling/
- [ ] remove the need for "accept security risk" dialogue if possible
- [ ] development environment does not work seamlessly. 
- [x] don't require proxy server
  - either forward 443 directly, or get mastodon to accept connections on a different port (maybe 3000? see development environment documentation)
- [ ] get letter_opener working
- [ ] share resources (e.g. s3 storage) between the services

# resources

- Tutorial for setting up better logging: https://krisztianfekete.org/self-hosting-mastodon-on-nixos-a-proof-of-concept/
- Setting up development environment: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/dev/setup/

- Tutorial for PeerTube that doesn't use `createLocally`: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/PeerTube