DrWeevilJammer
Thanks for the thorough writeup! It’s worth noting that the captcha will be back in the next version, but not exactly sure when it will be released.
They removed it during the switch from web sockets (which apparently took a lot of time and effort to keep updated), but someone submitted a pull request for a non-web socket version of the captcha code, which was accepted.
So hopefully we’ll all be able to update to the new version soon.
The dev apparently used the RedReader app to test a “spoofing” method of access for a proof of concept, but they don’t want to use that method either, because it would potentially cause problems for RedReader, which they didn’t want to do:
If we do that, and cause a huge traffic boost under RedReader’s name, it might lose them their exempt status. I’d like to avoid that if I can - there’s no reason to paint a target on RedReader’s back unnecessarily (an independent, non-commercial app), especially since the equivalent can be done with the official app without the same risks.
The real problem for Libreddit instance operators is going to be acquiring an API key. It doesn’t look like it’s an automated process like most other services - you have to fill out a form, which opens a ticket, and wait for someone from Reddit to get back to you.
I run an instance, and I’m not sure I want to go to the trouble. But I’ll wait and see what happens.
It looks like the method they’ll be going with for legal reasons is to allow instance operators to use their own API keys. This might be a good solution if you self-host your own private instance (easy with docker on a home network, no domain name required) with low traffic, but the Reddit API change will probably kill the larger public instances with many users, as those will definitely have traffic over the API limits.
The easiest way to think about docker is to consider it a type of virtual machine, like something you’d use VirtualBox for.
So let’s say you run Windows, but want to try out Linux. You’d could install Ubuntu in a VirtualBox VM, and then install software that works on Ubuntu in that VM, and it’s separate from Windows.
Docker is similar to this in that a docker container for a piece off software often includes an entire operating system within it, complete with all of the correct versions of drivers that the software needs to function. This is all in a sandbox/container that does not really interact with the host operating system.
As to why this is convenient: Let’s say that you have a computer running Ubuntu natively/bare metal. It has a certain version of python installed that you need to run the applications you use. But there’s some new software you want to try that uses a later version of python that will break your other apps if you upgrade.
The developer of that software you want to try makes a docker version available. There’s a docker-compose.yml file that specifies things like the port the application will be available on, the time zone your computer is in, the location of the docker files on dockerhub, etc. You can modify this file if you like, and when you are done, you type docker compose up -d in the terminal (in the same directory as the docker-compose.yml file).
Docker will then read the compose file, download the required files from the repository, extract them, set up the network and the web server and configure everything else specified in the compose file. Then you open a browser, type in the address of the machine the compose file is on, followed by the port number in the compose file (ex: http://192.168.1.100:5000), and boom, there’s your software.
You can use the new software with the newer version of python at the same time as the old stuff installed directly on your machine.
You can leave it running all the time, or bring it down by typing docker compose down. Need to upgrade to a new version? Bring the container down, type docker compose pull, which tells docker to pull the latest version from the repository, then docker compose up -d to bring the updated version back up again.
Portainer is just a GUI that runs docker commands “under the hood”.
Which probably lifted it from the 1992 movie “Army of Darkness”, starring Bruce Campbell:
Ash: Alright you primitive screw heads, listen up. You see this?
This…is my boomstick! It’s a twelve-gauge double barrel Remington. S-Mart’s top of line. You can find this in the sporting goods department.
That’s right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids,Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It’s got a walnut stock, cobalt steel barrel, and hair trigger. Shop smart, shop S-Mart.