Group: GNU Social

From LibrePlanet
Jump to: navigation, search
(Synchronizing?)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
This is the development, work-in-progress spec/ideas space for GNU Social, otherwise known as [http://daisycha.in Daisychain].
+
== The idea ==
  
−
==Goals==
+
GNU social, true to the Unix-philosophy of small programs to do a small job, will be a decentralized social network that you can install on your own server.
−
* Privacy- users should be in control of their own data
 
−
* Distributed- anyone can set up their own server to become part of the network
 
−
* Portability- software should run on the widest array of hosts possible
 
−
* Simplicity- simple to set up; a simple base installation to serve as a platform for a wide array of extensions
 
−
* Extensibility- easy to implement and distribute new functionality
 
−
* Freedom (of course)
 
  
−
==Ideas==
+
What if you could authorize your server to reveal as much, or as little information about you to other sites, as you wish... one time, one day, or forever?
−
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmpp XMPP]
+
 
−
** "Message oriented middleware" -- should be useful for inter-server communication
+
By default, we think it'll ship with a plugin to offer functionality that looks like the current popular social network site, but plugins for other free software applications are expected.
−
** Need to include an XMPP server in base install?
+
 
−
*** Is it possible to route what we need through an arbitrary XMPP server?
+
True to GNU itself, social is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, and we ask that plugin creators do the same.
−
* [http://www.foaf-project.org/ FoAF + SSL?]
+
 
−
* PHP for the front-end implementation language (portability; pretty much all hosting companies support it)
+
== Why we must create GNU social ==
−
** Back-end presents an issue; should be easy to install even on a third party host, if possible.
+
 
−
* Base system
+
Why are we making GNU social? well, like many of us, we've used several different social sites over the years. from orkut, to friendster, to myspace and now facebook. yet, when a new site appears, and everyone flocks to use it, your contacts are left behind, as well as a significant amount of your private and personal information.
−
** Contacts + plugin API
+
 
−
** Basic (removable) apps installed by default (messaging, etc.)
+
A year ago, while we were building libre.fm, Matt Lee was already thinking about this problem — social networks should be evolving, they should allow you to control what you put into them, and you should be able to keep control of your own data, including running the same software that GNU social uses, on your own website.
−
* Something on par with Facebook's news feed (which has recently been patented...)?
+
 
−
* How to authenticate users from remote servers?
+
The web itself is already somewhat social in this regard. emerging standards like FoAF already handle some of the basics for a better way to control your contacts, and GNU social can add some fun features of its own.
−
** OpenID?
+
 
−
** Alternatives?
+
GNU social is being created, from scratch, in php for maximum portability
−
* Some thought could go into synchronizing several installs. All of these could be really easy if it's done right, right from the start:
+
 
−
** Backups
+
PHP runs on virtually any web hosting provider we can think of.
−
** Switching hosts
+
 
−
** Having a local copy synchronized (both up -- posting a diary from the middle of a forest w/ no connection, appears once I connect -- and down -- finding a wi-fi hotspot and getting a week's load of updates before going off again to read them)
+
We recommend suhosin for added security.
−
** Maybe switching to different implementations of the protocol, for those that happen to dislike PHP, or there can be a proper desktop application
+
 
 +
== Get involved! ==
 +
 
 +
    * Get the code: bzr branch http://bzr.savannah.nongnu.org/r/social/trunk
 +
    * Join the list: http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/social-discuss
 +
    * Microblogging: http://identi.ca/group/daisychain
 +
    * IRC chat: #social on freenode (yes, it redirects to #libre.fm)
 +
 
 +
== Ideas ==
 +
 
 +
You can add your own [[Group:GNU_Social/Ideas|ideas about GNU social]].

Revision as of 19:57, 3 March 2010

The idea

GNU social, true to the Unix-philosophy of small programs to do a small job, will be a decentralized social network that you can install on your own server.

What if you could authorize your server to reveal as much, or as little information about you to other sites, as you wish... one time, one day, or forever?

By default, we think it'll ship with a plugin to offer functionality that looks like the current popular social network site, but plugins for other free software applications are expected.

True to GNU itself, social is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, and we ask that plugin creators do the same.

Why we must create GNU social

Why are we making GNU social? well, like many of us, we've used several different social sites over the years. from orkut, to friendster, to myspace and now facebook. yet, when a new site appears, and everyone flocks to use it, your contacts are left behind, as well as a significant amount of your private and personal information.

A year ago, while we were building libre.fm, Matt Lee was already thinking about this problem — social networks should be evolving, they should allow you to control what you put into them, and you should be able to keep control of your own data, including running the same software that GNU social uses, on your own website.

The web itself is already somewhat social in this regard. emerging standards like FoAF already handle some of the basics for a better way to control your contacts, and GNU social can add some fun features of its own.

GNU social is being created, from scratch, in php for maximum portability

PHP runs on virtually any web hosting provider we can think of.

We recommend suhosin for added security.

Get involved! 

   * Get the code: bzr branch http://bzr.savannah.nongnu.org/r/social/trunk
   * Join the list: http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/social-discuss
   * Microblogging: http://identi.ca/group/daisychain
   * IRC chat: #social on freenode (yes, it redirects to #libre.fm)

Ideas

You can add your own ideas about GNU social.

Retrieved from "https://libreplanet.org/wiki?title=Group:GNU_Social&oldid=14141"