Mastodon is a free, open-source social network server. A decentralized alternative to commercial platforms, it avoids the risks of a single company monopolizing your communication. Anyone can run Mastodon and participate in the social network seamlessly.
Focus of the project on a clean REST API and a good user interface. Ruby on Rails is used for the back-end, while React.js and Redux are used for the dynamic front-end. A static front-end for public resources (profiles and statuses) is also provided.
If you would like, you can [support the development of this project on Patreon][patreon]. Alternatively, you can donate to this BTC address: `17j2g7vpgHhLuXhN4bueZFCvdxxieyRVWd`
You don't need to mess with dependencies and configuration if you want to try Mastodon, if you have Docker and Docker Compose the deployment is extremely easy
-`LOCAL_DOMAIN` should be the domain/hostname of your instance. This is **absolutely required** as it is used for generating unique IDs for everything federation-related
-`LOCAL_HTTPS` set it to `true` if HTTPS works on your website. This is used to generate canonical URLs, which is also important when generating and parsing federation-related IDs
Consult the example configuration file, `.env.production.sample` for the full list. Among other things you need to set details for the SMTP server you are going to use.
The project now includes a `Dockerfile` and a `docker-compose.yml`. You need to turn `.env.production.sample` into `.env.production` with all the variables set before you can:
The container has two volumes, for the assets and for user uploads. The default docker-compose.yml maps them to the repository's `public/assets` and `public/system` directories, you may wish to put them somewhere else. Likewise, the PostgreSQL and Redis images have data containers that you may wish to map somewhere where you know how to find them and back them up.
**Note**: The `--rm` option for docker-compose will remove the container that is created to run a one-off command after it completes. As data is stored in volumes it is not affected by that container clean-up.
### Tasks
-`rake mastodon:media:clear` removes uploads that have not been attached to any status after a while, you would want to run this from a periodic cronjob
-`rake mastodon:push:clear` unsubscribes from PuSH notifications for remote users that have no local followers. You may not want to actually do that, to keep a fuller footprint of the fediverse or in case your users will soon re-follow
-`rake mastodon:push:refresh` re-subscribes PuSH for expiring remote users, this should be run periodically from a cronjob and quite often as the expiration time depends on the particular hub of the remote user
-`rake mastodon:feeds:clear_all` removes all timelines, which forces them to be re-built on the fly next time a user tries to fetch their home/mentions timeline. Only for troubleshooting
-`rake mastodon:feeds:clear` removes timelines of users who haven't signed in lately, which allows to save RAM and improve message distribution. This is required to be run periodically so that when they login again the regeneration process will trigger
This approach makes updating to the latest version a real breeze.
git pull
To pull down the updates, re-run
docker-compose build
And finally,
docker-compose up -d
Which will re-create the updated containers, leaving databases and data as is. Depending on what files have been updated, you might need to re-run migrations and asset compilation.
Docker is great for quickly trying out software, but it has its drawbacks too. If you prefer to run Mastodon without using Docker, refer to the [production guide](https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/wiki/Production-guide) for examples, configuration and instructions.
Mastodon can theoretically run indefinitely on a free [Heroku](https://heroku.com) app. It should be noted this has limited testing and could have unpredictable results.
1. Click the above button.
2. Fill in the options requested.
* You can use a .herokuapp.com domain, which will be simple to set up, or you can use a custom domain. If you want a custom domain and HTTPS, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan (to use Heroku's SSL features), or set up [CloudFlare](https://cloudflare.com) who offer free "Flexible SSL" (note: CloudFlare have some undefined limits on WebSockets. So far, no one has reported hitting concurrent connection limits).
* You will want Amazon S3 for file storage. The only exception is for development purposes, where you may not care if files are not saaved. Follow a guide online for creating a free Amazon S3 bucket and Access Key, then enter the details.
* If you want your Mastodon to be able to send emails, configure SMTP settings here (or later). Consider using [Mailgun](https://mailgun.com) or similar, who offer free plans that should suit your interests.
3. Deploy! The app should be set up, with a working web interface and database. You can change settings and manage versions from the Heroku dashboard.
A quick way to get a development environment up and running is with Vagrant. You will need recent versions of [Vagrant](https://www.vagrantup.com/) and [VirtualBox](https://www.virtualbox.org/) installed.
Install the latest version for your operating systems, and then run:
vagrant plugin install vagrant-hostsupdater
This is optional, but will update your 'hosts' file when you start the virtual machine, allowing you to access the site at http://mastodon.dev (instead of http://localhost:3000).
To create and provision a new virtual machine for Mastodon development:
Once this has completed, the virtual machine will start a rails process. You can then access your development site at http://mastodon.dev (or at http://localhost:3000 if you haven't installed vagrants-hostupdater). Any changes you make should be reflected on the server instantly. To set environment variables, copy `.env.production.sample` to `.env.vagrant` and make changes as required.
If you no longer need your environment, or if things have gone terribly wrong, running `vagrant destroy` will delete the virtual machine (after which, running `vagrant up` will create a new one, and run provisioning).
You can open issues for bugs you've found or features you think are missing. You can also submit pull requests to this repository. This section may be updated with more details in the future.
