• 7 Posts
  • 121 Comments
Joined 11 months ago
cake
Cake day: September 7th, 2024

help-circle






  • Sure, in many cases the dev’s computer is powerful enough to handle that.

    However:

    • The more the dependencies, the more likely it is to pull-off a supply chain attack. Any of those thousands modules can be compromised and infect either the user or the developer.
    • Not all computers are optimized for working with so many tiny files. Have you ever worked in a company that uses McAfee Antivirus? Even Defender can be a massive performance hit in some cases.

  • I had read about it on another thread, which was about using old smartphones as servers (they used Termux).

    Those old lithium batteries, although sometimes seemingly healthy, can catch fire any time. Having them connected to the charger 24/7 is only making matters worse.

    I wouldn’t trust the battery of old devices. I would probably buy a used UPS (without battery) and slap a new battery to it. This would cost more, but it would allow me to also connect other important devices to it - like the router and some lights.




  • Just like you can change your Windows PC to Linux, or install a custom ROM on Android, to have better control over your devices, it is also possible to change the firmware on most routers.

    OpenWRT is the most popular option for that. It’s a Linux based firmware, that has a package manager allowing you to install additional things on your router.

    For example, I have a TP-Link TL-WR902AC v3. Out of the box it is just a USB-powered 5GHz extender. After installing OpenWRT to it, I added:

    • WireGuard: to route all the traffic over my VPN
    • DNS-over-HTTPS: to encrypt all DNS requests
    • USBIP: this is because I sometimes use it to connect a webcam for my cat, and I forward the camera to my server in another room

    By adding WG and DoH to the “repeater”, I can connect this little guy to any public WiFi, and securely connect my devices to it.



  • TL;DR: Do not sell the app, sell the service

    After reading all the comments, I am a bit confused.

    Based on my understanding, this a self-hostable, privacy friendly app, that does not contain a libre license, as you plan on monetizing it.

    First of all, the primary reasons of opting for libre software are privacy and freedom. So, the lack of such license can be considered a red flag.

    Second, a lot of privacy conscious Android users download their apps from services like F-Droid, that have strict rules against closed-source. So, trying to sell a privacy solution on Play Store does not sound like a good business model.

    Tips for monetizing a libre service:

    1. The client should have a libre license. You code running on the user’s device should be verifiable.
    2. Charge for your STUN/TURN server.
    3. Sell the server blob. Sandboxing apps on a Linux system is far easier (to prevent them from accessing the internet and potentially leak data).

    There are apps that are even available on F-Droid, and are similarly monetized. Some examples, that I use, are: Bitwarden, Mullvad, Telegram and Tailscale.