Gotosocial

Jul 20, 2023

Golang fediverse server

GoToSocial is an ActivityPub social network server, written in Golang.

With GoToSocial, you can keep in touch with your friends, post, read, and share images and articles. All without being tracked or advertised to!

GoToSocial provides a lightweight, customizable, and safety-focused entryway into the Fediverse, and is comparable to but distinct from existing projects such as Mastodon, Pleroma, Friendica, and PixelFed.


FreeBSD is an advanced computer operating system that has been designed to produce high performance, stability, and many advanced features which cannot be found in any other operating systems. Among these features, one of the most distinctive ones is the use of “ports.” A port in FreeBSD is a collection of files designed to automate the process of compiling a software application from source code.

Just imagine a large parking lot with many different cars. Each car model represents a single software package, and you can choose any one you like. Once you’ve made your choice, you only need to give a single command, and your car software package gets automatically built and configured for you. That’s what FreeBSD ports do!

There are thousands of ports available in FreeBSD. Each one contains some unique features and offers different functionalities. This blog post focuses on a specific port named “gotosocial” that falls under the net-im category.

Net-im stands for Network Instant Messaging. It represents applications and utilities that run over the network and facilitate real-time communication.

Gotosocial An Introduction

Gotosocial is a decentralized, open-source, social network server project that runs against the fediverse. It aims to provide an alternative to larger platforms like Twitter by providing users the ability to establish their own servers. It is written in Go, lightweight and easy to install and setup on FreeBSD.

Installation

Installing gotosocial on FreeBSD is simplified by using the ports system. To install it, you need to follow the steps below.

Firstly, navigate to the gotosocial directory within the ports tree

cd /usr/local/ports/net-im/gotosocial

Then, execute the following command

sudo make install clean

This command will automatically fetch the necessary files, compile the port, and install it for you.

After installing, you’ll need to configure gotosocial. The port provides sample configuration files which you can copy and then modify according to your needs.

cp /usr/local/etc/gotosocial /path/to/your/config.toml

You can do a number of configuration changes like adjusting the server settings, setting up database and email configurations, and specifying user settings.

Running Gotosocial

After successful installation, you can now run gotosocial using the command

gotosocial serve

Running this command will start the gotosocial server locally.

Benefits of Using Gotosocial

Gotosocial has a wide array of benefits over other social networking platforms.

  • Decentralization The foremost benefit is its decentralized nature which ensures no single party has control over the entire network.
  • User-specific servers Users can have their own servers and establish their own set of rules.
  • Security Using gotosocial in FreeBSD provides increased security due to FreeBSD’s robust security mechanisms.

Gotosocial is still in early stages of development and yet to amass a large user base. However, the ease of installation and setup on FreeBSD and its unique feature of decentralized communication make it worth trying out.

While working with FreeBSD and network connections, it’s recommended to use ports such as [nmap]https//freebsdsoftware.org/security/nmap.html for conducting network exploration and security auditing.

Always remember, the essence of FreeBSD lies in its ports. The vast collection of software in FreeBSD ports is what makes FreeBSD unique and powerful. The port “gotosocial” under the net-im category is one such powerful tool that harnesses the power of open-source to provide a decentralized social network alternative.

In conclusion, FreeBSD offers versatility and power through its port system. Whether you’re a system administrator, a developer, or simply a computer enthusiast, FreeBSD ports provide tremendous potential for you. “gotosocial” is just one example of the vast collection of ports that FreeBSD offers. Explore, install, and experience the power of FreeBSD ports for yourself.


Checkout these related ports:
  • Zoom - Zoom videoconferencing client (CAVEAT Sound doesn't yet work)
  • Zkgroup - Library for the Signal Private Group System
  • Zephyr - Enterprise-scale distributed messaging system
  • Yume - Encrypted peer-to-peer IPv6 UDP messaging terminal
  • Yoono - Client for Twitter and other social networks
  • Xmpp-client - XMPP client with OTR support
  • Vqcc-gtk - LAN chat client compatible with quickChat and Vypress Chat (TM)
  • Utox - Lightweight Tox client
  • Twirssi - Twitter script to irssi
  • Tut - TUI for Mastodon
  • Toxins - Collection of small programs using toxcore
  • Toxic - Console client for Tox
  • Toxext - Extension library for tox
  • Toxbot - Groupchat control bot for Tox
  • Tox_extension_messages - Message extension library for tox