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Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

etebase.com

31–40 of 82 posts

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#31
post #5

I make Beekeeper Studio ( https://beekeeperstudio.io ). This looks really interesting, especially as it is open source. Do you have many FOSS users self-deploying it?

I have been looking for something exactly like this. Your origin story is very apt: there really isn't an approachable cross-platform solution for noobs like me. Will definitely be checking this out. Thank you for sharing.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#32
Tangential, but is Etesync and Notes a cheap, unbloated and foolproof app combo compared to paid competitors? And would the existing protocol support a (team) password manager? I would buy that trio if its a healthy business at $2 per month and avoided lock-in. And in future enabled "SaaS" products which is a static site + a safe backend.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#33

Tangential, but is Etesync and Notes a cheap, unbloated and foolproof app combo compared to paid competitors? And would the existing protocol support a (team) password manager? I would buy that trio if its a healthy business at $2 per month and avoided lock-in. And in future enabled "SaaS" products which is a static site + a safe backend.

EteSync and EteSync Notes: I'd say yes. To be honest, it's way too cheap for what it is. :)

Yes, the protocol can support that, though it's not yet implemented.

Not sure what you meant with the rest of your comment.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#34
post #10
post #5

I make Beekeeper Studio ( https://beekeeperstudio.io ). This looks really interesting, especially as it is open source. Do you have many FOSS users self-deploying it?

Off topic, but just checked out Beekeeper - Seems like a solid SQL IDE! Had been using Postico before, but going to give yours a try.

Beekeeper is really nice.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#35
post #2

Excited to finally post it on HN. It's something I've been working on for the last year, though in a sense, for much longer! Etebase is an open-source SDK and backend-as-a-service for building end-to-end encrypted applications. Think Firebase but end-to-end encrypted. More users care about the privacy and security of their data every day, and encrypted applications are becoming mainstream. However, talking with devel…

I sincerely wish you luck with this.

I wrote something similar, a couple of years ago[0], but it doesn't include encryption; it merely gives a place to add encryption. I didn't want to deal with the legalities of included encryption, and I think others can do far better than I (but it is quite secure, nonetheless[1]). It was really done, just to "retool" my architectural and engineering skills, as I was pivoting from being a manager, back to being a developer.

I am now using it as a backend for an app under development (currently closed-source). It has been working a treat.

But after the app has been released, I may encourage the folks to look at alternatives for the backend. I am not really into maintaining a server system. I like to stay on the app side of things.

[0] https://riftvalleysoftware.com/work/open-source-projects/#ba...

[1] https://riftvalleysoftware.com/BAOBAB/PDFs/Security.pdf (Downloads a PDF)

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#36

How is a self-hosted database suppose to be an alternative to a cloud hosted managed service?

One of the shortcomings of Firebase is that you can't self host. Self-hosting is still relevant for developers and opens up the device market where cloud connectivity isn't appropriate. Great timing on Etebase.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#37
post #5

I make Beekeeper Studio ( https://beekeeperstudio.io ). This looks really interesting, especially as it is open source. Do you have many FOSS users self-deploying it?

Does beekeeper have anything in there for exploring relations? Ideally visually i.e. some graph. If so it's not highlighted on the website anywhere.

I know that stuff's useless to work with but it's really helpful when learning a new existing DB.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#38
post #2

Excited to finally post it on HN. It's something I've been working on for the last year, though in a sense, for much longer! Etebase is an open-source SDK and backend-as-a-service for building end-to-end encrypted applications. Think Firebase but end-to-end encrypted. More users care about the privacy and security of their data every day, and encrypted applications are becoming mainstream. However, talking with devel…

Congrats! Kudos for making the server component open source, something your competitors aren't doing.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#39
This is neat, but it seems like it's missing a few things. For one, how do you do migrations? Do I need to include every migration in my application bundle in perpetuity, running them in the client on startup? There doesn't seem to be a mechanism to help with downloading, migrating, and reuploading data. That doesn't feel so nice.

More pertinent, though, how do I ensure my users aren't abusing my service? If I allow folks to upload avatars for folks in their address book, how can I stop someone from running up my bill by uploading their MP3 collection? As far as I can tell, if everything is encrypted, I just have some very active users. Obviously there's some amount of tradeoff here, but it would seem like a necessary counterbalance is strong quota controls, which I don't see in the docs.

Re: Show HN: Etebase – An open source and end-to-end encrypted Firebase alternative

#40

This is neat, but it seems like it's missing a few things. For one, how do you do migrations? Do I need to include every migration in my application bundle in perpetuity, running them in the client on startup? There doesn't seem to be a mechanism to help with downloading, migrating, and reuploading data. That doesn't feel so nice. More pertinent, though, how do I ensure my users aren't abusing my service? If I allow…

Yeah, as I said in my main comment, there are still things that need to be done. One of them is strong quotas. We plan on having it in the near future (we are also running a service, EteSync, using Etebase) though I think it's not an issue that should prevent you from getting started. :)

As for migrations: that's a tough one, and we indeed don't have an easy-to-use mechanism yet. I mentioned it in another comment: the API at the moment is powerful and used in production, but it's still missing some goodies to make the developer experience even better.

As for including every migration in your application bundle: yeah, well until you consider an old version EOL. It's the same challenge Microsoft has with Office, and every app has with their local storage.

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