Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

blog.diego.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 91 posts

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#11

Post by user3939382 »

3np wrote: post #2

Note that this setup still relies on Mozilla infrastructure for several surrounding services for auth, email, account metadata, etc. https://github.com/dan-r/syncstorage-rs-docker/blob/main/app... It's a good start though and as long as you're OK migrating your account you can plug those in later. Fully self-hosting all the components is just as doable but a little bit more involved. Compared to when I last set it up…

Maybe eventually the whole stack can make its way into a docker container with a shell script for config.

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#13

Post by zx8080 »

wtallis wrote: post #8
zx8080 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this setup still relies on Mozilla infrastructure for several surrounding services for auth, email, Why does email rely on mozilla infra?

Mozilla's email-related service is https://relay.firefox.com/ which obviously needs to rely on quite a bit of Mozilla infrastructure in its default incarnation, and is probably a fair bit harder to self-host than Firefox Sync.

Is Mozilla Relay (email) really needed for Sync?

Never used Sync, so maybe I don't understand something. But does not sound safe to put all eggs into this busket at once.

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#14

Post by drdaeman »

zymhan wrote: post #10

What's the privacy benefit, given that Firefox Sync is E2E encrypted? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sync

To best of my awareness, the login page (including JS code) is still served over the Internet, and encryption keys are derived solely from the password. That’s not a good design for something as sensitive as one’s full browser data.

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#15

Post by drdaeman »

therein wrote: post #5

Would be nice if librewolf and WaterFox changed their flow to make it clear that Mozilla's Sync Server is being used, and make it opt in with something like: To sync please select one of the options below: [x] Custom Sync Server: ___________ [ ] Mozilla Sync

Sync is nothing but an awfully overengineered blob storage (I have implemented an alternative Accounts+Sync server when 1.5 came out, https://gitlab.com/drdaeman/firesync/ - long abandoned and the code is awful proof-of-concept inly, but the point here is to prove that I have a slightly educated opinion on the matter).

IMHO, It would be best (for technical users) if Firefox forks would rather replace Sync with something more standard like S3 or WebDAV. If my memory serves me right, there’s absolutely nothing in Sync that those protocols cannot do equally well (and even better because they’re actual mostly-interoperable standards).

Heck, it would be nice if Mozilla would do the same thing, but I’m afraid NIH is way too strong with them. I’m very happy if that gives us Rust, but Sync is simply garbage that shouldn’t have been ever made.

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#16

Post by have-a-break »

user3939382 wrote: post #11
3np wrote: post #2

Note that this setup still relies on Mozilla infrastructure for several surrounding services for auth, email, account metadata, etc. https://github.com/dan-r/syncstorage-rs-docker/blob/main/app... It's a good start though and as long as you're OK migrating your account you can plug those in later. Fully self-hosting all the components is just as doable but a little bit more involved. Compared to when I last set it up…

Maybe eventually the whole stack can make its way into a docker container with a shell script for config.

Maybe it's just me but having dedicated employee's to manage security is a prerequisite for me; atleast I could point my finger at someone if things happen.

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#17

Post by charles_f »

I did that for a while, including hosting the auth myself. Then I realized Mozilla is probably one of the few companies I trust with my data, even though it's probably misplaced trust. The sync server is relatively straightforward to setup, but auth is quite more involved. I don't think it's worth it, compared to using the public hosted service

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#18

Post by treve »

have-a-break wrote: post #16
user3939382 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe eventually the whole stack can make its way into a docker container with a shell script for config.

Maybe it's just me but having dedicated employee's to manage security is a prerequisite for me; atleast I could point my finger at someone if things happen.

Of course it's not just you. That seems somewhat obvious. Also plenty of people that do like tinkering on their homelab or self host. It's definitely the more interesting choice!

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#19

Post by anilakar »

EasyMark wrote: post #7
promiseofbeans wrote: post #4

Great timing, with Mozilla's new privacy policy problems the other day

why would those matter since your sync data is encrypted and they can't see it anyway?

The issue is not Mozilla getting access to your data, but losing access to Sync itself.

Re: Self-Hosting a Firefox Sync Server

#20

Post by gudzpoz »

Garuda Linux has been hosting their own Firefox Sync server for a while now for their FireDragon browser [1]:

   defaultPref("identity.sync.tokenserver.uri", "https://ffsync.garudalinux.org/token/1.0/sync/1.5"); // --> FIREDRAGON CONFIG
(They seem to be running the older non-Rust sync server though. [2])

[1] https://firedragon.garudalinux.org/

[2] https://gitlab.com/garuda-linux/infra-nix/-/blob/main/docker...

Post reply on HN