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Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

revolt.chat

181–190 of 413 posts

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#181
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can of course install from your package manager [1][2][3][4]. If you're not going to install from your trusted source then I'm not sure curl https:// ... | bash is really worse than downloading and double clicking a msi/dmg/deb/rpm. Especially if you're not going to verify that or verify it using keys downloaded from the same https host. [1] Homebrew - https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/.…

>You can of course install from your package manager Debian 11 was released a couple weeks ago and the rustc it ships with is already so out of date (7 months old, gasp!) software written for modern rust versions can't be compiled with it. And this isn't a Debian only problem.

Is this a Rust only problem? Decided to pick the most well known Go project, kubernetes, and the Go version (1.15) included in Debian 11 is too old to build the first kubernetes project in my search results, kubernetes client as it requires go 1.16, released february.

I've certainly had issues with e.g. the Python or Node version being too outdated on Ubuntu, RHEL, CentOS etc. And when that happens, it's a bigger problem, as it's a runtime dependency, not just a build time one. It's the risk you sign up for picking a fixed release distro.

Consequently, if you're developing cutting edge software in those languages, you're probably running nvm, your favourite virtualenv wrapper (poetry, pipenv, pip-tools), or letting your IDE download a runtime for you. And yes, these tools are full of curl | bash or curl | python install instructions.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#182
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I want to know if HN hates Electron more than it loves Rust. Or do they perfectly cancel out?

Ah, the monolithic HN myth again. That's right, let's just ignore that this place has thousands of readers, thousands of commenters, and that there's no thing called "HN" to talk about as it if had intentionality and/or opinion.

While the readership may be large and diverse, there is nevertheless a Hacker News zeitgeist, especially due to the way downvoting causes comments to be greyed out. The acceptable range of discourse does not extend to anything non-flaggable, and comments do not stand or fall based solely on their thoughtfulness or logic. This forum is still a popularity contest, and there are both winners and losers.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#183
post #94
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, only the backend is written in Rust. The desktop client is an Electron app: https://github.com/revoltchat/desktop

Now I want to know if HN hates Electron more than it loves Rust. Or do they perfectly cancel out?

Loves Rust? My eyes glaze over whenever rust is mentioned in a headline. At this point rust really isn't novel anymore, it's a language loads of programs use.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#184
post #144
post #3

Not sure "written in Rust" is a headline thing that's worth mentioning anymore. Particularly amusing in this case when parts of Discord are written in Rust too.

Also, the backend of Discord is elixir/Erlang, which is a great fit for a messaging app. To me rust would be a step back.

(Discord also uses Rust NIFs with their Elixir)

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the best nosql databases? half of our devs dont like sql much (ive tried to make them use orms too, didnt work)

I'd probably recommend ScyllaDB for NoSQL. It's a replacement for Cassandra (which it's mostly compatible with) which is more or less the de facto standard for large NoSQL deployments at big companies, but it's written in C++ rather than Java so it's even faster (and has more consistent latency) and easier to deploy. And it's been around long enough at this point that it's established and not likely to just disappear…

ScyllaDB looks interesting but that AGPL license is a no go for some organizations.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#186
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I want to know if HN hates Electron more than it loves Rust. Or do they perfectly cancel out?

Personally I see “Written in rust” as more of a meme, often using buzzwords like “blazing fast” and “memory safe.” Electron is definitely worse than rust is good.

"Electron is definitely worse than rust is good."

I would say, it depends very much on the developer. There are probably only a handful of people, who can write a fast GUI in C/++ that is also safe, plattform independent - and a joy to use.

(I am definitely not among them)

But there are a ton of devs, knowing how to accomplish it - with the webtoolkit.

In other words, I indeed would prefer a electron app, over some hacked together GUI in a "performant" language. Security, performance - and UX wise.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#188
post #112
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting, I suspect we all have our thing we avoid like that - for me it's Java stuff. I don't say that to 'defend' node, I'm no JS fan boy or particularly experienced with it, it just doesn't bother me the way Java stuff does - the dread I have for a Java stack trace appearing from something I'm trying to run is enough to make me see if there's an equivalent that ticks the same boxes in another language!

These days Java applications are supposed to embed the JVM using jlink images or even native installer (see jpackage). So you shouldn't even know if the app is written in Java when you run it.

As someone who now does more operation than devloppement, I want my server side Java app to run on a full JVM, attaching jconsle or jstack to a running process is so usefull. No other runtime on Linux gives the observability you get by default when you run on a full JVM.

On Windows that another story since you have ETW which is incredible and works with anything. But on Linux, if your application doesn't offer observability, you have to resort to strace and adhoc EBPF that you have to write, to diagnose a missbehaving application in production.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, one of the developers here, we use electron because its hard for our small amount of devs (there are about 4) of us to maintain multiple clients, this is the same reason we use the same web client for mobile.

Did you consider Qt or some other cross-platform native option? There was just recently a HN article [1] on the topic of cross-platform development and UX, with a few alternatives proposed. I think some teams just reach for the Electron tool by default now, instead of weighing each alternative and then choosing it with eyes open. Maybe your team did examine the pros and cons, but it seems the overall software industr…

I suspect "everything is a web app now" has become a really big consideration. JavaScript has essentially succeeded in doing what Java tried to do two decades ago: be the One Language for both client and server. So if you're building a server-client application like a Discord competitor, it sounds like just an awesome idea to be able to use JavaScript to build your server back end and your web app and your various desktop client apps.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#190
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I want to know if HN hates Electron more than it loves Rust. Or do they perfectly cancel out?

Personally I see “Written in rust” as more of a meme, often using buzzwords like “blazing fast” and “memory safe.” Electron is definitely worse than rust is good.

The issue is that the alternatives to Electron--GUI frameworks that use native controls--are so hard to use and inconsistent that Electron seems good by comparison.
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