Few weeks late to pitch in now but I can +1 docker-mailserver.

It has almost everything included and the configuration files are quite straightforward and flexible enough that you can drop little edits into the individual services if you need to tweak something.

My setup is very close to what you want: I use fetchmail to pull in from my old gmail and yahoo inboxes, I also have my own domain so I configured the MX records so that emails go straight to my server, with a fallback to my email provider (any mail that doesn’t make it directly to my mailserver will still get pulled into my inbox with fetchmail when it comes back online).

Docker-mailserver allows you to set the SMTP of your instance to use your provider. This is important because it means that they do all the reputation stuff so that your emails work properly (and both my home ISP and my VPS provider don’t do sending over pot 25 anyway).

So when I need to connect a new client (like Thunderbird) to my email I don’t need to manually config anything as docker-mailserver has all the auto config messages so its really seamless. At the same time my risk is low because even if my sever is off my provider will still receive anything on my behalf. I can only send using the username I have paid for from my provider and switching between gmail and yahoo is not possible without rewriting configs and restarting services but its not something I want anyway. On the receiving side I can have any number of aliased usernames that will all be received by my server (but only when its on so i use them rarely and for disposable addresses).

Big downsides are:

• backups are now my problem as I don’t keep duplicates.
• I route my traffic via a VPS+VPN to get a static public IP address - this was a headache to get all the little details just right but its stable now
• I have to host separately my own webmail, although I’m mostly using my phone with k-9 Mail and Thunderbird (I use roundcube)
• Getting server side filtering rules working was also annoying and so far I still have to add new rules through roundcube (there was a plugin for Thunderbird but I don’t want to open the additional ports required)
• !!! Spam !!! Docker-mailserver has a great Rspamd default settings out the box so its actually fine but now I have to manage all the additional rules and its not super intuitive especially because I am doing all this just for myself (yay!) but the tools are clearly meant for managing a fleet of inboxes so everything takes me longer to figure out
• integrating contacts is not included and might be important for your experience (again I was able to add this as a plugin to roundcube … eventually)

Most of my complaints stem from the fact that I’m not very good at this but in the end it has been very satisfying to drop the occasional: “I host my own email BTW”

Good luck! Let us know how you get along!

I am so sorry! I took another look at SMS Import / Export and to my surprise it does support scheduled backups! I had seen it before and had overlooked that feature so disqualified it. I’m going to test it now but if you don’t hear back its probably because I made the switch without issue.

I saw this but its missing a key feature: daily backups. SMS Backup & Restore can make a backup every day then I can sync the file out to Nextcloud or similar. It also supports Dropbox if that’s your thing.

This and so many others that are irreplaceable because of the Network effect. Google Maps, Uber and so on…

However if you are looking for a self contained app to bring into the Foss ecosystem then I would recommend making a game that you like?

My first game that I bought on Google Play was Osmos making a version of this that is open source would make me happy…

SMS Backup & Restore? Unless there is an alternative that I’m missing? Play store link

Your average user is comparing the time to setup a new game vs a punch in the face, no contest punch in the face all day! Now if you are getting punched in the face for more than 5 hours then maybe they will start considering an alternative…

YunoHost is trying to make it easier than a synology NAS to install services and get them setup properly but I agree that to configure your network properly is difficult and everyone’s setup is different so specific knowledge is required.

Now I’m just waiting for someone to do the same thing for the Nest Thermostats …

The actual % numbers are probably not that important. Software developers and hardware manufacturers are looking for a critical mass of users of their product. So if 20% of the world switch from Windows to Linux but they are the 20% that only use a web browser then why would the compatibility landscape change? Adobe are not going to do the hard work to support Linux just because schools and libraries switch to Linux. Even if every government mandates using Linux for government offices would Cricut suddenly support Linux?

I think this is the only feature that matters. For a user switching away from Windows I would love to hear about the user experience between buying a system76 (or another Linux system seller) vs a Mac laptop. Complaining that Linux doesn’t work with your hardware is like complaining that the hackintosh that you built doesn’t work with your hardware.

Very interested to see how compatible all the specific hardware is. How well would any distro handle the screen orientation changes? Would it respond well to the different hinge positions? How responsive is sleep/resume? Do any distros even have stylus support?

Exactly!

I should have prefaced my situation better: I live in a country where the ISP censors certain websites and online services. The closest Linode is not on my continent (so the latency is noticeable). So my need to be connected to the Wireguard VPN really depends on what I’m doing. Having a split DNS system is seamless and I only activate the VPN manually as needed (both at home and when I’m out) Otherwise I would have just asked my ISP for a static IP, opened some ports and installed tailscale for everything else.

Thanks will take a look! Sad to hear you eventually gave up but I’m encouraged by the concept. It would make my current setup much simpler and is in keeping with my ethos that I want as much as possible done locally. The VPS should be no more than a piece of networking infrastructure.

spelling

I recently made the switch to Vaultwarden when I read a series of articles making predictions about passkeys and how they are lining up to replace passwords. Bitwarden apparently is ready to implement whatever standard becomes most popular and I had FOMO of being left behind if I stuck with keepass only. Previously I was using various keepass compatible apps and then syncing the KDBX database with my Nextcloud. (Vaultwarden is the selfhosted fork of Bitwarden)

Maybe you would be interested to try linuxfromscratch?

This might not be the most exciting reason but its the only one anybody should need! It a shame that we think we need to justify being left in peace.

Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble!

Please share that article! 5% feels like just around the corner!