20347822da
Added a new seperate service for only redirecting to SearXNG instances. Note that plain "searx" redirects will use both SearX and SearXNG instances for those who don't have a preference between the two. Closes #23
100 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
100 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
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[](https://github.com/benbusby/farside/releases)
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[](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
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[](https://github.com/benbusby/privacy-revolver/actions/workflows/elixir.yml)
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A redirecting service for FOSS alternative frontends.
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[Farside](https://farside.link) provides links that automatically redirect to
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working instances of privacy-oriented alternative frontends, such as Nitter,
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Libreddit, etc. This allows for users to have more reliable access to the
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available public instances for a particular service, while also helping to
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distribute traffic more evenly across all instances and avoid performance
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bottlenecks and rate-limiting.
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## Demo
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Farside's links work with the following structure: `farside.link/<service>/<path>`
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For example:
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| Service | Page | Farside Link |
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| -- | -- | -- |
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| [Libreddit](https://github.com/spikecodes/libreddit) | /r/popular | https://farside.link/libreddit/r/popular
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| [Teddit](https://codeberg.org/teddit/teddit) | /r/popular | https://farside.link/teddit/r/popular
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| [Nitter](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter) | User Profile | https://farside.link/nitter/josevalim
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| [Invidious](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious) | Home Page | https://farside.link/invidious
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| [Piped](https://github.com/TeamPiped/Piped) | Video Page | https://farside.link/piped/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU
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| [Bibliogram](https://sr.ht/~cadence/bibliogram/) | User Profile | https://farside.link/bibliogram/u/kbdfans
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| [Whoogle](https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search) | Search "Elixir" | https://farside.link/whoogle/search?q=elixir&lang_interface=en
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| [SearX](https://github.com/searx/searx) | Search "Redis" | https://farside.link/searx/search?q=redis
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| [SearXNG](https://github.com/searxng/searxng) | Search "EFF" | https://farside.link/searxng/search?q=EFF
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| [SimplyTranslate](https://git.sr.ht/~metalune/simplytranslate_web) | Translate "hola" | https://farside.link/simplytranslate/?engine=google&text=hola
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| [Lingva](https://github.com/TheDavidDelta/lingva-translate) | Translate "bonjour" | https://farside.link/lingva/auto/en/bonjour
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| [Rimgo](https://codeberg.org/video-prize-ranch/rimgo) | View photo album | https://farside.link/rimgo/a/H8M4rcp
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| [Scribe](https://sr.ht/~edwardloveall/scribe/) | View Medium post | https://farside.link/scribe/@ftrain/big-data-small-effort-b62607a43a8c
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## How It Works
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The app runs with an internally scheduled cron task that queries all instances
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for services defined in [services.json](services.json) every 5 minutes. For
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each instance, as long as the instance takes <5 seconds to respond and returns
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a successful response code, the instance is added to a list of available
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instances for that particular service. If not, it is discarded until the next
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update period.
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Farside's routing is very minimal, with only the following routes:
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- `/`
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- The app home page, displaying all live instances for every service
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- `/ping`
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- A passthrough "ping" to redis to ensure both app and redis are working
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- `/:service/*glob`
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- The main endpoint for redirecting a user to a working instance of a
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particular service with the specified path
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- Ex: `/libreddit/r/popular` would navigate to `<libreddit instance
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URL>/r/popular`
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- Note that a path is not required. `/libreddit` for example will still
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redirect the user to a working libreddit instance
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- `/_/:service/*glob`
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- Achieves the same redirect as the main `/:service/*glob` endpoint, but
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preserves a short landing page in the browser's history to allow quickly
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jumping between instances by navigating back.
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- Ex: `/_/nitter` -> nitter instance A -> (navigate back one page) -> nitter
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instance B -> ...
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- *Note: Uses Javascript to preserve the page in history*
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When a service is requested with the `/:service/...` endpoint, Farside requests
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the list of working instances from Redis and returns a random one from the list
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and adds that instance as a new entry in Redis to remove from subsequent
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requests for that service. For example:
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A user navigates to `/nitter` and is redirected to `nitter.net`. The next user
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to request `/nitter` will be guaranteed to not be directed to `nitter.net`, and
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will instead be redirected to a separate (random) working instance. That
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instance will now take the place of `nitter.net` as the "reserved" instance, and
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`nitter.net` will be returned to the list of available Nitter instances.
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This "reserving" of previously chosen instances is performed in an attempt to
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ensure better distribution of traffic to available instances for each service.
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Farside also has built-in IP ratelimiting for all requests, enforcing only one
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request per second per IP.
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## Development
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- Install [redis](https://redis.io)
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- Install [elixir](https://elixir-lang.org/install.html)
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- Start redis: `redis-server`
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- Install dependencies: `mix deps.get`
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- Initialize redis contents: `mix run -e Farside.Instances.sync`
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- Run Farside: `mix run --no-halt`
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- Uses localhost:4001
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### Environment Variables
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| Name | Purpose |
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| -- | -- |
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| FARSIDE_TEST | If enabled, bypasses the instance availability check and adds all instances to the pool. |
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