This is a repost of a previous message which seems to have ended up at the end of a thread/topic, rather than a thread/topic of its own (as was intended). Sorry about that.
So anyway, here goes (again): Proposal: build a Debian image with owncloud, based on freedom-maker. freedom-maker is a tool to build read-to-go, bootable Debian images with the freedom-box software for a range of hardware board targets. It covers the Beaglebone, Cubiebox/Cubietruck, various Raspberry Pi models (including the RPi2) and probably other boards I forgot about. The freedom-box project is an effort to move social networking and other centralised services to a more P2P model that respects user freedom and gives the user control over where their data goes and, particularly, doesn't. As I understand it, owncloud is to Google Drive and Google Docs as freedombox is to Twitter or GooglePlus. Step #1: Generate a Debian image for the RPi2 with owncloud and freedombox based off the existing board support bits in freedom-maker (a Debian w/ freedom box image builder). Set up a ifupdown script to auto-configure the ethernet port of the RPi2 using IPv6 DHCP as well as IPv4 DHCP. This provides a solid basis that respects the user w.r.t. software freedom and has been 'battle tested' on the RPi because Raspbian itself (official RPi images) is also based on Debian and Debian has a solid record for not x86/x64 architectures. Step #2: Write a client side HTML page that let's you input the MAC address (which should be printed on the box label, like a router has), and generates links to the web-based control panels of the RPi2 using its link-local IPv6. This page permits the user to 'find' the box on the network, it should basically be a simple form a bit of JQuery to show-hide it and some JavaScript to calculate the IPv6 from the MAC. Eventually it can be prettied-up with photos and step-by-step guide for locating the label etc. Note that the vendor would not have to 'ship' the page, they can simply host it -- indeed, owncloud could host it themselves. As it's static HTML with a bit of client-side JavaScript that should be fairly low cost and low security risk. Step #3: Investigate using mDNS/DNS-SD (Avahi/Bonjour) to auto-publish the box to the local network. This would permit 'apps' to auto-discover the box. Step #4: Upstream this to freedom-maker project. Benefits: This proposal offers: - A certain guarantee of user freedom by default in the spirit of the owncloud project itself. - A solid basis for building products on top off. - Simplicity of the auto-configuration scheme with attending robustness (there's not a whole lot to go wrong). - Something that more business orient folks might call 'synergy' because the user freedom aspects and efforts of the owncloud project align well with the concerns and efforts of the freedom box project. Risks: Up to step #3, the entire setup relies on the (consumer) router doing IPv6, otherwise the link-local address scheme won't work. Client OS support should not be an issue (or rather: if the client OS doesn't do IPv6 we have bigger problems to worry about, presumably). This can be mitigated by offering a 'ping' function in the step #2 HTML page to detect it and then taking appropriate action. Step #3 reduces that problem since apps would be able to find the box over IPv4 also, but trades it for another: clients have to speak mDNS in order to take advantage of it. (And in some set ups it may be deliberately firewalled.) On the flip side, mDNS was pushed pretty hard by Apple (Bonjour), many Linux distros come with Avahi bundled by default, and on Windows Google Chrome ships with a mDNS responder these days as well so it appears to be fairly ubiquitous. Regards, -Johan Ouwerkerk
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