12 ms·

Wallabag: a self-hostable application for saving web pages

166 points by ProfDreamer 9y ago

andybak 9y ago
Perfect fit for sandstorm.io - although making it that easy to self-host might undermine their business model. Although - it's getting pretty easy to deploy things in a bunch of different ways nowadays. If your business model is entirely based on "I don't want to host this myself" then there's a chance it might be increasingly fragile.
- csixty4 9y ago
  It's already part of Yunohost, which is where I first heard of it. I don't think making it easy to self-host is a problem to them.
- the_common_man 9y ago
  Already on cloudron - https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html
  - M-arcus 9y ago
    It's here: https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html Cloudron in General is pretty goof. They just released the 1.0 version.
baal80spam 9y ago
Need to register just to actually see and try out the application? Just no.
- amelius 9y ago
  Also, why is this on a .org domain?
  - soft_dev_person 9y ago
    It's the Wordpress model. Host wallabag.org yourself, or pay for the hosted service wallabag.it.
  - motdiem 9y ago
    It's an open source project - the source is available here https://github.com/wallabag/wallabag https://github.com/wallabag/wallabag
    - amelius 9y ago
      Ok, I stand corrected. But to be honest, the webpage looks so much like it's a business that I can't blame myself for being fooled here ...
- polote 9y ago
  Just use a throwaway email and register, it will only takes 15 seconds of your time. That's the the purpose of Wallabag to get his own list of links
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
- janpieterz 9y ago
  Wallabag seems to be self-hosted [1]. What functionality is missing for you? [1]: https://doc.wallabag.org/en/admin/installation/installation.html#requirements https://doc.wallabag.org/en/admin/installation/installation....
thehardsphere 9y ago
Why should I pay 12 Euro a year to do something I can do in Chrome for free?
- polote 9y ago
  I'm not sure you have RSS reader in chrome or an API to access your bookmarks for example ...
  - thehardsphere 9y ago
    Ok, let me rephrase the question: if the service provided is to save a complete webpage, why would I want to muck around with an RSS reader and an API and all of that extra effort as opposed to just saving in my browser, whichever it happens to be? I don't just mean Chrome, either. Mobile Safari seems to have a pretty good offline pages functionality included with it.
    - polote 9y ago
      If you are happy with Chrome, then there is no reason to change. Nevertheless being able to access his bookmarks from any computers is already a good thing to have for some people
- sametmax 9y ago
  - You don't have to pay, you can self host. - You may want to access your bookmarks outside of chrome. - You may want to access your bookmarks when you are not in a safe machine. - You may want an API for your bookmarks. - You may not be using chrome. - You may care about your privacy and want to split the data stack about you among as many providers as possible.
  - thehardsphere 9y ago
    > Self host That's more expensive than the 12 Euro when you factor in the time I would have to spend to do that. > Outside of Chrome Ok, substitute Chrome for any browser. How is this better than reading the saved webpage off of a hard disk? > Not in a safe machine If the machine is not safe, why am I using it at all? > API To do what, exactly? > may not be using Chrome Every browser now has a "Save webpage, complete" feature. It's not a Chrome thing. > privacy There's nothing more private than my hard disk.
joekrill 9y ago
Wow not sure why there's so much hate in the initial comments here. I've been using Wallabag for months now as an open source replacement for Pocket and it's been great. They've got great mobile clients, too, which is really what I was looking for. It's not _perfect_ -- some articles get scraped incorrectly or incompletely, but that's fairly rare. Overall this is a great open source project that I haven't really seen getting much press for some reason.
- thehardsphere 9y ago
  I don't understand why there's so much hate for asking basic questions about what the point of using Wallabag is. I am asking questions because I don't understand why this would be appealing. I am not suggesting people should hate it.
  - reitanqild 9y ago
    Try phrasing your question differently: "This seems very similar to what I can do for free in Chrome using extension/hack/little know default functionality xyz - am I missing something?" Now I'm not saying we should put soft blankets around everything we say but in this case it would be more useful for us to read (if you have a good solution) and indicates that you are aware that the rest of us might have found something useful that you overlooked.
- puzzlingcaptcha 9y ago
  I was hesitant to switch over before due to Pocket support on my Kobo reader but apparently now there is a wallabag app for Kobos as well! Gonna give it a try.
emsy 9y ago
I had Wallabag on my VPS (more than a year ago) but there were issues with the session cookies where I basically had to login every time I wanted to access it. This was so tedious I stopped using it. I hope this has been resolved now, I really liked Wallabag.
nvivo 9y ago
After looking at the website, it still took me some time reading the comments to understand what it does. It's an open source version of pocket you can host yourself, and if you want, they host for you for 12 euros a year. It's interesting, but pointing to the product page instead of the github project page makes it look like advertising a paid pocket competitor with no apparent advantages.
thehardsphere 9y ago
Yes, exactly. Instead of being butthurt that I and other people are asking questions, people should be realizing that my questions indicate the marketing material is inadequate at explaining what the benefit of this paid service is.
- mverwijs 9y ago
  Your choice of words and phrasing make it so your (perhaps very legitimate!) questions come across as whining. That too is markteting material that is inadequate.
- sctb 9y ago
  We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14687304 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14687304 and marked it off-topic.
bharani_m 9y ago
Wallabag is a solid alternative to Pocket. The founder's interview on IndieHackers [1] is pretty nice. They seem to be making around $350/mo from their hosted service. I also wanted to throw in a link to a similar service that I run called EmailThis (https://www.emailthis.me https://www.emailthis.me). Instead of having to create an account on another website and installing additional apps, EmailThis works by sending the web page (after stripping ads and clutter) to your email. [1] https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/wallabag-it https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/wallabag-it
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  I've been meaning to give Wallabag a shot, and might actually have the wherewithall to do that now. I'd used Readability, until it shut down (and still have nearly 800 articles now identified only by its rdd.it URL shortener, which is to say, utterly useless to me). I've been using Pocket for the past two years or so. Unfortunately, the more I use it, the worse it gets. The basic webpage simplifier aspect of it is fine. The problem is that an archive with more than 100 or so entries in it is effectively write-only. The abililty to search and utilise the store is all but nil. I've over 6,000 articles saved, with the goal of supporting a research-oriented trove of previously-viewed, vetted, and categorised articles. It takes several minutes to scroll through my set of tags. There is no text-based incremental search. Nor any other form of text-based search. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The one saving grace so far is the ability to export a list of URLs and tags, though working with that takes considerably more effort. https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/5x2sfx/pocket_it_gets_worse_the_more_you_use_it/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/5x2sfx/pocket_... https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/688oc9/pocket_the_worsening_continues/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/688oc9/pocket_...
  - zimpenfish 9y ago
    Pocket Premium does offer full-text search - https://help.getpocket.com/article/882-pocket-premium-faq#q2 https://help.getpocket.com/article/882-pocket-premium-faq#q2 However it was completely useless for me the handful of times I tried to use it.
rufugee 9y ago
This looks very interesting and like something I'd love to use, but I'm not sure it's functionally complete. For example, saving this thread to it gives me this: http://imgur.com/a/VFQ45 http://imgur.com/a/VFQ45. None of the comments appear...
dredmorbius 9y ago
Request / recommendation to the Wallabag team: please provide a video or slideshow (I'd actually prefer the latter, mostly) which shows an advanced-use workflow. The wallabag.org video shows ... pretty much nothing of any value. I checked YouTube and found several "how to install" vids, but nothing showing actual use. As I've described in an earlier comment (and extensive posts at https://dredmorbius.reddit.org https://dredmorbius.reddit.org), for someone who's looking for a true archiving tool with research interests, and for whom porting an archive of several thousand (or more) references is not a trivial undertaking, lowering the ramp to understanding the value of this tool is crucial. Thanks.
j_s 9y ago
The discussion 3 months ago on bookmarks mentioned several options for archiving pages (some locally): Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14064096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14064096 extensions: Firefox "Print Edit" Addon / Firefox Scrapbook X / Chrome Falcon / Firefox Recoll open source: Zotero / WorldBrain / Wallabag commercial: Pinboard / InstaPaper / Pocket / Evernote / Mochimarks / Diigo / PageDash / URL Manager Pro / Save to Google / OneNote / Stash / Fetching public: http://web.archive.org http://web.archive.org / https://archive.is/ https://archive.is/
thehardsphere 9y ago
Would you people stop being so autistic and sarcastic about Chrome? All I want is a clear explanation of what the benefit of this service is. I am asking because I clearly am missing whatever you people are assuming are the obvious benefits of this product. I only cited "Chrome" because it is a popular browser, not because I wanted to assert that it was a superior choice. Jesus.
- sametmax 9y ago
  Chrome is the only browser with "by default" bookmark sync with an online service, and hence the only one you can compare to this software. Firefox sync doesn't work very well and is not as used, plus it's not on by default.
  - thehardsphere 9y ago
    The software is sold as "saving complete webpages" not as "bookmark synchronization." That's why all of my questions about it center around saving webpages, something that every browser has supported for the past 10+ years. If it really is about bookmark synchronization, then yes maybe you're right. But I can't tell which is why I am asking. I get the sense that it's supposed to be a bit more than that.
- reitanqild 9y ago
  As I have mentioned elsewhere I really don't like the use of "autistic" as an insult. I have a feeling there are many others here who think the same.
  - thehardsphere 9y ago
    What word do you suggest I use to describe single minded obsession about something?
    - sctb 9y ago
      Don't. If you find yourself in a back-and-forth that raises your temperature, the thing to do is wait until you can post civilly and substantively within the guidelines—or just leave it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
kkotak 9y ago
Any comments on https://www.dropmark.com/ https://www.dropmark.com/?
mmjaa 9y ago
I have a po'-mans version of this: I print everything to PDF. From PDF, I can grep/grok/sed/convert to my hearts content. So okay yeah, my po'-mans document/information-organization-system consists of a bit of muscle memory and judicious use of ^-R to get to the ol' grep. But .. true fact .. if you do the info-management at the command line, it scales. GUI's don't, whether they're web or otherwise.
asciimo 9y ago
What is up with the background music for app demo videos these days? These cute, jaunty, almost childlike melodies all seem the same to me and I'm trying to think of where I first heard the trend. Was it Apple in the late 00s?
xfer 9y ago
Noone has mentioned webrecorder.io, which is what i use to archive pages.

166 points by ProfDreamer 9y ago

Perfect fit for sandstorm.io - although making it that easy to self-host might undermine their business model. Although - it's getting pretty easy to deploy things in a bunch of different ways nowadays. If your business model is entirely based on "I don't want to host this myself" then there's a chance it might be increasingly fragile.

csixty4 9y ago
It's already part of Yunohost, which is where I first heard of it. I don't think making it easy to self-host is a problem to them.
the_common_man 9y ago
Already on cloudron - https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html
- M-arcus 9y ago
  It's here: https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html https://cloudron.io/store/org.wallabag.cloudronapp.html Cloudron in General is pretty goof. They just released the 1.0 version.

baal80spam 9y ago

Need to register just to actually see and try out the application? Just no.

amelius 9y ago
Also, why is this on a .org domain?
- soft_dev_person 9y ago
  It's the Wordpress model. Host wallabag.org yourself, or pay for the hosted service wallabag.it.
- motdiem 9y ago
  It's an open source project - the source is available here https://github.com/wallabag/wallabag https://github.com/wallabag/wallabag
  - amelius 9y ago
    Ok, I stand corrected. But to be honest, the webpage looks so much like it's a business that I can't blame myself for being fooled here ...
polote 9y ago
Just use a throwaway email and register, it will only takes 15 seconds of your time. That's the the purpose of Wallabag to get his own list of links

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

janpieterz 9y ago
Wallabag seems to be self-hosted [1]. What functionality is missing for you? [1]: https://doc.wallabag.org/en/admin/installation/installation.html#requirements https://doc.wallabag.org/en/admin/installation/installation....

thehardsphere 9y ago

Why should I pay 12 Euro a year to do something I can do in Chrome for free?

polote 9y ago
I'm not sure you have RSS reader in chrome or an API to access your bookmarks for example ...
- thehardsphere 9y ago
  Ok, let me rephrase the question: if the service provided is to save a complete webpage, why would I want to muck around with an RSS reader and an API and all of that extra effort as opposed to just saving in my browser, whichever it happens to be? I don't just mean Chrome, either. Mobile Safari seems to have a pretty good offline pages functionality included with it.
  - polote 9y ago
    If you are happy with Chrome, then there is no reason to change. Nevertheless being able to access his bookmarks from any computers is already a good thing to have for some people
sametmax 9y ago
- You don't have to pay, you can self host. - You may want to access your bookmarks outside of chrome. - You may want to access your bookmarks when you are not in a safe machine. - You may want an API for your bookmarks. - You may not be using chrome. - You may care about your privacy and want to split the data stack about you among as many providers as possible.
- thehardsphere 9y ago
  > Self host That's more expensive than the 12 Euro when you factor in the time I would have to spend to do that. > Outside of Chrome Ok, substitute Chrome for any browser. How is this better than reading the saved webpage off of a hard disk? > Not in a safe machine If the machine is not safe, why am I using it at all? > API To do what, exactly? > may not be using Chrome Every browser now has a "Save webpage, complete" feature. It's not a Chrome thing. > privacy There's nothing more private than my hard disk.

joekrill 9y ago

Wow not sure why there's so much hate in the initial comments here. I've been using Wallabag for months now as an open source replacement for Pocket and it's been great. They've got great mobile clients, too, which is really what I was looking for. It's not _perfect_ -- some articles get scraped incorrectly or incompletely, but that's fairly rare. Overall this is a great open source project that I haven't really seen getting much press for some reason.

thehardsphere 9y ago
I don't understand why there's so much hate for asking basic questions about what the point of using Wallabag is. I am asking questions because I don't understand why this would be appealing. I am not suggesting people should hate it.
- reitanqild 9y ago
  Try phrasing your question differently: "This seems very similar to what I can do for free in Chrome using extension/hack/little know default functionality xyz - am I missing something?" Now I'm not saying we should put soft blankets around everything we say but in this case it would be more useful for us to read (if you have a good solution) and indicates that you are aware that the rest of us might have found something useful that you overlooked.
puzzlingcaptcha 9y ago
I was hesitant to switch over before due to Pocket support on my Kobo reader but apparently now there is a wallabag app for Kobos as well! Gonna give it a try.

emsy 9y ago

I had Wallabag on my VPS (more than a year ago) but there were issues with the session cookies where I basically had to login every time I wanted to access it. This was so tedious I stopped using it. I hope this has been resolved now, I really liked Wallabag.

nvivo 9y ago

After looking at the website, it still took me some time reading the comments to understand what it does. It's an open source version of pocket you can host yourself, and if you want, they host for you for 12 euros a year. It's interesting, but pointing to the product page instead of the github project page makes it look like advertising a paid pocket competitor with no apparent advantages.

thehardsphere 9y ago

Yes, exactly. Instead of being butthurt that I and other people are asking questions, people should be realizing that my questions indicate the marketing material is inadequate at explaining what the benefit of this paid service is.

mverwijs 9y ago
Your choice of words and phrasing make it so your (perhaps very legitimate!) questions come across as whining. That too is markteting material that is inadequate.
sctb 9y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14687304 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14687304 and marked it off-topic.

bharani_m 9y ago

Wallabag is a solid alternative to Pocket. The founder's interview on IndieHackers [1] is pretty nice. They seem to be making around $350/mo from their hosted service. I also wanted to throw in a link to a similar service that I run called EmailThis (https://www.emailthis.me https://www.emailthis.me). Instead of having to create an account on another website and installing additional apps, EmailThis works by sending the web page (after stripping ads and clutter) to your email. [1] https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/wallabag-it https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/wallabag-it

dredmorbius 9y ago
I've been meaning to give Wallabag a shot, and might actually have the wherewithall to do that now. I'd used Readability, until it shut down (and still have nearly 800 articles now identified only by its rdd.it URL shortener, which is to say, utterly useless to me). I've been using Pocket for the past two years or so. Unfortunately, the more I use it, the worse it gets. The basic webpage simplifier aspect of it is fine. The problem is that an archive with more than 100 or so entries in it is effectively write-only. The abililty to search and utilise the store is all but nil. I've over 6,000 articles saved, with the goal of supporting a research-oriented trove of previously-viewed, vetted, and categorised articles. It takes several minutes to scroll through my set of tags. There is no text-based incremental search. Nor any other form of text-based search. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The one saving grace so far is the ability to export a list of URLs and tags, though working with that takes considerably more effort. https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/5x2sfx/pocket_it_gets_worse_the_more_you_use_it/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/5x2sfx/pocket_... https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/688oc9/pocket_the_worsening_continues/ https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/688oc9/pocket_...
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  Pocket Premium does offer full-text search - https://help.getpocket.com/article/882-pocket-premium-faq#q2 https://help.getpocket.com/article/882-pocket-premium-faq#q2 However it was completely useless for me the handful of times I tried to use it.

rufugee 9y ago

This looks very interesting and like something I'd love to use, but I'm not sure it's functionally complete. For example, saving this thread to it gives me this: http://imgur.com/a/VFQ45 http://imgur.com/a/VFQ45. None of the comments appear...

dredmorbius 9y ago

Request / recommendation to the Wallabag team: please provide a video or slideshow (I'd actually prefer the latter, mostly) which shows an advanced-use workflow. The wallabag.org video shows ... pretty much nothing of any value. I checked YouTube and found several "how to install" vids, but nothing showing actual use. As I've described in an earlier comment (and extensive posts at https://dredmorbius.reddit.org https://dredmorbius.reddit.org), for someone who's looking for a true archiving tool with research interests, and for whom porting an archive of several thousand (or more) references is not a trivial undertaking, lowering the ramp to understanding the value of this tool is crucial. Thanks.

j_s 9y ago

The discussion 3 months ago on bookmarks mentioned several options for archiving pages (some locally): Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14064096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14064096 extensions: Firefox "Print Edit" Addon / Firefox Scrapbook X / Chrome Falcon / Firefox Recoll open source: Zotero / WorldBrain / Wallabag commercial: Pinboard / InstaPaper / Pocket / Evernote / Mochimarks / Diigo / PageDash / URL Manager Pro / Save to Google / OneNote / Stash / Fetching public: http://web.archive.org http://web.archive.org / https://archive.is/ https://archive.is/

thehardsphere 9y ago

Would you people stop being so autistic and sarcastic about Chrome? All I want is a clear explanation of what the benefit of this service is. I am asking because I clearly am missing whatever you people are assuming are the obvious benefits of this product. I only cited "Chrome" because it is a popular browser, not because I wanted to assert that it was a superior choice. Jesus.

sametmax 9y ago
Chrome is the only browser with "by default" bookmark sync with an online service, and hence the only one you can compare to this software. Firefox sync doesn't work very well and is not as used, plus it's not on by default.
- thehardsphere 9y ago
  The software is sold as "saving complete webpages" not as "bookmark synchronization." That's why all of my questions about it center around saving webpages, something that every browser has supported for the past 10+ years. If it really is about bookmark synchronization, then yes maybe you're right. But I can't tell which is why I am asking. I get the sense that it's supposed to be a bit more than that.
reitanqild 9y ago
As I have mentioned elsewhere I really don't like the use of "autistic" as an insult. I have a feeling there are many others here who think the same.
- thehardsphere 9y ago
  What word do you suggest I use to describe single minded obsession about something?
  - sctb 9y ago
    Don't. If you find yourself in a back-and-forth that raises your temperature, the thing to do is wait until you can post civilly and substantively within the guidelines—or just leave it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

kkotak 9y ago

Any comments on https://www.dropmark.com/ https://www.dropmark.com/?

mmjaa 9y ago

I have a po'-mans version of this: I print everything to PDF. From PDF, I can grep/grok/sed/convert to my hearts content. So okay yeah, my po'-mans document/information-organization-system consists of a bit of muscle memory and judicious use of ^-R to get to the ol' grep. But .. true fact .. if you do the info-management at the command line, it scales. GUI's don't, whether they're web or otherwise.

asciimo 9y ago

What is up with the background music for app demo videos these days? These cute, jaunty, almost childlike melodies all seem the same to me and I'm trying to think of where I first heard the trend. Was it Apple in the late 00s?

xfer 9y ago

Noone has mentioned webrecorder.io, which is what i use to archive pages.