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Features - Built using Golang More general commentary: For people actually using the software, is the implementation language really a feature? EDIT: to b

Features - Built using Golang More general commentary: For people actually using the software, is the implementation language really a feature? EDIT: to be clear, I'm not attacking go as a language but rather the general trend of citing the implementation language as a feature when the audience is more than just "developers"

FootballMuse 9y ago
For the end user? No. For the self-hoster making the decision on whether or not to pick this solution? Yes. The same goes with "Easy Installation". The end user doesn't care if the install or easy or hard. You have to consider the dependencies, resource requirements, and manageability of anything you host.
- robk 9y ago
  Or just containerize and don't think about that :)
  - nxc18 9y ago
    Containers can be just as much of a pain in the ass to set up as anything else. I’ve had instances of much better experiences setting up software running out of container than in container.
    - maxaf 9y ago
      A lousy Dockerfile or missing docker-compose.yml will do that. Just because someone took the time to lump together a container doesn't mean it's the right one or that it would be reasonably useful to someone seeking to take advantage of the containerized software.
- tomc1985 9y ago
  With self-hosting the host is often the end-user.
socksy 9y ago
People ask this every time someone releases something written in Golang advertised as such. ;) As a non-Go programmer, with absolutely no inclinations to get into it in the near future, I will happily accept a fast, self-contained Go binary over many other stacks.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- mariusmg 9y ago
  Self containing binary that runs anywhere is the pinnacle of deployment :)
tomc1985 9y ago
It could be modern tribal signaling
- tomcam 9y ago
  It could be signaling that I have a single binary to just install likely with no other dependencies, which is what I think when I see that statement
  - tomc1985 9y ago
    Then why not just say "single binary, no dependencies," rather than bury it under an additional layer of abstraction? A humblebrag is still bragging...
    - philtar 9y ago
      Because saying it was built with go says "single binary, no dependencies" and more. It also says that it was built in go for any developers who want to contribute.
      - tomc1985 9y ago
        If you know Go, which many don't/won't/can't. I've never seen a language so obnoxiously namedropped as Go, it's really annoying. We have such a hard-on for our tools, and it really only results in countless, needless lines drawn in the sand.
woolvalley 9y ago
When your an open source project, your marketing page also becomes a marketing page for more developers. With the word 'libre' in the app name, I think there is some of that kind of marketing going on ;)
- roryisok 9y ago
  I think libre here is a book pun
slezyr 9y ago
It's. And really big one. I don't use Go, but I self host some services. You need to host few services to understand how important this feature really is. I hosted owncloud, tiny-tiny-rss, seafile, and some others. It was a nightmare to install any of these, then I installed gitea. That was EASY, REALLY EASY. No need to install and configure php, python2/3 and compile some modules for it. With gitea you could just launch binary and it works, that's all. And compiling it from sources was just one command.
ashark 9y ago
That tells me I'm not going to have to install some command line tools, a couple scripting language or JVM runtimes (make sure it's the right version, which may not be the latest!), a new package manager or three, and a bunch of other crap to run the program. Probably it's a one-file or one-file-and-a-config affair.
CalChris 9y ago
The poster is saying that it’s written in go so that if an HN reader is interesting hacking or contributing to it, they know this.
ycmbntrthrwaway 9y ago
Since I installed Gogs recently, I was actively looking for an answer to "is it written in Go?" first of all. I like how easy it is to just bind service to localhost:someport and add one line for reverse proxy to nginx/caddy/apache/whatever, instead of dealing with all those CGI/FastCGI/WSGI/paths/permisions/indexes/whatever. The second thing I look for is "does it require MySQL or can I just make it create its own SQLite database and stop nagging me about configuration?". Btw, I have never wrote go besides playing around with web server tutorial recently. If only someone can recommend me a chat service that is just as easy to configure as Gogs. Mattermost requires its own domain :(
- yumaikas 9y ago
  You can easily set up Mattermost with a subdomain by using nginx or your proxy of choice, which is only a little extra work, and with LE, can also be easily secured. This is what I did for Mattermost at my previous job, and it worked quite well.
mrmondo 9y ago
As an ops engineer - yes, very much so. I hardly ever have problems with applications written in go, but there’s no way in hell you’ll see me installing something written in nodejs, mono or php.

FootballMuse 9y ago

For the end user? No. For the self-hoster making the decision on whether or not to pick this solution? Yes. The same goes with "Easy Installation". The end user doesn't care if the install or easy or hard. You have to consider the dependencies, resource requirements, and manageability of anything you host.

robk 9y ago
Or just containerize and don't think about that :)
- nxc18 9y ago
  Containers can be just as much of a pain in the ass to set up as anything else. I’ve had instances of much better experiences setting up software running out of container than in container.
  - maxaf 9y ago
    A lousy Dockerfile or missing docker-compose.yml will do that. Just because someone took the time to lump together a container doesn't mean it's the right one or that it would be reasonably useful to someone seeking to take advantage of the containerized software.
tomc1985 9y ago
With self-hosting the host is often the end-user.

socksy 9y ago

People ask this every time someone releases something written in Golang advertised as such. ;) As a non-Go programmer, with absolutely no inclinations to get into it in the near future, I will happily accept a fast, self-contained Go binary over many other stacks.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
mariusmg 9y ago
Self containing binary that runs anywhere is the pinnacle of deployment :)

tomc1985 9y ago

It could be modern tribal signaling

tomcam 9y ago
It could be signaling that I have a single binary to just install likely with no other dependencies, which is what I think when I see that statement
- tomc1985 9y ago
  Then why not just say "single binary, no dependencies," rather than bury it under an additional layer of abstraction? A humblebrag is still bragging...
  - philtar 9y ago
    Because saying it was built with go says "single binary, no dependencies" and more. It also says that it was built in go for any developers who want to contribute.
    - tomc1985 9y ago
      If you know Go, which many don't/won't/can't. I've never seen a language so obnoxiously namedropped as Go, it's really annoying. We have such a hard-on for our tools, and it really only results in countless, needless lines drawn in the sand.

woolvalley 9y ago

When your an open source project, your marketing page also becomes a marketing page for more developers. With the word 'libre' in the app name, I think there is some of that kind of marketing going on ;)

roryisok 9y ago
I think libre here is a book pun

slezyr 9y ago

It's. And really big one. I don't use Go, but I self host some services. You need to host few services to understand how important this feature really is. I hosted owncloud, tiny-tiny-rss, seafile, and some others. It was a nightmare to install any of these, then I installed gitea. That was EASY, REALLY EASY. No need to install and configure php, python2/3 and compile some modules for it. With gitea you could just launch binary and it works, that's all. And compiling it from sources was just one command.

ashark 9y ago

That tells me I'm not going to have to install some command line tools, a couple scripting language or JVM runtimes (make sure it's the right version, which may not be the latest!), a new package manager or three, and a bunch of other crap to run the program. Probably it's a one-file or one-file-and-a-config affair.

CalChris 9y ago

The poster is saying that it’s written in go so that if an HN reader is interesting hacking or contributing to it, they know this.

ycmbntrthrwaway 9y ago

Since I installed Gogs recently, I was actively looking for an answer to "is it written in Go?" first of all. I like how easy it is to just bind service to localhost:someport and add one line for reverse proxy to nginx/caddy/apache/whatever, instead of dealing with all those CGI/FastCGI/WSGI/paths/permisions/indexes/whatever. The second thing I look for is "does it require MySQL or can I just make it create its own SQLite database and stop nagging me about configuration?". Btw, I have never wrote go besides playing around with web server tutorial recently. If only someone can recommend me a chat service that is just as easy to configure as Gogs. Mattermost requires its own domain :(

yumaikas 9y ago
You can easily set up Mattermost with a subdomain by using nginx or your proxy of choice, which is only a little extra work, and with LE, can also be easily secured. This is what I did for Mattermost at my previous job, and it worked quite well.

mrmondo 9y ago

As an ops engineer - yes, very much so. I hardly ever have problems with applications written in go, but there’s no way in hell you’ll see me installing something written in nodejs, mono or php.