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Author here. Surprised to see this would be in the frontpage of HN. Happy to answer any questions you may have :-)

pgmgr80 7y ago
I think this site is abuse of GitHub's services [1], it'd better to build a dedicated website. [1]: https://help.github.com/en/articles/github-terms-of-service https://help.github.com/en/articles/github-terms-of-service
gkanai 7y ago
This is a great idea. Something I struggle with daily living behind the GFW and having to use websites made without understanding of the impacts of the GFW.
cfarm 7y ago
How does this work? You don't need to disclose secret sauce per se, just enough to understand the legality and robustness of using it.
- felixding 7y ago
  Not sure I have understood your question. But I'll try to explain. In terms of tech stack, GFWaaS is a mix of Rails, Apache Guacamole, and headless browser. If you just want to solve your own problem, you could simply setup Guacamole on a server in China, and use VNC in your browser. The real challenge is dealing with the Chinese Internet. For example, to get reasonable connection speed for VNC, choosing the right cloud service provider is really the key. You have to figure out a way to get an account from the major providers in China (many of them, if not all, require you either live in China or have a local entity), and test the speed and stability of the connections. And, in some cases, because of the bad traffic peering across Chinese ISPs, you website may work relatively well with one ISP but not others, so you have to test with different ISPs. GFWaaS streamlines the whole process so you can focus on testing your website, instead of finding the right cloud service provider and setting up software etc by your own. Hope I have explained what you asked, and sorry for my English.
  - cfarm 7y ago
    Yes that's helpful. Great explanation!
sansnomme 7y ago
VNC.js + docker? What are you using for the dynamic proxy?
- felixding 7y ago
  I'm not using proxy. The tech stack is described here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19981305 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19981305

I think this site is abuse of GitHub's services [1], it'd better to build a dedicated website. [1]: https://help.github.com/en/articles/github-terms-of-service https://help.github.com/en/articles/github-terms-of-service

gkanai 7y ago

This is a great idea. Something I struggle with daily living behind the GFW and having to use websites made without understanding of the impacts of the GFW.

cfarm 7y ago

How does this work? You don't need to disclose secret sauce per se, just enough to understand the legality and robustness of using it.

felixding 7y ago
Not sure I have understood your question. But I'll try to explain. In terms of tech stack, GFWaaS is a mix of Rails, Apache Guacamole, and headless browser. If you just want to solve your own problem, you could simply setup Guacamole on a server in China, and use VNC in your browser. The real challenge is dealing with the Chinese Internet. For example, to get reasonable connection speed for VNC, choosing the right cloud service provider is really the key. You have to figure out a way to get an account from the major providers in China (many of them, if not all, require you either live in China or have a local entity), and test the speed and stability of the connections. And, in some cases, because of the bad traffic peering across Chinese ISPs, you website may work relatively well with one ISP but not others, so you have to test with different ISPs. GFWaaS streamlines the whole process so you can focus on testing your website, instead of finding the right cloud service provider and setting up software etc by your own. Hope I have explained what you asked, and sorry for my English.
- cfarm 7y ago
  Yes that's helpful. Great explanation!

sansnomme 7y ago

VNC.js + docker? What are you using for the dynamic proxy?

felixding 7y ago
I'm not using proxy. The tech stack is described here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19981305 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19981305