4 ms·

I'm not trying to be snarky, but I genuinely feel like this could be implemented in less than 50 lines of code, maybe even 0 lines of code. You could just use b

I'm not trying to be snarky, but I genuinely feel like this could be implemented in less than 50 lines of code, maybe even 0 lines of code. You could just use bare ssh and rsync. Or you could use a remote volume mount. Or you could configure your docker client to connect to a remote docker server. There's a million different ways to do this and none of them are difficult, especially since this is targeted at engineers. I feel like I'm missing the point.

xwdv 6y ago
This sort of thing happens often enough that I would love to see some sort of list of various SaaS products and how to build their equivalent DIY solutions with standard open source programs.
- edunteman 6y ago
  The classic build or buy. It seems we'd be one of the first SaaS products in the space, but I've heard of a few open-source projects as well. Is there any site that ties open-source programs to their equivalent SaaS product? That would be very interesting to look at, to see what went into building these various SaaS products.
edunteman 6y ago
No snark taken :) your comment is definitely in good nature and is appreciated. Sounds easy to implement, and many companies have attempted to do so. Generally, the solutions you've suggested are what they turn to, with mixed results. Rsync bogs down, bare ssh doesn't let you use gui editors, and the users I've talked to so far consider docker to be opaque. Folks here on HN are strong engineers. They're happy working with current tools, because they've already gone through the ringer to learn them. My assertion is that this skillset shouldn't need to be learned. When I write code, I don't need to choose which CPU core is used, and I'm grateful for that abstraction. I'd like Booste to abstract cloud ops in the same way.
- llleftyy 6y ago
  Unless you've managed to write a better sync tool than rsync, your product will suffer more sync issues. The point about GUI editors not supporting remote development is basically false. VSCode, GVim, IntelliJ, Eclipse, Visual Studio, Sublime Text all support remote dev. * https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh * https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/2016.3/creating-a-remote-server-configuration.html * https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/remote-tutorials * https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/linux/connect-to-your-remote-linux-computer?view=vs-2019 As far as Docker's opacity, I guess that's a fair point, although in my opinion it's kind of unacceptable these days to not understand Docker or, if not Docker, then containerization in general, as a software engineer. Edit: list formatting
  - edunteman 6y ago
    Sick, thanks for the links! The Booste implementation of rsync is definitely not indestructible, especially during this beta. Been a pain in my butt, but making progress. Main improvements over rsync: - .boosteignore. Just like a .gitignore, a .boosteignore helps filesync filter past bulky files that may not need to be monitored and uploaded every time. - end-to-end encryption Admitted flaws of our current algorithm: It's built pretty ground-up in python. Haven't speed tested against rsync, but using it so far, I've never managed to edit code and run it through booste before the sync made it through to remote. IE the ssh tunnel doesn't beat rsync, mostly because files sync asynchronously. That said, I plan to do port it to a compiled language to cut time.
    - pritambaral 6y ago
      > Main improvements over rsync: - end-to-end encryption This is a tall claim, given rsync uses ssh for encryption of connection.
      - edunteman 6y ago
        Had been unaware of this, so thanks for pointing it out! Diving deeper, it seems rsync doesn't encrypt itself, but SSH obviously does. You got me on that one :)
jmchuster 6y ago
Not saying that this is what's happening here, but it's just so amusing to me how much this sounds like the response to the original dropbox post on HN. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863
- fock 6y ago
  but interestingly this seems to be the same service (+ advertising with rsync) just 10 years later
- llleftyy 6y ago
  The obvious qualitative difference is that Dropbox is not a developer tool.
  - edunteman 6y ago
    One-liner: Dropbox for developers? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Still experimenting with how to pitch it. Dropbox for devs makes sense, knowing the details, but would be super vague for anyone who doesn't already know anything about booste. Other pitches that fall into that "short but vague" pitch. Filesync + SSH Docker + Heroku *Cloud IDE without the IDE (edit: list formatting)

xwdv 6y ago

This sort of thing happens often enough that I would love to see some sort of list of various SaaS products and how to build their equivalent DIY solutions with standard open source programs.

edunteman 6y ago
The classic build or buy. It seems we'd be one of the first SaaS products in the space, but I've heard of a few open-source projects as well. Is there any site that ties open-source programs to their equivalent SaaS product? That would be very interesting to look at, to see what went into building these various SaaS products.

edunteman 6y ago

No snark taken :) your comment is definitely in good nature and is appreciated. Sounds easy to implement, and many companies have attempted to do so. Generally, the solutions you've suggested are what they turn to, with mixed results. Rsync bogs down, bare ssh doesn't let you use gui editors, and the users I've talked to so far consider docker to be opaque. Folks here on HN are strong engineers. They're happy working with current tools, because they've already gone through the ringer to learn them. My assertion is that this skillset shouldn't need to be learned. When I write code, I don't need to choose which CPU core is used, and I'm grateful for that abstraction. I'd like Booste to abstract cloud ops in the same way.

llleftyy 6y ago
Unless you've managed to write a better sync tool than rsync, your product will suffer more sync issues. The point about GUI editors not supporting remote development is basically false. VSCode, GVim, IntelliJ, Eclipse, Visual Studio, Sublime Text all support remote dev. * https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh * https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/2016.3/creating-a-remote-server-configuration.html * https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/remote-tutorials * https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/linux/connect-to-your-remote-linux-computer?view=vs-2019 As far as Docker's opacity, I guess that's a fair point, although in my opinion it's kind of unacceptable these days to not understand Docker or, if not Docker, then containerization in general, as a software engineer. Edit: list formatting
- edunteman 6y ago
  Sick, thanks for the links! The Booste implementation of rsync is definitely not indestructible, especially during this beta. Been a pain in my butt, but making progress. Main improvements over rsync: - .boosteignore. Just like a .gitignore, a .boosteignore helps filesync filter past bulky files that may not need to be monitored and uploaded every time. - end-to-end encryption Admitted flaws of our current algorithm: It's built pretty ground-up in python. Haven't speed tested against rsync, but using it so far, I've never managed to edit code and run it through booste before the sync made it through to remote. IE the ssh tunnel doesn't beat rsync, mostly because files sync asynchronously. That said, I plan to do port it to a compiled language to cut time.
  - pritambaral 6y ago
    > Main improvements over rsync: - end-to-end encryption This is a tall claim, given rsync uses ssh for encryption of connection.
    - edunteman 6y ago
      Had been unaware of this, so thanks for pointing it out! Diving deeper, it seems rsync doesn't encrypt itself, but SSH obviously does. You got me on that one :)

jmchuster 6y ago

Not saying that this is what's happening here, but it's just so amusing to me how much this sounds like the response to the original dropbox post on HN. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

fock 6y ago
but interestingly this seems to be the same service (+ advertising with rsync) just 10 years later
llleftyy 6y ago
The obvious qualitative difference is that Dropbox is not a developer tool.
- edunteman 6y ago
  One-liner: Dropbox for developers? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Still experimenting with how to pitch it. Dropbox for devs makes sense, knowing the details, but would be super vague for anyone who doesn't already know anything about booste. Other pitches that fall into that "short but vague" pitch. Filesync + SSH Docker + Heroku *Cloud IDE without the IDE (edit: list formatting)