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Hi HN -- this is what I've been working on for the last 14 months, with the help of many contributors and the backing of several sponsors. (Thank You!) Caddy 2

by mholt 7y ago

Hi HN -- this is what I've been working on for the last 14 months, with the help of many contributors and the backing of several sponsors. (Thank You!) Caddy 2 is a fresh new server experience. Some things might take getting used to, like having every site served over HTTPS unless you specify http:// http:// explicitly in your config. But in general, it will feel familiar to v1 in a lot of ways. If you've used v1 before, I recommend going into v2 with a clean-slate using our Getting Started guide: https://caddyserver.com/docs/getting-started https://caddyserver.com/docs/getting-started I'm excited to finally get this out there. Let me know what questions you have!

gnalck 7y ago
Hey Matt - thanks for creating and maintaining Caddy all these years! Like others have said in this thread, it is so easy to set up and maintain that it really does feel like "magic". In terms of speeding up adoption of Caddy 2, it may be useful to have a list somewhere of the concrete improvements between the two (as I'm sure there are many). A (very) brief look and search around only yielded this article[1] which referenced another link of improvements that now 404s[2]. Cheers, [1] https://caddyserver.com/v1/blog/caddy-2-ready-for-developers https://caddyserver.com/v1/blog/caddy-2-ready-for-developers [2] https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/tree/v2#list-of-improvements https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/tree/v2#list-of-improve...
- mholt 7y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! Glad you have had a good experience with it. That blog post is pretty old. We do have a current upgrade guide here in our docs: https://caddyserver.com/docs/v2-upgrade https://caddyserver.com/docs/v2-upgrade We also have a (sort of deprecated) wiki with some (slightly outdated) high-level improvements listed: https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/wiki/v2:-Improvements https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/wiki/v2:-Improvements
  - x3haloed 7y ago
    Another piece of feedback: It’s scary to consider using such a crucial piece of software in production when documentation is referred to as “sort of deprecated” and “slightly outdated.”
    - francislavoie 7y ago
      Because that's the old documentation, from early betas of Caddy v2. The official documentation at https://caddyserver.com/docs/ https://caddyserver.com/docs/ is up to date, and not deprecated.
      - x3haloed 7y ago
        Oh! That’s good news. I’m excited to give it a try either way.
- jbverschoor 7y ago
  Adoption for me would be to have an official apt repo :)
  - mholt 7y ago
    I mean, we want one too, but it's ridiculously hard: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23072385 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23072385 Help? :D
    - guggle 7y ago
      Talk about a bummer... Golang makes it easy to make static binaries. Way too easy for the distro apparently. Deb files will be just fine.
    - pilif 7y ago
      I think the parent poster would already be happy with an APT repo provided by Caddy. It wouldn’t need to be included in Debian itself. When you can make dpkg files, making an apt repo is trivial (using reprepro shipped with Debian) And when it’s your repo, you make the rules about packaging what dependencies into which file(s) But by having an apt repo (that users would subscribe to), you make it much easier for users to keep up to date
      - francislavoie 7y ago
        We do have one! https://caddyserver.com/docs/install#debian-ubuntu-raspbian https://caddyserver.com/docs/install#debian-ubuntu-raspbian
        StavrosK 7y ago
        Oooh this is great news, I can finally quit updating Caddy by hand!
  - wingworks 7y ago
    Pretty close to official. https://caddyserver.com/docs/install https://caddyserver.com/docs/install
maxmunzel 7y ago
Thanks for the great work - caddy is a much needed breath of fresh air in the server space. One thing I stumbled upon the other day was that I (and google apparently, too) have trouble navigating the new website. I find it much simpler to find relevant information on the old site. Anyway, keep up the good work and stay healthy!
- mholt 7y ago
  Thanks, we'll work on it! The nav/flow of content could probably be improved. Not gonna lie though, there's more to learn. V2 is a powerful machine -- so do expect that there will be some reading. Once you know how it works, it's easy to use. Very simple configs are possible, etc.
pbreit 7y ago
What are some of the primary use cases you envision(ed) as well as any that have arisen?
- mholt 7y ago
  It's often used as a reverse proxy and static file server, but oh, so much more is possible. Today, if you're using HTTPS, you should almost certainly be using Caddy. Maybe tomorrow if you need to set up a memory-safe SSH server, you could be using Caddy. (Just an example.)
  - chris_st 7y ago
    Sorry for the stupid question, but what is a "memory-safe SSH server"? Thanks!
    - mholt 7y ago
      Not a stupid question, it's not a phrase you hear very often because there isn't... really... one... at all. (Not in mainstream use AFAIK?) Memory safety is a class of guarantees certain software offers you against certain vulnerabilities. Software written in C is generally considered "memory unsafe" since it's hard to write correct C code when managing with memory, so it's easier to find exploits in them that cause them to reveal secrets. Go software has stronger memory safety guarantees than C programs like OpenSSH and Nginx. So that's one big benefit of using Caddy. As it happens, someone in the audience here is writing a SSH app for Caddy, so you have a pure Go SSH server that is less vulnerable to those class of attacks.
      - atonse 7y ago
        But what is the value add for Caddy here? Like how the out of box and auto SSL defaults with HTTP. Apart from memory safety, can the SSH version of caddy impose better defaults that OpenSSH doesn’t right now? Maybe TLS certs, security key support, etc?
        7y ago
hoistbypetard 7y ago
Thank you for making this. Here's what I've been doing with it for the past month-and-change: https://geoff.tuxpup.com/posts/caddy_and_wireguard/ https://geoff.tuxpup.com/posts/caddy_and_wireguard/
- mholt 7y ago
  Very cool! I'll save this link.
alexellisuk 7y ago
Congrats on the launch Matt. Great to see other independent software projects thriving like this. Keep up the hard work.
mintplant 7y ago
Is there a list of those sponsors somewhere?
- mrtweetyhack 7y ago
  on the front page
- mholt 7y ago
  See the big "Thank you" note on the landing page; also GitHub sponsors: https://github.com/sponsors/mholt https://github.com/sponsors/mholt
  - mintplant 6y ago
    Somehow I missed that "Thank you" section despite scrolling up and down the page a few times. Thanks!
627467 7y ago
I started using caddy (v2) a couple of months ago. I'm no dev/admin type and it has been a godsend because it made so easy for me to secure my sites
tootie 7y ago
The docs list "process supervisor" as a use case. What does that mean exactly? Can it function like upstart/systemd?
- mholt 7y ago
  Yeah, my hope is that someone will write a sort of scheduler / supervisor app for it so that I don't have to keep re-learning systemd every time I stand up a new service...
112 7y ago
Thank you for Caddy, it has saved me a lot of time and it's a joy to work with. Running it on about 8 boxes. Is there an admin UI for v2? Seeing the configuration changes, it was the first idea that popped, would be great for the selfhosted community - maybe someone picks it up as a side project if it's not in scope.
- francislavoie 7y ago
  An admin UI is planned, but it hasn't been started yet. It's not really a top priority, there's plenty of features that are more useful to have first.
networked 7y ago
Thank you for your work on Caddy! After a false start during the beta (mainly because of the missing documentation) I upgraded my personal websites from v1 to v2 RC1, and since then I have been a fan of the new version. Caddy 2 makes somewhat complex configuration more consistent and easier to express in the Caddyfile. The only thing I miss from v1 is the default handling of when static files are not found. I am very interested in the prospects of Starlark in Caddy 2. With an integrated scripting language Caddy could on its own be a replacement for OpenResty or Apache with mod_mruby. The preliminary implementation was removed in the beta phase with a note saying it would have to wait for when the project was financially stable [1]. Do you still plan to integrate Starlark if the project is a financial success? [1] https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/commit/8b28c36d480070c8cf954cb27bec3b44bd7d12ca https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/commit/8b28c36d480070c8...
- mholt 7y ago
  Yeah, Starlark is still on my list. It'd be a killer feature, but it's a huge project.
Sphax 7y ago
Thanks for your work on Caddy. I've been using it since 2016 and it's served me well over the years.
ArtWomb 7y ago
Thanks Matt! TLS endpoint, web server, load balancer, reverse proxy all in one. Rock solid uptime measured in years. I run it on every machine ;) Am curious what tools you use for testing Caddy: generating traffic for load testing, web fuzzing, net simulation, etc?
guggle 7y ago
Just tried it by replacing NGinX on my personal servers... I don't have anything complex (python backends, some static files...) but so far the user experience is stellar :)

by mholt 7y ago

gnalck 7y ago

Hey Matt - thanks for creating and maintaining Caddy all these years! Like others have said in this thread, it is so easy to set up and maintain that it really does feel like "magic". In terms of speeding up adoption of Caddy 2, it may be useful to have a list somewhere of the concrete improvements between the two (as I'm sure there are many). A (very) brief look and search around only yielded this article[1] which referenced another link of improvements that now 404s[2]. Cheers, [1] https://caddyserver.com/v1/blog/caddy-2-ready-for-developers https://caddyserver.com/v1/blog/caddy-2-ready-for-developers [2] https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/tree/v2#list-of-improvements https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/tree/v2#list-of-improve...

mholt 7y ago
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you have had a good experience with it. That blog post is pretty old. We do have a current upgrade guide here in our docs: https://caddyserver.com/docs/v2-upgrade https://caddyserver.com/docs/v2-upgrade We also have a (sort of deprecated) wiki with some (slightly outdated) high-level improvements listed: https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/wiki/v2:-Improvements https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/wiki/v2:-Improvements
- x3haloed 7y ago
  Another piece of feedback: It’s scary to consider using such a crucial piece of software in production when documentation is referred to as “sort of deprecated” and “slightly outdated.”
  - francislavoie 7y ago
    Because that's the old documentation, from early betas of Caddy v2. The official documentation at https://caddyserver.com/docs/ https://caddyserver.com/docs/ is up to date, and not deprecated.
    - x3haloed 7y ago
      Oh! That’s good news. I’m excited to give it a try either way.
jbverschoor 7y ago
Adoption for me would be to have an official apt repo :)
- mholt 7y ago
  I mean, we want one too, but it's ridiculously hard: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23072385 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23072385 Help? :D
  - guggle 7y ago
    Talk about a bummer... Golang makes it easy to make static binaries. Way too easy for the distro apparently. Deb files will be just fine.
  - pilif 7y ago
    I think the parent poster would already be happy with an APT repo provided by Caddy. It wouldn’t need to be included in Debian itself. When you can make dpkg files, making an apt repo is trivial (using reprepro shipped with Debian) And when it’s your repo, you make the rules about packaging what dependencies into which file(s) But by having an apt repo (that users would subscribe to), you make it much easier for users to keep up to date
    - francislavoie 7y ago
      We do have one! https://caddyserver.com/docs/install#debian-ubuntu-raspbian https://caddyserver.com/docs/install#debian-ubuntu-raspbian
      - StavrosK 7y ago
        Oooh this is great news, I can finally quit updating Caddy by hand!
- wingworks 7y ago
  Pretty close to official. https://caddyserver.com/docs/install https://caddyserver.com/docs/install

maxmunzel 7y ago

Thanks for the great work - caddy is a much needed breath of fresh air in the server space. One thing I stumbled upon the other day was that I (and google apparently, too) have trouble navigating the new website. I find it much simpler to find relevant information on the old site. Anyway, keep up the good work and stay healthy!

mholt 7y ago
Thanks, we'll work on it! The nav/flow of content could probably be improved. Not gonna lie though, there's more to learn. V2 is a powerful machine -- so do expect that there will be some reading. Once you know how it works, it's easy to use. Very simple configs are possible, etc.

pbreit 7y ago

What are some of the primary use cases you envision(ed) as well as any that have arisen?

mholt 7y ago
It's often used as a reverse proxy and static file server, but oh, so much more is possible. Today, if you're using HTTPS, you should almost certainly be using Caddy. Maybe tomorrow if you need to set up a memory-safe SSH server, you could be using Caddy. (Just an example.)
- chris_st 7y ago
  Sorry for the stupid question, but what is a "memory-safe SSH server"? Thanks!
  - mholt 7y ago
    Not a stupid question, it's not a phrase you hear very often because there isn't... really... one... at all. (Not in mainstream use AFAIK?) Memory safety is a class of guarantees certain software offers you against certain vulnerabilities. Software written in C is generally considered "memory unsafe" since it's hard to write correct C code when managing with memory, so it's easier to find exploits in them that cause them to reveal secrets. Go software has stronger memory safety guarantees than C programs like OpenSSH and Nginx. So that's one big benefit of using Caddy. As it happens, someone in the audience here is writing a SSH app for Caddy, so you have a pure Go SSH server that is less vulnerable to those class of attacks.
    - atonse 7y ago
      But what is the value add for Caddy here? Like how the out of box and auto SSL defaults with HTTP. Apart from memory safety, can the SSH version of caddy impose better defaults that OpenSSH doesn’t right now? Maybe TLS certs, security key support, etc?
      - 7y ago

hoistbypetard 7y ago

Thank you for making this. Here's what I've been doing with it for the past month-and-change: https://geoff.tuxpup.com/posts/caddy_and_wireguard/ https://geoff.tuxpup.com/posts/caddy_and_wireguard/

mholt 7y ago
Very cool! I'll save this link.

alexellisuk 7y ago

Congrats on the launch Matt. Great to see other independent software projects thriving like this. Keep up the hard work.

mintplant 7y ago

Is there a list of those sponsors somewhere?

mrtweetyhack 7y ago
on the front page
mholt 7y ago
See the big "Thank you" note on the landing page; also GitHub sponsors: https://github.com/sponsors/mholt https://github.com/sponsors/mholt
- mintplant 6y ago
  Somehow I missed that "Thank you" section despite scrolling up and down the page a few times. Thanks!

627467 7y ago

I started using caddy (v2) a couple of months ago. I'm no dev/admin type and it has been a godsend because it made so easy for me to secure my sites

tootie 7y ago

The docs list "process supervisor" as a use case. What does that mean exactly? Can it function like upstart/systemd?

mholt 7y ago
Yeah, my hope is that someone will write a sort of scheduler / supervisor app for it so that I don't have to keep re-learning systemd every time I stand up a new service...

112 7y ago

Thank you for Caddy, it has saved me a lot of time and it's a joy to work with. Running it on about 8 boxes. Is there an admin UI for v2? Seeing the configuration changes, it was the first idea that popped, would be great for the selfhosted community - maybe someone picks it up as a side project if it's not in scope.

francislavoie 7y ago
An admin UI is planned, but it hasn't been started yet. It's not really a top priority, there's plenty of features that are more useful to have first.

networked 7y ago

Thank you for your work on Caddy! After a false start during the beta (mainly because of the missing documentation) I upgraded my personal websites from v1 to v2 RC1, and since then I have been a fan of the new version. Caddy 2 makes somewhat complex configuration more consistent and easier to express in the Caddyfile. The only thing I miss from v1 is the default handling of when static files are not found. I am very interested in the prospects of Starlark in Caddy 2. With an integrated scripting language Caddy could on its own be a replacement for OpenResty or Apache with mod_mruby. The preliminary implementation was removed in the beta phase with a note saying it would have to wait for when the project was financially stable [1]. Do you still plan to integrate Starlark if the project is a financial success? [1] https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/commit/8b28c36d480070c8cf954cb27bec3b44bd7d12ca https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy/commit/8b28c36d480070c8...

mholt 7y ago
Yeah, Starlark is still on my list. It'd be a killer feature, but it's a huge project.

Sphax 7y ago

Thanks for your work on Caddy. I've been using it since 2016 and it's served me well over the years.

ArtWomb 7y ago

Thanks Matt! TLS endpoint, web server, load balancer, reverse proxy all in one. Rock solid uptime measured in years. I run it on every machine ;) Am curious what tools you use for testing Caddy: generating traffic for load testing, web fuzzing, net simulation, etc?

guggle 7y ago

Just tried it by replacing NGinX on my personal servers... I don't have anything complex (python backends, some static files...) but so far the user experience is stellar :)