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Thanks for the feedback! Agreed Git can be used to sync your notes. Its a great solution for those comfortable putting their notes into a Git repo like Github.

Thanks for the feedback! Agreed Git can be used to sync your notes. Its a great solution for those comfortable putting their notes into a Git repo like Github. I wasn't comfortable with that however. Currently vetting a way to sync my database files with my markdown files on my laptop, so it functions similar to Obsidian. I enjoy Vim too much to work constrained to Directus' markdown editor!

e28eta 1y ago
What about git makes you uncomfortable? I saw that you didn’t want to use a 3rd party provider, but why not stick a git repo on your VPS (which you are trusting with your data today) and use that to coordinate syncs between your client devices?
- williamsss 1y ago
  Made a comment in the thread explaining this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023090 I expect my PKMS to evolve and wouldn't rule out a self-hosted Git server if I find it's a better option long term.
  - tasuki 1y ago
    > wouldn't rule out a self-hosted Git server I don't think you really get it. Git is distributed. There's no need for "a git server". You already have a machine on which you host the SQL database, you can just use that as yet another git remote.
  - e28eta 1y ago
    Thanks for the reply. I do agree with sibling comment from tasuki that I think you’re missing the simpler solution of plain git repos to solve “owning your own data in a future-proof manner”. If you’re not trying to coordinate work among multiple people, and aren’t trying to enforce a single source of truth with code, you don’t _need_ “git server” software. You just need a git repository (folder & file structure) in a location that you consider to be your source of truth. I’m not trying to convince you to change it now, especially if you’re happy with what you have, but I would suggest reading some (or all) of https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2 https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2 I think the first ~4 subsections of chapter 4 cover what I & tasuki were suggesting could be sufficient for you. If you’re the type of engineer to read through the code of your data storage layer, I think you’d find Chapter 10 (Git Internals) interesting, because it can demystify git. I enjoyed the whole book. As with any engineering project, I see lots of questions about your choices, and I applaud you for sticking around. I would make very different decisions than you, based on your stated priorities, but that’s okay.
  - hashhar 1y ago
    You only really need SSH access on a box to use it as a git remote - no server needed. I learnt this quite late and was not obvious to me so hope it's helpful for you too.
JonChesterfield 1y ago
Git is decentralised. You can sync between laptop and phone directly, no third party server required.
- achierius 1y ago
  To be clear, GitHub is centralized, but Git is not. You can sync between laptop and phone directly with Git -- no third party server required.
  - dhogan 1y ago
    How do you use git on a phone? I haven't found an easy way to pull to my phone and open Obsidian files.
charlie0 1y ago
The odd part here is why take it to 100%+ when you can just build a plugin on Obsidian rather than re-building the whole thing? Seems a bit extreme.
- williamsss 1y ago
  In 20 years will that plugin work? I doubt it.
  - komali2 1y ago
    This is why I didn't like Obsidian, half the plugins I tried didn't work despite them being in the top 20 downloaded ones. Meanwhile I'll use like 15 year old emacs plugins that haven't been updated in like 5 years and they'll work fine (I think org-diary or something along those lines was what I tried).
  - 9dev 1y ago
    You can’t even compile stuff from 20 years ago without some extensive archeological efforts. I doubt this is your largest problem by then.
    - aidenn0 1y ago
      ??? I have dozens of projects from 20 years ago that I can compile today.
      - adastra22 1y ago
        With respect, I doubt it. Have you tried pulling out a 20 year old tarball and compiling it, without modification, on a modern distro?
        aidenn0 1y ago
        I recently unearthed something that I thought was 20 years old when someone asked me about it. I checked and it was only 14 years old based on mtime (thought I suspect I started the project nearly 20 years ago). Another project I unearthed for a different reason was only 13 years old by mtime (again, it was started before that). I must concede that I haven't actually recently compiled and used anything that was untouched for 20 years. I should note that the first program I wrote that was actually used for a purpose (it calculates energy based on an internal stopwatch and then typing in values from a volt and ammeter, for a science project in 1992) still works in qb64 today. The second program I wrote that was actually used for a purpose assumes a parallel-port printer on DOS that uses a fairly old version of PCL, and was written in 16-bit C, so probably won't work today.
viraptor 1y ago
It's not just git. You have the plugins available for S3, couchdb, FTP, MongoDB, cloud drives, rsync, syncthing, and probably every other storage/protocol in the world. And they're all available for free in obsidian.
adastra22 1y ago
No one said anything about GitHub… git is perfectly fine for this use case and 100% private.
bryanhogan 1y ago
Common ways to sync Obsidian are through cloud tools (Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.), SyncThing Fork or Git. I'd recommend you to look into SyncThing Fork or a similar tool if you never want your notes to leave your own server. I wrote about ways to sync Obsidian here: https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian
- dtkav 1y ago
  If you need multiplayer sync, I've been working on a plugin that makes Obsidian real-time multiplayer (like google docs) called Relay [0]. A lot of our users use it in combination with SyncThing to keep it entirely free for up to 3 users (we also offer a paid plan with attachment storage and more seats). [0] https://relay.md https://relay.md
patmorgan23 1y ago
GitHub is not git

e28eta 1y ago

What about git makes you uncomfortable? I saw that you didn’t want to use a 3rd party provider, but why not stick a git repo on your VPS (which you are trusting with your data today) and use that to coordinate syncs between your client devices?

williamsss 1y ago
Made a comment in the thread explaining this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44023090 I expect my PKMS to evolve and wouldn't rule out a self-hosted Git server if I find it's a better option long term.
- tasuki 1y ago
  > wouldn't rule out a self-hosted Git server I don't think you really get it. Git is distributed. There's no need for "a git server". You already have a machine on which you host the SQL database, you can just use that as yet another git remote.
- e28eta 1y ago
  Thanks for the reply. I do agree with sibling comment from tasuki that I think you’re missing the simpler solution of plain git repos to solve “owning your own data in a future-proof manner”. If you’re not trying to coordinate work among multiple people, and aren’t trying to enforce a single source of truth with code, you don’t _need_ “git server” software. You just need a git repository (folder & file structure) in a location that you consider to be your source of truth. I’m not trying to convince you to change it now, especially if you’re happy with what you have, but I would suggest reading some (or all) of https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2 https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2 I think the first ~4 subsections of chapter 4 cover what I & tasuki were suggesting could be sufficient for you. If you’re the type of engineer to read through the code of your data storage layer, I think you’d find Chapter 10 (Git Internals) interesting, because it can demystify git. I enjoyed the whole book. As with any engineering project, I see lots of questions about your choices, and I applaud you for sticking around. I would make very different decisions than you, based on your stated priorities, but that’s okay.
- hashhar 1y ago
  You only really need SSH access on a box to use it as a git remote - no server needed. I learnt this quite late and was not obvious to me so hope it's helpful for you too.

JonChesterfield 1y ago

Git is decentralised. You can sync between laptop and phone directly, no third party server required.

achierius 1y ago
To be clear, GitHub is centralized, but Git is not. You can sync between laptop and phone directly with Git -- no third party server required.
- dhogan 1y ago
  How do you use git on a phone? I haven't found an easy way to pull to my phone and open Obsidian files.

charlie0 1y ago

The odd part here is why take it to 100%+ when you can just build a plugin on Obsidian rather than re-building the whole thing? Seems a bit extreme.

williamsss 1y ago
In 20 years will that plugin work? I doubt it.
- komali2 1y ago
  This is why I didn't like Obsidian, half the plugins I tried didn't work despite them being in the top 20 downloaded ones. Meanwhile I'll use like 15 year old emacs plugins that haven't been updated in like 5 years and they'll work fine (I think org-diary or something along those lines was what I tried).
- 9dev 1y ago
  You can’t even compile stuff from 20 years ago without some extensive archeological efforts. I doubt this is your largest problem by then.
  - aidenn0 1y ago
    ??? I have dozens of projects from 20 years ago that I can compile today.
    - adastra22 1y ago
      With respect, I doubt it. Have you tried pulling out a 20 year old tarball and compiling it, without modification, on a modern distro?
      - aidenn0 1y ago
        I recently unearthed something that I thought was 20 years old when someone asked me about it. I checked and it was only 14 years old based on mtime (thought I suspect I started the project nearly 20 years ago). Another project I unearthed for a different reason was only 13 years old by mtime (again, it was started before that). I must concede that I haven't actually recently compiled and used anything that was untouched for 20 years. I should note that the first program I wrote that was actually used for a purpose (it calculates energy based on an internal stopwatch and then typing in values from a volt and ammeter, for a science project in 1992) still works in qb64 today. The second program I wrote that was actually used for a purpose assumes a parallel-port printer on DOS that uses a fairly old version of PCL, and was written in 16-bit C, so probably won't work today.

viraptor 1y ago

It's not just git. You have the plugins available for S3, couchdb, FTP, MongoDB, cloud drives, rsync, syncthing, and probably every other storage/protocol in the world. And they're all available for free in obsidian.

adastra22 1y ago

No one said anything about GitHub… git is perfectly fine for this use case and 100% private.

bryanhogan 1y ago

Common ways to sync Obsidian are through cloud tools (Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.), SyncThing Fork or Git. I'd recommend you to look into SyncThing Fork or a similar tool if you never want your notes to leave your own server. I wrote about ways to sync Obsidian here: https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian

dtkav 1y ago
If you need multiplayer sync, I've been working on a plugin that makes Obsidian real-time multiplayer (like google docs) called Relay [0]. A lot of our users use it in combination with SyncThing to keep it entirely free for up to 3 users (we also offer a paid plan with attachment storage and more seats). [0] https://relay.md https://relay.md

patmorgan23 1y ago

GitHub is not git