Relays
This article is a draft! A lot of info might still be missing and the page might change at any time. |
A relay is a piece of software that increases federation between instances that subscribe to that relay.
It is a great way for smaller instances to populate their federated timeline.
How to subscribe to a relay
Only instance admins can subscribe to a relay. In Mastodon you can do that by going to Settings > Administration > Relays. There you can enter the url of the relay - add "/inbox" at the end of it.
Then you just have to wait for your instance to be accepted by the relay owners.
List of ready to use Fediverse relays
- https://en.relay.friendi.ca
- https://federation.stream
- https://mastodon-relay.moew.science
- https://mastodon-relay.thedoodleproject.net
- https://relay.beckmeyer.us
- https://relay.chocoflan.net
- https://relay.fedi.agency
- https://relay.fedibird.com
- https://relay.homunyan.com
- https://relay.intahnet.co.uk
- https://relay.k3tan.com
- https://relay.libranet.de
- https://relay.minecloud.ro
- https://relay.social.tigwali.fr
- https://relay.toot.yukimochi.jp
Comparison of Fediverse relay software
relay name | source | works with | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
diaspora* | Mastodon | Misskey | Pleroma | ||
Activity relay | https://github.com/yukimochi/Activity-Relay | ✖️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
ActivityRelay | https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/relay | ✖️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Pub relay | https://source.joinmastodon.org/mastodon/pub-relay | ✖️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Seattle relay | https://gitlab.com/jankysolutions/social.seattle.wa.us/relay | ✖️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Social relay | https://github.com/jaywink/social-relay | ✔️ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ |
How to install your own Fediverse relay for beginners
I'm going to write a guide on how to install Activity-Relay for beginners, but first I have to manage to install it myself.
Here is how far I've come
Create a server
To be written
Log in to your server
To be written
Install dependencies
Dependencies are apps you need to install before you can install the app you want.
- sudo apt update
- sudo apt install vim
- confirm with yes when asked
- sudo apt install git
- confirm with yes when asked
- sudo apt install docker
- confirm with yes when asked
- sudo apt install docker-compose
- confirm with yes when asked
- sudo apt install docker.io
- confirm with yes when asked
Install the relay with docker
Now you need to copy the app to your server
- git clone https://github.com/yukimochi/Activity-Relay.git -b v1.0.0
- vim config.yml
- make the file look like this.
- openssl genrsa | tee actor.pem
- chmod 600 actor.pem
- cd /root/Activity-Relay
- docker-compose build
- this will take a while and lots of red text will appear. Don't worry.
- docker-compose up -d
- docker-compose down