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What is YunoHost?

YunoHost is an operating system aiming for the simplest administration of a server, and therefore democratize self-hosting, while making sure it stays reliable, secure, ethical and lightweight. It is a copylefted libre software project maintained exclusively by volunteers. Technically, it can be seen as a distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux and can be installed on many kinds of hardware.

Features​

  • ​debian logo Based on Debian
  • ​tools logo Administer your server through a friendly web interface
  • ​package logo Deploy apps in just a few clicks
  • ​users logo Manage users (based on LDAP)
  • ​globe logo Manage domain names
  • ​medic logo Create and restore backups
  • ​door logo Connect to all apps simultaneously through the user portal (NGINX, SSOwat)
  • ​mail logo Includes a full e-mail stack (Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, DKIM)
  • ​messaging logo... as well as an instant messaging server (XMPP)
  • ​lock logo Manages SSL certificates (based on Let's Encrypt)
  • ​shield logo... and security systems (Fail2ban, yunohost-firewall)

Origin​

YunoHost was created in February 2012 after something like this:

"Shit, I'm too lazy to reconfigure my mail server... Beudbeud, how were you able to get your little server running with LDAP?"

Kload, February 2012

All that was needed was an admin interface for Beudbeud's server to make something usable, so Kload decided to develop one. Finally, after automating several configs and packaging in some web apps, YunoHost v1 was finished.

Noting the growing enthusiasm around YunoHost and around self-hosting in general, the original developers along with new contributors decided to start work on version 2, a more extensible, more powerful, more easy-to-use, and at that, one that makes a nice cup of fair-trade coffee for the elves of Lapland.

The name YunoHost comes from the jargon "Y U NO Host". The Internet meme should illustrate it:

What YunoHost is not?​

Even if YunoHost can handle multiple domains and multiple users, it is not meant to be a mutualized system.

First, the software is too young, not tested at scale and thus probably not optimized well enough for hundreds of users at the same time. With that said, we do not want to lead the software in that direction. Virtualization democratizes, and its usage is recommended since it is a more watertight way to achieve mutualization than a "full-stack" system like YunoHost.

You can host your friends, your family and your company safely and with ease, but you must trust your users, and they must trust you above all. If you want to provide YunoHost services for unknown persons anyway, a full VPS per user will be just fine, and we believe a better way to go.

Artworks​

Black and white YunoHost PNG logo by ToZz (400 × 400 px):

Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0