I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of self-hosting modern web applications (if you look under the surface!)
Most modern web applications are designed to basically run standalone on a server. Integration into an existing environment a real challenge if not impossible. They often come with their own set of requirements and dependencies that don’t easily align with an established infrastructure.
“So you have an already running and fully configured web server? Too bad for you, bind me to port 443 or GTFO. Reverse-proxying by subdomain? Never heard of that. I won’t work. Deal with it. Oh, and your TLS certificates? Screw them, I ship my own!”
Attempting to merge everything together requires meticulous planning, extensive configuration, and often annoying development work and finding workarounds.
Modern web applications, with their elusive promises of flexibility and power, have instead become a source of maddening frustration when not being the only application that is served.
My frustration about this is real. Self-hosting modern web applications is an uphill battle, not only in terms of technology but also when it comes to setting up the hosting environment.
I just want to drop some PHP files into a directory and call it a day. A PHP interpreter and a simple HTTP server – that’s all I want to need for hosting my applications.
In my opinion, it seems like it’s actually becoming increasingly easier to self-host in recent times, no more dependency hell to deal with.
Most of the apps are offering docker support making it easier to deploy, you don’t waste time setting up the perfect environment for that new app you want to deploy and sometimes mess up your current setup in the process.
Which apps are you using that make it seem so bad for you, would you like to share? I think you should try it once at least managing ports it’s really easy in containerized apps and offer the same solution you need, like to port 443 of all your favourite apps to different ports and set up reverse proxy and access them.
I’d recommend you to try pi-hole with docker compose, you’ll be surprised.