Seconded it’s not a no-brainer. I spent days trying to get it set up with Docker on two different computers and three different distros. It wouldn’t install, if it did install it had errors, if it would even open at all with anything other than a black screen. Hours trying to search how to fix it. I gave up and installed it as a standalone app on a common distro. Not as convenient, but FML it finally worked. Really felt like I wasted my time. Personally, this is the exact bullshit linux fanatics completely ignore when they insist on how great linux is vs whatever. I’ve got a shitload of patience, willpower and modest skill to try to get something like this working, but 99% of the population doesn’t. That’s why linux will stay on the back burner. And if it ever becomes just as easy as Windows…guess what? You’ll have many of the same problem as Windows.
Comment on Plex now will SELL your personal data
akilou@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks agoJellyfin is hardly a no-brainer. I set it up out of curiosity a few weeks ago and my first question was how do I give access to my friends and family. So I searched, and all of the results were talking about setting up a VPN or a reverse proxy or whatever. Man, I just want to tell my mom “install this app on your tv and log in”, which is exactly what Plex does.
I get that Plex is enshittifying, but pretending Jellyfin is a drop-in replacement is delusional.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
You struggled to set up Jellyfin with docker?
Damn
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Don’t be smug.
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
I’ll take any chance, even one involving docker
MXX53@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
I am a devops engineer and application architect who spends their entire day developing automated docker deployments for custom applications from scratch and I manage all our reverse proxies and TLS termination and certificates.
5 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what a docker container really was. Thankfully migrating legacy apps to docker on Linux hosts is my full time job and it has allowed me to become proficient enough in a fairly short amount of time.
We all have to start somewhere and shitting on someone for not knowing something now will dissuade them from ever learning it and potentially remove a future contributor to the open source tech stack before they ever even get started.
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
If they said they had trouble understanding docker it would’ve been clearer, but they said Jellyfin was the issue.
beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I’ve definitely pulled my hair out with docker too. Banged my head against the wall for a couple days before finally giving up.
I’m not ridiculously tech savvy, but I’ve tinkered with Linux since I was young, daily drive it on my laptop. I’m not afraid of the command line, and I’m smart enough to search for help and guides when I need it.
But something about docker just breaks my brain. Maybe I’m too old and there’s too much abstract thought required, I don’t know. But I can’t figure it out.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
IMO it was my hardware on the first tries. Not sure what your problem was, but after digging around I found something that loosely indicated that my hardware was too old or something - it didn’t play well with the onboard graphics or similar. But the second hardware set I tried it on was far newer, and after all the installation was complete I got a black screen. Every time. No matter which guide I used, no matter what dependencies I thought might be missing or whatever I tried to get it working. A hair pulling experience indeed.
cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I just want to tell my mom “install this app on your tv and log in”
I mean, if I didn’t know better, I’d start to suspect that the large multimedia corporations building walled gardens of apps in closed Smart TV ecosystems don’t really want you to be able to easily tell your mom how to watch shit for free. I mean they’ll let you, if you really insist on having that app available, but someone will have to pay THEM money instead first. That’s their racket.
The reason Plex can do it is because they do make money, doing shitty stuff like this to their users, so they can use that money to open these doors into SmartTV-land. The root of the problem is that your SmartTV itself is a locked down proprietary piece of shit, and there are few convenient workarounds that are available to us, because of course they make workarounds as inconvenient as possible.
Unless you’re willing to ditch everything proprietary and insist on open technology for everything, which is hard on its own, you’re going to end up with a janky mix of proprietary and open systems that always require some compromises, because the proprietary stuff forces us to compromise. It’s literally a “this is why we can’t have nice things” situation.
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Or… You know… Jellyfin could make it so I don’t have to setup elaborate VPN schemes and have every user install that on every one of their devices. For example they could fix their security issues to make it safer to expose JF through a reverse proxy, bug they refuse to not break client compatibility
harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I’m not a hardcore tech person and this is exactly the issue for me as well.
I want to be able to stream my music collection when I’m away from home without having to get an associate’s degree in networking.
AugustWest@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Tailscale makes this easy if you are only user.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 3 weeks ago
Easy if the device you’re trying to listen on has a tailscale app and a JellyFin app, which is unlikely unless you’re using your phone or a tablet/pc.
AugustWest@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
You saying you wouldn’t have those things away from home? Or a firestick.
harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I’ll look into Tailscale then. I’m guessing there’s something funky about adding additional users. I would eventually like to add one or two other people.
AbidanYre@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I think the free tier lets you have three users. I ended up going with headscale so that could be wrong.
aislopmukbang@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
It’s not that hard but they will have to make accounts and set the correct exit node or use the weird magic dns. Takes some hand-holding and depends on how you set things up.
themachine@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Jellyfin is a fully self hosted drop in. That means it’s up to the server operator to handle everything. You would still tell your mom to just install the Jellyfin app on her TV with the one additional step in your server address which you would tell her.
But yes, you as the operator have to do some extra things like implementating a reverse proxy and if hosting out of your home make necessary network configuration changes to accommodate this access.
ginopilotino@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
You as server operator also have to check what device your mom has and point her to what app download, because Jellyfin doesn’t have an app for everything
themachine@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
True though that’s less server operator and more “just being helpful to your mom”. That said it seems nowadays that a Jellyfin app is available on most devices/ecosystems (or maybe I just don’t have experience with enough devices to have an accurate idea).
VitabytesDev@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
Since you need to self-host Jellyfin, then you are responsible for making the service public.
DarkPassenger@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
There is one thing I want from jellyfin. It is to be able to login from their Android app to watch or set something to record without jumping through a bunch of hoops.
AugustWest@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
“install this app on your tv and log in”, which is exactly what Plex does
Yes, but that person has to create an account. Everyone has to create an account. With Plex. Some people I know immediately say no, others are annoyed that plex would try and shake them down for money.
If you configure Jellyfin, all that goes away. THEN they can simply download the app and login.
akilou@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I make the account for them. Then I log in as them and set it up so they only see my server. Then I send them the credentials and have them login
Ulrich@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
and all of the results were talking about setting up a VPN or a reverse proxy or whatever. Man, I just want to tell my mom “install this app on your tv and log in”,
This is why I use Yunohost. It makes all of that just a “click buttons” affair. Then you can tell your Mom the same thing. Only the domain is yours so Jellyfin can’t hold it over your head.
akilou@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Does it work on a smart tv or roku or whatever?
Ulrich@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Yeah they have apps on all the platforms.
Auli@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
So I told people download app enter this url and login. I even send out an email inviting them so they can click the link and create their own username and password. Then if they forget their password they can ask for a reset link.
ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
So I searched, and all of the results were talking about setting up a VPN or a reverse proxy or whatever.
The best thing is, you can’t use a reverse proxy with it, it doesn’t even support it.
octopus_ink@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Odd, since my Jellyfin sits behind a reverse proxy.
ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Oh, right, it was basic auth (behind a reverse proxy, or even in general) that Jellyfin doesn’t support and isn’t planned to support IIRC.
akilou@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I don’t even know what a reverse proxy is
catloaf@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Jellyfin is a no-brainer. Publishing services on the Internet is complex.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
catloaf@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Yeah, but then you’re not self-hosting, you’re paying or using their free services to manage that for you.
LandedGentry@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
If they adhered to somewhat modern security principles for their Backend I wouldn’t mind hosting it behind a reverse proxy. But since large parts of the API is unauthorized and unprotected, I wont.
And I do not plan on supporting family and friends in setting up vpns on all of their devices
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
What are the worries behind it? Last time someone was worried about the security it was about knowing filenames of the stuff you host by brute forcing iirc
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
The issue is their approach to security. I don’t trust them to properly secure their software, since they have proven to prefer client compatibility over security.