Why I think platforms like Cloudron are the future of self-hosting on Linux

In the past, it's been really hard for newbies to self-host services without messing up config files and system repos. Platforms like Cloudron and Yunohost are trying to make it much easier for them to self-host services.

For example, it is generally very hard for newbies to set up an email server since it requires a lot of config on the user-side. Many of the new app platforms like Cloudron have an email server built-in and can directly configure the DNS settings of the domain. They also allow for one-step installation.

Many PHP apps like WordPress require you to setup an Apache/Nginx server, configure it to use PHP, set up a MySQL server and then set up the domains and proceed with the installation of the app. However, most app platforms simply run apps as Docker containers and allow you to install an app with a single-click and you just need to enter the subdomain's name and which domain to install the app on (you don't need to create the A records and other records manually). They can even set up mail settings for each app and integrate with the platform's accounts, which makes it much easier to log into and manage the different apps.

An image of Cloudron's website (cloudron.io)

It's also really easy for developers to package apps for these platforms. Most of them use Docker containers, so you can just write a Dockerfile and config file containing information about the app. For example, I could package PaperMC, a popular Minecraft server for Cloudron really easily. Here's the GitLab respository for it (it's based on the Cloudron's official Minecraft Server app): gitlab.com/rs2009-subgroups/servers/cloudro.. (the Paper/Minecraft server's now live at craft.ruds.io)

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