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More background and explanation for some unclear sections in the AP guide
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Anthony Wang 2023-02-01 19:37:30 +00:00
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content/posts/activitypub-eats-your-brain.md
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@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ That doesn't help at all. Even more confused now, you ask, "Um, what's an activi
"Couldn't you just have a single centipede serve everyone?"
"No, that's crazy. Centipedes don't have millions of legs. And even if they did, what if the centipede started hating you? Then you'd be really screwed. Anyways, we each have an inbox and outbox with our server. I'll first write down my activity on this piece of paper and who it's to and fold it into an airplane. Then I'll throw my paper airplane to my server, a friendly centipede named Pete, and they'll add it to my outbox since it's an outgoing activity. Finally, they'll throw it to Lalani's server and her server will add it to her inbox. Then later on, Lalani can go ask her server if any activities showed up in her inbox while she was gone, and read them."
"No, that's crazy. Centipedes don't have millions of legs. And even if they did, what if the centipede started hating you? Then you'd be really screwed. That's why the Activity Pub is decentralized. Anyways, we each have an inbox and outbox with our server. I'll first write down my activity on this piece of paper and who it's to and fold it into an airplane. Then I'll throw my paper airplane to my server, a friendly centipede named Pete, and they'll add it to my outbox since it's an outgoing activity. Finally, they'll throw it to Lalani's server and her server will add it to her inbox. Then later on, Lalani can go ask her server if any activities showed up in her inbox while she was gone, and read them."
"May I ask... are those centipedes... venomous?"
@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ Whew! Now that's it! ActivityPub in just 100 lines of Python.
OK, so you're probably thinking, let's run this thing and test it out! Not so fast. Since we're using HTTP, or more specifically HTTPS, you'll need a domain name and reverse proxy for TLS. If that was just a load of mumbo-jumbo to you, don't worry about it. You can find detailed instructions for running this code [here](https://git.exozy.me/a/fuwuqi). Just beware: it's not easy. It's fun though!
Now would probably be a good time to talk about the elephant in the room: Mastodon. I [like to say](https://social.exozy.me/@a/109712197207851220) that the reference implementation and test suite for ActivityPub is Mastodon. Why? Because there's no official reference implementation and the official test suite has been unmaintained for years. Mastodon is so large that everyone prioritizes compatibility with it and doing things the Mastodon way, such as using WebFinger and HTTP signatures, which aren't even in the ActivityPub spec.
As you've probably noticed, ActivityPub is an extremely general protocol with lots of details for implementations to flesh out for themselves. Now would probably be a good time to talk about the elephant in the room: Mastodon. I [like to say](https://social.exozy.me/@a/109712197207851220) that the reference implementation and test suite for ActivityPub is Mastodon. Why? Because there's no official reference implementation and the official test suite has been unmaintained for years. Mastodon is so large that everyone prioritizes compatibility with it and doing things the Mastodon way, such as using WebFinger and HTTP signatures, which aren't even in the ActivityPub spec.
Wait a minute, WebWhat? If you think about it, our current implementation is not-exactly user friendly (for a number of reasons 😄). Actually, there are probably exactly two people in the world who know how to use it, you and me. One huge problem is your identifier is some long URL! Like if Billiam tells you, shoot me a paper airplane to `https://centipete.exozy.me/users/billiam.jsonld`, you're going to think he's crazy.