17316b7fe2
grafana restored and then died with "attempt to write a readonly database",
repeatedly. Its database is recorded in the snapshot as 231543:1002 and landed
as 1002:1002 — the owner was lost, so grafana, running as 231543, could not
write it at mode 0640.
Restore runs as the backup user with no CAP_CHOWN, so it reinstates ownership
inside a user namespace. The prefix was
unshare --map-root-user --map-users=SUB:SUB:N --map-groups=SUB:SUB:N
and unshare accepts ONE range per option, so the backup user's own GID was never
mapped — while app data is written as <container-uid>:<backup-user>. The group
half of every such chown referred to an unmapped id, lchown returned EINVAL, and
the file kept the restoring user's ownership. restic reports those as "ignoring
error ..." and still exits 0, so nothing failed: 1626 of one 13-app restore's
2086 failed chowns were grafana's, under a restore that reported success.
restic-userns-exec uses newuidmap/newgidmap, which write the multi-range maps
unshare cannot express:
uid: 0 <- caller inner root, or caps are dropped at exec
SUB.. <- SUB.. identity, so restic can name the stored uid
gid: caller <- caller identity: the group half of app-data chowns
SUB.. <- SUB.. identity
The caller's own UID is deliberately not identity-mapped — that slot is spent on
inner root — and a file stored as <caller>:<caller> lands owned by the caller
anyway, because that is who inner root is outside. So the one case this cannot
map is the one case needing no mapping. `unshare --map-auto --map-current-user`
is not a shortcut: it maps the subuid range to low inner ids while restic needs
identity. Tested.
Measured live, restoring grafana: failed chowns 1626 -> 12 (the 12 being the
caller's own files, correct), grafana.db back to 231543:1002, grafana up and
writing. Falls back to running the command plainly when there is no subuid
range, no newuidmap, or the namespace will not start.
scripts/dev/lp-userns-ownership-test pins all three ownership cases; verified
the old prefix fails it.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
LibrePortal
Your own private corner of the internet — free, open, and yours.
LibrePortal is a self-hosted platform for running the apps you rely on, on your own server: one-click installs, a reverse proxy with automatic SSL, rootless Docker, optional VPN routing, and a clean web dashboard to manage it all.
⚠️ v0.1.0 — early days. Expect rough edges while things settle.
Why LibrePortal
Too many services today treat your data as theirs to take — quietly overstepping boundaries that should never have been crossed. LibrePortal grew out of frustration with that: it's a way to run the apps you depend on on your own server, where your data stays yours. Privacy here isn't a feature to toggle — it's the whole point.
Free & open — forever
The entire platform is free software under the GNU AGPLv3. Self-host it and you get everything — every feature, no paywalls, no telemetry. See our Promise for exactly what that means.
What you get
- 📦 One-click self-hosted apps (Nextcloud, Vaultwarden, Jellyfin, Gitea, …)
- 🔀 Traefik reverse proxy + automatic Let's Encrypt SSL
- 🔒 Rootless Docker, CrowdSec, sane security defaults
- 🛡️ Optional VPN routing (gluetun) for any app
- 🖥️ A web dashboard to install, configure, back up, and monitor everything
Quick start
curl -fsSL https://get.libreportal.org/install.sh | sudo bash
This installs a versioned, checksum-verified release (Debian/Ubuntu, root). Put
data on separate disks with --system-dir= / --containers-dir= / --backups-dir=.
The
get.libreportal.orghost is still being set up — until it's live, build a release and install from it locally (see the docs below).
Documentation
- docs/guide/install-and-use.md — install, place data on separate disks/drives, update, back up, uninstall.
- docs/contributing/development.md — run a dev copy, cut stable/edge releases, and test them before publishing.
LibrePortal Connect (optional)
Self-hosting is free and complete. If you'd rather not fiddle with the tricky parts — like reaching your server from your phone, or keeping off-site backups — LibrePortal Connect will handle them for you. Here's the catch that makes us different: we work like a courier carrying a sealed box. We move your data between your devices and store backup copies, but it stays locked and you hold the only key — we can't open it, and we never run your apps for you. Everything we offer, you can also set up yourself for free. Our Promise spells out exactly where that line sits.
Contributing
PRs welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. We use a lightweight
DCO sign-off (git commit -s), no CLA.
Acknowledgments
LibrePortal has been built from scratch since 2023. Its spark of inspiration
was a small installer script from Brian McGonagill (OpenSourceIsAwesome):
gitlab.com/bmcgonag/docker_installs.
From that seed it grew start to finish — refined, extended, and refactored
into the platform it is today.
License
GNU AGPLv3. What's open stays open.