Is anyone successfully self-hosting Firefox Sync?

Yes, I'm running it with the mozilla/syncserver docker image[1], but still using the hosted identity service. The setup procedure is a bit fickle, the error handling on Firefox' side is quite bad, sometimes the first sync times out when you have a larger data set, and you need to manually enable each sync type to reduce the size. But once it's up and running, I don't really have any issues.

I do hope that syncstorage-rs will become usable eventually and hopefully improve performance.

Note: contrary to your post, cookies are not synced.

[1]: https://hub.docker.com/r/mozilla/syncserver

I've self-hosted the original Firefox syncserver[0] for a couple of years now. It's a now unmaintained Python 2 + gunicorn web app.

It still uses the Firefox identities service, since I haven't bothered to try setting that one up myself. That means I need a Firefox/Mozilla account even with a self-hosted sync server, which isn't ideal.

Note that Mozilla do provide a script to delete all your data from their servers[1], in case you were using Firefox sync before going self-hosted.

I originally went through the setup instructions manually. Now I've created a Nix package[2] and NixOS module for it[3], which was an adventure by itself. I can now easily reproduce the setup, which I did while migrating my webserver to a different provider.

As for why I didn't try syncstorage-rs, it's rather petty, but the old syncserver was working well for me, and it doesn't yet support SQLite.

[0] https://github.com/mozilla-services/syncserver

[1] https://github.com/mozilla-services/syncserver#removing-mozi...

[2] https://git.sr.ht/~williamvds/config/tree/master/item/nix/pk...

[3] https://git.sr.ht/~williamvds/config/tree/master/item/nix/mo...

Shameless plug: A while ago I wrote a cli for firefox sync [1] (in my case mostly to automate some stuff when I create bookmarks).

It does not really solve your problem for browser-history/credentials etc. But as long as you use a client that you verified you can be kinda sure the data is E2E encrypted and can't be read by Mozilla.

Also on a side note: To this day the weave protocol is one of the more (needlessly) complex protocols I ever implemented and I'm still not sure what problems some of the design decisions solve...

[1] github.com/mikescher/firefox-sync-client

> However, I do not want to risk storing absolutely sensitive data (browsing history, auth cookies, credentials, etc) at some third party.

FWIW Firefox says they do not have the capability to read your data: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/11/firefox-sync-privacy/

No, I used to host the previous version but when that stopped working (including the workarounds which kept it going for a bit longer) I ceased using it. While the sync server itself is not that much of an effort to get going, the auth server is. I do not use external auth services when I can avoid it so I chose to forego on using sync instead of creating a "Firefox account". If I ever find an easier way to get the auth server running and if I still use Firefox by that time I might start using it again but until that time it is a no-go.

To Mozilla: fire your overpaid activist CEO Mitchell Baker and use the resulting funds to hire (back) the developers she got rid of, clean up the mess, get rid of the social justice nonsense and take back your place as a browser development organisation instead of a 'colours of change' peddler.

I faced enough issues that I switched to the Mozilla endpoints. Problems ranged from no clear documentation for configuration, unclear resource usage, no documented method to host identity as well. My one hope was to get my data exported via SQLite for fun stuff, as an automated export. But the data format was also not well documented, so that never happened.

I self host most of my stuff for the reasons you mentioned, and that included Sync for a few years. I never got the auth part to work so I stopped trying and just used the sync server itself.

I stopped doing that after some time, it seemed too futile. Errors are hard to debug and you're on your own, plus I was not using it for passwords or CC, so it just wasn't worth it.

Why does every "Ask HN" I see come with a grey text color? Is this a stylistic thing or do people take issue with people asking questions and downvote?

I had blog about it in case you want to set i up with apache as a proxy.

Shameless plug: https://vasvir.wordpress.com/2021/03/30/firefox-sync-server-...

Yes, and I went the whole mile. I wrote a couple of comments on it previously[0][1], which at least lay out the required images for a full stack. As you can see it doesn't use the newer release but it still runs fine on latest FF. Though you probably want the new version. Can't imagine it being significantly worse to get up and running now.

TLDR: If you're OK with piggybacking on them for auth, it's straightforward, easy and lightweight. If you want to be fully self-sufficient and leak no data you need to either implement a replacement for fxa (seriously this would be appreciated and maybe less effort if you're coming in fresh) or host that whole machinery of microservices - this is where the head-scratching starts and you need some dedication for it.

I encourage other people to do it, and do go to whichever is more appropriate of the Matrix room or the GitHub Issues and engage when you hit things that are out of date, unclear, or broken.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30315816

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30727935

What other self-hosted bookmark sync solutions exist that work with Firefox (and perhaps other browsers)?

I've got a related question but about more restricted capabilities:

I'd like to sync just bookmarks without joining the "Firefox ecosystem" or any other ecosystem.

Is there some bookmark sync extension with a self hosted sync solution or that will just sync via a (service similar to) Dropbox folder?

Edit: syncing via a git repo would be fine for example :)

I found the lockwise app very useful for FF sync and have no idea why they shitcanned it.

I don't really understand how Mozilla continues to function at all as an org.

Self-hosting Firefox Sync does not work with Apple iOS-based Firefox.

Simply because the URL of Firefox Sync hosting is hardcoded into the Firefox iOS app.

Hence thwarted my zeal to self-host Firefox Sync.

Heck, there is NOTHING configurable about Firefox iOS, not even an URL config:about.

Anecdotally, I miss the days of Netscape combined with Netscape Enterprise Server. Ran it at college, and you could log in to any Netscape browser and all your bookmarks appeared. Then NES died, Netscape became Mozilla and it all went away.

I see there are bookmark sync extensions, but only bookmarks (and I didn't check if those extensions allow self hosting).

I suppose you could always run Firefox portable from a location that was Dropbox/Nextcloud/syncthing/whatever synced. Just don't run two instances at once, or the SQLite DBs will have a bad time?

Vaultwarden for Passwordsync and Wallabag for Bookmarks.

Con: no „real“ Firefox Sync - Pro: no „real“ Firefox Sync - it works on any device with any browser, data is self-hosted

I self-host syncserver in Docker, it is relatively easy to set up. The main issue is that it would not tell you that it doesn't work, instead it would silently leave a log file in your browser (about:sync-log). Once it is up and running, however, it works flawlessly. You also have to consider that syncserver is unmaintained and uses Python 2, which has long been EOL.

Maybe this article can help you decide? https://homegrowntechie.com/self-host-your-browser-data/

I was thinking about doing this with my own custom setup. Im thinking of putting the folder .mozilla into a gocryptfs encrypted folder and use syncthing to sync it between devices.

unfortunately not anymore, in the early days of firefox sync back when it was called wave it was easy to selfhost. Just throw some[1] php files to a host and it worked. Then mozilla changed it to use multiple services (auth, ...) it got difficult and the documentation wasn't easy to access.

At that time i stoped selfhosting & using it :(

[1]: https://github.com/balu-/FSyncMS

https://kmj.at/en/Setup_Firefox_Sync_standalone_or_Firefox_F...

https://send.vis.ee/

Firefox Sync uses send-to-end encryption.

So self hosting isn't as necessary.

i just copy the .mozilla folder over whenever i install a new device