[buboard]

> but Zulip is just a Django application.

Yet again:

> The installer expects Zulip to be the only thing running on the system; it will install system packages with apt (like nginx, postgresql, and redis) and configure them for its own use. We strongly recommend using either a fresh machine instance in a cloud provider, a fresh VM, or a dedicated machine. If you decide to disregard our advice and use a server that hosts other services, we can’t support you, but we do have some notes on issues you’ll encounter.

[fluffything]

So why is that a problem ? I expect Mozilla IAM to handle VMs just fine.

[tabbott]

Right, our recommendation is to run Zulip on a dedicated VM or container, which I'm sure is how Mozilla will install any self-hosted chat software.

For context, the background for that advice is that most folks who want Zulip to share with other systems are running a cheap "shared hosting" server with 5 different apps on it and without root access. Before we added that advice, more than 50% of requests for help installing Zulip were problems specific to that type of environment where the user wasn't going to succeed in any case (e.g. because they had an insufficient RAM quota from their hosting provider anyway).

There are reasonable use cases that would benefit from our investing in making this possible, but container technology is convenient enough in 2019 that it doesn't feel worth it over other high-value investments in making Zulip accessible to a wider audience.

[dsr_]

Mozilla is large enough that they could go over to the Zulip developers and ask nicely for what they need, and stand a good chance of getting it.

[tabbott]

I lead the Zulip project, and we would definitely have been excited to do the work to make Zulip available. Unfortunately, they didn't contact us.

After seeing this blog post, I emailed the OP yesterday offering to add whatever they need to evaluate Zulip (which sounds like is just SAML authentication work that's was already on our near-term roadmap). He replied that they're too late in their evaluation process to consider Zulip :(. I really wish they'd thought to get in touch with us about this concern.

[fluffything]

Zulip is open source, and the community is both large and very active. So at least they can open a github issue explaining the problem. And if they want to use the tool, they can just submit PRs like everybody else.

[perlgeek]

Even if it's just for a PoC with a 1/5th chance of being actually selected in the end?

[mkr-hn]

What does PoC mean in this context?

[packetlost]

I'm going to guess 'Proof of Concept'

[joepie91_]

Proof of Concept.