BSD Cafe Wiki

syntax - created - external edit

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-07-14T13:04:45+00:00

Formatting Syntax

DokuWiki supports some simple markup language, which tries to make the datafiles to be as readable as possible. This page contains all possible syntax you may use when editing the pages. Simply have a look at the source of this page by pressing “Edit this page”. If you want to try something, just use the playground page. The simpler markup is easily accessible via quickbuttons, too.

Basic Text Formatting

DokuWiki supports bold, italic, underlined and monospaced texts. Of course you can combine all these.

DokuWiki supports **bold**, //italic//, __underlined__ and ''monospaced'' texts.
Of course you can **__//''combine''//__** all these.

Note that the formatting markers have to directly enclose the text, so ** bold ** with spaces inside the markers will not be formatted.

You can use _subscript and ^superscript, too.

You can use <sub>subscript</sub> and <sup>superscript</sup>, too.

You can mark something as ~~deleted~~ as well.

You can mark something as <del>deleted</del> as well.

Paragraphs are created from blank lines. If you want to force a newline without a paragraph, you can use two backslashes followed by a whitespace or the end of line.

This is some text with some linebreaks
Note that the two backslashes are only recognized at the end of a line
or followed by
a whitespace \\this happens without it.

This is some text with some linebreaks\\ Note that the
two backslashes are only recognized at the end of a line\\
or followed by\\ a whitespace \\this happens without it.

You should use forced newlines only if really needed.

Links

DokuWiki supports multiple ways of creating links.

External

External links are recognized automagically: http://www.google.com or simply www.google.com - You can set the link text as well: This Link points to google. Email addresses like this one: andi@splitbrain.org are recognized, too.

DokuWiki supports multiple ways of creating links. External links are recognized
automagically: http://www.google.com or simply www.google.com - You can set
link text as well: [[http://www.google.com|This Link points to google]]. Email
addresses like this one: <andi@splitbrain.org> are recognized, too.

Internal

Internal links are created by using square brackets. You can either just give a pagename or use an additional link text.

Internal links are created by using square brackets. You can either just give
a [[pagename]] or use an additional [[pagename|link text]].

Wiki pagenames are converted to lowercase automatically, special characters are not allowed.

You can use namespaces by using a colon in the pagename.

You can use [[some:namespaces]] by using a colon in the pagename.

For details about namespaces see namespaces.

Linking to a specific section is possible, too. Just add the section name behind a hash character as known from HTML. This links to this Section.

This links to [[syntax#internal|this Section]].

Notes:

Links to existing pages are shown in a different style from nonexisting ones.
DokuWiki does not use CamelCase to automatically create links by default, but this behavior can be enabled in the config file. Hint: If DokuWiki is a link, then it's enabled.
When a section's heading is changed, its bookmark changes, too. So don't rely on section linking too much.

Interwiki

DokuWiki supports Interwiki links. These are quick links to other Wikis. For example this is a link to Wikipedia's page about Wikis: Wiki.

DokuWiki supports [[doku>Interwiki]] links. These are quick links to other Wikis.
For example this is a link to Wikipedia's page about Wikis: [[wp>Wiki]].

Windows Shares

Windows shares like this are recognized, too. Please note that these only make sense in a homogeneous user group like a corporate Intranet.

Windows Shares like [[\\server\share|this]] are recognized, too.

Notes:

For security reasons direct browsing of windows shares only works in Microsoft Internet Explorer per default (and only in the “local zone”).
For Mozilla and Firefox it can be enabled through different workaround mentioned in the Mozilla Knowledge Base. However, there will still be a JavaScript warning about trying to open a Windows Share. To remove this warning (for all users), put the following line in conf/lang/en/lang.php (more details at localization):
conf/lang/en/lang.php
```
<?php
/**
 * Customization of the english language file
 * Copy only the strings that needs to be modified
 */
$lang['js']['nosmblinks'] = '';
```

Image Links

You can also use an image to link to another internal or external page by combining the syntax for links and images (see below) like this:

[[http://php.net|{{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png}}]]

Please note: The image formatting is the only formatting syntax accepted in link names.

The whole image and link syntax is supported (including image resizing, internal and external images and URLs and interwiki links).

Footnotes

You can add footnotes ¹⁾ by using double parentheses.

You can add footnotes ((This is a footnote)) by using double parentheses.

Sectioning

You can use up to five different levels of headlines to structure your content. If you have more than three headlines, a table of contents is generated automatically – this can be disabled by including the string ~~NOTOC~~ in the document.

Headline Level 3

Headline Level 4

Headline Level 5

==== Headline Level 3 ====
=== Headline Level 4 ===
== Headline Level 5 ==

By using four or more dashes, you can make a horizontal line:

Media Files

You can include external and internal images, videos and audio files with curly brackets. Optionally you can specify the size of them.

Real size:

Resize to given width:

Resize to given width and height²⁾:

Resized external image:

Real size:                        {{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png}}
Resize to given width:            {{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png?50}}
Resize to given width and height: {{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png?200x50}}
Resized external image:           {{https://www.php.net/images/php.gif?200x50}}

By using left or right whitespaces you can choose the alignment.

{{ wiki:dokuwiki-128.png}}
{{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png }}
{{ wiki:dokuwiki-128.png }}

You can also set the alignment explicitly with a ?left, ?right or ?center parameter. This takes precedence over the whitespace alignment above and can be combined with a size.

{{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png?100&right}}

Of course, you can add a title (displayed as a tooltip by most browsers), too.

{{ wiki:dokuwiki-128.png |This is the caption}}

For linking an image to another page see Image Links above.

Supported Media Formats

DokuWiki can embed the following media formats directly.

Image	`gif`, `jpg`, `png`
Video	`webm`, `ogv`, `mp4`
Audio	`ogg`, `mp3`, `wav`
Flash	`swf`

If you specify a filename that is not a supported media format, then it will be displayed as a link instead.

By adding ?linkonly you provide a link to the media without displaying it inline

{{wiki:dokuwiki-128.png?linkonly}}

dokuwiki-128.png This is just a link to the image.

Fallback Formats

Unfortunately not all browsers understand all video and audio formats. To mitigate the problem, you can upload your file in different formats for maximum browser compatibility.

For example consider this embedded mp4 video:

{{video.mp4|A funny video}}

When you upload a video.webm and video.ogv next to the referenced video.mp4, DokuWiki will automatically add them as alternatives so that one of the three files is understood by your browser.

Additionally DokuWiki supports a “poster” image which will be shown before the video has started. That image needs to have the same filename as the video and be either a jpg or png file. In the example above a video.jpg file would work.

Lists

Dokuwiki supports ordered and unordered lists. To create a list item, indent your text by two spaces and use a * for unordered lists or a - for ordered ones.

This is a list
The second item
- You may have different levels
Another item

The same list but ordered
Another item
1. Just use indention for deeper levels
That's it

  * This is a list
  * The second item
    * You may have different levels
  * Another item

  - The same list but ordered
  - Another item
    - Just use indention for deeper levels
  - That's it

Also take a look at the FAQ on list items.

Text Conversions

DokuWiki can convert certain pre-defined characters or strings into images or other text or HTML.

The text to image conversion is mainly done for smileys. And the text to HTML conversion is used for typography replacements, but can be configured to use other HTML as well.

Text to Image Conversions

DokuWiki converts commonly used emoticons to their graphical equivalents. Those Smileys and other images can be configured and extended. Here is an overview of Smileys included in DokuWiki:

8-)
8-O
:-(
:-)
=)
:-/
:-\
:-?
:-D
:-P
:-O
:-X
:-|
;-)
^_^
m(
:?:
:!:
LOL
FIXME
DELETEME

Text to HTML Conversions

Typography: DokuWiki can convert simple text characters to their typographically correct entities. Here is an example of recognized characters.

→ ← ↔ ⇒ ⇐ ⇔ » « – — 640×480 © ™ ® “He thought 'It's a man's world'…”

-> <- <-> => <= <=> >> << -- --- 640x480 (c) (tm) (r)
"He thought 'It's a man's world'..."

The same can be done to produce any kind of HTML, it just needs to be added to the pattern file.

There are three exceptions which do not come from that pattern file: multiplication entity (640×480), 'single' and “double quotes”. They can be turned off through a config option.

Quoting

Some times you want to mark some text to show it's a reply or comment. You can use the following syntax:

I think we should do it

> No we shouldn't

>> Well, I say we should

> Really?

>> Yes!

>>> Then lets do it!

I think we should do it

No we shouldn't

Well, I say we should

Really?

Yes!

Then lets do it!

Tables

DokuWiki supports a simple syntax to create tables.

Heading 1	Heading 2	Heading 3
Row 1 Col 1	Row 1 Col 2	Row 1 Col 3
Row 2 Col 1	some colspan (note the double pipe)
Row 3 Col 1	Row 3 Col 2	Row 3 Col 3

Table rows have to start and end with a | for normal rows or a ^ for headers.

^ Heading 1      ^ Heading 2       ^ Heading 3          ^
| Row 1 Col 1    | Row 1 Col 2     | Row 1 Col 3        |
| Row 2 Col 1    | some colspan (note the double pipe) ||
| Row 3 Col 1    | Row 3 Col 2     | Row 3 Col 3        |

To connect cells horizontally, just make the next cell completely empty as shown above. Be sure to have always the same amount of cell separators!

Vertical tableheaders are possible, too.

	Heading 1	Heading 2
Heading 3	Row 1 Col 2	Row 1 Col 3
Heading 4	no colspan this time
Heading 5	Row 2 Col 2	Row 2 Col 3

As you can see, it's the cell separator before a cell which decides about the formatting:

|              ^ Heading 1            ^ Heading 2          ^
^ Heading 3    | Row 1 Col 2          | Row 1 Col 3        |
^ Heading 4    | no colspan this time |                    |
^ Heading 5    | Row 2 Col 2          | Row 2 Col 3        |

You can have rowspans (vertically connected cells) by adding ::: into the cells below the one to which they should connect.

Heading 1	Heading 2	Heading 3
Row 1 Col 1	this cell spans vertically	Row 1 Col 3
Row 2 Col 1		Row 2 Col 3
Row 3 Col 1		Row 2 Col 3

Apart from the rowspan syntax those cells should not contain anything else.

^ Heading 1      ^ Heading 2                  ^ Heading 3          ^
| Row 1 Col 1    | this cell spans vertically | Row 1 Col 3        |
| Row 2 Col 1    | :::                        | Row 2 Col 3        |
| Row 3 Col 1    | :::                        | Row 2 Col 3        |

You can align the table contents, too. Just add at least two whitespaces at the opposite end of your text: Add two spaces on the left to align right, two spaces on the right to align left and two spaces at least at both ends for centered text.

Table with alignment
right	center	left
left	right	center
xxxxxxxxxxxx	xxxxxxxxxxxx	xxxxxxxxxxxx

This is how it looks in the source:

^           Table with alignment           ^^^
|         right|    center    |left          |
|left          |         right|    center    |
| xxxxxxxxxxxx | xxxxxxxxxxxx | xxxxxxxxxxxx |

Note: Vertical alignment is not supported.

No Formatting

If you need to display text exactly like it is typed (without any formatting), enclose the area either with <nowiki> tags or even simpler, with double percent signs %%.

This is some text which contains addresses like this: http://www.splitbrain.org and **formatting**, but nothing is done with it. The same is true for //__this__ text// with a smiley ;-).

<nowiki>
This is some text which contains addresses like this: http://www.splitbrain.org and **formatting**, but nothing is done with it.
</nowiki>
The same is true for %%//__this__ text// with a smiley ;-)%%.

Code Blocks

You can include code blocks into your documents by either indenting them by at least two spaces (like used for the previous examples) or by using the tags <code> or <file>.

This is text is indented by two spaces.

This is preformatted code all spaces are preserved: like              <-this

This is pretty much the same, but you could use it to show that you quoted a file.

Those blocks were created by this source:

  This is text is indented by two spaces.

<code>
This is preformatted code all spaces are preserved: like              <-this
</code>

<file>
This is pretty much the same, but you could use it to show that you quoted a file.
</file>

Syntax Highlighting

DokuWiki can highlight sourcecode, which makes it easier to read. It uses the GeSHi Generic Syntax Highlighter – so any language supported by GeSHi is supported. The syntax uses the same code and file blocks described in the previous section, but this time the name of the language syntax to be highlighted is included inside the tag, e.g. <code java> or <file java>.

/**
 * The HelloWorldApp class implements an application that
 * simply displays "Hello World!" to the standard output.
 */
class HelloWorldApp {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!"); //Display the string.
    }
}

The following language strings are currently recognized: 4cs 6502acme 6502kickass 6502tasm 68000devpac abap actionscript3 actionscript ada aimms algol68 apache applescript apt_sources arm asm asp asymptote autoconf autohotkey autoit avisynth awk bascomavr bash basic4gl batch bf biblatex bibtex blitzbasic bnf boo caddcl cadlisp ceylon cfdg cfm chaiscript chapel cil c_loadrunner clojure c_mac cmake cobol coffeescript c cpp cpp-qt cpp-winapi csharp css cuesheet c_winapi dart dcl dcpu16 dcs delphi diff div dos dot d ecmascript eiffel email epc e erlang euphoria ezt f1 falcon fo fortran freebasic freeswitch fsharp gambas gdb genero genie gettext glsl gml gnuplot go groovy gwbasic haskell haxe hicest hq9plus html html4strict html5 icon idl ini inno intercal io ispfpanel java5 java javascript jcl j jquery julia kixtart klonec klonecpp kotlin latex lb ldif lisp llvm locobasic logtalk lolcode lotusformulas lotusscript lscript lsl2 lua m68k magiksf make mapbasic mathematica matlab mercury metapost mirc mk-61 mmix modula2 modula3 mpasm mxml mysql nagios netrexx newlisp nginx nimrod nsis oberon2 objc objeck ocaml-brief ocaml octave oobas oorexx oracle11 oracle8 oxygene oz parasail parigp pascal pcre perl6 perl per pf phix php-brief php pic16 pike pixelbender pli plsql postgresql postscript povray powerbuilder powershell proftpd progress prolog properties providex purebasic pycon pys60 python qbasic qml q racket rails rbs rebol reg rexx robots roff rpmspec rsplus ruby rust sas sass scala scheme scilab scl sdlbasic smalltalk smarty spark sparql sql sshconfig standardml stonescript swift systemverilog tclegg tcl teraterm texgraph text thinbasic tsql twig typoscript unicon upc urbi uscript vala vbnet vb vbscript vedit verilog vhdl vim visualfoxpro visualprolog whitespace whois winbatch wolfram xbasic xml xojo xorg_conf xpp yaml z80 zxbasic

There are additional advanced options available for syntax highlighting, such as highlighting lines or adding line numbers.

Downloadable Code Blocks

When you use the <code> or <file> syntax as above, you might want to make the shown code available for download as well. You can do this by specifying a file name after language code like this:

<file php myexample.php>
<?php echo "hello world!"; ?>
</file>

myexample.php

<?php echo "hello world!"; ?>

If you don't want any highlighting but want a downloadable file, specify a dash (-) as the language code: <code - myfile.foo>.

RSS/ATOM Feed Aggregation

DokuWiki can integrate data from external XML feeds. For parsing the XML feeds, SimplePie is used. All formats understood by SimplePie can be used in DokuWiki as well. You can influence the rendering by multiple additional space separated parameters:

Parameter	Description
any number	will be used as maximum number items to show, defaults to 8
reverse	display the last items in the feed first
author	show item authors names
date	show item dates
description	show the item description. All HTML tags will be stripped
nosort	do not sort the items in the feed
n[dhm]	refresh period, where d=days, h=hours, m=minutes. (e.g. 12h = 12 hours).

The refresh period defaults to 4 hours. Any value below 10 minutes will be treated as 10 minutes. DokuWiki will generally try to supply a cached version of a page, obviously this is inappropriate when the page contains dynamic external content. The parameter tells DokuWiki to re-render the page if it is more than refresh period since the page was last rendered.

By default the feed will be sorted by date, newest items first. You can sort it by oldest first using the reverse parameter, or display the feed as is with nosort.

Example:

{{rss>http://slashdot.org/index.rss 5 author date 1h }}

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/07/14/2116245/openais-first-device-will-be-moveable-screenless-speaker-built-as-ai-companion?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed by BeauHD (2026/07/14 23:00)
Google Images Gets a Pinterest-Like Redesign Focused On Discovery by BeauHD (2026/07/14 22:00)
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/07/14/2054236/lawsuit-claims-metas-layoff-decisions-were-made-by-ai-not-humans?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed by BeauHD (2026/07/14 21:00)
Google DeepMind Calls For US To Spearhead AI Standards Body by BeauHD (2026/07/14 20:00)
https://linux.slashdot.org/story/26/07/14/1853255/linux-foundations-latest-foray-is-to-standardize-internet-native-payments-for-ai-agents?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed by BeauHD (2026/07/14 19:00)

Control Macros

Some syntax influences how DokuWiki renders a page without creating any output it self. The following control macros are availble:

Macro	Description
~~NOTOC~~	If this macro is found on the page, no table of contents will be created
~~NOCACHE~~	DokuWiki caches all output by default. Sometimes this might not be wanted (eg. when the <php> syntax above is used), adding this macro will force DokuWiki to rerender a page on every call

Syntax Plugins

DokuWiki's syntax can be extended by Plugins. How the installed plugins are used is described on their appropriate description pages. The following syntax plugins are available in this particular DokuWiki installation:

ckgedit 2023-07-27 by Myron Turner
WYSIWYG plugin for Dokuwiki
Info Plugin 2020-06-04 by Andreas Gohr
Displays information about various DokuWiki internals

¹⁾

This is a footnote

²⁾

when the aspect ratio of the given width and height doesn't match that of the image, it will be cropped to the new ratio before resizing

amaran7e - Automatic creation by User Homepage plugin

amaran7e (amaran7e@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-06-18T15:48:03+00:00

Amarante (amaran7e) - Public Page

This public page user:amaran7e.txt, as stated by it's name, can be read by anyone but only you can edit it (or a superuser)…

You can introduce yourself, add links to your contributions in this wiki, tell a story or present your other works
Think about netiquette

Limitations:

You shouldn't create any other page in that namespace user:amaran7e
Only a superuser can add a picture

Feel free to remove this paragraph (beside the title)…
Now, write something!

colesmt70 - Automatic creation by User Homepage plugin

colesmt70 (colesmt70@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-06-14T00:56:14+00:00

Gert (colesmt70) - Public Page

This public page user:colesmt70.txt, as stated by it's name, can be read by anyone but only you can edit it (or a superuser)…

You can introduce yourself, add links to your contributions in this wiki, tell a story or present your other works
Think about netiquette

Limitations:

You shouldn't create any other page in that namespace user:colesmt70
Only a superuser can add a picture

Feel free to remove this paragraph (beside the title)…
Now, write something!

start

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-06-06T18:36:55+00:00

Welcome to the BSD Cafe!

We’re excited to serve you the best flavors of BSD, including FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and DragonflyBSD.

But if you prefer Linux, you’re welcome here too!

Our Services

Here are a few services we're working on recently:

Fediverse, Social and Communication Services

https://mastodon.bsd.cafe - up & running
https://snac.bsd.cafe - up & running, sign up and more instructions here
~~https://blendit.bsd.cafe~~ - the service has been terminated on 1st May 2026
https://billboard.bsd.cafe - up & running
https://matrix.bsd.cafe - up & running, sign up and more instructions here
https://chatmail.bsd.cafe - up & running

Documentation, Information, and RSS Services

https://journal.bsd.cafe - The BSD Cafe Journal - Multi-author news, articles, tutorials, and insights about the BSD and open source world.
https://wiki.bsd.cafe - working on it - running
https://miniflux.bsd.cafe - RSS Reader - up & running, sign up and more instructions here
https://freshrss.bsd.cafe - RSS Reader - up & running, sign up and more instructions here
https://press.bsd.cafe - Wallabag, save your web articles and allows you to read them later - up & running

Coding

https://brew.bsd.cafe - Git server, powered by Forgejo - up & running

myip.bsd.cafe - check your own ip (v4 and v6) via http, https, ssh or telnet - up & running
ntfy.bsd.cafe - ntfy server

Future ideas

Service Requests - you can request a service and keep track of the other users' requests
More to come…

More details and technical details about how we create and manages services can be found here

Our Contents

The BSD Cafe is more than just a community; it's a repository of knowledge and experience shared by BSD enthusiasts. Dive into our namespaces to discover, learn, and contribute.

Docs

Read the docs that our users will produce or link, and learn more about the BSD-related world! → Explore Docs

Reviews

Discover in-depth reviews of BSD-related software and hardware, including detailed discussions on hardware compatibility. Our community shares their real-world experiences with various setups to help you understand what works best with BSD. Whether you're building a new system or optimizing an existing one, these insights can guide your decisions. → Explore Reviews

Tutorials

Whether you're new to BSD or a seasoned sysadmin, our 'Tutorials' namespace offers step-by-step guides to enhance your BSD mastery. From basic setup to advanced tweaks, there's something for everyone. → Start Learning

Users

The 'Users' namespace is the vibrant core of our BSD community. Each member has a public profile page to showcase their BSD journey and a private space for personal drafts and notes. It's a place where BSD users from around the globe can share profiles, experiences, and personal projects. Dive into the collaborative spirit and contribute to our shared knowledge in the public namespaces. → Learn About User Spaces

Our Meetings

Looking to unwind and chat with fellow BSD enthusiasts in a relaxed atmosphere? Look no further! Our weekly meet-up offers the perfect opportunity to kick back, grab a virtual pint, and dive into all things BSD. The BSD Pub is the late time version of the BSD Cafe where we can have a relaxing athmosphere in the evening - just like sitting in the pub and chatting to random people about anything.

Meet the Barista

Meet Stefano Marinelli, the Founder, System Administrator, and guiding spirit of BSD Cafe. Discover more about the 'Barista' of our community!

Offer a Coffee at BSD Cafe

By supporting BSD Cafe, you're not just contributing to a platform; you're nurturing a vibrant community. Your generosity helps us sustain and enhance our services, ensuring that BSD enthusiasts worldwide have a welcoming and supportive home.

You can use both Ko-fi or Liberapay: BSD Cafe Ko-fi page and BSD Cafe Liberapay page

Over the past few months, some people have asked whether it would be possible to donate something to BSD Cafe using crypto. As an experiment, we opened a Monero wallet to see how it goes. If anyone would like to make a donation in Monero, the address is: 82ZTWAe5njHMng5g4c1x3hDs1X552q9yobiJtsbo8R3mcUzx3gBfqxciqZ3kkjZ8reMnFEN9nRvw4467eoknsFmbFe9DJm7

Stay Informed with Our Service Status

To ensure you're always in the loop regarding our service availability and any ongoing issues, feel free to visit our Status Page.

Here, you'll find real-time updates and historical data regarding the uptime and performance of all our platforms and services.

We're committed to transparency and swift communication to ensure your experience with BSD Cafe remains seamless and reliable.

bsdcafe-technical-details

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-06-05T17:52:14+00:00

BSD Cafe - Technical Details

Currently, the infrastructure of BSD Cafe relies entirely on FreeBSD, with both IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity.

The base setup is divided into jails:

A dedicated jail hosts Nginx, serving as a reverse proxy. It manages certificates and directs traffic. This is also serving the https://element.bsd.cafe Matrix web client
Another jail contains a small ~~OpenSMTPD~~ Postfix server, handling email dispatch internally to avoid external service reliance.

The https://mastodon.bsd.cafe instance is structured as follows:

A jail holds Valkey, essential for communication among Mastodon services - the nervous system of BSD Cafe.
Another jail runs Valkey for the Mastodon cache
Another jail runs PostgreSQL, serving as the database - the memory of BSD Cafe.
There's a separate jail designated for media storage, acting as the 'multimedia memory' of BSD Cafe. This jail resides on an external server with rotating disks ~~behind Cloudflare~~. There are reverse proxies located in various parts of the world that receive and cache requests, serving them from the nearest server. The goal is to use georeplicated caching of multimedia data to reduce bandwidth consumption. The selection of reverse proxies is handled at the DNS level through a PowerDNS LUA script. More details have been documented here: Building a Self-Hosted CDN for BSD Cafe Media
Two jails host the Mastodon application itself, including sidekiq, puma, and streaming components. This is where all processing and connection management occur. They're running in different hosts and are both providing some sidekiq queues and one of the two is set as a backup puma and streaming server when the first one (more powerful) is down. This is useful when updating, to avoid downtime.

https://wiki.bsd.cafe is confined within a single jail and runs the nginx, php and (of course) the DokuWiki CMS.

https://journal.bsd.cafe is a FreeBSD jail running MariaDB, Apache, php - for Wordpress

https://miniflux.bsd.cafe is structured similarly, contained within a single jail, housing both the Miniflux software and PostgreSQL. In this case, we utilize a local installation.

https://freshrss.bsd.cafe is a single jail service, housing both the FreshRSS stack (Apache and PHP) and PostgreSQL.

https://matrix.bsd.cafe is structured similarly, contained within a single jail, housing both the Synapse software, PostgreSQL and the Whatsapp bridge. In this case, we utilize a local installation.

https://chatmail.bsd.cafe is a Delta Chat (chatmail) relay, running inside a FreeBSD jail thanks to the great cookbook by Feld - https://github.com/feld/chatmail-cookbook

https://billboard.bsd.cafe is composed of three FreeBSD jails: one for Redis, one for PostgreSQL and one for NodeBB

https://blendit.bsd.cafe is composed of two FreeBSD jails: one for PostgreSQL, and the other contains the rest (the frontend in Node and the backend in Rust).

https://press.bsd.cafe is a FreeBSD jail running all the stack for Wallabag: nginx, php, postgresql, valkey.

https://brew.bsd.cafe is a FreeBSD jail running PostgreSQL, KeyDB and Forgejo.

https://snac.bsd.cafe is a FreeBSD jail running Snac2. Only a few strict Snac2 dependencies have been installed.

https://ntfy.bsd.cafe is a FreeBSD jail running ntfy, compiled for FreeBSD

https://status.bsd.cafe is a FreeBSD jail running Uptime Kuma. This will monitor the other services' reachability and lives in an external VPS.

All communication takes place through a Wireguard routed setup. More details here: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2024/08/01/evolving-bsd-cafe-from-bridging-to-routing/

Some network statistics are available at https://netstats.bsd.cafe

Backups are systematically generated via ZFS snapshots and externally replicated across two distinct machines located in separate data centers, different from the production VPS data center.

thezerobit

thezerobit (thezerobit@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-05-31T03:51:23+00:00

Hi, you can find me on the fediverse: @thezerobit@anticapitalist.party

I'm a programmer and long time Linux user, transitioning desktop and servers to the BSDs.

I'm running GhostBSD on my Thinkpad T580 laptop and learning about FreeBSD system administration for the purpose of running my own servers and building a children's museum interactive audio synthesis installation. Interests: games (classic Doom, nethack, retro consoles), programming (C, Lisp, whatever), subtractive synthesis.

I don't use LLM-based “AI” technology.

You can contact me via email: (my user name here) @ posteo.com.

thezerobit (thezerobit) - Public Hi

okorzec - Automatic creation by User Homepage plugin

okorzec (okorzec@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-05-28T12:32:58+00:00

Wojciech Pater (okorzec) - Public Page

This public page user:okorzec.txt, as stated by it's name, can be read by anyone but only you can edit it (or a superuser)…

You can introduce yourself, add links to your contributions in this wiki, tell a story or present your other works
Think about netiquette

Limitations:

You shouldn't create any other page in that namespace user:okorzec
Only a superuser can add a picture

Feel free to remove this paragraph (beside the title)…
Now, write something!

shadi - Automatic creation by User Homepage plugin

shadi (shadi@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-05-27T04:48:38+00:00

Shadi (shadi) - Public Page

This public page user:shadi.txt, as stated by it's name, can be read by anyone but only you can edit it (or a superuser)…

You can introduce yourself, add links to your contributions in this wiki, tell a story or present your other works
Think about netiquette

Limitations:

You shouldn't create any other page in that namespace user:shadi
Only a superuser can add a picture

Feel free to remove this paragraph (beside the title)…
Now, write something!

grahamperrin

grahamperrin (grahamperrin@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-05-25T17:09:49+00:00

Graham Perrin (grahamperrin)

Until new year's eve 2024, I had two cats – Bill and Pickle. Bill was maybe nineteen years old when I said goodbye to him on 31st December 2024. My first two cats were named Cat, one of them lived happily until the age of twenty-one.

Crushingly dull obligatory tech history follows. Former Mac user (1992–2014; AppleSeed programme member 2009–2014). The GUI of OS X 10.10 Yosemite drove me away from Apple. I gradually switched from OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks to PC-BSD. Then TrueOS, then FreeBSD-CURRENT. In the midst of all that, something with FreeBSD in September 2012 … probably toying with 9.0 on a PowerPC iMac with failing graphics hardware. Not because I was a glutton for punishment (like, the horror of a command-line loader, and the certainty that hardware was failing) – because there was nothing good to be done with the Mac, and I was curious about non-Apple alternatives to Microsoft Windows.

Essentially:

KDE Plasma on FreeBSD-CURRENT since around 2015
Kubuntu since mid-2025.

I try to take a conscientious approach to security issues. CVD, responsible disclosure, and all that. CVE-2009-0014 et cetera.

Bill and Pickle were largely responsible for discovery of a security issue that involved a comedy of errors, and eventual discovery of an old “fixed” bug that's not truly fixed for many users of FreeBSD. Whilst I can't draw attention to the public comedy (it's not entirely amusing), here's a two-point overview:

https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/@grahamperrin/111377465852217006
https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/@grahamperrin/111421799789564704 explaining the cats' role in discovery.

Sidestep away from the cats. To me, and where I hang out:

I'm dyslexic, reportedly. It probably doesn't show in my writing. Long story.

Avatar in places such as Codeberg: from the cover of the 1970 edition of// The Worlds of Frank Herbert// (credit: Jan Parker). If you're vaguely disconcerted by detached heads and shoulders in a serene alien landscape, you should tremble in fear at the detached head sometimes encountered by people like me on planet Earth.

Mugshot in places such as GitLab: from a 2018 holiday in Greece.

Avatar in places such as GitHub and BSD Cafe: a bunny rabbit. Partly because it's less confusing than a 1970 vision of a faraway planet, but more because:

bunny rabbits.

Think about them. Think: bunny rabbits. Feel better? I do.

Footnote: bunny rabbits tried valiantly, ultimately failed, to spread happiness at the Forums.

I joined in 2012, quit in June 2022, rejoined in October 2023. All profiles, including mine, are hidden from the public. The May 2024 transformation – from Graham Perrin to Cath O'Deray – was:

largely for giggles (avatar: a cathode ray tube) whilst continuing to provide technical support – with screenshots, as one might expect from a CRT TV screen
harmonious with whims of the intolerant, narrow-minded ignoramus clique that insists upon “The Power To Serve” without the modernity of serving links to a twenty-first century Internet that exists beyond The FreeBSD Forums.

Readers with a sense of humour might note that Cath's primary occupation was Tube. Her secondary occupation, not divulged during her time there: Statistical Analyst – a five-month contract, which involved removal of a few hundred links to the Internet. (She didn't pay attention to all 8,000+ comments, only the subset that was found through normal web browsing.) Conclusion:

links to the FreeBSD subreddit – one of the clique's irrational obsessions – formed less than 0.005% of what's now gone.

Analyses complete, I quit, for the second time, in October 2024 – https://forums.freebsd.org/tags/absence/. I suppose that mean-minded bloodsuckers will continue to infect the place – I'm thankful that those emotionally ugly suckers are so miniscule a part of the community, but more thankful that I quit before they bled me dry.

chrism

chrism (chrism@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-05-24T10:06:18+00:00

Chris Medlock (chrism) - Public Page

Hello there!

I am a retired Systems Engineer.

Graduated with an honours degree (BSc) in Operational Research & Computing, I spent most of my working life in IT (financial sector and later with an ISP).

Currently live in Bangkok with my lovely wife, a 5 year-old nephew, and an adopted black Soi cat.

I like backgammon, and I like flying the Slingsby T67M
I like the smell of watercolour painting
But what I like more than all of these
Is to be on FreeBSD.

Oh - I like slide rules too - but it didn’t fit the tune “On Horseback” by Mike Oldfield.

Systems:-

Laptop - FreeBSD + EMWM (Enhanced Motif Windows Manager) - main workhorse, and trusty machine!
Desktops - FreeBSD + i3
Home server - FreeBSD + Bhyve for VMs
Playground/lab - Arduino, Raspberry Pi

Yes, I like FreeBSD!

Special thanks to the bsd.cafe team in allowing me here.

—

Thank you to my lovely wife. Who, despite the years, still “puts-up” with me, and, without whom, I would be totally lost!

anton - removed

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-05-10T08:22:45+00:00

Anton McClure (anton) - Public Page

This public page user:anton.txt, as stated by it's name, can be read by anyone but only you can edit it (or a superuser)…

You can introduce yourself, add links to your contributions in this wiki, tell a story or present your other works
Think about netiquette

Limitations:

You shouldn't create any other page in that namespace user:anton
Only a superuser can add a picture

Feel free to remove this paragraph (beside the title)…
Now, write something!

bsdcafe_logo.png - created

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-05-12T10:35:28+00:00

favicon.ico - created

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-11-06T19:58:16+00:00

bsdcafe_banner_avg.jpeg - created

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-11-06T09:44:23+00:00

logo.png - created

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-11-06T09:31:01+00:00

logo.png - created

stefano (stefano@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-11-06T09:29:03+00:00