One of the best pieces of self-hosted software ever to exist.
Edit: This is Immich! for the folks who don’t know.
I got the supporter for free, because I donated to them before they joined FUTO. I donate frequently to opensource projects. This is a good way to say thanks to the devs 😊
Even small donations are fine, so please donate to projects you enjoy 👍🏻
I didn’t know they were giving supporter status to people who donated before they joined FUTO
You needed to connect your Github account once, the app checked if you donated, then you got the supporter status
Seriously everyone pushes Immich so hard I’m a little suspicious of it now :D
Edit: all right, all right, I installed it. It has a thing about not uploading all the pictures I give it, some error out. I have a feeling it is due to the library being on a NAS share.
83k Github stars in under 4 years is definitely indicative of an excellent project
Github stars are indicative of nothing
They are indicative of something. That something is just not always “this project is good”.
The fediverse is small and the Immich dev is one of our own, not surprising that it’s super popular
It’s crazy good for something FREE. Like infinitely better than any major crop google apple etc because you KEEP your photos. Anything you upload to the cloud is being mined by them.
The only thing I tell people is that you need a cloud backup.
I have an automated nightly worker that zips all my photos encrypts them with a 32 character password and then uploads it to a bulk storage facility.
Shhhh! No one can no we are all being played by the immich overlords.
What is it and what does it do?
Immich: Image Backup* solution — like Google Photos or Ente Photos but self-hosted.
*Backup in the sense of uploading your photos to a server you own. You should backup the database as well as your library with 3-2-1 method.
Ente is also open source and can be self-hosted.
What 2 different media types are you using for the “2” part?
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Short: It is a second Hardrive using borg that backs up the primary Hardrive.
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Long: My Backup strategy:-
Databases and other imp files:
For databases the backup happens every night that gets saved on the server itself. Then when my laptop connects either to the home network or to the Internet, the backup zip files on my server syncs to my laptop via syncthing. Then my laptop’s data is backed up to OneDrive (encrypted) — this includes the immich database backups. I usually keep 7 days worth of backup files just incase some get corrupted and I can just go back to the previous day.
Library
Since my Immich Library is big, daily borg backups are not possible for 200 gigs. So I have scheduled them every Sunday morning when I rarely use the server. The hardrive is exclusively used only for Immich. That hardrive is then backed up to another hardrive using borg and also to my OneDrive using rclone. (All encrypted). So 3 copies of the data, 2 on 2 different hardives (1 is primary) and 1 offsite.
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Spinning and flash.
Why does it need to be two types? Can’t I have 2 spinning?
You put them in a safe. Safe falls down, spinning is gone.
You put them in a safe and forget about them for some time. Flash is gone, spinning still has data.
So wait, we hate FUTO but love Immich?
I don’t hate FUTO, but I distrust them.
On one hand, their operation is creepy and suspicious.
The extent of the FUTO “grant program”, at least in the case of musl libc, involved ignoring musl’s established process for institutional sponsors, quietly sending a modest one-time donation to one maintainer, and then plastering the logo of a well-respected open source project on a list of “grant recipients” on their home page. Rich eventually posted on Mastodon to clarify that the use of the musl name and logo here was unauthorized.
On the other, I like the idea of licenses that allow unrestricted private use and modification but forbid commercial exploitation. Those two situations are not equivalent. I realize this is an unpopular opinion in many FOSS circles, but we are already being exploited to death by the rich and powerful and they must not be entitled to the value of our collective free and voluntary labor. If we ever realize a society in which wealth and power is effectively capped for such entities, then I would change my tune. Until then, fuck them. Our collective software is for the collective, not for wealth hoarders and despots.
May I ask why do we hate FUTO?
they’re wearing the clothes of “open source” but they run like a proverbial nazi bar: https://drewdevault.com/2025/10/22/2025-10-22-Whats-up-with-FUTO.html
Except the person who wrote that, regardless of the actual issues with FUTO, cannot be trusted and is an unreliable source.
I really would encourage people to not treat that guy as a real source, but use it as a starting point for evaluating his sources, such as they are, on their own merits.
Yeah, I read this article twice now, and the only identifiable wrongdoing on FUTO’s part is donating to FOSS projects without using their “institutional practice”… Which is a bizarre complaint.
The article is rife with “something ain’t right at FUTO”, but fails to wrap words around that statement.
