PiVPN v4.6.0: The End

[solarkraft]

> "But I want and can maintain it, can I take it over?" Let me put it plain and simple: No! I don't know you, I don't trust you! Fork it and carry on!

They learned a good lesson from the liblzma situation.

[baq]

Maybe. ‘Fork it’ means a bad actor can… fork it and advertise as a successor.

[nickjj]

This really goes to show you how valuable a good experience / API is.

PiVPN is so easy to use. You run 1 command and pass in the name of the config to generate and you're done. Now you can take that config and use it client side.

I've used it on Debian servers (not a Raspberry Pi) and it's been flawless to onboard a bunch of folks into using a VPN (work related).

IMO there's no way this project will fail, someone will fork it.

[FerretFred]

That's such a shame - I've used PiVPN many times and it's just made life so straightforward. Big, BIG thanks to all involved, and you'll be missed!

[postpawl]

It’s probably better to just use the wireguard docker container setup instructions now: https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-wireguard?tab=readme-o...

[jimmyl02]

curious to hear does anyone know what the mentioned alternatives are? a super simple to use wireguard control plane is super valuable and PiVPN seemed to fit that gap perfectly

unfortunate that it's come to an end but it's nice to hear the maintainer moving on in such a positive way :)

[vundercind]

After meaning for years to spend the 2-3 hours I’d need to set up wire guard and get all my devices on it that I’d want on it (it’s a bit fiddly and time consuming, and inevitably with projects like that, there’s some dumb problem that comes up that wastes a bunch of time) I just did the free tier of Tailscale.

Server, two Apple TVs, a couple phones, a tablet, and a laptop all on it in like 15 minutes flat. With one of the Apple TVs configured to act as a gateway, too.

Should’ve just done that to begin with.

[postpawl]

Docker-wireguard: https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-wireguard?tab=readme-o...

You set the number of peers and it generates that number of folders with certificates and QR codes for you.

[Saris]

wg-easy is probably the easiest to use simple alternative I can think of.

[renk]

https://github.com/angristan/openvpn-install or if you want to be free from your distro's OpenSSL version: https://github.com/ix-ai/openvpn (recommended, just rebuild the container if it becomes outdated)

[pogue]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39953873

[Havoc]

wg-easy comes to mind

[Fnoord]

Tailscale.

[xyst]

Setting reminder to migrate rpi in closet off of pivpn.

Might just setup a nixOS arm image with wg instead

[unethical_ban]

Thanks to the maintainers of the project. It is a handy tool, a good wrapper around setting up simple wireguard quickly. And it pairs with pihole really well.

I migrated to OPNSense for my DNS and I haven't needed VPN for a little bit. But I kind of disagree that there is no place for a simple CLI tool for wireguard user management.

I was going to make a comment about how unreasonable it is to shut the project down instead of letting someone else take it over. But two things come to mind: First, yes, people can fork it and develop it on their own. Second, right after xz, maybe it would seem unwise to endorse a stranger taking over your security project.

PS: PiVPN isn't wireguard itself. Assuming WG's command line doesn't change radically for a while, PiVPN is still completely usable and people don't need to rush to get off it.

[oneplane]

This is the best way to conclude a project like this, I wish more clear cut "this is the end" choices were made. An ecosystem with zombie projects isn't healthy.

[MuffinFlavored]

> I've been giving less and less attention to PiVPN, and the desire to keep up with it is no longer what it once was.

I wonder if financial/monetary incentive would change this. I don't think it would personally (because putting a value on your free time/mental load/time you can spend with your loved ones doing something else away from the PC is precious)

On the flip side... $500/mo? $1k/mo? $5k/mo? I'm sure most projects that go "defunct" open-source-free-no-financial-incentive-thanklessly-help-build-something could probably find "motivated maintainers" for $3k/mo on average? Internationally?

Is the "capitalist" answer "this repo and all of its efforts are not worth $3k/mo to the open market"?

[stavros]

Why? I wish people would put their projects in something like https://www.codeshelter.co so anyone who's interested can maintain them, instead of just killing them.

[Hamuko]

Anyone got a recommendation for a router with Wireguard support baked in? I've been running PiVPN on a separate box but since I need a new router anyways and it's not going to be supported, that might be a viable replacement.

[logicziller]

Recently we needed a customer in a different country to be able to connect to a wireguard instance and I didn't want to deal with the support headache of walking them through the flashing process. While I was looking for devices that come with OpenWRT preinstalled, I came across FriendlyElec that looked quite decent.

Eventually we ended up building a custom Raspberry Pi image.

[opello]

Ubiquiti UDM-Pro has it, but I'm not sure how they're regarded in popular opinion these days. I've had good luck with everything but the PoE on mine, and they gave me a free injector to fix that.

[spr-alex]

You can give us a try, https://github.com/spr-networks/super, https://supernetworks.org/. Wireguard is well integrated. We also have a tailscale plugin, and more vpn plugins on the way

[Fnoord]

You can easily install Wireguard on EdgeOS (VyOS fork) 1.x and 2.x and 3.x will have it natively. The OS is kind of RIP otherwise, so I cannot recommend it, but Ubiquiti just released a new UnifiOS-based router with 5 2.5 GHz ports saturating 1.6 GHz with IDS. That, or some random AliExpress x86-64 router with OPNsense.

[gamesbrainiac]

GLiNet routers have that. So do the Asus ROG routers, but they don't have NAT acceleration.

[lazyeye]

Protectli Vault micro appliance running PFSense with the Wireguard module installed.

Perhaps overkill but have been running this for many years with zero issues. It does everything though so configuration/setup can take a bit of time.

[t0bia_s]

Mikrotik hAP ax3 or any router with RouterOS that supports wireguard natively.

[Takennickname]

Opnsense has it. Never got it to work though.

[Scipio_Afri]

Pfsense has it

[Takennickname]

Literally installed it yesterday for the first time. Damn.

[poisonborz]

Eh, I just wanted to migrate to this, a lot of threads recommend it as the best way to effortlessly set up Wireguard. WG-easy, Headscale have their own set of problems. I guess there will be forks.

[byteknight]

Shameless plug for an alternative?

> WireHole is a combination of WireGuard, Pi-hole, and Unbound in a docker-compose project with the intent of enabling users to quickly and easily create a personally managed full or split-tunnel WireGuard VPN with ad blocking capabilities thanks to Pi-hole, and DNS caching, additional privacy options, and upstream providers via Unbound.

https://github.com/IAmStoxe/wirehole

[yokoprime]

Crap, i’ve been running pivpn as a LXC since its so light weight

[lukevp]

Crazy to abandon a 6.4k star project that presumably many people are actively using… I know maintenance of OSS projects can be burdensome but there’s usually some in the community that are eager to chip in with PR reviews and handling issues. I’m surprised they aren’t interested in pivoting the product in the same general direction but giving it some novel features or something.

[loloquwowndueo]

Why is it crazy? If it no longer aligns with the maintainer’s interests or energy, doesn’t provide compensation, he’s within his right to archive it and move on. And people in the community can fork it if they need to.

[jprete]

After the sshd debacle, and in the context of GenAI becoming ever better at impersonation at scale, I don't think anyone working on a security-relevant project should simply hand off to an enthusiastic community member they don't know well.

[codetrotter]

If it were me I would shut it down too after I no longer had energy to maintain it.

Just handing responsibility over to someone else for something like a VPN project is definitely high risk.

Remember the xz debacle last week? Same kind of people who backdoored xz would love to get maintainership of a VPN project for sure.

[baq]

It’s crazy to maintain such a project, shutting it down is the only sane option.

Chapeau bas for keeping it going for so long. The internet of old was built by irrational hobbyists like these guys.

[ocdtrekkie]

My guess is they think the alternative already meets their needs. If someone else is already doing it better, why not just use that?