Questions people ask before they install Nextweb

The same questions come up whenever someone sees Nextweb for the first time. The answers below come from the pages that hold the facts, and each one says which. When one of those pages changes, this one follows it.

Where the answers come from

• The commercial use agreement sets what each license covers and what you own.
• The privacy policy lists what the program sends us, and when.
• The roadmap says what works today, what is being built, and what is not here yet.
• Package DRM says what is encrypted, who gets the key, and what is not protected.
• The download page describes the installer, and the lessons show every command with the output it prints.

Questions

Is Nextweb open source?

No. Nextweb is free to try, and it isn't open source. The GitHub repository at github.com/nextwebjs/nextweb holds the bug tracker and the documentation, not the program. The lessons show what the program does, command by command, with the output it prints.

What does Nextweb send when it starts?

Your license key, so we can check that it is valid; a one-way hash of the ID your operating system gives the machine; the IP address the request comes from; and the name and version of your copy. The first time it starts it also sends the email address you type, to issue your free license, and asks a third-party service for your public IP address. It never sends your applications, your sites, their databases or other files on your machine. The privacy policy lists all of it.

Does it work offline?

No. Nextweb checks its license each time it starts, and it does not start without an internet connection. Starting offline is on the roadmap under Not yet.

What does the free license cover, and for how long?

One machine and three sites, for 30 days. When it runs out, Nextweb asks for your email address again and issues a new one. There is no card to enter. Every tier allows commercial use; the tiers differ only in how many machines and sites they cover.

What does a paid license add?

A Developer license covers five machines and ten sites, at beta prices: $19 a month, $199 a year, or $299 once with two years of updates. Team is five machines and ten sites for each seat. Enterprise has no site limit and is priced by quote. Pricing has the details.

Can I read the installer before I run it?

Yes. The install command is curl piped into bash. Leave off the | bash at the end and curl prints the script instead of running it. The script does not use sudo. It downloads one binary into the folder you are in, prints the size and SHA-256 it expects from the published manifest, and keeps the file only after both match.

Where does it put things?

In the folder you ran it from. The binary, the packages it installs, each site's files and database, and the logs all live under that folder. Nextweb also keeps a copy of its license and a note of the newest kernel revision the machine has run in a small .nextweb folder under your home directory. Nothing is installed system-wide, and ./nextweb stop leaves no process of that instance running.

Which systems does it run on?

Linux x64, start to finish: the program, PHP, MariaDB, WordPress and the lessons. Windows x64 and FreeBSD x64 have the program only; the packages and the lessons are still Linux x64. There is no macOS build.

Does it set up HTTPS?

Not yet. A site answers on an address on your own machine, and you put a proxy such as nginx in front of it to take it public, with a certificate from certbot or one of your own. Automatic certificates are on the roadmap under Not yet.

Is my code protected?

A package you build with pkg create is encrypted, and our license server decides which licenses get the key. For a Node.js application you can also keep source files encrypted on the server after install; we turn that on for your account when you ask. PHP files are ordinary files once installed. Package DRM explains the limits, including that whoever controls a licensed server can extract what its license opens.