The Libertree Project is a community of people committed to empowering the people of the world to do things on and with computers, without need for or interference from big business, by way of providing software and other tools which can be obtained, bought or built with minimal cost and effort.

Libertree is free, libre, open-source software which is intended to provide a way for people to create their own social network. Libertree social networks can be free from commercial influence and manifestation, such as behaviour tracking, user profiling, advertising, data mining and analysis, and covert information filtering.

The remainder of the documentation found in this repository refers to the Libertree social network software, and not The Libertree Project as a whole, unless otherwise explicitly stated.

Why bother making another social network? What sets Libertree apart?

I created Libertree because I wanted a social network that was free from the tentacles of commercial interests. In building and continuing to shape this software, I also want to foster a great community, a place where people can find a positive, friendly atmosphere, and also feel involved in its growth, improvement and progress. In the Libertree community, I want people to experience being listened to, talked with, and acknowledged when it comes to using the software and being a part of the community. I want to make Libertree into what people want it to be, something that makes them happy, that makes their lives simpler, easier, better.

There are (will be) several implementations of the various components of Libertree. The first implementation, the reference implementation, is written in Ruby.

• A UNIX-compatible system (such as GNU/Linux or OSX)
• PostgreSQL 8+
• Ruby 1.9 or 2.0
• GraphicsMagick (or ImageMagick)
• git

• A web server or other proxy (such as Nginx or Apache)
• memcache

The components of Libertree are individual subprojects, each having its own source code repository.

Servers:

• libertree-backend-rb
• libertree-frontend-ramaze

Libraries:

• libertree-model-rb
• libertree-client-rb

Database schema:

• libertree-db

Refer to the INSTALLATION.md file.

Refer to the USAGE.md file for information on how to start the Libertree services and how to maintain a Libertree server.