Add comparisons page

docs/comparisons.md

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# "This is foolishness, what about ...?"
+
+ - Kubernetes
+     - 👍 Helm charts are available for some key apps already
+     - 👎 too big -- requires 3rd party tools to run a single-node instance
+ - Bitnami stacks
+ - Cloudron
+     - 👍 Lovely web interface for app, domain & user management
+     - 👍 Bigger library of apps
+     - 👍 Built-in SSO using LDAP, which is compatible with more apps and often has a better user interface than OAuth
+     - 👍 Most apps are actively maintained by the Cloudron team
+     - 👎 Moving away from open source. Free version has a 1-app limit
+     - 👎 Based on Docker images, not stacks, so multi-process apps (e.g. parsoid for Mediawiki) are a non-starter
+     - 👎 Difficult to extend apps
+     - 👎 Only supported on Ubuntu
+     - 👎 Upstreams aren't involved
+ - Yunohost
+     - 👍 Lovely web interface for app, domain & user management
+     - 👍 Bigger library of apps
+     - 👍 Awesome backup / deploy / restore continuous integration testing
+     - 👍 Supports hosting apps in subdirectories as well as subdomains
+     - 👍 Doesn't require a public-facing IP
+     - 👎 Upstreams aren't involved
+     - 👎 Not idempotent: uninstalling apps leaves growing cruft
+ - Ansible
+     - 👍 Includes server creation and bootstrapping
+     - 👎 Upstreams aren't publishing Ansible roles
+     - 👎 Lots of manual work involved in things like app isolation, backups, updates
+ - `docker-compose`
+     - 👎 Manual work required for process monitoring 
+     - 👎 Secret storage not available yet
+     - 👎 [Not recommended](https://github.com/BretFisher/ama/issues/8)
+ - Manually installing apps
+     - 👍 Simple - just follow upstream instructions to install and update
+     - 👎 Loads of manual work required for app isolation and backups
+     - 👎 Array of sysadmin skills required to install apps
+     - 👎 Hard to share configs into the commons

docs/index.md

@@ -31,5 +31,26 @@ CoCl is a **philosophy**.
  - then you install an **app** like wordpress or nextcloud, which is made up of multiple **services**...
  - .. and configure your app.
 
+## Technical description
+
+Software-wise, CoöpCloud is:
+
+ - [`coop-cloud`](https://git.autonomic.zone/coop-cloud/), a collection of Docker "swarm mode" configurations for popular web apps
+ - [`abra`](https://git.autonomic.zone/autonomic-cooperative/abra), a simple tool for Docker swarm management
+ - a recommended default set of stacks:
+    - Traefik for SSL & routing
+    - `postfix-relay` for outgoing email
+
+## Principles / features:
+
+ - Security by default
+     - Secret storage using `docker secret` (["What makes it secure?"](https://github.com/BretFisher/ama/issues/86))
+     - Automatic SSL using Traefik & LetsEncrypt
+ - Zero-downtime deployments (for apps with healthchecks defined)
+ - Continuous integration testing using Drone and our [`stack-ssh-deploy`](https://git.autonomic.zone/coop-cloud/stack-ssh-deploy) plugin
+ - Low maintenance overhead:
+     - Automatic tracking of upstream Docker images using `renovate-bot`
+     - Avoiding custom Docker images as far as possible
+
 [traefik]: https://hub.docker.com/_/traefik?tab=tags
 [mariadb]: https://hub.docker.com/_/mariadb?tab=tags