Hi fellow bay area Linux users!
TL;DR: If you are interested in open source web apps, you should join me at the Sandstorm meetup next Thursday & learn about an open source project that makes open source web apps easier to run and more secure. RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/Sandstorm-SF-Bay-Area/events/223113702/
(If you can't make it to the event, sign up there to receive notifications of other events.)
Sandstorm is an open source package manager for web apps, and it runs on Linux systems. It makes it easy to start up Etherpad (or any other packaged app) with a click. You can read more + try the demo here: https://sandstorm.io/
Security-wise, it takes the Google Docs sharing model and applies it to entire app instances, resulting in web apps that are private by default, insulating you from app bugs. Usability-wise, it takes 120 seconds to install and automatically updates itself.
I'm on the Sandstorm team, and we have a meetup at 6 PM in SF on Thu 6/18: http://www.meetup.com/Sandstorm-SF-Bay-Area/events/223113702/
This meetup features a talk about the Sandstorm app permissions & sharing model (which for security nerds, is based on object-capability security) by David Renshaw. There are also and a hands-on session to see how to install Sandstorm on a server, and a hands-on session on how to package apps for it. Any web app that runs on Linux can work on Sandstorm.
P.S. More on our security hardening of apps here: https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/wiki/Security-Practices-Overview
P.P.S. I'm also sending a note like this to sf-lug; semi-sorry if you see it twice.
P.P.P.S. Sorry for the startup-tastic .io domain name. It really is free, open source software, despite the domain name in the Indian Ocean.