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metadat
Pretty badass, I didn't know it but I've been waiting for just this!
rpdillon
This type of project is quite interesting to me, and I plan to give it a try. Skimming through the README, I noticed a couple of errors:

1. Under cloning with git, the command should 'git' rather than 'fossil' 2. The link to LICENSE is a 404. The correct link should likely be https://code.rosaelefanten.org/zb/file?name=LICENSE&ci=tip rather than https://code.rosaelefanten.org/zb/LICENSE.

Regardless, this is an awesome idea and implementation. It's also neat that you're hosting the source with Fossil!

rhabarba
Ah, READMEs. The least loved part of my software, usually.

1. Yes, oops. I usually don't waste many thoughts on Git, I just happen to mirror my Fossil repositories there - so this has just slipped by. Fixed, thank you.

2. Hmm, Fossil's internal linking and its Markdown parser do not spark much joy... fixed as well. :-) (The GitHub mirror will be updated tomorrow night, but the Fossil repository is live.)

When I started hosting my own repositories, I was evaluating Mercurial, Fossil, CVS, SVN and Darcs, but Fossil was (and still is) the easiest to maintain, so I decided to stick with it. I'm glad that I'm not the only person who likes it! (Most of my projects are not a bazaar, so Fossil is perfect for them.)

smusamashah
Check out redbean. It's a single cross platform exe which is also a zip containing html and also supports Lua script.

But that doesn't support Markdown I think. Yours is probably simpler to setup too.

rhabarba
I was told that redbean is a similar software, but I had not known it before. Always good to know alternatives. :-)
thunderbong
Rarely do I get to see a fossil repository link on HN!
rhabarba
I should probably write more software… :-)
fsiefken
So can this technique also be used to use with other compression algorithms like the hutter prize winning starlit, used to make a self-extracting wikipedia copy with state of the art text compression?

I like the idea, but you could also mount a file with a compressed and perhaps also encrypted filesystem (btrfs or zfs) and serve the contents through a portable lightweight high performance web or gemini server, or even modify a webserver to serve a compressed website in a single file?

It somehow reminds me of the seaside web framework contained in a single file smalltalk image even though the concepts are very different.

rhabarba
I assume that adding more compression algorithms would be doable. But zb is, in its current form, a proof of concept, at least. :-)
janwillemb
I am struggling to see the "why". Maybe that is obvious for some readers, but it would help readers like me to add a "why" to the readme. What problem does it solve?
rhabarba
The problem of not having a software that lets me maintain an .org-based website with no dependencies. :-)