yt2009

a fairly accurate 2009 youtube frontend with account features.

thank you to yt2009's top tier monthly sponsors!

for $5/month, you can also join this list! --> https://github.com/sponsors/ftde0

setup

if you prefer using docker rather than installing directly, go here for setup instructions instead

if hosting on windows xp, follow xp specific instructions instead.

make sure you have imagemagick and ffmpeg in your PATH.
install node.js
open a terminal (windows powershell/cmd) in the directory you cloned yt2009 to, then:
install required dependencies with: npm install
create a config file by launching and following: node yt2009setup.js
run to set and download remaining assets node post_config_setup.js
run yt2009 by changing directory to back (cd back) and starting with node backend.js
navigate to your IP:port you have set while configuring to see a 2009 homepage.

afterwards, you can just cd back and node backend.js to start. no need to re-set it up each time.

it is highly recommended to add a google data api v3 key to ensure all video data is shown correctly.

you will also be notified about that when starting the frontend without one set.

more info in config_params.md / docker.md. obtain a key at https://console.developers.google.com/.

!! if hosting on windows 7 !!

the last version of node.js supported on windows 7 doesn't support latest versions of packages, so you need to install older ones to run on windows 7.

npm install express@4.17.1 google-protobuf@3.21.2 maxmind-db-reader node-fetch@2.6.7 node-html-parser@5.3.3 readline-sync ws

(#243).

updating

if you want to update your frontend instance, use

git pull --no-commit

to get you up with updates you may have missed.

if you modified the code yourself and you're getting a merge conflict, restore the orignal using

git restore <file>

you can make a copy of your modified file and reapply the mod after the pull is done.

usage

now that you're in, you can just use it as it is, but there is a bit more you can do.

navigate to /flags to change settings locally. here, for example, you can set up The Wayback Machine as a video data source. but look through, there is a lot more.

feel free to nav to /toggle_f to enable flash player support for old browsers, such as ie6.

sign in! click on the upload button or go to /mh_pc_intro to connect and interact with your actual youtube account.

over time, depending on your usage, yt2009 may take up a lot of space (counted in tens of gigabytes!)

if you need to reclaim space, look through the assets folder where downloaded files (such as images, videos) are saved and delete ones you need.

they will be redownloaded when necessary.

alternatively, set up auto_maintain as described in yt2009setup to handle this for you.

notes, docs

over time some tools and documentation was written about yt2009. for an easy reference, those are listed below.

apk_setup.md - set early youtube android APKs to work with yt2009
config_params.md - a list of ALL available config options.
docker.md - yt2009 setup with docker. also listed in the setup section. (thanks, breakgimme!)
flash_additions.md - some info on caption and annotations modules within the default 2009 flash player.
flash_player_patch.md - manual info for preparing vanilla flash players for use with yt2009.