https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/61634-dsm-7x-loaders-and-platforms/
There really is nothing close to Google Photos outside of Synology. And it’s not 100% in terms of search but it’s getting there.
You can run the Synology software via a loader on commodity hardware or on a hosting platform provided the platform supports VMWare ESXi or the like.
I'll be the heretic here, but so far as I know you are only required to make source available when you distribute binaries. And for that matter, it doesn't even have to be online just available upon request unless you're using a derivative GPL that added online access as a clause.
I highly doubt the users of a web interface are required to be given access to source. There are multiple GPL-licensed web servers (I am well aware Apache is not btw) and I've never seen one embed a code link on every page.
Tl;Dr: Lemmy does it, but I believe it's not required. Modify away if you so choose.