codema.in

Proposal: Use xmpp as our primary and recommended chat option

Pirate PraveenPirate Praveen Sat 18 Sep 2021 10:19AMPublicSeen by 88

Matrix and XMPP are both good options by Free Software, self hostable, federated standards. But matrix federation has many practical implementation problems and sometimes messages take hours or even a few days at times to deliver across servers. Additionally xmpp is lighter on server resources and gives better privacy of userid in public groups by default. Another example, Disroot.org moved from matrix to xmpp completely. Thoughts?

Abraham Raji

Abraham RajiSun 19 Sep 2021 11:26PM

I agree that XMPP is a more reliable as a technology for delivering messages than matrix right now. But at the same time Matrix as a project is better funded and has seen a better adoption rate among technical and non-technical folks so to me it looks like matrix has a better chance at being a mainstream communication tool than XMPP. Maybe we can suggest both while stating the merits and demerits of each?

Pirate Praveen

Pirate PraveenMon 20 Sep 2021 8:38AM

Matrix needs exponentially more resources on the server compared to xmpp. In my experience I had better results getting non technical people to use Quicksy. We are not stopping Matrix bridge (which is there by default for any public xmpp room anyway), we are just recommending xmpp for reliability. If people talk on matrix in bridged rooms, xmpp users get a poor experience of lost messages, but if people use xmpp, people connected via matrix don't miss any messages. So you think leaving xmpp users in a bad situation is being neutral?

Abraham Raji

Abraham RajiWed 29 Sep 2021 3:17PM

So you think leaving xmpp users in a bad situation is being neutral?

I agree it is not fair or neutral. But my disagreement is with the third point:

put a notice to use the the #fsci:poddery.com and recommend joining via xmpp.

Rather than suggest something to the user I say let's present the facts and let the users decide what they want to use.

Abhinav Krishna C K

Abhinav Krishna C KWed 29 Sep 2021 3:24PM

Rather than suggest something to the user I say let's present the facts and let the users decide what they want to use.

I agree.

Pirate Praveen

Pirate PraveenWed 29 Sep 2021 10:51PM

So when we know one of the two options create a bad outcome for some, we need to remain silent on what is the preferred option?

Pirate Bady

Pirate BadySat 2 Oct 2021 7:14PM

@Abraham Raji from matrix user's point of view, FSCI will be still there on matrix, they just have to join a new room (and optionally leave the existing room). other than that i don't think there will be any issues (pls let me know if i got it wrong). from maintainers point of view, users won't get any admin/mod privileges on the matrix side to control the room until the bridge is capable of it.

Pirate Praveen

Pirate PraveenMon 31 Jan 2022 1:34PM

We moved to xmpp since 'xmpp -> matrix' was not very reliable. Recently I found out 'xmpp -> irc' is pretty good (There are two public biboumi bridge instances and xmpp users can use #channelname%irc.server.net@ircgw.chatterboxtown.us or #channelname%irc.server.net@irc.cheogram.com). So wondering if we should switch back to old matrix room (which is also bridged to irc) and recommend xmpp users to use irc bridge instead of matrix bridge. What do you all think?

Ravi Dwivedi

Ravi DwivediMon 31 Jan 2022 3:29PM

I think that's good to switch back to the old room. because matrix side will give us admin privileges.

Pirate Bady

Pirate BadyFri 18 Feb 2022 12:58PM

yes, let's switch back to the old room then.

Ravi Dwivedi

Switch back to the old matrix room and bridge it to Telegram, XMPP, IRC

proposal by Ravi Dwivedi Closed Sun 27 Mar 2022 11:00PM

Outcome
by Ravi Dwivedi Mon 28 Mar 2022 7:05AM

Let's switch back to the old matrix room and update all the room addresses on the FSCI website.

The current xmpp room is not joined with IRC and telegram. I propose that we use the method mentioned here https://codema.in/d/i8zpQHqS/write-a-blog-post-on-bridging-all-the-rooms-matrix-xmpp-telegram-irc to bridge all the communication channels using our old matrix room #fsci:poddery.com. We need to create an IRC channel on libera.chat and then bridge it to matrix. XMPP users can join the IRC channel using https://irc.cheogram.com/ and telegram, matrix bridging can be done using https://t2bot.io/telegram/.

Results

ResultsOptionVotes% of votes cast% of eligible voters
Agree51002Vinay KeshavaKannan V MPirate BadyRavi DwivediPirate Praveen
Abstain000 
Disagree000 
Block000 
Undecided23398ark ArjunNandaja VarmaHTvishnu PrakashST AlfasprinzpiuzAnilkumar KVsumanAkshayAnjan NathAbraham RajiPankaj JangidVijay ThopateNaveen FrancisJineshShreyaSJawad HussainNikhilJoe BPallavishastry

5 of 238 votes cast (2% participation)

Ravi Dwivedi

Ravi Dwivedi
Agree
Sun 20 Mar 2022 2:30PM

I have tested this method with LibreOffice India rooms and it works reliably as of now.

Pirate Praveen

Pirate Praveen
Agree
Sun 20 Mar 2022 3:55PM

We already have old room linked to irc on oftc network

Pirate Praveen

Pirate PraveenSun 20 Mar 2022 5:50PM

You can connect to old matrix room from xmpp using https://join.jabber.network/#%23fsci%25irc.oftc.net@irc.cheogram.com?join

Ravi Dwivedi

Ravi DwivediMon 28 Mar 2022 3:00PM

The new room addresses are here https://fsci.in/#join-us

Pirate Praveen

Pirate PraveenFri 22 Apr 2022 10:34AM

Some people have reported problems connecting to oftc via irc.cheogram.com as the bridge is exceeding connection limits. I propose we bridge to pirateirc.net where matrix to irc bridge is run at diasp.in and has a direct connection and better limits. Then xmpp users will be able to connect to pirateirc. Additionally pirateirc has history playback by default so people can even connect to irc directly without needing to run an extra bouncer.