Matrix and Sailfish

General
#41

On debian the config stanza by default looks like this:
# (By default, no suggestion is made, so it is left up to the client.
# This setting is ignored unless public_baseurl is also set.)
#
default_identity_server: https://matrix.org

but I couldn’t find public_baseurl being set. It’s an odd name for the variable since it seems to mean 'public_federation_baseurl??? :slight_smile: Well,‘URL for the client API’ is what is stated in the config.

These settings are relatively new. Only in the last year did the federation identity requirement go away.

Your family is gettting along well wiht the electron client? We rejected the electron client for office use.

1 Like
#42

That’s an interesting remark! Can you add more data in this? E.g. why was Element not the choice and what did you choose and for how big userbase. It would be here “a bit” offtopic, but I’m sure many readers would value this kind of feedback.

Thanks in advance…

1 Like
#43

We’re still doing evaluations (this is the 3rd round in as many years!). There are 17 people involved.

Elements desktop client is electron. That’s web browser packaged with the olm library as webassembly javascript and a lot of javascript. This is impossble to audit. It’s also resource hungry and slow.

If we go with matrix, which is unclear because we still can’t figure out how to limit the retention of rooms, the client I’m recommending is:

Personally, I’m looking to help work on bluepill if I find the time because it’s:

  1. in python which I can quickly help with
  2. uses matrix-nio which seems like the way to go (for python).
2 Likes
#44

@poetaster: you are welcome!

2 Likes
#45

Are there any clients for SFOS that support E2EE?

#46

There are Konheko, Determinant and bluepill and none have currently E2EE. And in addition there is a lib that could be plugged into generic SFOS message framework (I do not know the status there).

But hey, there is always hope - SFOS 4.1.0 release notes say that “Signal messaging app gets the contacts from Sailfish now”. Which means, that Jolla has used resources to facilitate the better integration of modern messaging solutions. Who knows what is boiling under the hood in the SFOS+Matrix context!

1 Like
#47

Do you mean this or something else - if you use only in-house accounts and rooms, then Synapse has an option to delete messages by age (but currently no good solution for the deletion of media uploads). I’m not sure how well it would work in federation.

#48

the signal app already get’s the contacts from sailfish with 3.4!

#49

There are numerous options to age out messages but no way to controll that.

So, user A sets up a room and wants, say, to expire all messages after 24hours. Where do they do that? In which client (I’ve tried today with the latestet hosted web app, and server 1.33).

What if a sysadmin sets up a baseline retention (the settings don’t seem to work as I have the now) and the user wants to override that? Does this work? When?

Obviously I’m missing something trying to follow: https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/develop/docs/message_retention_policies.md

EDIT: just found https://brendan.abolivier.bzh/matrix-retention-policies/

EDIT2: The long and short is that user A can only set up rules within the scope of max and min set by the admin AND they can only do it but by sending a ’ state event in that room with the type m.room.retention’ which doesn’t have any UI support anywhere that I can find. And it’s experimental.

Sigh. Not looking so good.

#50

Fluffychat’s changelog for v0.30.0 has this:

Version 0.30.0 will be the first version with arm64 support. You can download binaries from the CI and we will try to publish it on Flathub. Together with the new Linux Desktop Notifications feature, this might be interesting for the Librem 5 or the PinePhone. Sadly I don’t own one of these very interesting devices. If you have one, I would very like to see some screenshots of it! :slight_smile:

I wonder if this means that it could be made to work on the upcoming 64-bit support in SailfishOS 4 without Android app support (just flatpak/libhybris)?

#51

If not Matrix, then what? I run my own XMPP as well (openfire), but even sharing a picture was always a PITA, either due to server configuration, or poor client support, or both. I didn’t even try video calling etc. E2EE was either not supported by clients, or a PITA. Message carbons the same.

At least Synapse was relatively easy to set up - most effort I needed was due to having DNS A-record for the domain pointing to a different ip address then were the Matrix server lives. Easy sharing of pictures and videos (a requirement for family use it seems), video calling, multi-device, e2ee… All works.

I’m not too keen on Element, but, it works well enough for my parents to use, both on mobile and desktop/laptop. Yeah I did assist in E2EE setup, but my mom managed to handle that on her own when logging in using a browser.

#52

I don’t think google’s flutter which is a dart (the language) thing is going to be possible. but nheko wil be and so will https://github.com/mirukana/mirage (I’m looking at backporting it since it’s QT 5.12 but mostly should be doable with 5.6).

#53

I’ve literally been trying to sell matrix to the office for 3.5 years. It’s been up and down (riot going away, vector -> element, etc). I’ve also made it obvious that I’m willing to work on a native app (bluepill). So I’m FOR matrix. But it’s complicated.

In the main, I have some VERY demanding users. In both directions. Scylla and Charybdis. Rock and a hardplace. I’m so desperate, I’m even looking at discord.

BUT:

  • If you have a limited number of users
  • and disk usage isn’t going to kill you,
  • you can use the heavy clients and no one cares
    then matrix is GREAT :slight_smile:

Federating is also fun (I’m too busy here for that !)

So, you can’t be communicating with your family using SFOS if your using crypto? Or am I missing something?

If you don’t need the end to end crypto mattermost is also good (and much fast and easier to hack) and the built in web interface is often enough (and fast!)…
discord is an option with different kinds and mixes of crypto (I’m an old erlang programmer!)…
one could run ‘cells (aka pydio)’ which is more a file server with task, chat and collab added in … etc …

Sorry, I’m deep in several weeks of a seemingly bi-yearly affair.

For my part, I like mail. Email is ok. (currently open communication apps, desktop: xchat, mattermost, pidgin (jabber), claws-mail)

2 Likes
#54

Have you tried compiling libolm for armv or aarch64? I’ve been stuck trying to build the javascript (webasm and JS library) …

Which brings me to the next question, how does one get rid of the webasm :wink:

I’m probably victim of ‘needs latest greatest’.

#55

I’ve looked into this a bit more and it may become possible in the future. See https://social.librem.one/@pakman/106245490405799459 and the GitHub issues I mentioned there:


I’ll keep an eye on nheko and mirage, thanks for the pointer.

#56

Thanks! This is farther along than I’d hoped for … I hadn’t gone as far as the cross-compiling and was hanging on local/native x86 builds.

Edit. Sorry, I’m responding the wrong comments.

#57

Have you managed to get Mirage running on SFOS?

#58

No, but I’ve only looked at the code and compiled it for x86_64. It’d be too much work for me to backport (5.14->5.6 QT). But I also think it’s just too much a ‘desktop’ client. A great one, but not mobile at all. It requires the width of classic destop app. That could be ‘adapted’ but it’s currently a bunch of work.

It’s really nice and what I’m using (the crypto is the most reliable) for work. But work use is still a test phase.

#59

Hi! Have there been any recent updates to the SFOS matrix clients?

#60

there is one apparently called something like “Denominator” - but i guess it is only listed in the open source store…