New post: Chatting in the 21st century
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#+hugo_base_dir: ../
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* DONE Chatting in the 21st century :debian:english:selfhost:free_software:matrix:irc:
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CLOSED: [2024-09-07 Sat 17:25]
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:PROPERTIES:
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:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: chatting-21st-century
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:END:
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Several people have been asking me to explain and/or write about my
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solution for chatting nowadays. I realize that the current scenario
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is much more complex than, say, 10 or 20 years ago. Back then, this
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post would probably be more about the IRC client I used than about
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different chatting technologies.
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I have also spent a non trivial amount of time setting things up the
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way I want, so I understand that it's about time to write about my
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setup not only because I think it can be helpful to others, but also
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because I would like to document things for myself.
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** The backbone: Matrix
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I chose to use [[https://matrix.org][Matrix]] as the place where I integrate everything.
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Despite there being some [[https://anarc.at/blog/2022-06-17-matrix-notes/][heavy (and justified) criticism]] on the
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protocol itself, it serves me well for what I need right now.
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Obviously, I don't like the fact that I have to provide Matrix and all
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of its accompanying bridges a VPS with 4GB of RAM and 3 vCPUs, but I
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think that that ship has sailed, unfortunately.
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In an ideal world, I would be using [[https://xmpp.org/][XMPP]] and dedicating only a
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fraction of the resources I'm using today to have a full chat system.
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And since I have been running my personal XMPP server for more than a
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decade now, I did try to find a solution that would allow me to keep
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using it, but unfortunately the protocol became almost a hobbyist
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thing, so there's that.
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** A few disclaimers
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I self-host everything, including my Matrix server. Much of what I
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did won't work if you don't self-host Matrix, so keep that in mind.
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This won't be a post /teaching/ you how to deploy the services. My
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intention is to describe /what I use/ and for /what purpose/.
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Also, as much as I try to use Debian packages for everything I do, I
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opted to deploy all services using a community-maintained Ansible
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playbook which is very well written and organized:
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[[https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy][matrix-docker-ansible-deploy]].
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Last but not least, as I said above, you will likely need a machine
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with a good amount of RAM, CPU and storage, especially if you deploy
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[[https://github.com/element-hq/synapse][Synapse]] as your Matrix homeserver (which is what I recommend if you
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plan to use the bridges I'll mention). My current VPS has 4GB of RAM,
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3 vCPUs and 80GB of storage (of which I'm currently using
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approximately 55GB).
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** Problem #1: my Matrix client(s)
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There are [[https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/][a lot of clients]] that can talk the Matrix protocol, but most
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of them are either web clients or GUI programs. I live on the
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terminal, more specifically inside Emacs, so I settled for the amazing
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[[https://github.com/alphapapa/ement.el][ement.el]] Emacs mode. It works surprisingly well, but unfortunately
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doesn't support end-to-end encryption out of the box; for that, you
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have to hook it up with [[https://github.com/matrix-org/pantalaimon/][pantalaimon]]. Unfortunately, the project seems
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abandoned and therefore I don't recommend you to use it. I don't use
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it myself.
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When I have to reply some E2E encrypted message from another user, I
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go to my web browser and use my self-hosted [[https://app.element.io/][Element]] client. It's a
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nuisance, but one that I'm willing to accept because of security
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concerns.
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If you're into web clients and don't want to use Element (because it
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is heavy), you can try [[https://github.com/ajbura/cinny][Cinny]]. It's lightweight and supports a decent
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set of features.
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If you're a terminal lover but don't use Emacs, you may want to try
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[[https://github.com/tulir/gomuks][gomuks]] or [[https://iamb.chat/][iamb]].
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** Problem #2: IRC bridging
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There are basically two types of IRC bridges for Matrix:
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- The regular and most used [[https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-appservice-irc][matrix-appservice-irc]]. This bridge /takes
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Matrix to IRC/ (think of IRC users with the =[m]= suffix appended to
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their nicknames), and is what the [[https://matrix.org][matrix.org]] and other big
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homeservers (including [[https://matrix.debian.social][matrix.debian.social]]) use. It's a complex
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service which allows thousands of Matrix users to connect to IRC
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networks, but that unfortunately [[https://libera.chat/news/matrix-bridge-disabled-retrospective][has complex problems]] and is only
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worth using if you intend to host a community server.
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- A bouncer-like bridge called [[https://github.com/hifi/heisenbridge][Heisenbridge]]. This is what I use
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personally. It /takes IRC to Matrix/, which means that people on
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IRC will /not/ know that you're using Matrix. This bridge is much
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simpler, and because it acts like a bouncer it's much pretty much
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impossible for it to cause problems with the IRC network.
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|
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Due to the fact that I sometimes like to use other IRC clients, I
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still run a regular [[https://wiki.znc.in/ZNC][ZNC bouncer]], and I use Heisenbridge to connect to
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|
my ZNC. This means that I can use, e.g., ERC inside Emacs /and/ my
|
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|
Matrix bridge at the same time. But you don't necessarily need to run
|
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|
another bouncer; you can simply use Heisenbridge and connect directly
|
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|
to the IRC network(s) you want.
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|
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|
A word of caution, though: unlike ZNC, Heisenbridge doesn't support
|
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|
per-user configuration when you use it in bouncer mode. This is the
|
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|
reason why you need to self-host it, and why it's not possible to
|
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|
offer the service to other users (they would have access to your IRC
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|
network configuration otherwise).
|
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|
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|
It's also worth talking about logs. I find that keeping logs of
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|
everything that goes on IRC has saved me a bunch of times, and so I
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|
find it really important to continue doing that. Unfortunately,
|
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|
neither =ement.el= nor Element support logging things out of the box
|
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|
(at least not that I know). This is also one of the reasons why I
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|
still keep my ZNC around: I configure it to log everything.
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|
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** Problem #3: Telegram
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I don't use Telegram myself, but unfortunately several people from the
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Debian community do, especially in Brazil. There is a whole Debian
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|
community on Telegram, and I wanted to be able to bridge our Debian
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|
Matrix channels to their Telegram counterparts.
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|
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|
I am currently using [[https://github.com/mautrix/telegram][mautrix-telegram]] for that, and it's working
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great. You need someone with a Telegram account to configure their
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|
credentials so that the bridge can connect to it, but afterwards it's
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|
really easy to bridge channels together.
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|
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** Problem #4: GitLab webhooks
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Something else I wanted to be able to do was to receive notifications
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|
regarding new issues, merge requests and other activities from [[https://salsa.debian.org][Salsa]].
|
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|
For this, I'm using [[https://github.com/maubot/maubot][maubot]], which is awesome and has a
|
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|
[[https://plugins.mau.bot/][huge list of plugins]]. I'm using the [[https://github.com/maubot/gitlab][gitlab]] one.
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** Final thoughts
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|
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|
Overall, I'm satisfied with the setup I have now. It has certainly
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|
taken some time and effort to find the right tool for each problem I
|
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|
needed to solve, and I still feel like there are some rough edges to
|
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|
soften (like the fact that my Emacs client doesn't support E2E
|
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|
encryption out of the box, or the whole logging situation), but
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|
otherwise things are working fine and I haven't had any big problems
|
||||||
|
with the deployment. You do have to be much more careful about stuff
|
||||||
|
(for example, when I installed an unrelated service that "hijacked" my
|
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|
Apache configuration and made Matrix's federation silently stop
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|
working), though.
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|
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|
If you have more specific questions about any part of my setup, shoot
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me an email and I'll do my best to help.
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|
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Happy chatting!
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* DONE The Pagure Debian package is now orphan :debian:free_software:english:pagure:
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* DONE The Pagure Debian package is now orphan :debian:free_software:english:pagure:
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CLOSED: [2024-06-12 Wed 21:16]
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CLOSED: [2024-06-12 Wed 21:16]
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:PROPERTIES:
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:PROPERTIES:
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159
content/posts/chatting-21st-century.md
Normal file
159
content/posts/chatting-21st-century.md
Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
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+++
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title = "Chatting in the 21st century"
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author = ["Sergio Durigan Junior"]
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date = 2024-09-07T17:25:00-04:00
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tags = ["debian", "english", "selfhost", "free-software", "matrix", "irc"]
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draft = false
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+++
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Several people have been asking me to explain and/or write about my
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solution for chatting nowadays. I realize that the current scenario
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is much more complex than, say, 10 or 20 years ago. Back then, this
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|
post would probably be more about the IRC client I used than about
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|
different chatting technologies.
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|
|
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|
I have also spent a non trivial amount of time setting things up the
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|
way I want, so I understand that it's about time to write about my
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|
setup not only because I think it can be helpful to others, but also
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|
because I would like to document things for myself.
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|
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## The backbone: Matrix {#the-backbone-matrix}
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|
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I chose to use [Matrix](https://matrix.org) as the place where I integrate everything.
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|
Despite there being some [heavy (and justified) criticism](https://anarc.at/blog/2022-06-17-matrix-notes/) on the
|
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|
protocol itself, it serves me well for what I need right now.
|
||||||
|
Obviously, I don't like the fact that I have to provide Matrix and all
|
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|
of its accompanying bridges a VPS with 4GB of RAM and 3 vCPUs, but I
|
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|
think that that ship has sailed, unfortunately.
|
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|
|
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|
In an ideal world, I would be using [XMPP](https://xmpp.org/) and dedicating only a
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|
fraction of the resources I'm using today to have a full chat system.
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|
And since I have been running my personal XMPP server for more than a
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|
decade now, I did try to find a solution that would allow me to keep
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|
using it, but unfortunately the protocol became almost a hobbyist
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|
thing, so there's that.
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|
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## A few disclaimers {#a-few-disclaimers}
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I self-host everything, including my Matrix server. Much of what I
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did won't work if you don't self-host Matrix, so keep that in mind.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This won't be a post _teaching_ you how to deploy the services. My
|
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|
intention is to describe _what I use_ and for _what purpose_.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Also, as much as I try to use Debian packages for everything I do, I
|
||||||
|
opted to deploy all services using a community-maintained Ansible
|
||||||
|
playbook which is very well written and organized:
|
||||||
|
[matrix-docker-ansible-deploy](https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy).
|
||||||
|
|
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|
Last but not least, as I said above, you will likely need a machine
|
||||||
|
with a good amount of RAM, CPU and storage, especially if you deploy
|
||||||
|
[Synapse](https://github.com/element-hq/synapse) as your Matrix homeserver (which is what I recommend if you
|
||||||
|
plan to use the bridges I'll mention). My current VPS has 4GB of RAM,
|
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|
3 vCPUs and 80GB of storage (of which I'm currently using
|
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|
approximately 55GB).
|
||||||
|
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## Problem #1: my Matrix client(s) {#problem-1-my-matrix-client--s}
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There are [a lot of clients](https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/) that can talk the Matrix protocol, but most
|
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|
of them are either web clients or GUI programs. I live on the
|
||||||
|
terminal, more specifically inside Emacs, so I settled for the amazing
|
||||||
|
[ement.el](https://github.com/alphapapa/ement.el) Emacs mode. It works surprisingly well, but unfortunately
|
||||||
|
doesn't support end-to-end encryption out of the box; for that, you
|
||||||
|
have to hook it up with [pantalaimon](https://github.com/matrix-org/pantalaimon/). Unfortunately, the project seems
|
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|
abandoned and therefore I don't recommend you to use it. I don't use
|
||||||
|
it myself.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
When I have to reply some E2E encrypted message from another user, I
|
||||||
|
go to my web browser and use my self-hosted [Element](https://app.element.io/) client. It's a
|
||||||
|
nuisance, but one that I'm willing to accept because of security
|
||||||
|
concerns.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
If you're into web clients and don't want to use Element (because it
|
||||||
|
is heavy), you can try [Cinny](https://github.com/ajbura/cinny). It's lightweight and supports a decent
|
||||||
|
set of features.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
If you're a terminal lover but don't use Emacs, you may want to try
|
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|
[gomuks](https://github.com/tulir/gomuks) or [iamb](https://iamb.chat/).
|
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|
|
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|
|
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## Problem #2: IRC bridging {#problem-2-irc-bridging}
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|
|
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There are basically two types of IRC bridges for Matrix:
|
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|
|
||||||
|
- The regular and most used [matrix-appservice-irc](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-appservice-irc). This bridge _takes
|
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|
Matrix to IRC_ (think of IRC users with the `[m]` suffix appended to
|
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|
their nicknames), and is what the [matrix.org](https://matrix.org) and other big
|
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|
homeservers (including [matrix.debian.social](https://matrix.debian.social)) use. It's a complex
|
||||||
|
service which allows thousands of Matrix users to connect to IRC
|
||||||
|
networks, but that unfortunately [has complex problems](https://libera.chat/news/matrix-bridge-disabled-retrospective) and is only
|
||||||
|
worth using if you intend to host a community server.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- A bouncer-like bridge called [Heisenbridge](https://github.com/hifi/heisenbridge). This is what I use
|
||||||
|
personally. It _takes IRC to Matrix_, which means that people on
|
||||||
|
IRC will _not_ know that you're using Matrix. This bridge is much
|
||||||
|
simpler, and because it acts like a bouncer it's much pretty much
|
||||||
|
impossible for it to cause problems with the IRC network.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Due to the fact that I sometimes like to use other IRC clients, I
|
||||||
|
still run a regular [ZNC bouncer](https://wiki.znc.in/ZNC), and I use Heisenbridge to connect to
|
||||||
|
my ZNC. This means that I can use, e.g., ERC inside Emacs _and_ my
|
||||||
|
Matrix bridge at the same time. But you don't necessarily need to run
|
||||||
|
another bouncer; you can simply use Heisenbridge and connect directly
|
||||||
|
to the IRC network(s) you want.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A word of caution, though: unlike ZNC, Heisenbridge doesn't support
|
||||||
|
per-user configuration when you use it in bouncer mode. This is the
|
||||||
|
reason why you need to self-host it, and why it's not possible to
|
||||||
|
offer the service to other users (they would have access to your IRC
|
||||||
|
network configuration otherwise).
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
It's also worth talking about logs. I find that keeping logs of
|
||||||
|
everything that goes on IRC has saved me a bunch of times, and so I
|
||||||
|
find it really important to continue doing that. Unfortunately,
|
||||||
|
neither `ement.el` nor Element support logging things out of the box
|
||||||
|
(at least not that I know). This is also one of the reasons why I
|
||||||
|
still keep my ZNC around: I configure it to log everything.
|
||||||
|
|
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|
|
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|
## Problem #3: Telegram {#problem-3-telegram}
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|
|
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|
I don't use Telegram myself, but unfortunately several people from the
|
||||||
|
Debian community do, especially in Brazil. There is a whole Debian
|
||||||
|
community on Telegram, and I wanted to be able to bridge our Debian
|
||||||
|
Matrix channels to their Telegram counterparts.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I am currently using [mautrix-telegram](https://github.com/mautrix/telegram) for that, and it's working
|
||||||
|
great. You need someone with a Telegram account to configure their
|
||||||
|
credentials so that the bridge can connect to it, but afterwards it's
|
||||||
|
really easy to bridge channels together.
|
||||||
|
|
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|
|
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|
## Problem #4: GitLab webhooks {#problem-4-gitlab-webhooks}
|
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|
|
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|
Something else I wanted to be able to do was to receive notifications
|
||||||
|
regarding new issues, merge requests and other activities from [Salsa](https://salsa.debian.org).
|
||||||
|
For this, I'm using [maubot](https://github.com/maubot/maubot), which is awesome and has a
|
||||||
|
[huge list of plugins](https://plugins.mau.bot/). I'm using the [gitlab](https://github.com/maubot/gitlab) one.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
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|
## Final thoughts {#final-thoughts}
|
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|
|
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|
Overall, I'm satisfied with the setup I have now. It has certainly
|
||||||
|
taken some time and effort to find the right tool for each problem I
|
||||||
|
needed to solve, and I still feel like there are some rough edges to
|
||||||
|
soften (like the fact that my Emacs client doesn't support E2E
|
||||||
|
encryption out of the box, or the whole logging situation), but
|
||||||
|
otherwise things are working fine and I haven't had any big problems
|
||||||
|
with the deployment. You do have to be much more careful about stuff
|
||||||
|
(for example, when I installed an unrelated service that "hijacked" my
|
||||||
|
Apache configuration and made Matrix's federation silently stop
|
||||||
|
working), though.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
If you have more specific questions about any part of my setup, shoot
|
||||||
|
me an email and I'll do my best to help.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Happy chatting!
|
||||||
Loading…
Reference in a new issue