this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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I'm looking into hosting one of these for the first time. From my limited research, XMPP seems to win in every way, which makes me think I must be missing something. Matrix is almost always mentioned as the de-facto standard, but I rarely saw arguments why it is better than XMPP?

Xmpp seems way easier to host, requiring less resources, has many more options for clients, and is simpler and thus easier to manage and reason about when something goes wrong.

So what's the deal?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I'm not sure if you noticed this, but Matrix is newer. And, as Barney Stinson will tell you, "Newer is always hotter".

STD: Shiny Things Disease.

They'll find something newer soon. And, if it uses some loose install method with performance or security concerns but installs with a negligent curl|sh, they'll be all over it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Show me a docker compose file which I can simply start and don't have to mess around more than deploy it, and I will discuss xmpp more often.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I never tried hosting matrix because it was rumoured to be a bitch to host.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Here is a docker compose: https://snikket.org/service/resources/docker-compose.yml

You only two configuration options in the config file: domain and email.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

OK, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I've tried Snikket a few years ago. Nice project. 👍

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Tinode and Snikket should be discussed too. They're server and clients, built upon XMPP and including the many extensions, "XEPs" that an admin would want in order to give their users a modern experience.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Tinode is not XMPP/Jabber. It is not compatible with XMPP. It's meant as a replacement for XMPP.

From their repo. it has AFAIK nothing to do with XMPP, they just use it as an SEO term.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Matrix clients are simple, easy, and nice to look at. The matrix server might need more resources, but it comes with everything out of the box. There's no need to fiddle with extensions and their weird naming, and hope that the other server/client also supports the extension. Also, are there bridges to other protocols?

I remember trying to get encryption working on Pidgin and it was all around a bad experience.

XMPP might be as powerful or more powerful than matrix, but nothing about it screams modern. It's like IRC for Gen X'ers.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

The anti AI license is so lame.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You are basing your experience on Pidgin, which is the worst possible choice for an XMPP client that hasn't been updated in over a decade. Other XMPP clients are relatively modern looking and easy to use, including encryption (probably easier than Matrix for most users).

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I looked at Dino and another one mentioned here and they look dated. Windows 95 feel with better anti-aliasing, rounder corners, but same colors? Gtk 2 or something?

Pidgin was my messenger of choice to communicate with people on facebook, gmail, and a few other protocols back then.

But yeah, my experience with XMPP wasn't good and if they don't have bridges, there isn't much of a reason for me to switch right now. It doesn't seem to provide any advantages over Matrix.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I looked at Dino and another one mentioned here and they look dated. Windows 95 feel with better anti-aliasing, rounder corners, but same colors? Gtk 2 or something?

Looks like a standard GTK4 app to me. Whether or not that is to someone's tastes is obviously subjective, but it uses the same design language as every other GTK app under the sun.

GTK apps always look out of place on Windows though. Looks far more sensible in its native environment (i.e. *nix running GNOME).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

🤔 maybe GTK4 apps look dated to me. Didn't realise that's what GTK4 looks like.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Dino has an intentionally simplistic design, but it doesn't look "dated" at all. Gajim or Movim both look pretty modern and similar to Discord etc. these days.

And XMPP has bridges to pretty much all major commercial networks, it just doesn't have a major centralized provider of them that in exchange siphons up all your personal data like Element & Beeper does. But you can easily self-host the available bridges for XMPP.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Dino has an intentionally simplistic design, but it doesn’t look “dated” at all.

That's highly subjective, but I've shown some Gtk3 apps to people at work and the most expressive first reaction I got was "ew". Dino and others getting that exact reaction wouldn't be surprising.

it just doesn’t have a major centralized provider of them that in exchange siphons up all your personal data like Element & Beeper does. But you can easily self-host the available bridges for XMPP

And this is another reason why it isn't prominent. "Grandma, all you need to do is host an XMPP server. It's incredibly easy".

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

You can easily do it for your Grandma. But your argument can be just as easily applied to Matrix vs. WhatsApp etc. If you use the centralized services of Matrix.org or Beeper then Matrix is just a very poor version of Discord.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm trying out another extremely lightweight nostr relay

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

May be lightweight, but why there has to be one?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

In order to ensure that my account's historical data is backed up, I am worried that other relay servers will disappear or fail

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
Git Popular version control system, primarily for code
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the Web
IoT Internet of Things for device controllers
VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)
XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol ('Jabber') for open instant messaging

4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 8 acronyms.

[Thread #699 for this sub, first seen 22nd Apr 2024, 03:05] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

@[email protected]

Missed the XMPP acronym. Probably needs to scan the title too

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

@onlinepersona Thanks; added XMPP. The bot should, in theory, pick up on acronyms used in post titles (if it knows about them beforehand); we'll find out next time it's mentioned, I guess.

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