XMPP brews coffee!

 Posted on August 8, 2020 |  7 minutes |  Newsletter |  emus

Welcome to the XMPP newsletter covering the month of August 2020.

Newsletter translations

Translations of the XMPP Newsletter will be released here:

Articles

Lorenz Kästle wrote an article (in German and English) on how to setup an Icinga 2 notification system using python3-slixmpp (reposity on Github).

Software news

Clients and applications

The multi-platform desktop client Gajim 1.2.2 has been released. It brings an automatic weekly update check for Gajim on Windows and MacOS, a big status message overhaul, and many improvements. More development news from August: The settings backend received an upgrade to migrate from text files to SQLite based storage, and a lot of code has been cleaned up, which should make it easier for you to handle all of Gajim’s configuration possiblities.

The iOS and macOS client Monal is now managing translations on Weblate. 27 languages are waiting for excellent and native speakers! Please also check out the current Monal Beta 4.7.0 and get ready for the upcoming release!

There have been UI and file sharing improvements on the “Salut à Toi” project:

  • Libervia, the web frontend, has seen a major UI revamp, with a new theme based on Bulma CSS framework. The W31 progress note also explains how the templating engine Nunjucks is used in the browser to use the same templates as in the Jinja 2 based backend.

  • The file sharing component included in SàT now implements XEP-0363 (HTTP File Upload), which completes the XEP-0234 (Jingle File Transfer) method. Files uploaded to this component from any XMPP client will appear in SàT’s file sharing UI, and can be deleted from there or with XEP-0050 (Ad-Hoc Commands).

  • Libervia photo album has been greatly improved with a mobile and desktop friendly slideshow, easy way to upload files from browser, and integration of videos. Work is currently in progress to make SàT/Libervia a good fit for an XMPP based familial social network, with a release expected around the end of September or beginning of October.

SàT Libervia photo album

The Android client aTalk 2.4.0 has been released. Changes are mainly internal with several libraries upgrades and compilation fixes. It was followed by version 2.4.1 which fixes an Android Q specific storage issue.

The desktop client Dino received a NGI0 PET Fund managed by NLnet which receives financial support from the European Commission’s Next Generation Internet program. This allows the developers to dedicate time and efforts to implement video and audio calls into their client. This is really great news!

The multi-platform client Kaidan 0.6.0 has been released. The update includes stability fixes, a new offline message queue, and improved message correction. Furthermore, the upstream HTTP File Upload implementation of its XMPP library QXmpp is used now.

Kaidan offline message queue

Spark, the multi-platform client from the Ignite RealTime community, has released its long overdue version 2.9.0, with improvement in certificates management, and additional file transfer methods. It was followed by 2.9.1 and 2.9.2. Go ahead and check the changelog for the numerous bug fixes and improvements.

Servers

The java based Tigase XMPP Server is now available as a Docker image to facilitate its deployment on your server.

The Ignite Realtime community XMPP server, Openfire, has a new plugin to make the JSXC web client available to its users.

Libraries

The Ignite RealTime community modular XMPP client library Smack has had its first beta release for the upcoming release of Smack version 4.4! The list of changes ranges from a new modular transport API which makes it easy to swap the underlying transport mechanism of an XMPP connection during runtime, to added support for XEP-0373 (OpenPGP for XMPP), XEP-0424 (Message Retraction), and about a dozen other specifications. As usual, it’s available on Maven Central.

python-nbxmpp, the library powering Gajim, had it’s 1.0.2 release. The latest version contains some domain mapping improvements and fixes network issues which occured under certain circumstances after suspending the device.

Other

Want a coffee with a taste of XMPP? Over the past months COM8 has been working on creating a reference implementation for his new XMPPIoT protocol. A first rather basic draft has been published in his B.Sc. Thesis. Using the Windows 10 UWP XMPP client UWPX, it is possible to register a JURA coffee maker as a new IoT device. This allows sending and receiving commands from and to it, using an ESP32 from Espressif (low-power and low-cost system on a chip microcontroller). The ESP32 functions as a proxy between XMPP and the proprietary JURA protocol. A video of the working prototype can be found on Twitter.

XMPP brews coffee

Google Summer of Code

Since the beginning of May students all over the world are working on many open-source projects within the Google Summer of Code Season 2020. We would like to introduce the students who work on GSoC XMPP projects and share their blog posts:

Aditya Borikar is working on WebSocket support for Smack. Blog history:

Anmol (wolfie_anmol) is working on implementing Real Time Texting (XEP-0301) in Dino. Blog history:

Thank you for joining GSoC XMPP projects and keep up the good work! These last posts mark the end of 2020’s Google Summer of Code. Thanks to all participants within the XMPP community for their great work. Stay safe and stay connnected with XMPP!

Extensions and specifications

Read more about the standards process.

New

  • XEP-0442 (Pubsub Message Archive Management)

    • This document defines a protocol to query and control a pubsub node’s message archive. (Accepted by vote of Council on 2020-08-19)

  • XEP-0441 (Message Archive Management Preferences)

    • This document defines a protocol to control a user’s archiving preferences. (Accepted by vote of Council on 2020-08-19)

Updated

  • Version 1.19.0 of XEP-0060 (Publish Subscribe)

    • Add missing ‘item’ key and ‘retrieve’ action to query type registry.

  • Version 1.2 of XEP-0178 (Best Practices for Use of SASL EXTERNAL with Certificates)

    • Add fallback to dialback if EXTERNAL authentication fails due to practical experience

  • Version 1.33.0 of XEP-0045 (Multi-User Chat)

    • Clarify that the 307 status code should not be used alongside 333 for user disconnects

  • Version 0.2.0 of XEP-0440 (SASL Channel-Binding Type Capability)

    • Discuss interaction with SASL mechanism and add security considerations
    • Recommend implementation of tls-server-end-point

  • Version 1.2 of XEP-0048 (Bookmarks)

    • Deprecate in favour of XEP-0402 (PEP Native Bookmarks)

Last Call

Last calls are issued once everyone seems satisfied with the current XEP status. After the Council decides whether the XEP seems ready, the XMPP Editor issues a Last Call for comments. The feedbacks gathered during the Last Call help improving the XEP before returning it to the Council for advancement to Draft.

Proposed Extensions

The XEP development process starts by writing up an idea and submitting it to the XMPP Editor. Within two weeks, the Council decides whether to accept this proposal as an Experimental XEP.

Thanks all!

This XMPP Newsletter is produced collaboratively by the community.

Thanks to COM8, emus, jcbrand, jerome-poisson, jonas’, Licaon_Kter, melvo, pmaziere, SeveFP, vanitasvitae, wurstsalat, Zash for their help in creating it!

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