We're back home from TechCrunch where we had a great time arguing the pros and cons of Matrix versus XMPP with anyone and everyone - thanks to all who came to talk to us!

Meanwhile, Synapse v0.2.3 was released yesterday: the emphasis this week has been on improving stability issues on the server, and lots of cosmetic and functionality fixes on the webclient.

If you're running a homeserver, please upgrade asap - upgrading has never been easier - assuming you've checked out the master branch, simply:

git pull
./synctl restart

...and you will be up and running on 0.2.3. We keep the master branch tracking the latest release.  http://matrix.org/alpha is already on the latest release should you wish to experiment first!

Alternatively, if you're installing from scratch, try:

git clone https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse.git
python setup.py develop --user
./synctl start # to generate a default config
./synctl start # to actually set it running

and then head over to http://localhost:8008 to play with your very own Matrix homeserver!

Changes in synapse 0.2.3 (2014-09-12)

Homeserver:

• Fix bug where we stopped sending events to remote home servers if a user from that home server left, even if there were some still in the room.
• Fix bugs in the state conflict resolution where it was incorrectly rejecting events.
• Many stability fixes

Webclient:

• Display room names and topics.
• Allow setting/editing of room names and topics.
• Display information about rooms on the main page.
• Handle ban and kick events in real time.
• VoIP UI and reliability improvements.
• Add glare support for VoIP.
• Improvements to initial startup speed.
• Don't display duplicate join events.
• Show message sent/sending state via opacity
• Multiline message sending support
• Many other bug & stability fixes