This Week in Matrix 2024-11-01

Dept of Status of Matrix 🌡️

Matrix 2.0

Matthew reports

We've also announced Matrix 2.0 as now being usable by mainstream users, to complement the keynote from The Matrix Conference - giving an update on all the APIs that will form Matrix 2.0! https://matrix.org/blog/2024/10/29/matrix-2.0-is-here/

The wait is over, videos from The Matrix Conference 2024 are here

Matthew reports

The Matrix Conference talk videos have been published - check them out at https://2024.matrix.org/watch/ and see Josh's round-up of the conference at https://matrix.org/blog/2024/10/29/matrixconf/

Dept of Spec 📜

uhoreg says

Here's your weekly spec update! The heart of Matrix is the specification - and this is modified by Matrix Spec Change (MSC) proposals. Learn more about how the process works at https://spec.matrix.org/proposals.

MSC Status

New MSCs:

• MSC4223: Error code for disallowing threepid unbinding
• MSC4222: Adding state_after to sync v2
• MSC4221: Room Banners

MSCs in Final Comment Period:

• MSC2781: Remove the reply fallbacks from the specification (merge)

Accepted MSCs:

• MSC2409: Proposal to send EDUs to appservices

Closed MSCs:

• No MSCs were closed/rejected this week.

Dept of Servers 🏢

Synapse (website)

Synapse is a Matrix homeserver implementation developed by Element

Till announces

This week we released Synapse v1.118.0. The major thing to be aware of is that Python 3.8 is now end-of-life. As per our Deprecation Policy for Platform Dependencies, Synapse will be dropping support for Python 3.8 in the next release; Synapse 1.119.0.

Otherwise, Synapse 1.118.0 is the first release to support Python 3.13! PostgreSQL 17 is also supported as of this release.

Other highlights in this release include an experimental implementation of MSC4210: Remove legacy mentions, and the ability to set one's display name upon registering via JWT. In addition, there's the usual round of bugfixes and internal changes. See the release changelog for the full details!

Dept of Clients 📱

🎉 Exciting News: Introducing Tammy!

Benedict says

We're thrilled to announce the first official release of Tammy! Built from the ground up in Kotlin Multiplatform, Tammy is a new, innovative Matrix Messenger designed for Desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux), Mobile (currently Android, with iOS coming soon), and Web (in Beta). It is built on the robusts Trixnity and Trixnity Messenger SDKs and is Open Source too. Technically it's just a whitelabel Matrix messenger, that can be deeply customized by developers.

Why Choose Tammy?

• Simple: Enjoy an intuitive UI with a sleek and unobtrusive look.
• Fast: Experience a smooth and responsive experience.
• Customizable: Developers can start with a ready-to-use messenger and customize it extensively to meet their specific needs. Just one line of code can reshape Tammy entirely through different configurations!

So give it a try and leave your feedback at #tammy:imbitbu.de - we're very excited to hear what you think!

Commet v0.3

airyz reports

Hello! it's been a while since the last major release, but we have finally released v0.3 of Commet! There is a ton of new features and improvements, so we'll just give the highlights:

• Threads are now fully supported
• Drastically improved the performance of the chat timeline
• Initial support for sub-spaces
• Encrypted room search

There's a whole bunch more to find, so check out the release on GitHub! That's all for now!

Fractal (website)

Matrix messaging app for GNOME written in Rust.

Kévin Commaille says

😱 What’s that behind you⁉️ Oh, that’s the new Fractal 9 release❣️ 😁 🎃

• We switched to the glycin library (the same one used by GNOME Image Viewer) to load images, allowing us to fix several issues, like supporting more animated formats and SVGs and respecting EXIF orientation.
• The annoying bug where some rooms would stay as unread even after opening them is now a distant memory.
• The media cache uses its own database that you can delete if you want to free some space on your system. It will also soon be able to clean up unused media files to prevent it from growing indefinitely.
• Sometimes the day separators would show up with the wrong date, not anymore!
• We migrated to the new GTK 4.16 and libadwaita 1.6 APIs, including CSS variables, AdwButtonRow and AdwSpinner.
• We used to only rely on the secrets provider to tell us which Matrix accounts are logged-in, which caused issues for people sharing their secrets between devices. Now we also make sure that there is a data folder for a given session before trying to restore it.
• Our notifications are categorized as coming from an instant messenger, so graphical shells that support it, such as Phosh, can play a sound for them.
• Some room settings are hidden for direct chats, because it does not make sense to change them in this type of room.
• The size of the headerbar would change depending on whether the room has a topic or not. This will not happen anymore.

As usual, this release includes other improvements and fixes thanks to all our contributors, and our upstream projects.

We want to address special thanks to the translators who worked on this version. We know this is a huge undertaking and have a deep appreciation for what you’ve done. If you want to help with this effort, head over to Damned Lies.

This version is available right now on Flathub.

We have a lot of improvements in mind for our next release, but if you want a particular feature to make it, the surest way is to implement it yourself! Start by looking at our issues or just come say hello in our Matrix room.

Element X iOS (website)

A total rewrite of Element-iOS using the Matrix Rust SDK underneath and targeting devices running iOS 16+.

Doug announces

This week we’ve finished two features that will land in next week’s release candidate:

• There’s a new advanced setting for Optimised Media Uploads that is enabled by default. This will resize your images and videos for faster uploads and reduced data usage.
• The app now responds to verification requests when you sign into your account on a different device. Finally!

Additionally we’ve continued to refine the flows for managing your Recovery Key and Key Storage, making them more consistent and easier to understand.

Dept of SDKs and Frameworks 🧰

Trixnity (website)

Multiplatform Kotlin SDK for developing Clients, Bots, Appservices and Servers

Benedict announces

I released Trixnity 3.9 with Matrix 1.12 support and some minor improvements and bugfixes.

Ruma (website)

A set of Rust library crates for working with the Matrix protocol. Ruma’s approach to Matrix emphasizes correctness, security, stability and performance.

Kévin Commaille reports

Ruma 0.11.0 is fresh off the (key)press and includes a lot of work:

• Implement all changes and new features of Matrix 1.11 and 1.12, like authenticated media and unread markers.
• A new type was created to facilitate the use of the Content-Disposition HTTP header in the media endpoints.
• We used to rely on DeviceKeyId in a lot of places where we expected an algorithm:key_name string. Not only was it confusing because the name was wrong in most cases, it also had poor semantic value. To fix that, we created a lot of new types that, used with KeyId, try to validate properly the parts of the string according to their expected types.
• Unstable support for the simplified sliding sync API (MSC4186) and cancellable delayed events (MSC4140).

The full set of changes can be viewed in the corresponding crates' changelogs (or GitHub releases).

Thanks to all our contributors! If you want to join them to help Ruma grow, the first step is as easy as joining us in #ruma:matrix.org!

Rory&::LibMatrix (website)

.NET 8 matrix bot/client library/SDK

Emma [it/its] reports

Recently, we've held a poll in #libmatrix:rory.gay around source code availability. Due to community interest, we're now hosting read-only mirrors of all Rory&::LibMatrix repositories on Github! You can find the repositories under the Rory-LibMatrix organisation there. We don't provide any guarantees of monitoring those repositories (issues, pulls, ...), but it does open up a new way to contribute: Pull Requests! If you choose to make a pull request via Github, please remember to let us know about them in #libmatrix:rory.gay, or the subproject's own Matrix room, or they might get missed!

Maybe in the future we will set up mirrors on Codeberg aswell, if this proves to be maintainable.

And, as always:

• The code is available at cgit.rory.gay!
  • All contributions are more than welcome, be it documentation, code, anything! Perhaps, example usecases, bots, ...?
• Discussion, suggestions and ideas are welcome in #libmatrix:rory.gay (Space: #mru-space:rory.gay)
• Got a cool project that you're working on and want to share, using LibMatrix? Be sure to let us know, we'd love to hear all about it!

Dept of Services 🚀

etke.cc (website)

Your matrix server on your conditions

Aine [don't DM] reports

Synapse-Admin Updates

A while back, we at etke.cc announced our Synapse-Admin fork, and this week we're excited to share more QoL changes!

• Logo and Icon - Synapse Admin got its own icons instead of a "generic" [m]
• Community room has been created - welcome to #synapse-admin:etke.cc ! not a code change per se, but a QoL improvement for the community nonetheless!
• Sanitize CSV on import - previously when you tried to use bulk registration feature you had to keep CSV file exactly how it should be, including case, spaces, etc. With this change, even headers like Id or DisplayName will work
• Extended manifest.json with proper version and whatnot on build - previously manifest.json with version info was generated on CI only, so if you tried to build Synapse Admin yourself, you lost that info. With this update the manifest.json generation moved to the build phase, and the manifest itself was extended for your convenience. Example: https://admin.etke.cc/manifest.json

Do you remember the Visual Customization from the previous announcement? ProTip! you can drag/move the customization window

Source code, admin.etke.cc (CDN version), say hi in the #synapse-admin:etke.cc

Dept of Events and Talks 🗣️

saces announces

Matrix User Meetup Berlin

Next Matrix user meetup 6.11.2024, 8 pm @ c-base

Meet other matrix users, chat about Matrix, the rest, and everything else, discuss your Matrix ideas, sign each other in persona, and maybe spice the evening with a good mate or beer.

Every first Wednesday of the month in the c-base at 8pm ('til the next pandemic).

Matrix room: #mumb:c-base.org

Dept of Built on Matrix 🏗️

Acter (website)

Your social organizing app build on matrix: A secure space to gather, engage and grow your community!

ben reports

It has been while since we send an update to TWIM--because we have been busy onboarding Activists, NGOs and working closely with them to figure out what else is needed. Of course we have also been busy working on the revamp of the App, including the design,but also many features. You can learn more about that in my summary blog post Acter Dragonfly Edition. tl;dr: Completely new UX with cool features, more organizational tools and customization - everything looks cooler and works a lot smoother.

We have also overhauled our website, moved all the different things (news, podcast, documentation) to a single entry point under acter.global. I am particularly happy about the new help center with a global search, the new starting guide and the new extended App features page, which we intend to grow with additional sub-pages going more into detail.

Lastly, with our growing user bases, so grows the workload on the operation. Thus we have opened another jobs position: We are looking for a Matrix App Infrastructure and Support Engineer helping us run the Synapse instance, surrounding services and troubleshoot with users when they face problems. If that sounds interesting to you, apply soon, we will close it when we've found a suitable candidate and quite a few have already applied.

Matrix Federation Stats

Aine [don't DM] reports

collected by MatrixRooms.info - an MRS instance by etke.cc

As of today, 10402 Matrix federateable servers have been discovered by matrixrooms.info, 3173 (30.5%) of them are publishing their rooms directory over federation. The published directories contain 22282 rooms.

Stats timeline is available on MatrixRooms.info/stats

How to add your server | How to remove your server

Dept of Ping 🏓

Here we reveal, rank, and applaud the homeservers with the lowest ping, as measured by pingbot, a maubot that you can host on your own server.

#ping:maunium.net

Join #ping:maunium.net to experience the fun live, and to find out how to add YOUR server to the game.

Rank	Hostname	Median MS
1	conduwu.it	184
2	nexy7574.uk	186.5
3	awawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawaw.gay	195
4	itzzen.net	211
5	transgender.ing	216
6	girlboss.ceo	223
7	constellatory.net	251.5
8	puppygock.gay	252
9	tomfos.tr	257
10	ipv6.girlcock.systems	262

That's all I know

See you next week, and be sure to stop by #twim:matrix.org with your updates!