Matrix
Matrix is an open-standard, encrypted, and federated chat protocol. Clients exist for multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux. The standard client is called Element, and can be downloaded at https://element.io/download. A web interface hosted by us can be found at chat.pub.solar.
Basic information
More information on Matrix can be found on:
Setting up
Homeserver address for clients
When logging in to clients, you'll have to provide your homeserver address. This is matrix.pub.solar, not chat.pub.solar.
Saving your encryption keys
The first time you log in, you'll be asked to save your encryption keys. Make sure to write these down in a secure location! We recommend using a password manager. Matrix messages are end-to-end encrypted, which means that the administrators of pub.solar cannot read their contents. However, if you lose your encryption keys you'll lose access to all previous messages.
Bridging
Proprietary chat services such as Discord, Telegram, and WhatsApp can be bridged to Matrix, allowing you to communicate with users on the target network.
We offer Telegram and IRC bridges for our users. Otherwise, several public bridges are available, such as t2bot for Discord and Telegram.
Telegram
Instructions for setting up Telegram relay bridging for an existing Matrix room:
- Invite @telegrambot:pub.solar to the Matrix room.
- Invite @telegrambot:pub.solar to your Telegram group or channel and run
/idto get its id. - On Matrix, bridge the room by sending
!tg bridge <room ID>. - Finally, confirm with
!tg continue
Note: If the Telegram room ID contains a negative sign (-), include it.
Puppeting is enabled on this instance.
IRC
Before joining, try to see if there is already an existing bridge to the channel.
To join a channel on IRC from Matrix, simply invite #irc_<SERVER>_<CHANNEL>, where <SERVER> and <CHANNEL> correspond to the server and channel.
For instance, to join #pkgsrc on libera.chat, join #irc_irc.libera.chat_#pkgsrc:pub.solar.
As of January 2024, bridging to Libera Chat (irc.libera.chat) and Scratch IRC (irc.scratch-network.net) is enabled. To check if this has changed in the mean time, inspect the Nix configuration and look for the entries below the line that says: in {.