view mod_minimix/README.markdown @ 3503:882180b459a0

mod_pubsub_post: Restructure authentication and authorization (BC) This deprecates the default "superuser" actor model and makes the default equivalent to the previous "request.id". A single actor and secret per node is supported because HTTP and WebHooks don't normally include any authorization identity. Allowing authentication bypass when no secret is given should be relatively safe when the actor is unprivileged, as will be unless explicitly configured otherwise.
author Kim Alvefur <zash@zash.se>
date Sat, 30 Mar 2019 21:16:13 +0100
parents 92b4a1d72d73
children 3aab4e3ab06f
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Account based MUC joining
=========================

Normally when joining a MUC groupchat, it is each individual client that
joins. This means their presence in the group is tied to the session,
which can be short-lived or unstable, especially in the case of mobile
clients.

This has a few problems. For one, for every message to the groupchat, a
copy is sent to each joined client. This means that at the account
level, each message would pass by once for each client that is joined,
making it difficult to archive these messages in the users personal
archive.

A potentially better approach would be that the user account itself is
the entity that joins the groupchat. Since the account is an entity that
lives in the server itself, and the server tends to be online on a good
connection most of the time, this may improve the experience and
simplify some problems.

This is one of the essential changes in the MIX architecture, which is
being designed to replace MUC.

`mod_minimix` is an experiment meant to determine if things can be
improved without replacing the entire MUC standard. It works by
pretending to each client that nothing is different and that they are
joining MUCs directly, but behind the scenes, it arranges it such that
only the account itself joins each groupchat. Which sessions have joined
which groups are kept track of. Groupchat messages are then forked to
those sessions, similar to how normal chat messages work.

Known issues
------------

-   You can never leave.
-   You will never see anyone leave.
-   Being kicked is not handled.

Unknown issues
--------------

-   Probably many.

Compatibility
=============

Briefly tested with Prosody trunk (as of this writing).