This Week in Matrix

Matrix Live

Unfortunately no Matrix Live this week, your host and editor apologises for the inconvenience!

Dept of Status of Matrix 🌡️

Libera Chat bridge sunsetting

Josh Simmons says

This week we were sorry to announce that we are not able to bring the Libera.Chat bridge back online. We have already begun working through clean up tasks, such as clearing ghosts, and expect to be done by December 22. If you see any bridge artifacts left past that point, please let us know.

We know that many communities and individuals were relying on the bridge, and we regret the impact this situation has on them.

If you are one of those who have relied on the bridge in the past, you may be asking: what now? You do have options.

People who need a bridge for their community can run their own: the matrix-appservice-irc software is still maintained. Only its Libera.Chat instance, which was configured to persist connections across restarts, is being shut down. Please be mindful of the network, and read Libera.Chat’s recommendations and their Matrix FAQ when doing so.

For more information, read our full announcement and Libera.Chat’s announcement.

Matrix on Wikidata

Christian Paul (jaller94) reports

Wikidata is an open knowledge base, containing structured information to be read by humans and machines. I love it and I contribute to it a lot.

This week, I added a few more items from the Matrix ecosystem which I want to highlight:

You may have heard of this event series called Matrix Community Summit (Q123583505). In the past, we've had the Matrix Community Summit 2022 (Q123583515) and the Matrix Community Summit 2023 (Q123583556).

One output of these community summits is the Matrix Salon Podcast (Q123583531), which is a podcast featuring community members. Check it out! After all, you already seem to be interested in Matrix (Q22906785) given you're currently reading This Week In Matrix (Q123583570).

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Matrix Live

Dept of Spec 📜

uhoreg reports

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:

• MSC4081: Claim fallback key on network failure

MSCs in Final Comment Period:

• MSC1929: Homeserver Admin Contact and Support page (merge)

Accepted MSCs:

• No MSCs were accepted this week.

Closed MSCs:

• MSC4037: Thread root is not in the thread

Spec Updates

Matrix 1.9 is due out next week. Keep your eyes peeled for an update.

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Matrix Live

Dept of Spec 📜

Andrew Morgan (anoa) announces

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:

• MSC4080: Cryptographic Identities (Client-Owned Identities)
• MSC4079: Server-Defined User Home Pages
• MSC4078: Transparent pusher creation
• MSC4077: Improved process for handling deprecated HTML features
• MSC4076: Let E2EE clients calculate app & E2EE-room badge counts themselves

MSCs in Final Comment Period:

• No MSCs are in FCP.

Accepted MSCs:

• No MSCs were accepted this week.

Closed MSCs:

• MSC4072: Handling devices with no one-time keys in /keys/claim

Spec Updates

Cross-posting from TravisR's announcement in the Office of the Spec Core Team room...

Matrix 1.9

The next release, Matrix 1.9, is scheduled for release on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. This will largely be a maintenance release, but if there's anything you think we might have missed, please let us know.

Matrix 1.10

The Spec Core Team is now accepting MSC and feature suggestions towards the Matrix 1.10 release, due sometime around FOSDEM in February (unsure if it'll be before or after). So far we've got the following features up for consideration:

• Extensible Events (at least proposing FCP on the majority of the core system; plan to merge for Matrix 1.11)
• Encrypted appservices (like MSC2409)
• Custom emoji/stickers (merge)

If there's specific MSCs, or even vague ideas you'd like the SCT to focus on, let us know in the Office of the Spec Core Team room. The SCT will generally find it harder to actually write the MSCs ourselves, but if you're planning on implementing a feature that will need spec review, let us know so we can ensure bandwidth is made available for that review to happen.

Random MSC of the Week

The random MSC of the week is... MSC3394: New auth rule that only allows someone to post a message in relation to another message!

This MSC is paving the way towards the use case of a room where, for instance, announcements can be made by admins, while general users can start or participate in a thread branched off from an announcement. But they otherwise would not be able to make "top-level" posts.

This feature is common in services such as Telegram, for announcement or support rooms. And it would be nice to be able to support the same kind of use case in Matrix.

It looks like I dropped the ball on keeping up with the discussion on this one. So excuse me while I go do that!

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Matrix Live

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Matrix Live

Dept of Social Good 🙆

Josh Simmons announces

The Matrix.org Foundation is proud to join with Mozilla, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and over 400 security experts, researchers, and NGOs in sounding the alarm about the EU's proposed eIDAS reform.

As written, the proposal radically expands the ability of governments to surveil their citizens and residents across the EU.

We encourage citizens and residents of the EU to pay close attention and look for ways to get involved – urgently.

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Matrix Live

Dept of Status of Matrix 🌡️

Josh Simmons says

A couple months in, it’s a joy and a privilege to introduce myself as the first Managing Director of The Matrix.org Foundation! Read my intro post to learn more about me, the work ahead, what you can do to help, and how the leaders of other open source foundations are reacting to my appointment.

I’m thrilled to take this opportunity to also announce the Office of the Matrix.org Foundation, a new room that offers a direct line to me and the rest of the small but mighty team behind the Foundation. Come say hi! 👋🏻

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Matrix Live

Dept of Spec 📜

Weekly Spec Update

Andrew Morgan (anoa) 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:

• MSC4060: Accept room rules before speaking
• [WIP] MSC4059: Mutable event content
• [WIP] MSC4058: Additive events

MSCs in Final Comment Period:

• No MSCs are in FCP.

Accepted MSCs:

• No MSCs were accepted this week.

Closed MSCs:

• No MSCs were closed/rejected this week.

Spec Updates

In the new MSCs section there are new flurry of MSCs from Travis.

Matrix 1.9 has also been given a scheduled release date of November 29th, 2023.

Travis has also put out a call in the #sct-office:matrix.org for folks to add/apply feedback to any MSCs related to custom emotes and stickerpacks, as that feature is due to be reviewed (and consolidated) by the Spec Core Team this week or early next week.

Random MSC of the Week

The random MSC of the week is... MSC4034: Media limits!

This MSC facilitates a few new features related to the storage of user media on homeservers. First, it proposes additional metadata on the /_matrix/media/v3/config endpoint to inform clients of the total number of bytes they're allowed to store on the homeserver, as well as the maximum number of total files they're able to store.

Second, a new endpoint /_matrix/media/v3/usage would allow users to query how much of their total number of bytes/files they're currently using.

Both of these features would allow homeservers to set and communicate media usage quotas to clients, instead of simply returning an error when the user tries to upload media that would exceed it.

Seems like a very sane proposal to me! If this is something that you think would be useful to the Matrix spec, please don't hesitate to weigh in with your support/feedback :)

Call to Action for server owners

Aine announces

Hey there, Matrix Homeserver Owners!

I'm Aine from etke.cc, and I want to tell you about a fantastic project we're working on: Matrix Rooms Search. It's a search engine for Matrix Federation public rooms.

Recently, we introduced MSC1929 integration into Matrix Rooms Search. This feature automatically notifies server owners by email if a room on their server is reported for any issues. It's an important step toward enhancing safety within the Matrix Federation.

However, we've noticed that the adoption of MSC1929 across Matrix servers is relatively low, despite the fact it is going to the proposed Final Comment Period soon. This is where we need your help!

On behalf of the MRS project, we're reaching out to you to add (or update, if you previously configured it) MSC1929 support to your homeserver. Together, we can make the Matrix Federation a safer and more secure environment for everyone.

So, how can you do this? It's simple! You just need to serve the /.well-known/matrix/support file with the following structure on your homeserver's domain. If your Matrix ID is @you:example.com, the file should be available at https://example.com/.well-known/matrix/support:

{
  "contacts": [
    {
      "email_address": "your@email.here",
      "matrix_id": "@your:mxid.here",
      "role": "admin"
    }
  ]
}

If you're using mdad, there's a handy guide to assist you in setting this up.

By taking this step, you'll be contributing to a safer and more secure Matrix Federation. We invite you to join us in the #mrs:etke.cc room, where you can connect with others who are interested in the MRS project.

Let's work together to make the Matrix Federation a better place for all of us. Your support means a lot, and it's a step in the right direction for a more secure and connected future.

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Matrix Live

Dept of Spec 📜

Andrew Morgan (anoa) reports

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:

• There were no new MSCs this week.

MSCs in Final Comment Period:

• No MSCs are in FCP.

Accepted MSCs:

• No MSCs were accepted this week.

Closed MSCs:

• No MSCs were closed/rejected this week.

Spec Updates

Pretty quiet in spec land this week, while IETF/MIMI continues to whir away in the background.

In other news, the SCT expects to start focusing on the custom emote MSCs in the very near future! ✨

Random MSC of the Week

The random MSC of the week is... MSC1921: Support cancelling 3pid validation sessions!

This MSC is fairly straight-forward, proposing the addition of two new endpoints to allow you to immediately cancel a 3PID verification session on an identity server (instead of waiting for the automatic 24-hour timeout). This is particularly helpful if you put in the wrong email/phone number on your first attempt.

I don't think Identity Servers get much love today, but this sounds like a no-brainer to add. Go forth and comment on if it sounds interesting to you!

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Matrix Live

Dept of Spec 📜

Andrew Morgan (anoa) announces

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:

• There were no new MSCs this week.

MSCs in Final Comment Period:

• No MSCs are in FCP.

Accepted MSCs:

• No MSCs were accepted this week.

Closed MSCs:

• MSC4052: Hiding read receipts UI in certain rooms
• MSC3968: Poorer features
• MSC3969: Size limits

Spec Updates

Lots of discussion surrounding MSC2702 this week, spread across a few threads.

Otherwise, the SCT are planning to add a general "MSC Checklist" to the PR template for MSC's, which contain various do's and don'ts for the contents of MSCs. Our hope is that this will eliminate a lot of repeating errors or gotchas that we find during review, as well as prevent them from slipping through unnoticed. More to follow soon!

Random MSC of the Week

The random MSC of the week is... MSC3959: Sliding Sync Extension: Account Data!

This is an additive MSC to MSC3575; the core Sliding Sync MSC. As the title suggests, it adds an extension to Sliding Sync which allows clients to pull down changes to both user and room Account Data.

Clients can activate this extension when making a request to the sliding sync endpoint. See the Extensions section of MSC3575 for details.

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Matrix Live

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