A friend is extremely enthusiastic about matrix. I'm not so sure.
Does anyone know if it is possible to run your own matrix server without a domain name and trusted certificate?
It seems to me that adding domain names and trusted certificates as requirements kind of limits the usefulness of matrix.
Would absolutely love it if matrix could be run with IP only or as a tor hidden service, and with only a sqlite backend instead of a full blown postgres backend.
@h4890 think of Matrix like email -- to use email you at least need a host name to be somewhat usable, but not necessarily a full domain. i.e. you need a domain for addressing.
Certificates are free, from something like Let's Encrypt.
There is a guide here: https://matrix.org/docs/guides/free-small-matrix-server
Otherwise, look at some local/peer-to-peer messaging options: https://privacytools.io/software/real-time-communication/#peer-to-peer
What is important to me is as few "lockins" to the established internet infrastructure as possible.
Therefore I do not want Let'sencrypt and a dependency on domain name registrars in my choosen solution.
@h4890 not sure if they had email in mind, just aspects are similar, same as any messaging system you need to identify who to send to.
Also similar to ActivityPub / Mastodon / fediverse, an address has a local part and a domain part, with the domain part relying on existing DNS structure.
Not the only way to do addressing / server discovery, but common.
Have a look at some of the peer-to-peer systems, which don't rely on server infrastructure, e.g. Briar and Jami, mentioned on privacytools.io
@sgryphon Yes, briar, jami and session I'm looking into. Jami and session have apps for ios, android and linux clients, so all the family can use them. Briar is lacking ios at the moment.
Do you know if mastodon would be possible to run as a tor hidden service or do they rely on Let's encrypt as well with regular domain names?
@h4890 sorry, I don't know enough about Mastodon.
My guess if it was a stand alone server it would work fine, to message each other internally, i.e. local messages. The host name in your browser, or certificate details, would not be relevant or need to match if sending from alice@foo.private to bob@foo.private.
Public certificates, etc, would be relevant for federation, e.g. for a message to get from @sgryphon to @h4890 then the qoto.org server needs some way to (securely) connect to the liberdon.com server.
@sgryphon Ahh ok, thank you! =)
@sgryphon
Ahh ok. Always thought of it as more of a chat tool, but if they had email in mind when designing it, I can see where the design decisions come from.
So I guess it is not possible to setup matrix as a hidden service then since you would then have a .onion address and no way to handle certificates?
It's a real shame. I think matrix is too complex due to trying to handle too much. =(
Maybe there will be a "matrix light" or something in a couple of years.