Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

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Moonchild
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Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-08-02, 20:45

Important: read the update later on in the thread. This service will be shut down.

Borne from the desire to have IM for the beta testers, I've set up an XMPP/Jabber server - and thought I may as well extend the invitation to the other forum users to make use of the service. In this era of PRISM and central-server IM services under fire to retain and potentially give access to chat logs, XMPP/jabber is a good, decentralized alternative.

domain: palemoon.net (JID username@palemoon.net)
server address (if needed): xmpp.palemoon.net
I do not offer transports to other IM services at this time, but any XMPP-based other service (like Google Talk/jabber.org/etc.) will automatically have connectivity to this service.

Client-initiated registration is open, meaning you can use your XMPP/Jabber client to make a new account on-the-fly; please make sure to not abuse this service or I will be forced to close registration again for manual-only registrations from then on.

Note: this is a private server in the EU. I do not log or audit user conversations! I do not have or adhere to a retention policy, and all client connections are required encrypted, so no snooping.

EDIT: more basic information is now available on the XMPP server itself as a web page: http://xmpp.palemoon.net/
Last edited by Moonchild on 2014-08-15, 13:09, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: Added info for http://xmpp.palemoon.net/
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Rohugh

Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Rohugh » 2013-08-03, 21:28

Prompted by your Tweet.

Should we, the ordinary folk, be worried about PRISM? I for one use Google where ever I can for mail, services, storage, sync with android, etc. and are happy with the way they handle my privacy. I have nothing to hide from authorities, no dark secrets, no skeletons in my cupboards, no bomb making factories or links to terrorist organisations and whilst safety of personal information from those who will misuse it is always important I wonder if there is an over-reaction to the latest revelations about being spied on.

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-08-03, 21:37

There is, unfortunately, a difference between entrusting your communication to companies with a clear privacy policy, and having a poorly-defined "open door" policy on what is supposed to be private messaging. Regardless of if you have something to hide or not, something that is supposed to be 1-on-1 should remain 1-on-1, and that is what is at risk here. I agree that there is some measure of overreaction, but companies are starting to use the contents of private conversations for purposes that have nothing to do with criminal prosecution as a result of these practices. And that is something I think needs to stop.

EDIT: not to mention that chat segments taken out of context can be abused as circumstantial "evidence" for a crime that was never committed. Just joking with friends about a "hot terrorism topic" could be taken seriously. So it's just as much for own peace of mind, too.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Blacklab » 2013-08-03, 22:42

Rohugh wrote:Should we, the ordinary folk, be worried about PRISM?
No, there is an old proverb that roughly goes... "only worry about the things you can actually do something about" ... and you are certainly not going to stop any major world power from intercepting whatever communications data they consider worth the bother. PRISM is only ECHELON for the internet age, and anyway the NSA/GCHQ could not care less about your minor perversions (if any) and the risk of data loss from them is minimal excepting the inevitable stream of "misguided altruists & egomaniacs" such as Wikileak's Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and in earlier times Clive Ponting, et al. Anyone who wanted to know about PRISM only had to sit down for 5 minutes and conduct a "thought experiment" asking what exactly we would expect our state "code & cipher" organisations to be doing - frankly I would want my money back if they weren't making every effort to intercept, screen and analyse the massive data flows that now control all advanced civilisations.

IMHO I think you have much more to worry about by entrusting your personal data and privacy to Google, Facebook, Twitter and all the other data mining, apparently free, internet business models out there who could not give a damn about you, your data or your privacy - their sole objective is to make money. Another two old proverbs spring to mind... "there's no such thing as a free lunch" and "if you can't work out what the product being sold is - then it's probably you" :)

PS. If I have had an online/phone chat with a friend containing any likely "keywords" I try to remember to say "Goodnight Menwith" before signing off!

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-08-03, 23:09

Blacklab wrote:IMHO I think you have much more to worry about by entrusting your personal data and privacy to Google, Facebook, Twitter and all the other data mining, apparently free, internet business models out there who could not give a damn about you, your data or your privacy
Hear, hear.

I'm not exactly taking all this governmental fear-mongering serious either, since those massive data streams simply can't be monitored - it's undoable. Still, without proper and clear transparency about what is being done, your "minor perversions" may end up in the hands of people who have no business snooping on your private communication. Whether it is for money or, scrutinizing them for potential criminal charges (yes, based on chat... can of worms there), or simply for the lolz by employees of said companies/organizations. It's the principle.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-08-27, 23:07

Added a basic web page on http://xmpp.palemoon.net/ as additional information source for potential users of the service.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Anglosas

Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Anglosas » 2013-09-27, 08:47

Hi, thank you very much for XMPP server, I think its great. But I have to ask, do you plan to implement some kind of chat web interface? For example like https://jwchat.org/ or https://jappix.com/ I dont have knowlage to host myself and it would be great if you offered it.

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-09-27, 08:58

No, I have no plans on making a web interface to this service. It's meant to be used with dedicated messaging clients only.

Also, a web interface, apart from requiring regular maintenance that I don't have the time for, often becomes the target of spam attacks and that is simply a headache I don't want to deal with.

I would suggest you look into a dedicated client like the excellent Trillian client or open source alternatives like Pidgin if you want to use this service.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Anglosas

Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Anglosas » 2013-10-01, 17:38

Thank you for answer.

Currently I use Pidgin as a desktop client. Only just seeking some way to have a history from more pc in one place ...

By the way I tried to add an account in Thunderbird xmpp.palemoon.net, unfortunately it only displays message: Error: Not Authorized (Did you enter the wrong password?)

And with a similar error I can not login in PSI. I also added the account to the client QIP and a few days ago appeared authentication error and I can not log on.

The strange thing is that in Pidgin everything works perfectly fine.
Is something wrong with the Jabber server or am I doing something terribly wrong? Thank you :)

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-10-01, 18:33

Thunderbird is a mail and news client. This is an XMPP/Jabber server, and it does not include e-mail functionality or other services of any sort.
Any XMPP client that supports client-to-server encryption should work. Nothing has changed in the past few days in the server configuration, so if it worked before, it should work now.

If you are having specific issues with your jabber account, please let me know your JID so I can look into any potential issues there might be with your account on the server.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Anglosas

Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Anglosas » 2013-10-01, 20:10

Thunderbird have buildin Jabber client from version 15 - https://support.mozillamessaging.com/cs/kb/instant-messaging-and-chat

EDIT: Thats strange, I can log in to Gajim and PSI when i enter my JID in format: testovactestitel@palemoon.net , in format testovactestitel@xmpp.palemoon.net I cant login. Is that realy correct? Whan I registrer account via Pidgin, I got this message :
"Registration testovactestitel@xmpp.palemoon.net successful" - maybe that is bug, but it is little confusing .

So I'm terrible sorry, Whole time I used wrong JID, Now everything works, even the Thunderbird

Next time I carefully read the documentation before I even considered an error. Unfortunately, I documented the (wrong)message registering an account in Pidgin. Even in the file accounts.xml account is stored in the following form:
<name> testovactestitel@xmpp.palemoon.net / </ name>

Thank you for your patience and great service and please accept my humble apology:)

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2013-10-01, 20:18

Ah, I wasn't aware Thunderbird had XMPP added to it. Interesting :)

JIDs are @palemoon.net as I clearly documented ;)
If pidgin indicated @{server name} instead of @{domain} then that would be a bug in pidgin.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

Ham Radio

Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Ham Radio » 2013-11-07, 15:52

Hi,

Thank you very much for this service. I am signing me and my family up for it. Being the "IT" guy in the family, I have been pressured into finding a more secure way of communication rather then skype. I think I found it.

Is there any way to donate for this service? I am sure that this doesn't come cheap, and I would like to do my part in keeping it open. I was thinking of maybe setting up a PayPal recurring subscription of either $10. or $5. a month. Thanks :)

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-01-07, 13:42

Just an update: after some headaches trying to secure the previous server software (OpenFire) I've now moved the service over to a (self source-compiled) version of a new and actively developed XMPP server called Prosŏdy. There may still be a few kinks to work out but server inter-connectivity as well as connection encryption security should now be completely fixed. Communication is encrypted wherever remotely possible (still waiting for Google Talk to enable encryption,at which point I will make it a requirement between servers as well).

The IM Observatory now gives the palemoon.net XMPP service a solid grade A :)
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-01-07, 13:48

Ham Radio wrote:Is there any way to donate for this service? I am sure that this doesn't come cheap, and I would like to do my part in keeping it open. I was thinking of maybe setting up a PayPal recurring subscription of either $10. or $5. a month.
I appreciate your willingness to support the service financially. You can set up a subscription if you wish through PayPal (moonchild[at]palemoon.org). As far as budgeting goes, it's not as expensive right now as you may think; thanks to the amazing deals I've gotten from Afterburst it's happily running on a reliable VPS/VDS setup.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-01-13, 21:27

Registering for a jabber account is now possible from the web as well!
Choosing a username and password, and solving a captcha (of course over a secure connection) will get you set up with an account to use from any capable client (including FossaMail).

How?
Point your (Pale Moon ;)) browser to https://xmpp.palemoon.net/register_web/
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

megaman

Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by megaman » 2014-01-14, 01:32

3 lines on Spark
Username:
Password:
Server:
What is the server? If I have it right, then my login credentials are wrong, but they are set on save password. So, everything would be correct and I don't have the right server address.

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-01-14, 11:19

The server is xmpp.palemoon.net, as explained on https://xmpp.palemoon.net/
The login credentials haven't changed otherwise, though (shouldn't have?) but I can look into what might have been different. Your username will likely need @palemoon.net since prosody can serve multiple domains on a single installation.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

megaman

Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by megaman » 2014-01-14, 15:42

I still can't seem to connect.
The client might not have access to the server, or I don't know what is going on.
I might have forgotten my password, but before all of that the password used to login was saved with the client for auto-login, so it couldn't have been the password to begin with. (Yet, I actually forgotten mine, so I might need to ask you if you can help me recover it.)
I even tried @palemoon.net and I still get "Invalid username and password."

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Re: Open XMPP/Jabber chat service

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-01-14, 23:34

Sent you a pm.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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