Chapter 17. XMPP Reference
XMPP is a protocol that supports both private instant messages, and group
instant messages. The server also supports features such as roster management,
for keeping track of contacts and showing who is and is not online. Here is a
broad overview of what the symbiosis-xmpp package supports:
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Federation - this is where users of your XMPP server may communicate with
users of any other correctly configured XMPP server, with their own, locally hosted account. This will
also allow a user to connect to multiple user chats (see below) on the local server or remote
servers, should they wish to do so.
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Roster (contact list) management - before receiving messages from a new
contact, each user must add the other to their contact list. The server will
then remember contacts, such that they will be known on all a user’s XMPP
clients.
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Private messages - a user is able to speak to any of their online contacts
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Multiple user chat (MUC) - this feature enables users to communicate in groups,
rather than one on one. These chats will often be named
after the intended subject of discussion, eg "office" or "managers". If you
wish, you can host a MUC that anyone else can connect to and use to chat.
Think of this as being a cross between an instant message and a mailing list.
The server that underlies the symbiosis-xmpp package is called Prosody. It’s
website is http://prosody.im/ .