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I just released version 5.0. Among other things, this release includes a new feature that can make it behave like an IRC bouncer. Coupled with a few modern XMP

by louiz 9y ago

I just released version 5.0. Among other things, this release includes a new feature that can make it behave like an IRC bouncer. Coupled with a few modern XMPP features, it makes IRC mobile friendly: you can mark a channel as persistent, join it from your mobile XMPP client (like Conversations), and whenever you get disconnected due to bad connectivity biboumi will stay online, and when you go back online it will send you all the messages you missed.

wcummings 9y ago
This is very cool, does it support working as an IRC->IRC bouncer, as well? Or would I have to run an instance for mobile, in addition to ZNC for desktop?
- louiz 9y ago
  You could do something like this Conversations -> Biboumi -- \ irssi -> znc -> IRC But it has a few gotchas (like when znc “force-join” a channel, that can’t be done with XMPP, so biboumi will send you an invite instead, that’s confusing), and it quickly gets complicated to manage. You could try that, but you might encounter a few usage issues. And no, it doesn’t do an IRC->IRC bouncer, so you can’t replace your znc entirely if you still want to use a real IRC client on your desktop. I think the best solution is to have two independent biboumi and znc.
  - zokier 9y ago
    Would this sort of thing be too convoluted? Conversations -> Biboumi -> IRC / irssi -> bitlbee -´ I suppose some fidelity is lost in the irc->xmpp->irc conversion, but for basic use that might work?
    - louiz 9y ago
      That will probably work, yes. But that’s also too convoluted, IMO. I would not personally use this. Don’t hesitate to try any combination of gateways you can think of, and report any issues to me.
    - joecool1029 9y ago
      I've been using mutter -> ZNC (with mutter push module) -> bitlbee for some years and it works fine here for basic XMPP usage. EDIT: (I'm on a bunch of IRC servers too so this gives me one app for everything on the phone)
  - wcummings 9y ago
    Fair enough, I'll definitely take this for a spin, all the IRC clients available on Android are terrible. If I can't make something like this work I'm going to have to bang out my own "suckless" Android IRC client...
    - BoorishBears 9y ago
      What are the pain points in the current Android IRC clients?
      - exelius 9y ago
        IRC requires a persistent connection; cell phones are not good at that since they bounce from network to network. I love IRC but there's a reason Slack is so popular.
        BoorishBears 9y ago
        I last used IRCCloud when I was on IRC, I know a bouncer could do similar things but I much prefer the 0-config route along with the UI built around it. I'd write a high quality IRC client for Android if there really was a market for it, but Slack feels like it's obsoleted the market (and I have trouble believing this many years into the game there are no good IRC clients on Android, but I haven't checked in a while)
        wcummings 9y ago
        I use a bouncer, thats not the problem. The problems are bad UIs, bugs, no v3 support, poor scripting support.
    - daurnimator 9y ago
      I don't mind the weechat app (connects to a running weechat instance in relay mode). + glowing-bear works too.
- ge0rg 9y ago
  It might also be possible to use WeeChat or irssi as the IRC "server", using their respective IRC proxy module. You should be able to connect to those from bitlbee.
zokier 9y ago
I notice that you don't currently support MAM for private messages. For full IRC bouncer replacement, I think that would be an useful addition. Any plans to extend the "persistent" feature to private messages too?
- louiz 9y ago
  Indeed, that’s a feature I intend to do for version 6.0, but didn’t take the time to write a ticket on the bug tracker. (But I just did, so I won’t forget that feature https://lab.louiz.org/louiz/biboumi/issues/3267 https://lab.louiz.org/louiz/biboumi/issues/3267)

by louiz 9y ago

wcummings 9y ago

This is very cool, does it support working as an IRC->IRC bouncer, as well? Or would I have to run an instance for mobile, in addition to ZNC for desktop?

louiz 9y ago
You could do something like this Conversations -> Biboumi -- \ irssi -> znc -> IRC But it has a few gotchas (like when znc “force-join” a channel, that can’t be done with XMPP, so biboumi will send you an invite instead, that’s confusing), and it quickly gets complicated to manage. You could try that, but you might encounter a few usage issues. And no, it doesn’t do an IRC->IRC bouncer, so you can’t replace your znc entirely if you still want to use a real IRC client on your desktop. I think the best solution is to have two independent biboumi and znc.
- zokier 9y ago
  Would this sort of thing be too convoluted? Conversations -> Biboumi -> IRC / irssi -> bitlbee -´ I suppose some fidelity is lost in the irc->xmpp->irc conversion, but for basic use that might work?
  - louiz 9y ago
    That will probably work, yes. But that’s also too convoluted, IMO. I would not personally use this. Don’t hesitate to try any combination of gateways you can think of, and report any issues to me.
  - joecool1029 9y ago
    I've been using mutter -> ZNC (with mutter push module) -> bitlbee for some years and it works fine here for basic XMPP usage. EDIT: (I'm on a bunch of IRC servers too so this gives me one app for everything on the phone)
- wcummings 9y ago
  Fair enough, I'll definitely take this for a spin, all the IRC clients available on Android are terrible. If I can't make something like this work I'm going to have to bang out my own "suckless" Android IRC client...
  - BoorishBears 9y ago
    What are the pain points in the current Android IRC clients?
    - exelius 9y ago
      IRC requires a persistent connection; cell phones are not good at that since they bounce from network to network. I love IRC but there's a reason Slack is so popular.
      - BoorishBears 9y ago
        I last used IRCCloud when I was on IRC, I know a bouncer could do similar things but I much prefer the 0-config route along with the UI built around it. I'd write a high quality IRC client for Android if there really was a market for it, but Slack feels like it's obsoleted the market (and I have trouble believing this many years into the game there are no good IRC clients on Android, but I haven't checked in a while)
      - wcummings 9y ago
        I use a bouncer, thats not the problem. The problems are bad UIs, bugs, no v3 support, poor scripting support.
  - daurnimator 9y ago
    I don't mind the weechat app (connects to a running weechat instance in relay mode). + glowing-bear works too.
ge0rg 9y ago
It might also be possible to use WeeChat or irssi as the IRC "server", using their respective IRC proxy module. You should be able to connect to those from bitlbee.

zokier 9y ago

I notice that you don't currently support MAM for private messages. For full IRC bouncer replacement, I think that would be an useful addition. Any plans to extend the "persistent" feature to private messages too?

louiz 9y ago
Indeed, that’s a feature I intend to do for version 6.0, but didn’t take the time to write a ticket on the bug tracker. (But I just did, so I won’t forget that feature https://lab.louiz.org/louiz/biboumi/issues/3267 https://lab.louiz.org/louiz/biboumi/issues/3267)