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I'm new to using all the new chat programs and LOVE the idea of matrix, but was somewhat surprised to learn there isn't a bridge for Signal, since it's open sou

I'm new to using all the new chat programs and LOVE the idea of matrix, but was somewhat surprised to learn there isn't a bridge for Signal, since it's open source. Is there a reason and/or any possibility of it happening. The linux Signal desktop client is too resource intensive and it would be amazing to be able to use WeeChat.

driminicus 8y ago
There is a signal bridge [0], but it is a little hacky. I would imagine moxie won't condone an 'official' bridge to matrix, given his stance on federated chat. Also: any realistic (short-term) bridges will have to basically be a man-in-the-middle, breaking the end to end crypto. In the (very?) long term MLS [1] may allow for e2ee through a bridge, but that would probably mean that signal has to explicitly support it. Given the track-record of OWS I personally doubt that would happen, but I'm just a random guy from the internet, so what do I know. I do know that the matrix people are looking at MLS and are willing to implement it in matrix if it finalizes, though they'll currently focus on their own megolm implementation, which is very close to being perfect, from my perspective. [0] https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal [1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/mls/about/ https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/mls/about/
cyphar 8y ago
Moxie has been very anti-federation when it comes to Signal for a few years[0] (while I disagree with his reasons, he is right that having a centralised system does make it easier to make protocol changes without splintering your user-base). There is a Signal bridge[1], but it's incredibly hacky (it does some ungodly things with JavaScript to re-use the Signal Chrome App) and requires you to register Signal for a device and then use the linked device configuration to get messages. Personally that's far from ideal, and I think a better solution would be to actually set up a full-on fake device with signal-cli[2] (an unofficial wrapper around the Signal Java library) and then forward things. Unfortunately, Signal bridges would necessarily have to man-in-the-middle your messages (breaking a lot of the benefits of the Signal crypto). You could forward the messages to an encrypted chat, but you still have a fairly big issue -- especially for shared homeservers. So you'd probably need to run your own homeserver and then you get into a lot more fun. [0]: https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37 https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37 [1]: https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal [2]: https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli

driminicus 8y ago

There is a signal bridge [0], but it is a little hacky. I would imagine moxie won't condone an 'official' bridge to matrix, given his stance on federated chat. Also: any realistic (short-term) bridges will have to basically be a man-in-the-middle, breaking the end to end crypto. In the (very?) long term MLS [1] may allow for e2ee through a bridge, but that would probably mean that signal has to explicitly support it. Given the track-record of OWS I personally doubt that would happen, but I'm just a random guy from the internet, so what do I know. I do know that the matrix people are looking at MLS and are willing to implement it in matrix if it finalizes, though they'll currently focus on their own megolm implementation, which is very close to being perfect, from my perspective. [0] https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal [1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/mls/about/ https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/mls/about/

cyphar 8y ago

Moxie has been very anti-federation when it comes to Signal for a few years[0] (while I disagree with his reasons, he is right that having a centralised system does make it easier to make protocol changes without splintering your user-base). There is a Signal bridge[1], but it's incredibly hacky (it does some ungodly things with JavaScript to re-use the Signal Chrome App) and requires you to register Signal for a device and then use the linked device configuration to get messages. Personally that's far from ideal, and I think a better solution would be to actually set up a full-on fake device with signal-cli[2] (an unofficial wrapper around the Signal Java library) and then forward things. Unfortunately, Signal bridges would necessarily have to man-in-the-middle your messages (breaking a lot of the benefits of the Signal crypto). You could forward the messages to an encrypted chat, but you still have a fairly big issue -- especially for shared homeservers. So you'd probably need to run your own homeserver and then you get into a lot more fun. [0]: https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37 https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37 [1]: https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal https://github.com/matrix-hacks/matrix-puppet-signal [2]: https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli