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Ansible Community Matrix FAQ

tags: matrix & irc

A random collection of notes on Matrix for our use. Contributions welcome, either as new questions to answer (skip to the end) or by adding answers.

Some questions have tags:

  • Bridge is for questions about how Matrix interacts with IRC
  • IRC is for information for IRC users coming to Matrix

If anything is not answered, feel free to hop into https://matrix.to/#/#social:ansible.com to chat with us and ask!

Other useful Matrix sites:


FAQ

How do I get an account?

Matrix is decentralised (like email) so there are many places you could register.

We do have accounts on chat.ansible.im - however, for various reasons we cannot offer open registration to anyone. We are happy to grant an account to known contributors - please see token-based registration below.

Otherwise, the Ansible community is fully available over federation, so any other Matrix account you may have will also work. If you don't have one at all, matrix.org is the default (and largest) server to register on.

(You can self-host a homeserver if you wish, but that is beyond the scope of this FAQ)

What client should I use?

Start with Element as it covers most usecases fairly well, and has webchat, desktop, and mobile apps.

If Element doesn't suit you, then Matrix has many others clients to try out. You can also check out This Week In Matrix where new clients are regularly featured.

How do I find/join an existing room?

There are many ways!

The Ansible Community Space

If you're just looking to find the list of Ansible Community rooms, you should head to #space:ansible.com to see the Ansible Space. Welcome!

To find rooms more generally, you need to use the directory. Matrix can search rooms, but because of the decentralisation, you will need to know what directory to look in:

  • Offical Ansible rooms are in "ansible.com"
  • Wider self-organised community rooms are on "ansible.im"
  • A select few rooms have a "matrix.org" alias so they can be found in the default search.

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Selecting Explore public rooms (in two places, green center button, and in the sidebar) or clicking the compass next to the room filter in the sidebar will bring up the search:

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  • The image file may be corrupted
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If you don't see the rooms you want, you can click the server dropdown (that says "Matrix rooms") and add ansible.com or ansible.im as a new server. You'll then be able to see the directory from that server.

Image Not Showing Possible Reasons
  • The image file may be corrupted
  • The server hosting the image is unavailable
  • The image path is incorrect
  • The image format is not supported
Learn More โ†’

A person may send you a room ID to join. If you're in Element or another client that supports room links, you can join just by clicking it!

You can also use URLs - e.g. https://matrix.to/#/#social:ansible.com will take you to our new-user room, where you can ask more questions!

Finally, there's always text - sending a message (in any room) like /join <room-id> will work too.

Via Docs

The Ansible Communication docs have a list of commonly used rooms, so you can join from there directly!

How do I create a public (community) room?

In Element:

  1. Being in a space you are allowed to create rooms in (square icons on the left; for example, in matrix.org), click + next to the Rooms sidebar and then click New room:

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  • The image file may be corrupted
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Learn More โ†’

  1. In the appeared window, set the following and click Create room:
  • room name (as it'll be seen at the sidebar and at the top when being in the room)
  • its availability, for example, Public room (can be changed later in Settings)
  • room address (will be a part of room's URL)

Image Not Showing Possible Reasons
  • The image file may be corrupted
  • The server hosting the image is unavailable
  • The image path is incorrect
  • The image format is not supported
Learn More โ†’

IMPORTANT: If you enable encryption for your room in settings (see the pictures below), you cannot disable encryption in the future. If you need to bridge the room with IRC later, you will not be able to do it with encryption enabled.

Image Not Showing Possible Reasons
  • The image file may be corrupted
  • The server hosting the image is unavailable
  • The image path is incorrect
  • The image format is not supported
Learn More โ†’

Image Not Showing Possible Reasons
  • The image file may be corrupted
  • The server hosting the image is unavailable
  • The image path is incorrect
  • The image format is not supported
Learn More โ†’

 
 
 
 
 
 

Making your community room official

Because anyone can create rooms on Matrix, the Ansible Community needs a way to designate "official" rooms. You can tell an official room in three ways:

  • The room has an ansible.com room alias as it's primary address
  • The room is listed in the Ansible Space
  • The Ansible moderation bot (@admin:ansible.com) is present in the room

Official rooms are also subject to the Ansible Code of Conduct so that we can safeguard our community.

If you would like your room to be official, please contact the Community Team via ansible-community@redhat.com - we will ask you accept the CoC, and promote the moderation bot to admin power in the room, after which we can add the alias and put the room in the space.

How do I chat with someone?

Very similar to rooms - to start a new chat you can:

  • Click the + next to People
  • Click on a user in a room and select Direct Message
  • Use /query <user id> as a text command

Image Not Showing Possible Reasons
  • The image file may be corrupted
  • The server hosting the image is unavailable
  • The image path is incorrect
  • The image format is not supported
Learn More โ†’

Image Not Showing Possible Reasons
  • The image file may be corrupted
  • The server hosting the image is unavailable
  • The image path is incorrect
  • The image format is not supported
Learn More โ†’

What notification options do I have?

Matrix has pretty rich notification settings. You can choose the level notifications per-room (silent, normal, noisy) and what things get notified for at each level. Default is "noisy" for 1:1 chats (pings you for every message, and "normal" for group rooms (pings you for highlighted words and namechecks)

You can also configure Matrix to email you about messages, which may be useful if you only check your client infrequently.

How do I set my highlight keywords?

In Element, go to Settings > Notifications and look at "Messages containing keywords" - keywords is clickable:

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  • The image file may be corrupted
  • The server hosting the image is unavailable
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Learn More โ†’

That will open a dialog to enter keywords.

Do I need a bouncer? (IRC)

Nope! Matrix gives you persistence by default, so you can log back in and get your messages later, or from another client.

How do I log in to my Libera account? (IRC)

This is only needed if you want to join a restricted (+r) room or private-message an IRC user; joining public Ansible rooms from Matrix should work with unauthenticated Matrix accounts. This process will also mean you get your op priviledges from IRC (if you have any :P)

Should you decide you need to, this is the process:

  1. Log out of IRC or change your nick, so that your preferred nick is available (the bridge does not ghost users)
  2. Open a chat with @appservice:libera.chat
  3. Send !username libera-sasl-username
  4. Send !storepass libera-sasl-password
  5. Send !nick preferred-irc-nickname
  6. Send !reconnect to relogin & check it all worked

You can send !listrooms to appservice at anytime to get a list of what IRC channels you are in.

Token-based registration on chat.ansible.im

Token-based registration has been enabled on chat.ansible.im however the UX in Element hasn't been fully implemented, so it's not obvious how to use it.

  1. To get an ansible.im account you will need a token. Please contact the community team to get one using one of the following options:
  2. Go to https://chat.ansible.im and click Create account via token
  3. Provide username, password and optionally an email as usual
  4. Click Register
  5. You'll be taken to a similar page, but the form has been replaced with a tiny Start Authentication link - click it
  6. A popup/new tab will be created, asking for your token
  7. Provide the token given to you by the community team.

If the token is valid, your account will be created and you will be logged in.

If you provided an email address in step 4, then you will get an email before providing the token. This means you can start the process, get a token from us, and then continue by using the link in your mail.

Note that the emails are automated and likely to be flagged as spam. Look for a mail from noreply@ansible-accounts.ems.host if you think it hasn't arrived

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