[FR]: XMPP (RFC 6120), PubSub (XEP-0060) and Atom Over XMPP (RFC 4287)

[sjehuda]

Greetings!

My name is Schimon and I am a champion of Syndication and XMPP.

For those of you who are not famiiliar, XMPP (previously Jabber) is a messaging system with open standards. XMPP is extensible via XEP.

I will discuss about XEP-0060: Publish-Subscribe.

Almost a couple of decades ago, a discussion arose about incorporating Atom (RFC 4287) with XMPP PubSub, which is really easy because both are XML data.

One of the major benefits of utilizing PubSub is native Push Notifications (yes, that technique was much before HTML5) which do not require HTTP pulling.

That would be a great feature to have RSS Guard to utilize XMPP PubSub natively!

See a proof of concept I have made to parse PubSub nodes as Atom Syndication Format.

https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/66/materials/slides-66-atompub-1.pdf
https://codeberg.org/poezio/slixmpp/issues/3526

P.S.

The proof of concept script has been developed into an HTTP gateway.
I encourage you to view the video demonstration (length 7:44).

• https://video.xmpp-it.net/w/vNqcMooy3pqRAZ8Yb8grr1
• https://git.xmpp-it.net/sch/Rivista

Cheers,
Schimon

[martinrotter]

That would be a great feature to have Newsboat to utilize XMPP PubSub natively!

You mean RSS Guard, right. Right?

So, I understand that this is some rather-proof-of-conceptual thing and is in fact not actively used by any audience, right? If so, it is likely waste of my time (or anyone's time) implementing client-side RSS Guard plugin for this? I may be wrong. Perhaps indicate clearly and very specifically what exactly needs to be implemented for RSS Guard etc.

[sjehuda]

You mean RSS Guard, right. Right?

Yes, and other syndication projects as well.

Pardon. I will correct the post.

So, I understand that this is some rather-proof-of-conceptual thing and is in fact not actively used by any audience, right?

No. It is being actively used.

The script was a proof-of-concept, instead of asking to actually install a software such as Blasta, Libervia or Movim and attempt to understand how syndication over XMPP work.

The software Rivista XJP is a gateway (XMPP -> HTTP) which produces Atom Syndication Feeds out of XMPP PubSub nodes.

If so, it is likely waste of my time (or anyone's time) implementing client-side RSS Guard plugin for this?

No. It will not be a waste of time.

1. This is extensively utilized by people over XMPP, particularly on the Movim network.

2. More people be aware of syndication over XMPP once they see an option for XMPP in their new reader.

I may be wrong. Perhaps indicate clearly and very specifically what exactly needs to be implemented for RSS Guard etc.

In order for RSS Guard to be able to read syndicated content over XMPP, the only things that need to be implemented are:

1. Ability to connect to an XMPP account.
2. Support XMPP specification XEP-0060: Publish-Subscribe to retrieve the data.
3. Parse the data (in XMPP everything is XML).

Note: Support for "roster" might be necessary, but probably not, unless it is requirement to be able to subscribe to nodes.

The video, which I have linked to, should explain everything.

[martinrotter]

RSS Guard is Qt application, so something like https://github.com/qxmpp-project/qxmpp could be integrated into RSS Guard and used?

Maybe I am asking wrong but I hardly have ever used XMPP/Jabber and only know it very very rougly. Technicaly not at all.

So there is is "special" xmpp server/service ready to use, which is able to send me "special" xmpp messages which will include pieces of arbitrary (ATOM in this case) syndication format?

[sjehuda]

RSS Guard is Qt application, so something like https://github.com/qxmpp-project/qxmpp could be integrated into RSS Guard and used?

Yes. And as I recall, Squawk and LeechCraft utilize qxmpp.

Maybe I am asking wrong but I hardly have ever used XMPP/Jabber and only know it very very rougly. Technicaly not at all.

So there is is "special" xmpp server/service ready to use, which is able to send me "special" xmpp messages which will include pieces of arbitrary (ATOM in this case) syndication format?

Thankfully, due to the prevalency of the OMEMO encryption system, which requires PubSub (XEP-0060), over 99% of XMPP servers provide PubSub nodes.

The PubSub nodes that I refer to are of specification XEP-0163: Personal Eventing Protocol which is in fact an implementation of XEP-0060: Publish-Subscribe for XMPP accounts.

[martinrotter]

Wait, so, pretend that I am an idiot and want to implement this.

I take qxmpp, I see it has "client" class which has "connect" method and also has "messageReceived" signal. So simply listening for some "special" messages would be enough? Do you have any on-line xmpp server for me which sends these "ATOM" messages for me, so that I could actually implement and properly test the solution?

[sjehuda]

I take qxmpp, I see it has "client" class which has "connect" method and also has "messageReceived" signal. So simply listening for some "special" messages would be enough?

No. PubSub is not a message.

Message is of the XMPP standard (RFC 6120).

What RSS Guard needs is the ability to view (and subscribe) to PubSub nodes, hence I have mentioned that only support for XEP-0060 is required.

Please. Join to the group chat JDev and Squawk as there are people who are more knowledgeable and of understanding than me.

xmpp:[email protected]?join
xmpp:[email protected]?join

Do you have any on-line xmpp server for me which sends these "ATOM" messages for me, so that I could actually implement and properly test the solution?

Yes. There are many servers, most of the activity is communicated by Libervia and Movim.

You can find node items that are formatted as Atom Over XMPP on any Movim server.

I have listed several nodes from several servers at https://git.xmpp-it.net/sch/Rivista#viewing-pubsub

Typically, Jabber IDs (JID) that have the sign AT (@) are of type account (e.g. goffi%40goffi.org) and utilize XEP-0163, and JIDs without sign AT (@) are of type service of type pubsub (e.g. pubsub.movim.eu).