Include bridge bots for matrix as installable apps

Summary
Include bridge bots for matrix as installable apps in freedom box.

Examples of bots:

Problem
Without bots that bridge different messaging apps, Matrix requires the network effect to “take off”. And you don’t want to annoy your friends by demanding that they switch to Matrix.

The best thing about freedombox matrix instance is that it is small and personal. This means that you will want to bridge to small and personal messaging apps like FB Messenger and Whatsapp!

Solution

  1. The app would be called Matrix Bridge Bots or something. The main install screen would let them select which bots they want to install. Then the config screens would display depending on what they chose.

  2. Or there could just be an app per Bridge Bot. Maybe this would be more maintainable, but it wouldn’t use the ansible playbook behind the scenes anymore, most likely.

Tasks
Figure out how synapse is currently being deployed. If it uses the ansible playbook today, adding the bridge bots would be trivial.

3 Likes

Matrix chat bridges now support ARM64: Include bridge bots for matrix as installable apps

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Are there any plans for this?

We can include bridge bots in FreedomBox as they become available in Debian. Please consider filing a RFP (request for packaging) bug in Debian’s bug tracker.