Synapse is still one of the worst installation processes[1] I've gone through. I'm extremely comfortable with Ansible and Docker but their install process sucks if you aren't exposing your Matrix instance to the world and don't have a domain pointing at it. On top of that, there are so many moving pieces to it if you want to bridge it to other services.
I got it all installed but ended up dumping it because I felt the complexity wasn't worth it. There are so many moving pieces imo.
Are there alternatives to Synapse for homeserver software? Or is there a less complex deployment method for a homeserver and bridges that I am not aware of?
[1] https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/setup/installati...
you do have stuff like yonohost that make it much easier, maybe try that?
After my comment, I decided to give Matrix a try again and setup a fresh Arch Linux VPS for it. I didn't run into any snags but it took quite some time to get everything configured. It probably took me a solid 2 hours just to get everything up and running (Synapse + bridges for iMessage, Signal, Discord and IRC).
Not many applications I self host require as much setup as Synapse!
Now, setting up a bunch of bridges is indeed harder, but they are deliberately entirely separate apps, each with their own foibles. But just like you wouldn’t blame Apache httpd for some fiddly 3rd party Apache module, I wouldn’t blame Synapse for the complexities of running bridges.
But again, I appreciate you putting that into perspective. Synapse by itself really isn't too bad. But for it to be actually useful for myself takes a lot of work.
what about whatsapp for example? do i have to have an existing whatsapp account which constantly remains online and interacts on behalf of my matrix?
The general workflow is after you install bridges that you configure your bridge to your existing account on the other platform. So for Signal, you open a chat with the Signal Bridge bot and issue a command to link to your account and then it walks through that process. Once the bridge is configured with your external account any new DMs and group chats from those external accounts will show up as DMs in Matrix.
Hopefully that makes sense! :)
What does matrix do to prevent the tidal wave of spam hitting it?
Side comment: because my mobile number was leaked (breached) by T-Mobile which included my name, I get way, way way more spam via it than anything else. Lots of political spam, 95% or greater from the right/repub end of the spectrum.
Edit, side comment #2: I ported my secondary Google Voice number out to Tello (a low cost MVNO in the US) with a SIM in a spare phone, and all the spam I was getting every day to that number simply stopped instantly. I'm a little amazed to be honest, it's very interesting.
Ah sorry that's a spambot attack, the spam on telegram is 99% Indian/Nigerian origin of people literally just signing up to go into group channels and spam whatsapp channels/msg me for how to make riches/join this trading signals channel you'll make millions.
If you're lucky they'll personally message you with something like 'hey' and then wait for you to respond, initiate a convo and try and get you to fall for their classic HYIP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-yield_investment_program
Searching for Ban on a random group channel this is how common it is: https://imgur.com/kOtilgL
i am member of a group, public, 876 users as of right now, another openstreetmap india group and that one has 1350.
only the osm-in has some sort of "spam" where i see occasional crap thrown on but that gets flagged and removed quickly.
i don't know about telegram but my matrix account(s) are pretty public but i have basically never gotten a stray spam. as i said, one group has a "couple of spam messages occasionally" but i can "report" the user and check tickbox
"Ignore user Check if you want to hide all current and future messages from this user." which should be good.
So the difference is merely whether it's your user identifier?
people who go with signal call it "better whatsapp without facebook tracking" but just like telegram, its Achilles heel is mobile number requirement. matrix has that from the start so its better in that respect. sure, matrix does not have "social graph" out of the box but in a "totalitarian regime", that is precisely what you want.
besides, you can set up your own matrix server, something whatsapp/telegram/signal simply cannot do so its 100% more secure in that sense