The community of enthusiasts is excited to present the new version Pleroma — a server for managing blogs with a markup language written in Elixir and using the standardized W3C protocol for federated networks ActivityPub. This is the second most popular server implementation.
Comparing it to the closest competing project — Mastodon, written in Ruby, operating within the same ActivityPub network, — Pleroma boasts a smaller size and fewer external dependencies, making it cheaper to maintain and usable on a wider range of configurations. At the same time, this is achieved without sacrificing functionality; in fact, Pleroma has far fewer limitations and more customizable options, whereas Mastodon often resorts to hardcoding. Moreover, Pleroma implements the Mastodon API, allowing the use of client applications from Mastodon and even its web interface, which comes alongside the Pleroma web interface.
For users of Twitter and other proprietary centralized services, Pleroma may be appealing due to its customizable limit of 5000 characters per post by default, text formatting in Markdown/BBCode/HTML, расширенным профилем, множеством интерфейсов — как в классическом стиле, так и Tweet Deck, custom emojis and stickers, a theme engine interface, and much more. An important feature is the nature of federated networks: you can choose a server with the rules and audience you prefer, or set up your own, fully controlling the data on it without depending on a single point of failure.
It is worth noting the development of a Twitter-like interface for Pleroma — Soapbox, characterized by simplicity, minimalism, and performance.
The main feature of this release is the addition of a federated chat, also operating on the ActivityPub protocol! It is available as direct messages, where, like in regular posts, attachments and custom emojis can be uploaded. Plans for a group chat version and E2E encryption. This is not the first iteration of real-time messaging. A simple centralized chat was previously added, located in the corner of the interface, where any user from the server could write, and everyone else would see it. Integration with the XMPP server MongooseIM was also added, but without the ability to use XMPP directly from the Pleroma interface.
At the same time as the chat feature in Pleroma was released, a brutalist and ultra-minimalist ActivityPub server has gained the same functionality Honk, written in Go. While statuses in Honk are called 'honks', instant messages have been named 'chonks'. Honk-honk!
And in the context of other changes:
- options for hiding the feed of posts and user profiles from public access;
- the ability to send a request for registration approval;
- tools for setting up interfaces and customizing them by default instead of Pleroma-FE;
- automatic synchronization of user emojis with those approved for this purpose by servers;
- posts from the past will no longer unexpectedly reappear in the present feed (this is not a bug);
- restructuring of the post feed interface, which is now consolidated into a single tab;
- performance improvements.
Plans for future releases:
- even more performance optimizations;
- federation through WebSocket connectivity;
- the ability for users to choose their own interface;
- generation of previews for attachments (currently, there are none, which is a significant traffic burden);
- tooltips on hovering over user profiles;
- improvements in the themes engine and on the settings page;
- …
- GROUPS (this is the most anticipated and desired functionality since the times of GNU Social, the predecessor of Pleroma).
The server in the screenshot is sect.sunbutt.faith. On the root domain contains a wiki with expanding information about federated networks.
Also, in the context of this news, it is important to mention Google's actions regarding federated networks: Google sent warnings to developers of Mastodon clients, demanding that they address issues related to calls for violence and discrimination. Developers have been given 7 days to resolve the issue.. The same warning was sent to a Japanese developer..
Source: linux.org.ru
