Hacker News Reader

Comment by mindB | Hacker News Reader

The problem I've always had with XMPP is that any time I try to do something with it, I get lost in an endless sea of RFCs with no idea of which are important for my use-case (most RFC titles seem fairly jargon-heavy to me). Then, when I go to read an actual RFC, because of the fact that each RFC has some interactions with all other RFCs, they're fairly impenetrable. Is there a document somewhere collecting the most essential XMPP stuff you need to be aware for different applications (e.g. chat client, XMPP server, XMPP social network client, bridge between XMPP and other protocols, etc.) and presenting it in a concise way that doesn't require navigating a vast sea of documents? Do you have some other recommendation for how to get into the XMPP world?

View on HN

It depends of what you want to do. In most cases, I would recommend using and existing client/library, this would make the things more easy for you (don't have to start from scratch, something already made in your favorite language).

If you really insist in doing all by hand, you can start by checking compliance suits (XEP-0375) or https://xmpp.org/about/technology-overview.html. Those two links are actually at the top of the XEP list (https://xmpp.org/extensions/).

It's progressively more functional as you implement each of the two RFCs. If you implement the first (6120: Core) you'll be able to process XML streams. The second brings IM, a friend list, and presence. You can then implement XEPs as you need them.

If your development workflow uses sprints in any form, the format of XMPP documentation is perfect. If you want to implement everything at once, good luck.

I'd recommend looking at the Compliance Suites which were designed to address this (disclaimer: I've been the author for the last few years, although I just transitioned out of that role):

https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0387.html

I know there's a big scary "Rejected" warning at the top, but in this case it's okay to disregard that. It was rejected for bike-sheddy reasons about it not being perfect yet and is still a good starting place. The warning should go away sometime in the next few weeks (the problems that it was rejected for have been addressed, so the next time the council meets it will likely be accepted).

> I get lost in an endless sea of RFCs with no idea of which are important for my use-case (most RFC titles seem fairly jargon-heavy to me).

Exactly my feeling when I trying to read ActivityPub and other "federated social network" specs

Reply on news.ycombinator.com