this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025
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Yep, but OP asked for a federated one and neither of those federate, which is why i didn't include them
In that case matrix also doesn't federate because its not interacting with the fediverse like here on lemmy.
But revolt, matrix, and rocket.chat are all deployable by end users to connect to the platform and interact with people.
What do you think Federate means? It absolutely does, Matrix Federates over the Matrix protocol, which is a separate protocol from Activitypub which is what Lemmy and Mastodon use. It doesn't Federate with Lemmy and Mastodon because they are different protocols but it absolutely does federate. Honestly there's no reason for it to Federate with Lemmy and Masotodon. ActivityPub isn't a good protocol to use for chatting, Matrix as a chat protocol is superior. Not to say that activitypub is bad, it's great for social media platforms like forums and blogging, it's just not good for instant messaging.
Matrix definitely is federated.
You ran into the trap of taking "fediverse" at face value. It neither invented nor monopolizes federation. E-Mail is federated and has nothing to do with the fediverse. Wikipedia's page on federation lists the very internet itself as the prime example.
Not implementing ActivityPub doesn't mean Matrix isn't federated.
This is the point I was making yes
Accurate username
how is that the point you were making? it seems like the opposite of the point you were making. i'm confused and i think i just don't understand what you're trying to say when you say matrix doesn't federate. because from one matrix server you can talk to other matrix servers, but from rocket chat, that's it, that's the end of the line. your server is your server
Federation isn't exclusive to the Fediverse. Matrix is federated but not with the Fediverse. They only federate with other Matrix servers/instances.
I think we are meaning the same thing then
No you don't. Revolt and rocket.chat don't even communicate between their own servers. They are not federated.
Rocket.chat implements the matrix protocol (or something else from matrix, check the other replies) to federate with other rocket.chat instances. It also had a different federation protocol before implementing matrix.
Activitypub and the matrix protocol are different things, they aren't supposed to interact with each other. Matrix servers using matrix implementations (synapse, tuwunel, conduit, etc) can interact with each other, since they are all based on the same protocol. Same way we do it, how AP servers with mbin,piefed,lemmy interact all with each other, since they are all based on the same protocol, too.
Revolt doesn't federate at all. They even admit this. ~~I stand corrected on rocket.chat, they actually implemented the matrix protocol, so it's interoperable with matrix.~~ See poVoq's reply
I think your last point is flawed, since even with multiple revolt instances; they don't interact at all. Which, is not federation. Matrix is federated, there's no other way to look at it and they're not comparable, and not meant to be compared at all.
They originally planned this, but realized along the way that the Matrix specs are overly complicated and change at the wim of Element, so they ended up only supporting a link to Synapse via the appservice system, which isn't great as it means you have to run both Rocketchat and Synapse on the same server for it to work.
Ah, matrix being a PITA; what a surprise :D
Yeah, it's a far fetch calling it federated at all. Will edit, thanks.
I'm not very familiar with the matrix protocol but rocket.chat advertises itself as having implemented the matrix protocol. What you said is also true according to their documentation, so now I'm confused about what is actually going on. Based on what rocket.chat implemented, is it wrong to say that they use the matrix protocol? And what are the limitations of their approach as opposed to a full implementation of it?
I guess they are being creative on marketing with having implemented a small part of the matrix protocol via their appservice bridge.
The disadvantage is that it is just a bridge like many others and totally dependent on Synapse, which is a resource hog and open-core.
I reached out to them and they told me they are currently working in implementing the native protocol and they'll replace the bridge with it.
Well, lets see when that actually happens. I am doubtful.
I guess i was taking the more generous route with the term then, I was treating capability to interact on the platform as federated which in hindsight doesn't make as much sense as in the normal context of it.