firejail IRC channel now on libera.chat

[glitsj16]

Is there an interest to create a IRC channel dedicated to firejail? We could use such a channel to offer help troubleshooting and create a more collaborative community where users can help each other help themselves. The topic came up on freenode's #archlinux, where a few active and experienced people spontaneously offered to volunteer if we had our own channel. I'm quite convinced similar spirit exists on IRC channels of most other established Linux distributions we support.

Besides general (introductory) help and troubleshooting, IRC could also offer a platform to discuss more specific (design) topics and do some collective brainstorming. Personally I regard IRC as a complement to our issue tracker and wiki, rather than as a substitute.

Registration on freenode for example looks pretty straightforward, but let's take the pulse on this here first.

[rusty-snake]

Notes about similar thing included in :

• Discussions for teams in organisations. Drawback: AFAIK the are private i.e. would only allow brainstorming for collaborators
• GitHub-Discussions (beta). Benefit: documentation effect.

[rusty-snake]

IMHO we should also discuss alternatives like matrix, ...

---

https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1782:_Team_Chat
https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1810:_Chat_Systems

[reinerh]

I wouldn't mind IRC, I'm hanging out there anyway.

[SkewedZeppelin]

Could we go with OFTC over freenode?

[glitsj16]

Could we go with OFTC over freenode?

Sure, I don't have a particular preference eitherway. I only happen to be on freenode because the Arch Linux channels reside there.

[NetSysFire]

Both freenode and OFTC are bridged to matrix. I would prefer freenode though.

I am very interested in an IRC channel because there have been many users seeking Firejail support in certain channels lately.

Edit: See here for more information on bridged IRC networks

[Thaodan]

Could we go with OFTC over freenode?

Is OFTC better or why?

[SkewedZeppelin]

@Thaodan I find the whole "London Trust Media" thing a bit too sketchy.

[NetSysFire]

The reason why I prefer freenode is because their services (especially ChanServ) are more advanced, which is excellent if you manage a channel. Many users are also already on freenode.
Additionally, freenode enables more privacy settings by default. Your email and some other information are visible to other users by default on OFTC.

[NetSysFire]

This has gone a bit stale but the IRC situation has changed considerably since the last comment. tl;dr: freenode is no more and has become libera.chat, which has a significantly better internal structure, so no more "London Trust Media" for the ones that complained about it. The full story can be read at https://swantzter.se/freenode-resignation/ and http:https://kline.sh, if you wish. OFTC remains OFTC with all its advantages and disadvantages and I am still strongly in favor of going to libera.chat, which retains most of the original freenode staff (and stuff, including communities).

In fact, I have just grabbed #firejail on libera.chat and registered it so malicious parties can not squat or otherwise seize the channel. Only glitsj16 appears to be on IRC and they have NEVEROP set, so I could not grant them any privileges yet.
See https://libera.chat/chanreg/, completing the project registration would also grant you the power of issuing fancy cloaks to contributors and more.

[Thaodan]

if you wish. OFTC remains OFTC with all its advantages and disadvantages and I am still strongly in favor of going to libera.chat, which retains most of the original freenode staff (and stuff, including communities).

Like which ones? I would say not having old Freenode might help getting away from the original drama.

[NetSysFire]

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freenode#Ownership_change_and_conflict. They basically banded together and took that chance to build an organization resistant to exactly what happened: So no one can sell out or otherwise compromise libera.chat without everyone on the board agreeing, see https://libera.chat/bylaws/
As someone who witnessed all this first hand, I can say that they did the right thing and that libera.chat is run in an appropriate manner.

See https://github.com/siraben/freenode-exodus for all the communities which moved.

[kmk3]

@NetSysFire commented on Aug 18:

See https://github.com/siraben/freenode-exodus for all the communities which
moved.

Pretty interesting link. I see many familiar names and even some that I would
never have thought had an IRC channel.

[Kobaxidze256]

How is this not a thing already? Where can I ask firejail users and devs questions about the project?

[NetSysFire]

Via github discussions i'd imagine

[reinerh]

How is this not a thing already? Where can I ask firejail users and devs questions about the project?

It's slowly becoming a thing! @NetSysFire already created the IRC channel a few days ago (see above). Though it's still lacking in participants... :)

[Kobaxidze256]

Awesome. No one should have to register anywhere to ask questions about a foss project.

[NetSysFire]

Quick update on this: So far I really do appreciate the positive feedback. If you want to go with this IRC channel (which has 4 users in total already), you want to do a project registration. One of the lead devs (or someone with an official, written blessing who may speak for the project) needs to write an email, it is described here: https://libera.chat/chanreg/#project-registration

I have asked Libera.Chat staff, you do not need to discuss it with one of them prior to writing. However, they are there if you got any questions about the process.
I would volunteer to be a GC and take care of all the cloaks and stuff, I have experience with this since I am already a GC for another project, if you would like. But I prefer that one of the actual devs sends the project registration email.

Edit: There are actually two types of GCs: primary and secondary. primary GCs can add and remove other GCs, secondary can not.

[glitsj16]

@netblue30 Can you take care of the email needed to register the firejail IRC channel cfr. #3479 (comment) please?

[glitsj16]

@netblue30 We really need to take care of the Libera IRC email registration ^. Anything holding things back at your end we can help with here?