silverpill / is on Nostr

Developer of ActivityPub-based micro-blogging and content subscription platform [Mitra](https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra ). Working on Fediverse standards: https://codeberg.org/silverpill/feps

Code: https://codeberg.org/silverpill/
Matrix: @silverpill:hackliberty.org
XMPP: [silverpill@were.chat](xmpp:silverpill@were.chat )
$XMR: 884y9LmsWY7PQNsyR7bJy1dvj91tuF5spVabyCnPk4KfQtSuzFbQobTFC7xSemJgVW1FWAwnJbjTZX5zZWbBrfkv62DB62d
XMR subscription: https://mitra.social/@silverpill/subscription
PGP: 0541 49E3 0F91 C6D7 8FFA C49C 955F 5A6E 2123 25F0
OMEMO fingerprint: 689a2fb0ec87a9481fb45cb7d8870da6aeb4d8247bd69a39017701133b901f04
Matrix (backup): @silverpill:poa.st

Last Notes

2024-07-18 21:55:51

Version 3.0 is coming. #Mitra uses semantic versioning: major version increase indicates breaking changes. Normally, upgrades are easy, you just need to replace binaries and restart the service, but major release will likely require additional interventions.
The most notable change in Mitra 3.0 is an increase of minimum required versions of software dependencies:
- PostgreSQL 15
- Rust 1.75
- NodeJS 18 (for Mitra Web)
There will also be changes related to the configuration file and changes in federation protocol that will make Mitra incompatible with very old versions of itself (<2.0.5). Finally, I'm removing the Ethereum payment processor that has been in low maintenance mode for a long time. (#Monero is still supported, and there are no plans to remove it. People are actually using it.)
The full list of planned changes can be found here: https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra/issues/68

2024-07-17 20:40:13

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>But ActivityPub is also largely underspecified
ActivityPub is not underspecified. Developers might get frustrated when they read the spec and discover that it doesn't explain how to communicate with Mastodon. But this is only because the scope of the spec is much broader. It is a protocol for building all kinds of decentralized social applications, and some of them can be quite different from micro-blogging services.
>We prefer to make a very precise protocol specification to give tight interoperability at it's core, but allow component data and schemas to develop independently for extension.
You can create an interop profile for ActivityPub which can be as precise as you want. It can be very strict and at the same time compatible with many existing applications (best practices for interop has been already discovered, and the work on formalizing them is ongoing).
Extensibility is baked in (ActivityPub is a culmination of several decades of experimentation with semantic web concepts).
Of course, you can design a different protocol, but bootstrapping protocols is a very difficult task. #ActivityPub is already popular, and it has all the properties of the Web of Data you've described in your post.
>That said, interoperability with ActivityPub is something we are very interested in.
Interoperability can be achieved by adopting ActivityPub data model (ActivityStreams 2.0). A common language will enable communication without centralized bridges. Transport protocols are secondary

2024-07-16 20:33:13

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[ActivityPub IDs are URIs](https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/#obj-id ), and URIs don't always require DNS or servers. That depends on URI scheme.
One AP-compatible URI scheme with key-based naming authority is described in [FEP-ef61](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/ef61/fep-ef61.md ). This FEP discusses HTTP transport, but the object format is designed to be transport agnostic. It is suitable for local-first applications too
@npub12sq…6w0r

2024-07-16 18:59:36

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>Imagine an alternative internet protocol were each “thing” on the internet is an “Entity”. Entities might represent blog articles, chat messages, tweets, comments, or anything else. Each entity also has a path to that entity, like a URL.
This protocol is called "ActivityPub". Objects are entities, their IDs are paths, and their properties are components.
https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/

2024-07-12 17:12:17

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Comparisons between centralized services and nodes in a distributed network are not meaningful. Comparisons between a specialized relay service and a full social media server are also not meaningful. And finally, it is not ActivityPub that is expensive, but Mastodon. Other implementations are cheaper, some are 10-100x cheaper

2024-06-20 21:10:16

Updated FEP-ae97: https://codeberg.org/silverpill/feps/src/branch/main/ae97/fep-ae97.md
RE: https://mitra.social/objects/0190363a-4fcf-35e7-8643-3671ac892cdf
#fep_ef61
#note16zh…7pe6

2024-06-20 15:18:29

Welcome @npub1akg…ycjf, the first ever [FEP-ef61](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/ef61/fep-ef61.md ) + [FEP-ae97](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/ae97/fep-ae97.md ) actor.
It doesn't have S2S inbox yet, but it has C2S outbox and was created from a client. The client controls the identity key, can send signed messages to local users, and receive messages from them. I published the code here: https://codeberg.org/silverpill/fep-ae97-client
FEP-ae97 clients are not difficult to build, and I invite everyone to do so. C2S protocol is identical to S2S protocol, except you send activities to a local outbox instead of a remote inbox, and you pull activities from local inbox instead of listening for them online. The [development version](https://codeberg.org/silverpill/mitra ) of Mitra already has necessary endpoints. FEP-ae97 spec needs to be updated though, I will do that soon.
#fep_ef61

2024-06-02 23:51:44

Let's talk about object ownership in #ActivityPub
I'm writing a new FEP: https://codeberg.org/silverpill/feps/src/branch/main/c7d3/fep-c7d3.md
This topic is rarely discussed, but any server that doesn't implement ownership checks as described in this document is likely vulnerable to impersonation attacks.

2024-05-17 12:49:55

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I don't know. Could you provide an example of such post?
@npub1uq5…z8a5

2024-05-17 00:14:25

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+1Article
= rich content, embedded images, videos, and other media.
But how embedded images should be treated by implementations that use media cache? Are they expected to rewrite src attributes in images?
@npub1scy…khe4 @npub1zu5…pytj @npub1k90…q43y

2024-05-16 23:16:38

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I'm not using context, but I think FEP-7888 is great and I want to implement it in the future. Haven't decided yet on what exactly this collection should contain. Slightly in favor of collection of activities (as in Streams / Conversation Containers).
@npub1t5c…ppw4 @npub1k90…q43y

2024-05-11 16:39:57

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Mitra transforms Event objects into posts, that works reasonably well. I'm not against extended support but I'd like to wait until some standard in this area emerges. As far as I know, existing event servers use slightly different protocols.
@npub1fxv…u9e5 was working on better interop
https://event-federation.eu/

2024-04-27 20:48:24

Mitra v2.17.0 has been released. From now on these announcements will be published from [@mitra](https://mitra.social/users/mitra) account
https://mitra.social/objects/018f214d-8273-0d4f-42b3-602feee5ee1f
#note1k5p…yzhy

2024-04-27 10:15:34

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Mastodon already can display long Note content (it adds "Read more" at the end), I think it is reasonable to do the same for Article and other types of objects.
>The question is how, but this WG is not at the point where we start throwing around decrees and making up standards
Just talk to developers. There's an open issue (and an open pull request): https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/24081. This proposal has not been formally rejected, perhaps [@renchap](https://oisaur.com/@renchap) could provide some feedback?

2023-09-21 09:37:00

**How to set up key-based identity in Mitra**
Mitra implements a mechanism for migrating your connections from one server to another, which works even if your current server is offline. At the moment, this mechanism is only supported by Mitra. People who use different software won't be able to connect automatically to your new account, so the more of your contacts use #Mitra, the less connections you lose during migration. It's not very difficult for other developers to implement it though, and it's documented in [FEP-7628](https://codeberg.org/silverpill/feps/src/branch/main/7628/fep-7628.md ) and [FEP-c390](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/c390/fep-c390.md ).
For migration to work, two accounts must be linked to the same cryptographic key. To do that, you need to add a public key to your profile, then create a signature to prove the possession of the corresponding private key. You can think of this key as something that represents your primary identity and your fediverse accounts as temporary aliases. Mitra currently supports two signing tools: [Minisign](https://jedisct1.github.io/minisign/ ) and [Metamask](https://metamask.io/ ).
**Minisign**
#Minisign is a command line tool. It might be difficult to use, but it is secure and doesn't violate your privacy.
1. Install Minisign. The tool is available in most Linux distros. For example, on Debian you can simply run apt install minisign.
2. Generate a key pair: minisign -G.
3. Go to your profile page, click on three dots to open the profile menu and select "Link minisign key".
4. Tell Minisign to export your public key:<code>minisign -R -f -p minisign.pub
</code>
Copy the text from minisign.pub file and paste it into the form. Press "Generate message" button.
5. Run displayed commands to create a signature. The first one (starting with printf) creates a file that needs to be signed. The second one<code>minisign -S -l -m message -x message.sig
</code>
creates a signature. Copy the text from message.sig file and paste it into the form. Press "Submit".
Now, back up your social graph. Go to "Settings" and scroll down to the "Export" section. Download both follows and followers lists.
**Metamask**
#Metamask is a browser extension and a cryptocurrency wallet. It leaks the hash of your public key to third parties, has non-free license and has other shortcomings.
However, it is much easier to use than Minisign. If you have it installed, just go to your profile page, open dropdown menu and select "Link ethereum address". Follow the instructions and approve the signature request. Done!
**Migration**
If you need to migrate your connections, repeat the linking procedure with your new account. Then go to "Settings", find the "Experiments" section with "Import follows" and "Move followers" buttons, and upload your previously backed up lists. That's all.
In the future more identity verification methods will be added. For example, a client may generate a private key for you, and let you back it up as a passphrase. This is less secure, because you have to trust the server admin to not steal your private key, but it is much easier than using Minisign. Arguably, the tradeoff is acceptable.