Matrix
Matrix is an ambitious new ecosystem and protocol for open federated instant messaging and VoIP. It consists of servers, various clients and bridge software to connect to existing messaging solutions such as IRC (Internet Relay Chat).
The Alpine Linux IRC chatrooms are bridged to Matrix. The General Alpine Linux room can be found on Matrix here #_oftc_#alpine-linux:matrix.org. If you want to access any of the other Alpine Linux chats from Matrix, then substitute the IRC channel name accordingly.
Installation
The Matrix Protocol has multiple server implementations which are available on Alpine Linux.
The reference server implementation Synapse, which is the most commonly used server, is available as the synapse package. It has been available since Alpine 3.11.
There is also a second-generation Matrix homeserver written in Go, which is available as the dendrite package. It intends to provide an efficient, reliable and scalable alternative to Synapse, but it is not as feature complete as Synapse is at this time. It has been available since Alpine 3.15.
There is also another Matrix homeserver, written in Rust, which is available as the conduit package and is only currently available in the Alpine Edge at this time.
Before you start installing anything, make sure you have the latest packages available.
Matrix Synapse server
This Wiki will cover the installation, configuration, and setup of the Matrix Synapse server, as this is the most commonly used and feature complete Matrix Protocol server at this time.
Install Matrix Synapse server
Synapse package is available in the Alpine Linux repositories. To install it run:
apk update apk add synapse
When installing the Alpine Linux synapse package, it will create a user called synapse.
Configuration and Setup
During installation, the Alpine Linux synapse package will create a default synapse configuration file which will be located at /etc/synapse/homeserver.conf.
You will want to refer to the Matrix Synapse Configuration Manual to configure the various options.
If you want your Matrix Synapse server to be accessed over the internet, then it is highly recommended to configure a reverse proxy to do that. You are free to choose your reverse proxy of choice, as the Matrix Synapse documentation has examples for each one. I recommend nginx, which you can read more about on the Nginx Alpine Wiki page.
Database
Once synapse is installed, you will need to select which database to use with it. By default, Synapse uses a SQLite database, which is only acceptable for testing purposes & should not be used a production environment.
The Matrix Synapse developers recommend using PostgresSQL as your database backend. For more details on installing PostgresSQL, refer to the [PostgreSQL Alpine wiki page https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Postgresql]. It is recommended that you install the latest release available of PostgreSQL, which at this time is PostgreSQL 16.