Re: Matrix IRC bridge considered harmful

[Matthew Hodgson <matthew matrix org>]

On 14/02/2020 18:46, Michael Catanzaro wrote:

> We're currently working with Matthew to resolve several additional 
> quality issues with the bridge, including an issue where Matrix users 
> are disconnected from IRC rooms but don't notice because they continue 
> to receive updates in Matrix, 

This was because the bridge had hit a soft-limit on the IRC network, 
which we've worked around as of 21:00 GMT - the behaviour should now be 
resolved (and should solve many of the other problems folks have hit).

> and a bridging problem that's specific to the #gnome room.

This is because (for historical reasons) there are two instances of 
#gnome on Matrix - one is a 'portal' into the IRC channel 
(#_gimpnet_#gnome:gnome.org) and the other is a plain Matrix room 
(#gnome:matrix.org) which has been 'plumbed' into #gnome on gimpnet.  
Irritatingly there are a bunch of legitimate Matrix users in both rooms, 
and each see the activity of the other Matrix users bridged via IRC, 
which indeed looks like 'garbage'.

We'll fix this shortly by unplumbing #gnome:matrix.org; migrating the 
users in the #gnome:matrix.org room into the portal room (and pointing 
#gnome:matrix.org at the portal room), and then upgrading the portal 
room to flush out any idle users.

I vaguely remember us spotting this back in April but hoping that folks 
would congregate in one room or the other, and then it fell off the 
radar until it was reported just now.

> Hopefully we can solve these and keep the bridge running, so that 
> Matrix and IRC users can continue to participate in one unified 
> community without feeling pressured to switch from one to the other. 
> (Of course, even nicer if you join the Matrix side of things, so you 
> can talk directly to our federated friends at 
> Mozilla/KDE/Igalia/Purism as well as to IRC users, but with a bridge 
> that's working properly, that would of course remain optional. :)

:)

-

Matthew Hodgson
Matrix.org