161 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
161 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
[](https://matrix.to/#/#fractal:gnome.org)
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[](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/fractal/)
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[](https://gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/fractal/)
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# Fractal
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Fractal is a Matrix messaging app for GNOME written in Rust. Its interface is optimized for
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collaboration in large groups, such as free software projects.
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## Work in Progress
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We already talked several times in the past about rewriting the application, but for different
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reasons we didn't do it. Now that the [matrix-rust-sdk](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk)
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exists, which does a lot of the heavy lifting for us, we have a good starting point to build Fractal
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without the need to implement every single feature from the Matrix API. Finally with the release of
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GTK4 we would need to rework most of Fractal's code anyways. Therefore, it just makes sense to start
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over and build Fractal with all the features (e.g end-to-end encryption) we have in mind.
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A year ago we started working on rewriting [Fractal](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/fractal/) from
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scratch using [GTK4](https://www.gtk.org/) and the [matrix-rust-sdk](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk).
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This effort was called Fractal Next.
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Fractal Next now replaced our previous codebase, and has become the new nightly version. It isn't
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yet ready for a release and you can follow along our progress towards it by looking at the
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[Fractal v5 (Fractal-next)](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/fractal/-/milestones/18) milestone.
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## Installation instructions
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### Stable version
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The current stable version is 4.4.0 (released August 2020).
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Flatpak is the recommended installation method.
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Until our next iteration is ready, you can get the official Fractal Flatpak on Flathub.
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<a href="https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.gnome.Fractal">
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<img
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src="https://flathub.org/assets/badges/flathub-badge-i-en.png"
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alt="Download Fractal on Flathub"
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width="240px"
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/>
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</a>
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### Development version
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If you want to try Fractal Next without building it yourself, it is available as a nightly Flatpak
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in the gnome-nightly repo.
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```sh
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# Add Flathub-beta and the gnome-nightly repo
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flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub-beta https://flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo
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flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists gnome-nightly https://nightly.gnome.org/gnome-nightly.flatpakrepo
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# Install the nightly build
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flatpak install --user gnome-nightly org.gnome.Fractal.Devel
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```
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## Build Instructions
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### Minimum Rust version
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To build Fractal, Rust 1.60 is required. For development, you'll need to install the nightly
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toolchain to be able to run our pre-commit hook that validates the formatting and lints the Rust
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code.
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### Flatpak
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Flatpak is the recommended way of building and installing Fractal.
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First you need to make sure you have the GNOME SDK and Rust toolchain installed.
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```sh
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# Add Flathub-beta and the gnome-nightly repo
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flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub-beta https://flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo
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flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists gnome-nightly https://nightly.gnome.org/gnome-nightly.flatpakrepo
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# Install the gnome-nightly Sdk and Platform runtime
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flatpak install --user gnome-nightly org.gnome.Sdk//master org.gnome.Platform//master
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# Install the required rust-stable extension from Flathub-beta
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flatpak install --user flathub-beta org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.rust-stable//22.08beta
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# Install the required llvm extension from Flathub-beta
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flatpak install --user flathub-beta org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.llvm14//22.08beta
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```
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<table><tr><td>
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<p>ℹ️ The instructions below will build the same binary as the one available on the GNOME nightly
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repo. This is an optimised build so it can take a few minutes.</p>
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<p>If you're building Fractal for development, use the <code>org.gnome.Fractal.Hack.json</code> manifest
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instead.</p>
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</td></tr></table>
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Move inside the `build-aux` folder and then build and install the app:
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```sh
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cd build-aux
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flatpak-builder --user --install app org.gnome.Fractal.Devel.json
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```
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Fractal Next can then be entirely removed from your system with:
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```sh
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flatpak remove --delete-data org.gnome.Fractal.Devel
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```
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### GNU/Linux
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If you decide to ignore our recommendation and build on your host system,
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outside of Flatpak, you will need Meson and Ninja (as well as Rust and Cargo).
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```sh
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meson . _build --prefix=/usr/local
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ninja -C _build
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sudo ninja -C _build install
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```
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### Translations
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Fractal is translated by the GNOME translation team on [Damned lies](https://l10n.gnome.org/).
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Find your language in the list on [the Fractal module page on Damned lies](https://l10n.gnome.org/module/fractal/).
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### Password Storage
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Fractal uses [Secret Service](https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/secret-storage-spec/)
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to store the password so you should have something providing that service on your system. If you're
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using GNOME or KDE this should work for you out of the box with gnome-keyring or ksecretservice.
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## Frequently Asked Questions
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* Does Fractal have encryption support? Will it ever?
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Yes, the current development version (`main` branch) has encryption support using Cross-Signing. See
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<https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/fractal/-/issues/717> for more info on the state of encryption.
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* Can I run Fractal with the window closed?
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Currently Fractal does not support this. Fractal is a GNOME application, and accordingly adheres GNOME
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guidelines and paradigms. This will be revisited if or when GNOME gets a "Do Not Disturb" feature.
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## The origin of Fractal
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The development version is a complete rewrite of Fractal built on top of the
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[matrix-rust-sdk](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk) using [GTK4](https://gtk.org/).
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The previous version of Fractal was using GTK3 and its own backend to talk to a matrix homeserver,
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the code can be found in the [`legacy` branch](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/fractal/-/tree/legacy).
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Initial versions were based on Fest <https://github.com/fest-im/fest>, formerly called ruma-gtk.
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In the origins of the project it was called guillotine, based on French revolution, in relation with
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the Riot client name, but it's a negative name so we decide to change for a math one.
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The name Fractal was proposed by Regina Bíró.
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## Code of Conduct
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Fractal follows the official GNOME Foundation code of conduct. You can read it [here](/code-of-conduct.md).
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