On Mo, 2015-03-02 at 22:53 +0100, Daniele Ricci wrote:
> I was just waiting for this :-)
> Thanks to Lance and everyone that contributed to the push XEP. I'll
> start experimenting with it in a few days and eventually comment the
> XEP itself if I bump into practical problems.
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 10:46 PM, XMPP Extensions Editor <edi...@xmpp.org>
> wrote:
> > The XMPP Extensions Editor has received a proposal for a new XEP.
> >
> > Title: Push
> >
> > Abstract: This specification defines a way for an XMPP servers to broadcast
> > information for use in push notifications to mobile and other devices.
> >
> > URL: http://xmpp.org/extensions/inbox/push.html
> >
> > The XMPP Council will decide in the next two weeks whether to accept this
> > proposal as an official XEP.
> >
>
>
>
I started implementing an older version of the XEP [1] as an ejabberd
module. It's on github [2]. Currently I'm updating it to the new
version.
My implementation includes the app server (currently only for Ubuntu
push), so the app server and the XMPP server are one instance. In order
to explain why I chose to do this I have to expand the scope a little.
In case of Apple's, Google's and Microsoft's push services the app
server needs secret authorization data (certificate or secret key) to
send push notifications. So all client app instances need to register
with a central app server. In Ubuntu's push service [3] it's different.
The app server only needs the client's token and app_id for
authorization with ubuntu's server. I'd like to keep decentrality alive
where possible and in case of Ubuntu Push it is (at least in the
non-proprietary part). So I'd like to enable an arbitrary XMPP server
to send notifications to Ubuntu's push service.
It's not obligatory to merge app server and XMPP server to achieve this
but it lowers the administration effort (especially for ejabberd
clusters) and increases efficiency, if the app chooses its home server
as app server.
Regarding my requirements there are two little problems with the
current draft:
- apps that need to register with one central app server will know its
app server's hostname, but for an app supporting arbitrary app
servers there's no way of dicovering a hostname. So it should be able
to ask its xmpp server for a hostname serving a specific push service
type. Maybe something like this (up means ubuntu push):
<iq type='get'
from='ro...@montague.net/orchard'
to='montague.net'
id='items3'>
<query xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/disco#items'
node='urn:xmpp:push:0#up'/>
</iq>
<iq type='result'
from='montague.net'
to='ro...@montague.net/orchard'
id='items3'>
<query xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/disco#items'
node='urn:xmpp:push:0#up'>
<item jid='push-up.montague.net'/>
</query>
</iq>
- arbitrary app servers require a unified registration process. The
draft suggests to use XEP-0077, that's ok I think, but then we need to
define what data the client has to provide. My suggestion for XEP-0077
registration fields:
* token (mandatory)
* app-id (optional, relevant for Ubuntu push)
* silent-push (optional, relevant for iOS and Android (I think))
I think an example for registration should be in the XEP.
Moreover I'm missing an example for configuring the XMPP server part
regarding privacy. In [1] options like 'include-senders' and
'include-bodies' were mentioned. How about defining some
publish-options (XEP-0060 §7.1.5) which can be included in the enable
iq-stanza. The XMPP server will consider these when publishing an item
and doesn't need to include them into the pubsub stanza. Like this:
<iq type='set' id='x43'>
<enable xmlns='urn:xmpp:push:0' jid='push-up.montague.net'
node='yxs32uqsflafdk3iuqo'>
<x xmlns='jabber:x:data'>
<field var='FORM_TYPE'>
<value>http://jabber.org/protocol/pubsub#publish-options</value>
</field>
<field var='include-bodies'><value>0<value></field>
<field var='include-senders'><value>0<value></field>
<field var='include-message-count'><value>1<value></field>
</x>
</enable>
</iq>
Christian
P.S. thank you Lance and the others involved in writing the draft.
[1]
https://github.com/legastero/customxeps/blob/gh-pages/extensions/push.md
[2]
https://github.com/royneary/ejabberd/blob/master/src/mod_push.erl
[3]
https://developer.ubuntu.com/en/apps/platform/guides/push-notifications-client-guide/
