Some years ago, in 2016, I +wrote +for the first time about the Ring peer to peer messaging system. +It would provide messaging without any central server coordinating the +system and without requiring all users to register a phone number or +own a mobile phone. Back then, I could not get it to work, and put it +aside until it had seen more development. A few days ago I decided to +give it another try, and am happy to report that this time I am able +to not only send and receive messages, but also place audio and video +calls. But only if UDP is not blocked into your network.
+ +The Ring system changed name earlier this year to +Jami. I +tried doing web search for 'ring' when I discovered it for the first +time, and can only applaud this change as it is impossible to find +something called Ring among the noise of other uses of that word. Now +you can search for 'jami' and this client and +the Jami system is the first hit at +least on duckduckgo.
+ +Jami will by default encrypt messages as well as audio and video +calls, and try to send them directly between the communicating parties +if possible. If this proves impossible (for example if both ends are +behind NAT), it will use a central SIP TURN server maintained by the +Jami project. Jami can also be a normal SIP client. If the SIP +server is unencrypted, the audio and video calls will also be +unencrypted. This is as far as I know the only case where Jami will +do anything without encryption.
+ +Jami is available for several platforms: Linux, Windows, MacOSX, +Android, iOS, and Android TV. It is included in Debian already. Jami +also work for those using F-Droid without any Google connections, +while Signal do not. +The +protocol is described in the Ring project wiki. The system uses a +distributed hash table (DHT) system (similar to BitTorrent) running +over UDP. On one of the networks I use, I discovered Jami failed to +work. I tracked this down to the fact that incoming UDP packages +going to ports 1-49999 were blocked, and the DHT would pick a random +port and end up in the low range most of the time. After talking to +the developers, I solved this by enabling the dhtproxy in the +settings, thus using TCP to talk to a central DHT proxy instead of + +peering directly with others. I've been told the developers are +working on allowing DHT to use TCP to avoid this problem. I also ran +into a problem when trying to talk to the version of Ring included in +Debian Stable (Stretch). Apparently the protocol changed between +beta2 and the current version, making these clients incompatible. +Hopefully the protocol will not be made incompatible in the +future.
+ +It is worth noting that while looking at Jami and its features, I +came across another communication platform I have not tested yet. The +Tox protocol +and family of Tox clients. It might +become the topic of a future blog post.
+ +As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
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