easybridge/README.md

# Easybridge

Easybridge is a Matrix-to-everything (almost) bridge.
It acts as a client under your name on all instant messaging networks where
you have an account, and presents your private messages as well as group
conversations in Matrix in a uniform view.
Basically, Matrix becomes your everything chat client!

**WARNING** Easybridge is still very experimental and crashes sometimes.
Also, the Facebook Messenger backend might get you rate-limited on login
attempts if you restart the bridge too often, which will lock you out of
your Facebook account asking you to recover your account and change your password.
See below for information on how to avoid this situation.

Current features:

- Backends: IRC, XMPP, Mattermost, Facebook Messenger (more to come)
- Private messages and group/chat room messages
- Automatic setup of Matrix rooms that bridge to outside rooms
- Room name and topic synchronization (partially)
- Images and file transfers (Mattermost backend)
- Avatar and room pictures (Mattermost backend, one-way only)
- Web interface for setting up accounts so that new accounts can be easily
  added and you don't have to type your credentials in a clear-text Matrix room
- Credentials are stored encrypted in the database using users' Matrix passwords

There is lot to do! See the issues if you want to join us on this project.

A Docker image is provided on the [Docker hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/lxpz/easybridge_amd64).

Easybridge takes a single command line argument, `-config <filename>`, which is the
path to its config file (defaults to `./config.json`).
The configuration file is a JSON file whose contents is described in the following section.

Easybridge is licensed under the terms of the GPLv3.


## Building Easybridge

Easybridge requires go 1.13 or later.

To build Easybridge, clone this repository outside of your `$GOPATH`.
Then, run `make` in the root of the repo.


## Configuring Easybridge

Easybridge acts as a Matrix application service: in this regard,
it requires a registration file to be added to your homeserver.
It uses a database to store configuration and state information,
which can be any backend supported by [Gorm](https://gorm.io).

Easybridge is configured using a single JSON configuration file, which contains
a dictionnary whose keys are the following:

- `log_level`: what log level Easybridge runs with (trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, panic). **Warning:** in `trace` level, the content of all calls to the Matrix API and some other information will be dumped, exposing user's credentials and messages. In `debug` level, room join/leave information will be exposed. The `info` level (default) does not expose any user's private information.
- `easybridge_avatar`: path to the image that Easybridge uses as an avatar on Matrix

### Matrix configuration

- `registration`: path to the YAML appservice registration file
- `appservice_bind_addr`: on what IP/port to bind as a Matrix app service (HTTP only, no HTTPS)
- `homeserver_url`: HTTP address of the Matrix homeserver
- `matrix_domain`: the domain name of the Matrix homeserver (i.e. the domain used in user identifiers, room identifiers, etc)
- `name_format`: the format of identifiers that are created on Matrix for users and room aliases. `{}` is replaced by the concatenation of user/room identifier and protocol. Typically you want either `_ezbr_{}` or `{}_ezbr`, the latter having the advantage that the briged user's names are then used as prefixes for the created identifiers.

### Web interface configuration

- `web_bind_addr`: on what IP/port to bind for the web interface that allows adding and configuring accounts (HTTP only, no HTTPS, use a reverse proxy for that)
- `web_url`: the outside HTTP/HTTPS address at which the web interface is made available. If set, a widget will be added in the Easybridge room so that users can configure the bridge without leaving the Riot client.
- `session_key`: a key with which session cookies are encrypted for the web interface

### Storage configuration

- `db_type` and `db_path`: the database backend and path to use (see the [Gorm documentation](http://gorm.io/docs/connecting_to_the_database.html))


## Facebook Messenger alternative login procedure

The default login proedure for the Messenger backend is to log in with your email and password each time
Easybridge starts. Unfortunately, if Easybridge restarts too often, this will get you rate limited on login
attempts quite rapidly. To bypass this issue, the Messenger backend provides the ability to login
using a *client pickle*, i.e. a serialized client that contains all of the cookies obtained during a single
initial login procedure, so that further logins are not required any longer.

To generate your client pickle, run the following command:

```
./external/messenger.py create_client_pickle
```

This procedure will ask for your email and password and attempt to log you in to Facebook.
If it succeeds, it will print several dozen lines of data looking like `eJyVVlt....X9cgyfgY7mJaK`.
Then, when configuring the Messenger backend in Easybridge, *do not enter your password*.
Instead, enter the obtained client pickle string in the appropriate field.