Xfce Project Developers announced about the completion of the transfer of official channels for communication from IRC to Matrix. The old IRC channels remain available, but documentation and the website now refer to Matrix-based channels as the official method of online communication. Instead of the #xfce IRC channel on libera.chat, users are encouraged to use the channel for technical support and discussions #xfce:matrix.orginstead of #xfce-dev for development related discussions – #xfce-dev:matrix.organd instead of #xfce-commits to track activity in GitLab – #xfce-commits:matrix.org.
The main reason for migration is noted termination support for broadcasting IRC channels in Marix in the Libera.Chat IRC network. Since many developers used Matrix to access IRC channels using these translators, the end of their support led to fragmentation of communication – some users remained in IRC, and others began to communicate in separate Matrix channels. To recreate a unified communication platform, it was decided to transfer Matrix channels to the official category.
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The loss of popularity of IRC is also caused by the unfamiliarity with newcomers and the obsolescence of the IRC protocol, which in modern realities is not as convenient as we would like, is often blocked on firewalls and does not provide the proper tools for protection against spam and violations of communication norms. Matrix is an open platform, not tied to centralized servers and proprietary developments, uses open standards, provides end-to-end encryption, supports search and unlimited viewing of correspondence history, allows you to view history from different devices, allows messages to be received when the user is offline, and can be used for transmission files, sending notifications, assessing the developer’s online presence, organizing teleconferences, making voice and video calls.
Additionally, you can note discussion Converting core Xfce components to build using the Meson toolkit instead of Autotools. The change may have been implemented in the release of Xfce 4.20.
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