Connect with the GNOME Community on Matrix

The GNOME project is using a Matrix instance for its instant communications. Matrix rooms are a great place to hang out if you want to contribute to the GNOME project, see what the developers are talking about, or you're just looking to connect with other GNOME users.

Matrix rooms are also a good place to ask for help, but when you do, try to provide as much detail as you can. For example, if you have a build problem you can put the error message into block quotes (using triple backticks). And don't be discouraged if you don't get an answer right away, your fellow contributors may simply be busy at the moment, so be patient.

Follow the steps below to get started chatting with others in the GNOME community.

Matrix is a bit like email, but instantaneous. You need both an account and a client to be able to join the conversation.

Step 1: Choose a messaging Application

There are many clients to choose from. You can use Element in your browser without installing anything, or, for a more integrated experience, Fractal is a Matrix client for GNOME. You can get Fractal stable from flathub.

Step 2: Register a Matrix account

Same as with email, you need to pick a provider to register an account on. Members of the GNOME Foundation can use the GNOME provider to register an account. When registering, you need to provide an email address ending with @gnome.org to prove you're a member.

If you're not a member of the Foundation, you can either use the popular Matrix.org provider for free, choose another provider that works in open federation, or even get a company to host a server for you.

Step 3: Join a Room

To find a room you would like to join, you can either explore the Matrix directory of the GNOME instance. This directory is curated by the GNOME instance administrator to avoid spam.

There is another way to list rooms supported by the Matrix protocol, called Spaces. If your client supports them, you can join the GNOME Space. At the time of this writing, Fractal doesn’t support them yet.

Additional information for room moderators

If you were a channel operator on IRC and you want to become a room moderator on Matrix, simply give operator status from IRC to your Matrix nick (example: my_nickname needs to give operator status to my_nickname[m]). Then you will be able for example to change the topic of the Matrix room.