Element: decentralized, encrypted chat & collaboration

. . . packaged for Fedora and OpenSUSE

What is this GitHub Repository?

The purpose of this repository is to store all the bits and pieces needed to build and package the Element application for various RPM flavors of Linux: CentOS, Fedora, and OpenSUSE. The binary (installable and runnable) packages are were then built on the Fedora Project's COPR build system.

SHUT DOWN NOTICE

I am closing down this project for two reasons:

1. a core upstream component of Element (the Electron platform) embeds non-free software (a couple codecs in libffmpeg.so) and I have been asked (told) to stop using my preferred build system (COPR)
2. builds for OpenSUSE are again super-challenging

As such, today—March 1, 2022, version 1.10.6—after almost four years of working on this project, I am ending my maintenance of Element builds for CentOS, Fedora, and OpenSUSE. Any change after this are for my own amusement and for no others. I may continue to experiment. Or maybe not. But, my builds for others are done. This makes me sad, but I am tired of fighting library versions, tired of fighting NodeJS and electron, and the build system I use no longer will permit me to build Element there. So, that's that.

I am a fan of the project and think they are clearly a superior solution in the groups-chat space, but I am tired of fighting all the technical debt baggage and complexity associated to NodeJS and Electron. At some point I will stop checking in changes and that will be that. If someone wants to use my spec files and start a new RPM build project, please do so. Just let me know so I can link to it here.

THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MY RPM BUILDS!

There is an alternative build out there that should work for everyone: a Flatpak! I am not a huge fan of the bloat and non-native-ness of Flatpak/Snap/AppData builds (they are a kludge), but like all kludges, they are often good enough. So ... instead of the RPM, just go ahead and install the Flatpak.

A big thank you goes out to all the good folks who supported and encouraged me over these four year. Cheers! -todd

What is Element? Decentralized, encrypted chat & collaboration powered by [matrix].

What is Matrix? An open network for secure, decentralized communication.

In short, Element is an open-source, decentralized, end-to-end encrypted, team collaboration platform who's often compared to IRC, Rocket Chat, Mattermost, Slack, and Discord.

More fully, Element is a desktop application implementing the client-side of the matrix protocol enabling decentralized, secure messaging for collaborative groups. This repository enables Element to be easily installed and maintained on the Fedora, Red Hat(IBM), and OpenSUSE family of Linux operating systems and tracks the source surrounding those builds. This GitHub repository maintains source RPM packages and spec files so you can rebuild Element if you are so inclined, though prebuilt binaries have been conveniently built for you. See below for how to install and run Element on your Linux desktop.

More about . . .

• Element: https://element.io/ and the source repositories, element-desktop and element-web
• Matrix: https://matrix.org/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(communication_protocol)
• A couple reviews from some dude, TechCrunch, and the Slant community
  Unsurprisingly, I personally think Element is superior to Slack and Rocket Chat.
• Element for Microsoft, Apple, and Android products can be found at https://element.io and the Apple and Android Play Stores. Element for the web (Chromebook and anyone) is available here: https://app.element.io/.

Questions or comments . . .

Contact: t0dd_at_protonmail.com or find me at @t0dd:matrix.org after you have installed Element!