Third party

This page describes experimental features. These features are available with the plugin version >= 7.2.0.

Introduction

Peertube is part of the Fediverse. So Peertube video can be watched from other Peertube instances, and from various other softwares:

  • from a Mastodon (or other fediverse application) instance,
  • from a mobile app (Fedilab, Tusky, …),
  • from desktop fediverse app,
  • …

This livechat plugin is using well known standards, so it is possible to join chat rooms even when not viewing the video on Peertube.

There are basically 2 ways to join the chat room associated to a video:

  • opening a web page (with an url like https://yourinstance.tld/plugins/livechat/router/webchat/room/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535),
  • using a XMPP client (and joining a room like xmpp://8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535@room.yourinstance.tld?join)

Joining the chat using a XMPP client is not always possible. It requires some DNS and server configuration. It will only be possible if instance’s admins have correctly setup the external XMPP clients connection feature.

Don’t try to gues these url and connection methods yourself. Please report to next chapters.

Chat discovery

Using ActivityPub

The livechat plugin adds some data in Video ActivityPub objects, so that the chat can be discovered.

This requires Peertube >= 5.1

This follows the FEP-1970 recommendations.

At the time of the writing, this FEP is in draft status, and the livechat plugin is a Proof-of-concept. Until the FEP is adopted, the specification can change, and the livechat plugin will be adapted accordingly.

Basically, the chat will be declared as attachments on the Video object, using the discussion relation.

By default, here is an example of what you will get:

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
    "https://w3id.org/security/v1",
    {
      "RsaSignature2017": "https://w3id.org/security#RsaSignature2017"
    },
    {
      // ...
    }
  ],
  "to": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
  ],
  "cc": [
    "https://yourinstance.tld/accounts/root/followers"
  ],
  "type": "Video",
  "id": "https://yourinstance.tld/videos/watch/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535",
  "name": "The video title",
  // ...
  "url": [ /* ... */ ],
  "attachment": [
    {
      "type": "Link",
      "name": "Chat for live stream: The video title",
      "rel": "discussion",
      "href": "https://yourinstance.tld/plugins/livechat/router/webchat/room/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535"
    }
  ]
}

In case the instance has activated the external XMPP clients connection feature:

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
    "https://w3id.org/security/v1",
    {
      "RsaSignature2017": "https://w3id.org/security#RsaSignature2017"
    },
    {
      // ...
    }
  ],
  "to": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"
  ],
  "cc": [
    "https://yourinstance.tld/accounts/root/followers"
  ],
  "type": "Video",
  "id": "https://yourinstance.tld/videos/watch/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535",
  "name": "The video title",
  // ...
  "url": [ /* ... */ ],
  "attachment": [
    {
      "type": "Link",
      "name": "Chat for live stream: The video title",
      "rel": "discussion",
      "href": "https://yourinstance.tld/plugins/livechat/router/webchat/room/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535"
    },
    {
      "type": "Link",
      "name": "Chat for live stream: The video title",
      "rel": "discussion",
      "href": "xmpp://8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535@room.yourinstance.tld?join"
    }
  ]
}

Algorithm

If you want to display the chat in a web page or in an iframe, here is what you should do:

  • get the Video ActivityPub object,
  • if there is no attachment key, stop.
  • loop through the attachment values (if attachment is not an array, just iterate on this single value)
  • search for an entry with rel === discussion, and with href using the https scheme (that begins with https://)
  • if found, open this href

If you want to open the chat room using the XMPP protocol:

  • get the Video ActivityPub object,
  • if there is no attachment key, stop.
  • loop through the attachment values (if attachment is not an array, just iterate on this single value)
  • search for an entry with rel === discussion, and with href using the xmpp scheme (that begins with xmpp://)
  • if found, open this xmpp uri with your client, or connect to the XMPP room at that address

Additional notes

In the ActivityPub object, there is also a peertubeLiveChat entry. Don’t use the content of this entry. This is specific to the livechat plugin, and can be changed or removed in a near future. It is currently required for some endpoint discovery.

Using Podcast RSS feed

The livechat plugin adds some data in Podcast RSS feeds under the <podcast:liveItem>, so that the chat can be discovered for live streams.

This requires Peertube >= 5.2

The <podcast:chat> element is currently only supported for live streams.

This follows the <podcast:chat> proposal.

At the time of the writing, this proposal is in draft status, and the livechat plugin is a Proof-of-concept. Until the proposal is adopted, the specification can change, and the livechat plugin will be adapted accordingly.

Basically, the chat will be declared as tag under on the <podcast:liveItem> element.

By default, here is an example of what you will get:

<podcast:liveItem status="live" start="2023-07-06T18:00:00.000Z">
  <title>The video title</title>
  <guid isPermaLink="false">e32b4890-983b-4ce5-8b46-f2d6bc1d8819_2023-07-06T18:00:00.000Z</guid>
  <link>https://yourinstance.tld/videos/watch/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535</link>
  <podcast:socialInteract
    uri="https://yourinstance.tld/videos/watch/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535"
    protocol="activitypub"
    accountUrl="https://yourinstance.tld/a/youraccount"
  />
  <enclosure url="https://yourinstance.tld/path/to/video/master.m3u8" type="application/x-mpegURL" />
  <podcast:alternateEnclosure type="application/x-mpegURL" lang="en" title="HLS" default="true">
    <podcast:source uri="https://yourinstance.tld/path/to/video/master.m3u8" />
  </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
  <itunes:image href="https://yourinstance.tld/lazy-static/previews/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535.jpg" />
  <podcast:chat 
    server="yourinstance.tld"
    protocol="xmpp"
    embedUrl="https://yourinstance.tld/plugins/livechat/router/webchat/room/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535"
  />
</podcast:liveItem>

In case the instance has activated the external XMPP clients connection feature:

<podcast:liveItem status="live" start="2023-07-06T18:00:00.000Z">
  <title>The video title</title>
  <guid isPermaLink="false">e32b4890-983b-4ce5-8b46-f2d6bc1d8819_2023-07-06T18:00:00.000Z</guid>
  <link>https://yourinstance.tld/videos/watch/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535</link>
  <podcast:socialInteract
    uri="https://yourinstance.tld/videos/watch/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535"
    protocol="activitypub"
    accountUrl="https://yourinstance.tld/a/youraccount"
  />
  <enclosure url="https://yourinstance.tld/path/to/video/master.m3u8" type="application/x-mpegURL" />
  <podcast:alternateEnclosure type="application/x-mpegURL" lang="en" title="HLS" default="true">
    <podcast:source uri="https://yourinstance.tld/path/to/video/master.m3u8" />
  </podcast:alternateEnclosure>
  <itunes:image href="https://yourinstance.tld/lazy-static/previews/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535.jpg" />
  <podcast:chat 
    server="yourinstance.tld"
    protocol="xmpp"
    space="8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535@room.yourinstance.tld" 
    embedUrl="https://yourinstance.tld/plugins/livechat/router/webchat/room/8df24108-6e70-4fc8-b1cc-f2db7fcdd535"
  />
</podcast:liveItem>

Algorithm

If you want to display the chat in a web page or in an iframe, here is what you should do:

  • get the Podcast RSS feed for the channel,
  • if there is no <podcast:liveItem> element under the <channel>, stop.
  • find the <podcast:liveItem> you are looking for
    • <podcast:socialInteract> can be used to cross-reference the items with ActivityPub
  • if there is no <podcast:chat> element under the <podcast:liveItem>, stop.
  • loop through the <podcast:chat> values (if <podcast:chat> is not an array, just iterate on this single value)
    • there should only be one, but you should expect to handle several just in case
  • search for the first entry protocol === xmpp and an embedUrl attribute
  • if found, open this embedUrl

If you want to open the chat room using the XMPP protocol:

  • get the Podcast RSS feed for the channel,
  • if there is no <podcast:liveItem> element under the <channel>, stop.
  • find the <podcast:liveItem> you are looking for
    • <podcast:socialInteract> can be used to cross-reference the items with ActivityPub
  • loop through the <podcast:chat> values (if <podcast:chat> is not an array, just iterate on this single value)
    • there should only be one, but you should expect to handle several just in case
  • search for the first entry protocol === xmpp and a space attribute
    • space should be an XMPP JID for a MUC
  • if found, open this XMPP JID with your client after converting it to a join URI, or connect to the XMPP room at that address