[JDEV] MUC problems

[Constantin Nickonov]

see below

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Sutton [mailto:jabber at dsutton.legend.uk.com]
> Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 8:51 PM
> To: jdev at jabber.org
> Subject: Re: [JDEV] MUC problems

<snip>

> The hex string is actually a SHA1 hash of the users real jid. Its used
> to reference a user, but not reveal the true jid. If the room 
> is set up to allow people to see the real jid, then just browse
> girls at conference.localhost/13c6a01dc31309e331c2b018640b9c03b8534327 and
> it will show you the true jid. This also helps to keep compatability to
> existing clients that are used to this form with the
> groupchat/conferencing module. The real jid is used as the reference, as
> a person can keep changing their nick throughout a session, but they
> can't change their real jid

The problem with this is that the MUC standard (JEP-0045) specifies how
nicknames are passed along with presence information, and how they are
changed -- and SHA-hashing isn't the way.

Entering a room (JEP-0045, section 6.2):

  SENT: <presence to='foo at muc.server/nick1'>
          <x xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/muc'/>
        </presence>
  READ: <presence from='foo at muc.server/nick1' to='user at server/resource'>
          <x xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/muc#user'>
            <item affiliation='owner' jid='user at server/resource'
role='moderator'/>
          </x>
        </presence>

Changing the nick (JEP-0045, section 6.4):

  SENT: <presence to='foo at muc.server/nick2'/>
  READ: <presence type='unavailable' from='foo at muc.server/nick1'
to='user at server/resource'>
          <x xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/muc#user'>
            <item nick='nick2' affiliation='owner'
jid='user at server/resource' role='moderator'/>
            <status code='303'/>
          </x>
        </presence>
        <presence from='foo at muc.server/nick2' to='user at server/resource'>
          <x xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/muc#user'>
            <item affiliation='owner' jid='user at server/resource'
role='moderator'/>
          </x>
        </presence>

The MUC protocol wasn't designed to be fully backward-compatible with the
JCF draft.

Constantin