Support overriding parts of config.json via .well-known

[turt2live]

This is a thing that I've considered proposing for a while given there's various minor settings that could be homeserver-specific and need to support desktop users. Now that we're encouraging the desktop app more, we should probably have a way for homeservers to say "my theme is CoolCompany Blue" instead of light, for example.

Some ideas for things that could be covered by this:

• settingDefaults
• theme info
• permalinks (permalinkprefix via .well-known/matrix/client ? #13676)
• other aesthetic things
• piwik?

Stuff like the homeserver/identity server wouldn't matter at this point in the cycle as it's something that should be checked much earlier in the app.

The shape of this could possibly just be an im.vector.web.settings object which just gets lumped on top of the in-memory config.

Outstanding questions:

1. Should this override or underride the in-memory amalgamated config?
2. How often should we check the config? Do we only check on startup and never again?
   a. If we do check regularly, what do we do if a setting changes? eg: if the theme changes, it might be jarring to have the theme suddenly change without warning. Maybe a prompt to "update", getting the user to reload the app?
3. How does this fit into the setting levels, if at all? We could avoid the over vs underride question if we just make it a level.
4. Do we even want this?

assigned to myself because I'm interested in making a proof of concept regardless of question 4.

[bpcurse]

Could this cover a self-hosted jitsi server setting, too? Sorry if I mix something up.
I just found #13314. Never mind.

[steef435]

Please don't allow the homeserver owner (or bad actor) to override local settings, especially when it comes to privacy settings. I think the idea for providing default settings - which are overridden by the local config.json - is great though. Riot desktop could ship with a defaults-only config.json to practically achieve the first behavior, while still allowing people to control the software on their computer.

[flyinghuman]

is that currently already possible? i see no security concers as long as you can override with a local config.json. It would be cool to have a Import wizard for the suggested settings from the well-known homeserver at first Riot launch.

i would set it like (does actually not work for me):

{
	"m.homeserver": {
		"base_url": "https://matrix.example.tld"
	},
	"m.identity_server": {
		"base_url": "matrix.example.tld"
	},
      "im.vector.riot.jitsi": {
               "preferredDomain": "jitsi.example.tld"
       },
      "im.vector.riot": {
              "permalinkPrefix": "https://riot.example.tld",
              "integrations_ui_url": "https://dimension.example.tld/riot",
              "integrations_rest_url": "https://dimension.example.tld/api/v1/scalar",
              "integrations_widgets_urls": ["https://dimension.example.tld/widgets"],
              "integrations_jitsi_widget_url": "https://dimension.example.tld/widgets/jitsi"
      }
}

i' not sure about the im.vector.riot object? it it correct?

[t3chguy]

This issue is still open, so not implemented, so no your attempt is not correct

[flyinghuman]

This issue is still open, so not implemented, so no your attempt is not correct

ok, thanks for clarify. keep on your good work :)

[majordave]

Any chance to at least support the Jitsi preferred domain configuration on the desktop client?
Changing the user specified file only affects meetings generated by the user that changed the config.json.

[turt2live]

@majordave https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/blob/develop/docs/jitsi.md#configuring-element-to-use-your-self-hosted-jitsi-server already specifies how that can be done.

[majordave]

@turt2live I asked because I have already set my /.well-known/matrix/client as specified there but it didn't work, I still get the default domain unless I change the config.json on the desktop client. Which isn't feasible for every one of my users.

[turt2live]

Then you have a different bug.

[tiran133]

Is any plans to support this. Would be nice to have a custom permalink URL in the desktop and Mobile clients.
It's just confusing and leads to a lot of frustration for the users when you operate a private non federated matrix instance, and they share a room from the Desktop/Mobile clients.

Why is it matrix.to in the first place? It should just default to the server URL.