Skip to content

FEP-f1d5: NodeInfo in Fediverse Software

by CJ cjslep@gmail.com, silverpill silverpill@firemail.cc submited on 2020-12-13 finalized on 2023-06-02

Summary

NodeInfo is a protocol intended to standardize upon a way to provide server-level metadata to the public. This enables tools and clients to utilize this metadata to assess server health or facilitate end-users choices about servers and software to use on the Fediverse.

History

NodeInfo was developed prior to the ActivityPub protocol targeted for use by diaspora, friendica, and redmatrix software [ActivityPub]. Some of the original protocols it encapsulated include diaspora, pumpio, and gnusocial.

The NodeInfo specification is incredibly strict in its schema, often requiring regex-validation and a closed set of enumerated possible values. As an objection to this, the NodeInfo2 fork was created as a form of criticism by removing some validation of fields and with some logical restructuring of the metadata. Building off of NodeInfo and NodeInfo2, ServiceInfo was briefly explored [ServiceInfo].

This FEP does not attempt to document the specific protocol details. For that, see the [NodeInfoRepository] and [NodeInfo2Repository]. It attempts to clarify the history and identify shortcomings with the current approaches, to bring context to developers of Fediverse Software.

Requirements

The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this specification are to be interpreted as described in [RFC-2119].

Fediverse software SHOULD implement NodeInfo [NodeInfoRepository].

Caveats

At the time of this FEP’s writing, the current objections to the current state of NodeInfo that have been identified by the community are below. Note that any technical alternatives identified are meant to be illustrative and not prescriptive:

  • The software.name regex is unnecessarily strict. For example, no uppercase letters, no spaces, no non-English-alphabet, and no special characters besides hyphen are permitted.
  • The software.version field is required, which is unnecessarily strict. Forcibly requiring software to divulge version information is potentially a security issue.
  • The inbound and outbound elements are specified as a closed set of enums instead of a simple string. Protocol versioning manifests as renaming, having to add a new enum, which results in unclear version management.
  • The Fediverse software MUST have an openRegistrations concept due to it being required.
  • Lacks an extendable method for identifying and versioning other features, such as HTTP Signatures, webfinger, or OAuth. Whereas the specification is very strict, the metadata is too lax.
  • The usage.users is not denormalized, such that implementations can provide custom pairs of (activity counts, time period in days) that make sense for the software.
  • The usage.users assumes that user identity is tied to a specific instance of running software. It is unclear how to count total users when user identity is: spread across multiple servers, spread across multiple groups, or present within multiple collections of users. Multiple software instances could each have a reasonable claim to counting the user as “using” their software, which globally results users being counted more than once.
  • The usage.users activity counts likewise assume that user identity is tied to a specific instance of running software. For the same reasons above, where the total user counts may result in duplicate counts of the same user across all software running, the activity counts activeHalfYear and activeMonth may also result in a globally inflated count.
  • The activeHalfyear and activeMonth are ill-named properties for describing the time periods of 180 days and 30 days, respectively. A “half of one year” is 180 days 0% of the time and roughly 182.5 days only 75% of the time. A month is 30 days only 33% of the time.
  • The localPosts and localComments are not denormalized into pairs of (kind, counts) for software that, for example, hosts audio files, hosts videos, or software that does not have comments, or does not have posts.
  • The localPosts and localComments are required, which is problematic for software that does not have comments, or does not have posts.

Implementations

Servers

This list is not comprehensive:

  • Mastodon
  • Matrix
  • Pleroma
  • PeerTube
  • WriteFreely
  • Friendica
  • Diaspora
  • PixelFed
  • Misskey
  • Funkwhale
  • Smithereen
  • Plume
  • GNU Social
  • lemmy
  • zap
  • Socialhome
  • epicyon
  • apcore

Clients

References

CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

To the extent possible under law, the authors of this Fediverse Enhancement Proposal have waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.