FAQ

This is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ), including some technical questions.

Questions from the Forum are also added here.

Principi

Cos’è Jami?

See the Introduction.

Cosa significa Jami?

The choice of the name Jami was inspired by the Swahili word jamii which means community as a noun and together as an adverb. It was chosen as it reflects the vision for the project:

• a free/libre program available to all that helps bring communities together,

• is community supported, and

• respects the freedom and privacy of the users.

Come faccio a fare un rapporto di bug?

Please see the Bug report guide.

Cosa rende Jami diversa da altre piattaforme di comunicazione?

Jami non funziona come la maggior parte delle piattaforme di comunicazione perché è distribuito:

Some of the consequences may seem surprising. For instance, since accounts are stored on the user’s device, passwords are optional. However, the most significant practical differences are that the user has more freedom and privacy.

What do the green/orange/red status circles next to profile pictures mean?

On a user’s account, 🔴 (a red circle) displayed means that the device is not connected to the DHT or is offline. A detailed error should be displayed explaining the issue. Checking the network/Internet connection or restarting the app may resolve the issue.

For contacts:

• no circle displayed means that no device is detected on the DHT. The contact is unreachable.

• 🟠 (an orange circle) displayed means that at least a device is announced on the DHT, so the contact SEEMS to be reachable. The device does not have a direct connection towards this peer yet. But they should be able to receive connection requests. Because the device is not directly connected to anything, the device status is unable to be determine for sure. So this can be translated to «Seems to be reachable», but connection may fail (firewall, deadlock, NAT, etc). The presence generally have a TTL of:

  • 10 minutes over the DHT, and

  • several hours if push notifications are enabled.

• 🟢 (a green circle) displayed means that the device is connected to a device of this peer.

Perche” manca una caratteristica del mio cliente?

Not every client implements all features. Check the All features by client list to see if the client is missing the feature. Feature requests can be made at https://git.jami.net.

Does Jami support read receipts? Can I turn them on or off?

Yes. Read receipts can be enabled or disabled in the settings on Jami for Desktop, Android, Android TV and iOS.

Does Jami support typing indicators? Can I turn them on or off?

Yes. Typing indicators can be enabled or disabled in the settings on Jami for Desktop, Android, and iOS.

Posso condividere il mio schermo?

Yes. Screen sharing is available on Jami for Desktop and Jami for Android. To activate screen sharing, click the «Share screen» button while in an audio or a video call.

Posso fare delle chiamate di gruppo?

Yes. Jami contacts can be added to (audio or video) calls by clicking the «Add participant» button.

Does Jami support group chats?

Yes.

Perché i miei messaggi inviati non sono in tutti i dispositivi collegati?

Before the implementation of Swarm Technology, an account’s devices would only receive the same messages from contacts if the device was online at the time of the message being sent. However, sent messages would not show up on devices other than the one sending the message.

With the implementation of Swarm Technology, conversation histories of new conversations (including one-on-one conversations) are fully synchronized between all of an account’s linked devices. Please upgrade all old versions of Jami to the latest version that includes Swarm Technology. The latest version of Jami is always available from the Download page of the Jami website, at https://jami.net/download/.

To learn more about Swarm Technology, visit the blog post Synchronizing conversation history with Swarm and visit the Developer manual.

Posso inviare messaggi ai contatti offline?

With Swarm Technology conversations, every device stores a copy of all of the messages in that conversation. If a user’s, or another participant’s, device is unreachable when a message is sent, when it becomes reachable, it will try to fetch any new messages from other reachable devices and synchronize message history. This can be done whenever at least one other device that has a copy of the new messages is also reachable.

Vedi anche

To read more about how conversations using Swarm Technology are synchronized, visit the blog post Synchronizing conversation history with Swarm.

If the participants in a conversation are often not online at the same time (for instance, due to different timezones), one of them might choose to set up Jami on an often-online device. The often-online device would receive the messages from each participant and relay it to the other(s) whenever they come online. Thus, acting similarly to a «server», all the while Jami remains distributed by nature.

Dove sono i file di configurazione?

Jami salva la sua configurazione (account, certificati, storia) in diverse località a seconda della piattaforma.

• GNU/Linux: global configuration is under ~/.config/jami/dring.yml, and account-specific files are under ~/.local/share/jami/. Finally, there is a cache directory at ~/.cache/jami/.

• macOS: the full configuration is under ~/Library/Application Support/Jami/ if installed via https://jami.net. The app store version uses ~/Library/Containers/com.savoirfairelinux.ring.macos/Data/Library/Application Support/jami/.

• Android: the full configuration is under /data/data/cx.ring/ (may require root privileges to view or change from outside Jami).

• Windows: global configuration is under %AppData%/Local/jami/dring.yml, and account-specific files are under %AppData%/Local/jami/. Finally, there is a cache directory at %USERPROFILE%/.cache/jami/.

Nota

Audio and video messages are recorded in the local-data in the folder: sent_data

For files, if a file is saved (right-click on the file, then Save), it will be added to the directory configured in the application settings.

How much bandwidth is required for calls?

For audio calls, Jami uses about 100 Kbps. For a video call, about 2 Mbit/s is required for medium quality. If the connection is slower, the bitrate will be automatically reduced.

If a device is hosting a video conference, approximately an additional 2 Mbps per participant is required. So, for example, for a conference with 10 participants, each participant requires 2 Mbps up and down, and the host requires 20 Mbps up and down.

Jami utilizza anche un algoritmo per cambiare il consumo a seconda della qualità del link.

How can Savoir-Faire Linux Inc. (SFL) afford to give Jami away for free? How does SFL make money with Jami?

Savoir-Faire Linux Inc. (SFL) is a consulting company with some R&D projects. Jami is a GPLv3+ project and this will not change. SFL already sells services for several fields of expertise (hosting, developing websites and applications, embedded software, etc).

Jami is financed several ways:

• Donations

• Customization contracts

• Services for other projects

• Visibility

• R&D

• https://jami.biz

Jami recurring expenses:

• In quanto sistema distribuito, Jami richiede costi veramente molto bassi

• Opt-in collection of anonymized statistics might be added in the future to better understand Jami usage; however, no personal data will be collected.

Gestione dei conti

Che cos’è un conto Jami?

A Jami account is an asymmetric encryption key. The Jami account is identified by a Jami ID, which is a fingerprint of the public key.

What information is required to be provided to create a Jami account?

When a new Jami account is created, private information like an email address, address, or phone number is not required.

The following information can be provided:

1. A profile picture (optional).

2. A display name (optional), which is the name that clients will display for your contact. It can contain special characters.

3. A username (optional), which is a unique identifier that is directly associated with your Jami ID. This username→Jami ID mapping is stored on a server (ns.jami.net by default, but you can host your own).

4. A password (optional). This password is used to protect the account archive in the device.

Vedi anche

More information about Jami accounts is available in the Account management section of the Developer manual.

Dov’e” la mia ID Jami?

The Jami ID is displayed on the main page of the Jami app. The Jami ID is a 40-character string of letters and numbers; for example: f2c815f5554bcc22689ce84d45aefdda1bce9146.

Perché non devo usare una password?

On a centralized system, a password is required to authenticate with a public server where accounts are stored. Any third-party who knows a person’s password could steal the person’s identity.

With Jami, the account is stored in a folder on the device. There is no public server where Jami accounts are stored. Hence, an account password is not required with Jami. The password is only used to encrypt a Jami account in order to protect the Jami account from someone who has physical access to the device.

A password may not be wanted or required if the device is encrypted. Recent versions of Jami do not ask for an account encryption password by default when creating new accounts.

Nota

Changing a password will only change the password on the current device and it’s not synced (because there is no server and other devices can be offline anyway).

Perché non devo registrare un nome utente?

The most permanent, secure identifier is the Jami ID. However, these are difficult to use for some people, there is also an the option of registering a username. Username registration requires a name server, such as Jami’s default one at ns.jami.net.

Se non si registra un nome utente, si può comunque scegliere di registrarlo in un secondo momento.

If you host your own name server at example.com, usernames registered there can be looked up by searching for username@example.com.

Posso cambiare il mio nome utente?

Usernames are unable to be changed on the default name server (ns.jami.net).

Qual è la differenza tra un nome utente e un nome di visualizzazione?

The username can be used as an identifier. The username points to the Jami ID, which is the permanent, secure identifier. Usernames are unique on the name server.

A display name allows you to choose another name that identifies a Jami account to contacts. Display names can be edited or changed at any time and only trusted peers can see them.

Come posso fare il backup del mio account?

There are two ways to back up an account:

1. Link another device to the account so the account will be on two devices. This option is available in the Account settings page.

2. Back up the account archive. More information about Jami accounts is available in the Account management section of the Developer manual. Some clients allow exporting the Jami account archive from Account settings.

Posso recuperare il mio nome utente senza le mie chiavi?

If the default name server at ns.jami.net stores a username, the username cannot be retrieved without the key. There is no way to prove a username without the key.

If a different name server was used to store a username, there may be a way to move the username to a new Jami ID at the discretion of the administrator of the name server.

Vedi anche

More information about name servers is available in the Name Server protocol section of the Developer manual.

Posso recuperare il mio account se dimentico la password?

No. There is no traditional account recovery process; the user is the only person with access to the user’s data.

Consiglio

Use a password manager if there is a concern about forgetting the Jami account password.

Cosa succede quando elimino il mio account?

The Jami account is only stored on devices which have the Jami account.

The Jami account is gone and is unable to be restored if:

• there is no backup of the Jami account, and

• the Jami account is deleted from all devices.

Furthermore, nobody else can use the Jami account.

The contacts will still have the messages which were sent to them, but all public record of the account on the DHT will eventually disappear due to absence and lack of activity.

Avvertimento

The default ns.jami.net name server does not delete any registered usernames – other name servers might (not recommended), at their administrator’s discretion. So, if an account has a registered username on the default name server and the account is deleted or lost (without a backup), nobody (including the user) will be able to register a new account with that username again; thus, nobody can reach the user at that username anymore.

To avoid losing an account please back it up!

Cosa succede quando colleghi un nuovo dispositivo?

When a device is linked to an account, the Jami account archive is put on the Jami network for a few minutes. The Jami account is protected with a password Jami provides.

The new device receives the full account certificate with the master RSA keys, and it generates a new device key for signing/encrypting messages.

Avanzate

Quale protocollo utilizza Jami per la crittografia end-to-end?

We use TLS 1.3 with a perfect forward secrecy requirement for the negotiated ciphers for calls and file transfers. Messages are encrypted with an RSA key.

Quali dati passano attraverso la mia macchina quando parto nella rete Jami?

Tutti questi dati sono crittografati.

• ICE descriptors of other Jami users (ICE is a protocol that helps establishing communication between two computers)

• certi messaggi di testo

• i conti attualmente collegati a un nuovo dispositivo, come spiegato sopra.

Audio/video streams and some text messages pass through the VoIP protocol. Text messages can be sent either via VoIP or DHT (the distributed network), depending on whether a VoIP communication channel is already open or not.

Perché sono in grado di comunicare con me stesso?

Molti utenti usano Jami per trasferire dati da una macchina all’altra.

Devo attivare le notifiche push?

Push notifications allow Jami to operate in a way more adapted to the context of mobility (energy consumption, data, …). However, for the moment, notifications go through Google’s servers, via the Firebase service. Only one identifier is transferred and it is unusable for anyone who does not have access to the account.

Che cos’è un server bootstrap?

A bootstrap server is the entry point of the distributed network. To enter in a network, Jami must know one other node. This is the role of the bootstrap. It can be any node in the network, but, bootstrap nodes are generally always up and available. The default one in Jami is bootstrap.jami.net.

What is a TURN server? What is STUN?

A TURN server is a relay, and is generally used when two peers are unable to contact to each other due to some firewall restriction, have NAT without any opened port, and no IPv6.

A STUN server is only used for SIP accounts, and is generally used to obtain the device public IP address. For Jami accounts, the DHT already provides the device public IP address.

Cos’è il proxy DHT?

The DHT proxy is a server that registers on the DHT on behalf of the device and relays information to and from the device. Thus, it is the server that will be active on the DHT and will participate in the network, and no longer the target device. Multiple devices can register on the same DHT proxy.

Generalmente, per trasferire dati tra due pari, ci sono 3 fasi:

1. Exchange candidates (IP addresses) via the DHT

2. Negotiate the best P2P channel between the peers

3. Trasferisci i dati su questa presa.

Il DHT viene utilizzato solo per il primo passo.

E se disabilitassi il proxy DHT su Android e che mi dici delle notifiche push?

Esistono 3 modalità di utilizzo dell’applicazione Android:

• With push notifications (DHT proxy must be enabled). This mode supports notifications for Android (via Google/Firebase, and soon UnifiedPush or Apple/APN). This decreases battery usage by removing the sync required with the DHT and without any socket always alive.

• Without push notifications but with DHT proxy enabled. This avoids the application synchronizing with other nodes, but «Run in the background» MUST be enabled to avoid the operating system killing the application.

• Without DHT proxy. In this case, «Run in the background» MUST be enabled to avoid the operating system killing the application. The application will synchronize with the other DHT nodes.

Ho ancora problemi con l’applicazione Android anche se l’ottimizzazione della batteria è disabilitata

Please read https://dontkillmyapp.com for more details. If it does not solve the issues, please open a bug report (ideally with a scenario to help reproduce and/or logs).

Come funziona il servizio di registrazione dei nomi utente?

With the default name server (ns.jami.net), the usernames are registered on an Ethereum blockchain. It is possible to develop a name server with any underlying data storage technology. For example, an SQL database could be used instead of a blockchain for the data storage technology.

With the default name server, look up usernames with https://ns.jami.net/name/test, where test is a username for which we are looking for a matching Infohash.

Once registered, the name server does not provide any way to remove the mapping.

More information about name servers is available in the Name Server protocol section of the Developer manual.

Come posso cambiare il tempo di una chiamata?

In the dring.yml file (see Dove sono i file di configurazione?), the ringingTimeout value, measured in seconds, can be changed.

Come eseguire il backup e il reimport delle conversazioni e degli account

Nota

This is only applicable for Desktop clients. Desktop clients run on GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems.

1. Export each accounts. (For GNU/Linux: Open settings → Account → Manage account → Backup account).

2. Copy and save the database (in ~/.local/share/jami/ for example).

3. On the new device, to import the settings and contacts with empty conversations:

   • if Jami is opened for the first time, import the archive backup. I already have an account → Import from an archive backup.

   • if Jami already has an account, import each archive backup. Add another account → I already have an account → Import from an archive backup.

4. Close Jami and replace the database with the database previously saved.

Quanto sei sicuro?

TLS/SRTP is used to secure connection and communications over the network.

SRTP over SIP is implemented using recommendations described in the following two RFCs:

• RFC 3711

• RFC 4568

Typically 2 kinds of sockets are negotiated. One for the control socket, the other for the media sockets.

Typical control session will use the following cipher suite:

(TLS1.3)-(ECDHE-SECP384R1)-(RSA-PSS-RSAE-SHA384)-(AES-256-GCM)
(TLS_ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384)

DTLS (fallback) supported:

"SECURE192:-KX-ALL:+ANON-ECDH:+ANON-DH:+SECURE192:-VERS-TLS-ALL:+VERS-DTLS-ALL:-RSA:%SERVER_PRECEDENCE:%SAFE_RENEGOTIATION"

TLS:

"SECURE192:-KX-ALL:+ANON-ECDH:+ANON-DH:+SECURE192:-RSA:-GROUP-FFDHE4096:-GROUP-FFDHE6144:-GROUP-FFDHE8192:+GROUP-X25519:%SERVER_PRECEDENCE:%SAFE_RENEGOTIATION"

La suite criptovaluta supportata per la sessione media è:

• AES_CM_128_HMAC_SHA1_80 / SRTP_AES128_CM_HMAC_SHA1_80

• AES_CM_128_HMAC_SHA1_32 / SRTP_AES128_CM_HMAC_SHA1_32

When do public IP addresses get exposed?

We can consider three main connectivity scenarios: (1) a classic configuration, (2) behind a VPN, and (3) via Tor.

As Jami is a P2P application, the reader would probably know that (2) or (3) is mandatory to avoid IP address leaking.

Moreover, even if it’s my answer, you can choose to not trust my answer and check the code, or use Wireshark or other tools. Generally, Jami developers use the first scenario (sometimes the second one). It is impossible to test all the possible networks configurations, so if you discover a bug, please open an issue.

For all three scenarios, there are three main actions:

• inviare un messaggio (questo utilizza il DHT);

• sending a file (TCP ICE connection as described in the File transfer section of the Developer manual; and

• placing a call (TCP + UDP ICE connection as described in the Calls section of the Developer manual.

(1) A classic configuration

Invia un messaggio

The Jami application is running a DHT (https://opendht.net) node on your device. So every operations on the DHT will use your IP address. This is why Jami has the option to use a DHTProxy (e.g., http://dhtproxy.jami.net/); this will avoid using your node and instead will use another node on the network (which will see your IP address). Note that your message is not sent directly to the other device. In fact your message is sent on some nodes of the DHT and your contact will retrieve the message on this node. So, your contact don’t see your IP address at this step, but the node who get the message will (or they will see the IP address of the proxy).

Invia file

As described in the docs, you will send a message with all the IP address you know that your peer can contact in an encrypted packet. So, if your peer send you a file or you send a file, your addresses will appear in the ICE message.

Chiamate

Same as above, the IP address is present in the ICE.

(2) Behind a VPN

Invia un messaggio

The IP address of your VPN will be used by the DHT node. If you want a proof, you can compile dhtnode and run the la command to get your public detected address. This is what I got:

./tools/dhtnode -b bootstrap.jami.net
Bootstrap: bootstrap.jami.net:4222
OpenDHT node be58fdc9f782269bfc0bbfc21a60bca5f02cb881 running on port 54299
(type 'h' or 'help' for a list of possible commands)

>> la
Reported public addresses:
IP ADDRESSES OF MY VPN

So, if you don’t use a proxy, your VPN addresses will be used for using the DHT. If you use a DHTProxy, the DHTProxy will see your VPN addresses.

Invia file

Same as above, the ICE contains:

• addresses from your LAN

• public address of your VPN

• TURN address if TURN is enabled

Do a call

Same as above, your public address is replaced by your VPN address. You can see it in the logs from daemon. See Reggi.

(3) Tor

Invia un messaggio

Tor non supporta UDP. Questo significa che non è possibile utilizzare il nodo DHT localmente, è necessario utilizzare un DHTProxy.

Invia file

Ho fatto un trasferimento di file con Jami + TOR, ecco cosa vedo nei registri per il telecomando:

[1574218330.556|10688|p2p.cpp           :241  ] [Account:93a03f519f394143] add remote ICE candidate: Hc0a8c801 1 TCP 2130706431 192.168.200.1 33293 typ host tcptype passive
[1574218330.556|10688|p2p.cpp           :241  ] [Account:93a03f519f394143] add remote ICE candidate: Hc0a8c801 1 TCP 2130706431 192.168.200.1 9 typ host tcptype active
[1574218330.556|10688|p2p.cpp           :241  ] [Account:93a03f519f394143] add remote ICE candidate: Hc0a80103 1 TCP 2130706431 192.168.1.3 33293 typ host tcptype passive
[1574218330.556|10688|p2p.cpp           :241  ] [Account:93a03f519f394143] add remote ICE candidate: Hc0a80103 1 TCP 2130706431 192.168.1.3 9 typ host tcptype active
[1574218330.556|10688|p2p.cpp           :241  ] [Account:93a03f519f394143] add remote ICE candidate: R33fe279d 1 TCP 16777215 51.254.39.157 27427 typ relay tcptype passive
[1574218330.556|10688|p2p.cpp           :241  ] [Account:93a03f519f394143] add remote ICE candidate: Sc0a8c801 1 TCP 1694498815 185.220.101.24 33293 typ srflx tcptype passive

I primi sono circa 192.168.x.x quindi non ci importa. 51.254.39.157 è l’indirizzo TURN in Francia (il mio dispositivo è in Canada). 185.220.101.24 è il nodo di uscita Tor:

inetnum:        185.220.101.0 - 185.220.101.127
netname:        MK-TOR-EXIT

Do a call

Questo non funzionerà (in realtà, puoi creare la connessione di controllo SIP perché è una connessione TCP), ma i media vengono negoziati in UDP, quindi questo fallirà.

Quali porti utilizza Jami?

Jami lavora come server e ottiene nuove porte per ogni connessione (legate a caso).

• dht: UDP [4000, 8888]

• Audio: UDP [16384-32766]

• video: UDP [49152-65534]

• Controllo SIP: UDP/TCP connesso a caso

Nota

If UDP is blocked, a DHTProxy can be used to use TCP instead. However, media will not work because it only supports UDP.

So for UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall), it is recommended to open the Terminal and enter the command:

sudo ufw default allow outgoing

Currently, it is not possible to define the range of configured ports to be used by Jami. The inbound traffic can be controlled without issue; Jami should work and can use a TURN server if required.

If you run your own proxy or name server:

• DHTProxy, name server: TCP [80-100], 443

Se gestisci il tuo server TURN:

• TURN/STUN: TCP+UDP 3478, 5349

Can I use Jami in a local network (LAN) without Internet access?

Yes! Thanks to Jami’s architecture, Jami users on a local/private network can communicate among themselves using Jami, without requiring any outside connectivity such as the Internet.

To do so, from Jami’s Account settings open Advanced account settings. There, enable the Enable local peer discovery setting. Additionally, you may want to manually set the bootstrap node’s address (default: bootstrap.jami.net) to the IP address of another device on your network that also runs Jami and/or an OpenDHT node.

Nota

If you will use this Jami account for communicating only with only with other devices on the same local/private network, you can disable TURN if you wish. If you do so, and later you decide to use this account also for communicating with other Jami devices outside your network, don’t forget to enable TURN again, as it helps Jami work around issues with some overly restrictive firewalls.

Come posso configurare i codec ancora di più?

Codecs can be configured via a file. In the configurations files, you can create a file called encoder.json like this:

{
    "libx264": {
        "profile": 100,
        "level": 42,
        "crf": 20,
        "preset": "ultrafast"
    },
    "h264_vaapi": {
        "low_power": 1
    },
    "libopus": {
        "application": "voip"
    }
}

o:

{
    "libopus": {
        "bit_rate": 128000
    }
}

This file is located in the same directory as dring.yml.

To check which options are supported, use the command ffmpeg -h encoder=[encoder_name], where encoder_name can be any of libx264, libvpx, mpeg4, h263, libopus, libspeex, g722, pcm_alaw, or pcm_mulaw (the FFmpeg names for all of Jami’s supported encoders).

Come posso configurare il processore audio?

An audio processor allows Jami to clean up and process your microphone’s audio. It can remove echo, reduce noise, and equalize your microphone’s volume. Additionally, it can detect when you’re speaking and send this information to participants in your call. The audio processor settings can be set in your dring.yml file. See this section to find where this file is located.

Le chiavi di preferenza pertinenti sono:

• audioProcessor, which configures which audio processor to use. The valid options are:

  • webrtc: the WebRTC Audio Processing library <https://www.freedesktop.org/software/pulseaudio/webrtc-audio-processing/>_

  • speex: the Speex DSP library <https://gitlab.xiph.org/xiph/speexdsp>_

  • null: disables audio processing (though your system echo canceller may still be used, see below)

• echoCancel, which configures how echo cancelling should be done. The valid options are:

  • auto: try to use your operating system’s echo canceller (if it exists), otherwise fall back to the chosen audio processor’s echo canceller

  • audioProcessor: only use the chosen audio processor’s echo canceller

  • system: only use your operating system’s echo canceller

  • null: don’t do any echo cancelling

• noiseReduce, true/false to set noise reduction on the audio processor

• automaticGainControl, true/false to set automatic gain control on the audio processor

• voiceActivityDetection, true/false to set voice activity detection on the audio processor