Many communication platforms promise to link people together by video, voice, and data. But almost none of them promise or respect user privacy and freedom to a useful extent.
Ring is a universal communication system for any platform. But it is also a fully distributed system that protects users’ confidentiality. One protective feature is that it doesn’t store users personal data in a centralized location. Instead, it decentralizes this data through a combination of OpenDHT and Ethereum blockchain technology. In addition to being distributed, it has other unique features for communication:
- Cross platform (works on Linux, Windows, MacOS, and Android)
- Uses only free and open source software
- Uses standard security protocols and end-to-end encryption
- Works with desktop applications (like GNOME Contacts)
In July the Savoir-faire Linux team released the stable 1.0 version of Ring. Although it isn’t included in Fedora due to some of its requirements, the Savoir-faire team graciously provides a package for the Fedora community.
How to install Ring
To install, open a terminal and run the following commands:
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://dl.ring.cx/ring-nightly/fedora_26/ring-nightly.repo sudo dnf install ring
If you’re using an older version of Fedora, or an entirely different platform, check out the download page.
How to setup a RingID
Now that it’s installed, you’re ready to create an account (or link pre-existing one). The RingID allows other users to locate and contact you while still protecting your privacy. To create one:
- First, click on Create Ring Account.
- Next, add the required information.
- Finally, click Next.
The tutorial page offers more information on setting up this useful app. For example, you can learn how to secure your account and add devices which all notify you on a call. To learn more, check out the tutorial page.
mianosm
As much as this looks wonderful, there is a glaringly obvious omission in platform support (iOS). I almost thought this would be a great alternative to what we are currently using…but I know for a fact that a few iOS users will grumble heavily about the lack of support.
Another niggle is the lack of a web platform – it seems like that is also a near default/standard fallback for many messaging platforms at this point…
Moll
Is possible , using ssh or tor over the ting?
Gabriel
I think the real question should be: Is it possible to use Ring over ssh or tor? I would think that it would work, assuming a standard tcp connection. Anybody tried this yet?
@fedyes
Which requirements block its inclusion to Fedora?
Paul W. Frields
@fedyes: I believe it’s built against ffmpeg for the video components, which contains code not suitable for inclusion.
Lef
Hi,
There were a number of dependencies, starting with opendht.
A very long time ago I created a package review for it: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1377762
Feel free to take it.
Another issue was (I think) opensips, which they quite heavily patch.
Lef
Sylvain
There is a 404 page to download repo 🙁
Status code: 404 for https://dl.ring.cx/ring-nightly/fedora_26/ring-nightly.repo
jd
I’m not able to download ring either. Same 404 error.
Error: Configuration of repo failed.
Paul W. Frields
This was an error in the instructions — you must download the repo with HTTP rather than HTTPS. Now fixed, thanks for catching it.
Luis Duran
sudo dnf config-manager –add-repo http://dl.ring.cx/ring-nightly/fedora_26/ring-nightly.repo
Adicionando repositório de: http://dl.ring.cx/ring-nightly/fedora_26/ring-nightly.repo
Curl error (6): Couldn’t resolve host name for https://dl.ring.cxring-nightly/fedora_26/ring-nightly.repo [Could not resolve host: dl.ring.cxring-nightly]
Erro: Configuration of repo failed
Paul W. Frields
@Luis: Hilarious! Apparently the Ring.cx guys changed their repo to use HTTPS in the last couple hours. I’ve changed the instructions back now to use HTTPS. 😉
jd
I’m getting this message when trying HTTP:
Adding repo from: http://dl.ring.cx/ring-nightly/fedora_26/ring-nightly.repo
Curl error (6): Couldn’t resolve host name for https://dl.ring.cxring-nightly/fedora_26/ring-nightly.repo [Could not resolve host: dl.ring.cxring-nightly]
Error: Configuration of repo failed
What am I doing wrong?
Paul W. Frields
@jd: See comment directly above. Use HTTPS as the instructions now (again) say. 🙂
Luis Duran
🙂
Chesheer
Looks wonderful enough to try. Obvious problem is to find someone to talk to. =)
eee
Is possible using this for ssh?
Is any public API?
warmcat
What’s Ring’s problem such that it’s incompatible with being in Fedora directly?
Paul W. Frields
Read comments above.
GR
The main Ring account(1) (what we clever called “Ring account”) uses a mesh network based on a DHT [1] technology.
This network uses UDP sockets to connect peers, Tor is TCP based, giving us an incompatibility at very low level.
Moreover, the anonymity technologies behind Tor require to add various randomization and jitter in conveyed packets.
This means another incompatibility with realtime communications, who is the main goal of Ring.
Even if Ring has also instant messaging support, a non-realtime exchange, even if we can imaging
to connect peers using Tor (2) and use Ring IM engine to convey messages, it looks like more using two software
in a way that they are not designed to be used and not as powerful as they could be.
This will takes an amount of time and energy that we prefer to spend in bugs correction or adding better front-end user experience (as examples).
But… it’s worth to remind Ring is free-software and we only talk about the original team time here.
Contribution are welcome 😉
About iOS support: we working on it and a client is coming [2], but with very restricted resource availability, we also face to some challenges on this platforms (technicals and ethicals), giving us extra delays. But it’s on good progress [3].
Guillaume R.,
Ring – Savoir-faire Linux
Notes:
(1) Ring also supports a common VoIP protocol named SIP through the more clever caller “SIP account”.
(2) This also apply to SSH, HTTP, … well … all TCP based protocols.
Refs:
[1] https://github.com/savoirfairelinux/opendht
[2] https://gitlab.savoirfairelinux.com/ring/ring-client-ios/tree/master
[3] https://gerrit-ring.savoirfairelinux.com/#/q/project:ring-client-ios
Claude
Wire is a better alternative to Skype. Open source. Encrypted. It works on ALL platforms. Linux Android Web Mac iOS Windows. The only “problem” is that it’s an electron App. There’s a COPR for Fedora, or you can use the AppImage.
https://wire.com/en/
https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/conoria/wire-desktop/