Richard van der Hoff
7 years ago
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.. Copyright 2016 Openmarket Ltd.
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.. Copyright 2017 New Vector Ltd.
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..
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.. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
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.. you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
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.. You may obtain a copy of the License at
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..
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.. http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
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..
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.. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
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.. distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
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.. WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
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.. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
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.. limitations under the License.
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Identifier Grammar
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------------------
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Server Name
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~~~~~~~~~~~
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A homeserver is uniquely identified by its server name. This value is used in a
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number of identifiers, as described below.
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The server name represents the address at which the homeserver in question can
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be reached by other homeservers. The complete grammar is::
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server_name = dns_name [ ":" port]
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dns_name = host
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port = *DIGIT
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where ``host`` is as defined by `RFC3986, section 3.2.2
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<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#section-3.2.2>`_.
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Examples of valid server names are:
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* ``matrix.org``
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* ``matrix.org:8888``
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* ``1.2.3.4`` (IPv4 literal)
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* ``1.2.3.4:1234`` (IPv4 literal with explicit port)
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* ``[1234:5678::abcd]`` (IPv6 literal)
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* ``[1234:5678::abcd]:5678`` (IPv6 literal with explicit port)
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Common Identifier Format
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The Matrix protocol uses a common format to assign unique identifiers to a
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number of entities, including users, events and rooms. Each identifier takes
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the form::
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&localpart:domain
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where ``&`` represents a 'sigil' character; ``domain`` is the `server name`_ of
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the homeserver which allocated the identifier, and ``localpart`` is an
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identifier allocated by that homeserver.
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The sigil characters are as follows:
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* ``@``: User ID
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* ``!``: Room ID
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* ``$``: Event ID
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* ``#``: Room alias
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The precise grammar defining the allowable format of an identifier depends on
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the type of identifier.
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User Identifiers
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++++++++++++++++
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Users within Matrix are uniquely identified by their Matrix user ID. The user
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ID is namespaced to the homeserver which allocated the account and has the
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form::
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@localpart:domain
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The ``localpart`` of a user ID is an opaque identifier for that user. It MUST
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NOT be empty, and MUST contain only the characters ``a-z``, ``0-9``, ``.``,
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``_``, ``=``, ``-``, and ``/``.
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The ``domain`` of a user ID is the `server name`_ of the homeserver which
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allocated the account.
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The length of a user ID, including the ``@`` sigil and the domain, MUST NOT
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exceed 255 characters.
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The complete grammar for a legal user ID is::
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user_id = "@" user_id_localpart ":" server_name
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user_id_localpart = 1*user_id_char
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user_id_char = DIGIT
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/ %x61-7A ; a-z
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/ "-" / "." / "=" / "_" / "/"
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.. admonition:: Rationale
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A number of factors were considered when defining the allowable characters
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for a user ID.
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Firstly, we chose to exclude characters outside the basic US-ASCII character
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set. User IDs are primarily intended for use as an identifier at the protocol
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level, and their use as a human-readable handle is of secondary
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benefit. Furthermore, they are useful as a last-resort differentiator between
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users with similar display names. Allowing the full unicode character set
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would make very difficult for a human to distinguish two similar user IDs. The
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limited character set used has the advantage that even a user unfamiliar with
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the Latin alphabet should be able to distinguish similar user IDs manually, if
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somewhat laboriously.
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We chose to disallow upper-case characters because we do not consider it
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valid to have two user IDs which differ only in case: indeed it should be
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possible to reach ``@user:matrix.org`` as ``@USER:matrix.org``. However,
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user IDs are necessarily used in a number of situations which are inherently
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case-sensitive (notably in the ``state_key`` of ``m.room.member``
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events). Forbidding upper-case characters (and requiring homeservers to
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downcase usernames when creating user IDs for new users) is a relatively simple
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way to ensure that ``@USER:matrix.org`` cannot refer to a different user to
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``@user:matrix.org``.
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Finally, we decided to restrict the allowable punctuation to a very basic set
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to reduce the possibility of conflicts with special characters in various
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situations. For example, "*" is used as a wildcard in some APIs (notably the
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filter API), so it cannot be a legal user ID character.
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The length restriction is derived from the limit on the length of the
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``sender`` key on events; since the user ID appears in every event sent by the
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user, it is limited to ensure that the user ID does not dominate over the actual
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content of the events.
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Matrix user IDs are sometimes informally referred to as MXIDs.
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Historical User IDs
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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
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Older versions of this specification were more tolerant of the characters
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permitted in user ID localparts. There are currently active users whose user
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IDs do not conform to the permitted character set, and a number of rooms whose
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history includes events with a ``sender`` which does not conform. In order to
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handle these rooms successfully, clients and servers MUST accept user IDs with
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localparts from the expanded character set::
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extended_user_id_char = %x21-7E
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Mapping from other character sets
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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
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In certain circumstances it will be desirable to map from a wider character set
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onto the limited character set allowed in a user ID localpart. Examples include
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a homeserver creating a user ID for a new user based on the username passed to
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``/register``, or a bridge mapping user ids from another protocol.
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.. TODO-spec
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We need to better define the mechanism by which homeservers can allow users
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to have non-Latin login credentials. The general idea is for clients to pass
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the non-Latin in the ``username`` field to ``/register`` and ``/login``, and
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the HS then maps it onto the MXID space when turning it into the
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fully-qualified ``user_id`` which is returned to the client and used in
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events.
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Implementations are free to do this mapping however they choose. Since the user
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ID is opaque except to the implementation which created it, the only
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requirement is that the implemention can perform the mapping
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consistently. However, we suggest the following algorithm:
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1. Encode character strings as UTF-8.
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2. Convert the bytes ``A-Z`` to lower-case.
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* In the case where a bridge must be able to distinguish two different users
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with ids which differ only by case, escape upper-case characters by
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prefixing with ``_`` before downcasing. For example, ``A`` becomes
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``_a``. Escape a real ``_`` with a second ``_``.
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3. Encode any remaining bytes outside the allowed character set, as well as
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``=``, as their hexadecimal value, prefixed with ``=``. For example, ``#``
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becomes ``=23``; ``á`` becomes ``=c3=a1``.
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.. admonition:: Rationale
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The suggested mapping is an attempt to preserve human-readability of simple
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ASCII identifiers (unlike, for example, base-32), whilst still allowing
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representation of *any* character (unlike punycode, which provides no way to
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encode ASCII punctuation).
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Room IDs and Event IDs
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++++++++++++++++++++++
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A room has exactly one room ID. A room ID has the format::
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!opaque_id:domain
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An event has exactly one event ID. An event ID has the format::
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$opaque_id:domain
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The ``domain`` of a room/event ID is the `server name`_ of the homeserver which
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created the room/event. The domain is used only for namespacing to avoid the
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risk of clashes of identifiers between different homeservers. There is no
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implication that the room or event in question is still available at the
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corresponding homeserver.
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Event IDs and Room IDs are case-sensitive. They are not meant to be human
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readable.
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.. TODO-spec
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What is the grammar for the opaque part? https://matrix.org/jira/browse/SPEC-389
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Room Aliases
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++++++++++++
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A room may have zero or more aliases. A room alias has the format::
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#room_alias:domain
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The ``domain`` of a room alias is the `server name`_ of the homeserver which
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created the alias. Other servers may contact this homeserver to look up the
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alias.
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Room aliases MUST NOT exceed 255 bytes (including the ``#`` sigil and the
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domain).
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.. TODO-spec
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- Need to specify precise grammar for Room Aliases. https://matrix.org/jira/browse/SPEC-391
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