As a matter of principle and as far as possible, I don’t use hardware or software from GAFAM and other too big companies, it’s why I use GNU/Linux ;).
I need to find a RTC application do have some voice and video calls with a friend of mine. He uses Apple devices and is not at all a tech guy, so the application need to easy to install.
My main needs are:
Some privacy: P2P link, no centralised server, no or minimal account registration, encryption, no need of phone book
No group call,
Good sound and video
Multi-platform, at least Win, Linux, Apple, Android
Unfortunately, all of them are still in development and are unstable.
Along my search I found a lot of applications using WebRTC but it looks like there are some concern about privacy/security. I didn’t really get what exactly is the issue. I’d be glad to get more information about it.
Now I am looking for other appli, what do you use? Do you have other software?
I don’t know if a fully developed alternative exists. I generally look for one myself about once a year but haven’t found one… The few truly promising apps I’ve seen in alpha/demo have generally been bought in short order and converted into paid apps. That’s a bit curious because for several years now IMO the basics of creating a P-P video conferencing app is not that much of a secret. Whereas a little while ago streaming video was still a bit of a trick, today that shouldn’t be the case. AFAIK the difficulty is choosing and integrating the other things that fill out such an app like directory services(possibly not a problem for only 2 people, but might be an issue for larger numbers), in-app security, management, push notifications. Many of these required or desired components are available off-the-shelf, but it still probably takes work to integrate what might ordinarily be 5 apps into one.
Been awhile since I’ve looked at WebRTC, it’s just Google’s streaming protocol. Publicly licensed for only a couple years now, AFAIK Google has by now worked out all the important bugs and it’s been ready for Prime Time for maybe a year now. WebRTC is only a protocol like RTSP, not an application, and in keeping with Google’s philosophy was acquired so that Google could turn around and make it available with a non-restrictive license in the hope of stimulating the creation of apps which would benefit Google’s business/advertising reach. Although it shouldn’t be that big a problem today, perhaps the main obstacle for adoption is devices and software that supports the protocol.
If no finished app exists,
I’d recommend you try any one that can be found by a search using keywords like “alternative to video skype gnu” and find out how active and responsive the Development is behind the app. If bugs are worked on and fixed in short order, you may have found and contributed to a world-beater.
Security concerns around WebRTC are more along the lines of tracking privacy issues than in the protocol being secure. If you are a heavy VPN or proxy user who needs to hide your identity from state actors or if you just dislike ad-based companies pulling identifying information from you then it is best to turn WebRTC off in the browser.
Here are a few interesting links both about WebRTC and about how to help mitigate commercially-based privacy concerns in Firefox:
For obvious reasons the last article, although well intended, does not mitigate all concerns. If identity security is critical the layering Tor over a VPN while using the Tails version of Linux is a better approach. It comes down to who your adversary is as to the approach you take.
Regarding security, I am not a paranoiac, I just want to avoid GAFAM to take info from my computer and I would prefer to avoid leaking my data.
I use some add-on on Firefox but I’d guess not set as it should be. I need time to read, understand et set them right.
I did a lot of search for the right app, 2 options; Based on WebRTC or not. We know that WebRTC leaks IP addresses this is why it will be the last choice.
I found another app (F2F) that seems to be promising; http://retroshare.net/index.html
Unfortunately beta version. Could you comment about architecture and security. Thanks
I didn’t try is so far but will do it soon.
I confirm, not stable with versions
Desktop Opensuse Leap 42.3 > Linphone version 3.10.2.
Tablet Android 5.1 > Linphone Android 3.3.2 Linphone Core 3.12.0.274
Test from the same modem/router
Applications start fine (desktop from CLI), but
Desktop at video start, no video, black window: libv4l2: error turning on stream: No space left on device. Thenstop and second try to start video > Crash
Later, desktop at start video : error Segmentation fault (core dumped)
Desktop or Tablet Pause/resume > crashes desktop (even when pause/resume the tablet) randomly
Later, from tablet, start video, on the desktop: ** Message: Video used=0, video requested=1, automatically_accept=1
libv4l2: error turning on stream: No space left on device
Then stop and restart from the tablet, on the desktop: libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
Segmentation fault (core dumped) > Crash
If you are a developer I could tell more about the issues.
Edit: Webcam on the desktop is working fine with VLC
FWIW: I’ve got a pretty nice solution, though not exactly what you’re asking for, but including it. A Nextcloud instance with their Talk app. It’s WebRTC based. And, there’s the QTalk app fpr Android and IOS . I run such a thing on a VPS, but a friend uses a Raspberry Pi3 for this. You would need a registered (sub)domain name though. See here: https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/spreed
Are you absolutely certain that, the systems repositories are correct and all the dependencies are satisfied and all the system configuration files have the correct settings?
‘zypper verify’.
‘rcrpmconfigcheck’ (with the user “root”).
If things are crashing and libraries are not being called correctly then, you have some severe version mismatches within your system.
[HR][/HR]Please post the output of ‘zypper repos --uri’.
[HR][/HR]I’ll install Linphone on a Leap 42.3 laptop and Nokia 3 (Android 8) telephone here and check your statements.
Command rcrpmconfigcheck above return a message but I don’t know what to do
Let me know what tests and commands you want to debug,
Note: Any advice on my config is welcome, I am not very skilled on that.
< means the line is in /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf and not in /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf.rpmnew
means the line is in /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf.rpmnew and not in /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf
Since mine has the same .rpmnew and I didn’t change the configuration mine returns:
kvm:~/bin # diff /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf.rpmnew
0a1,2
> # Distribution defaults. Changes to this file will get overwritten during
> # upgrades.
2a5,6
> ShowDelay=5
> DeviceTimeout=5
kvm:~/bin #
If yours is the same you should be able to replace /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf with /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf.rpmnew
diff /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf.rpmnew
0a1,2
> # Distribution defaults. Changes to this file will get overwritten during
> # upgrades.
2a5,6
> ShowDelay=5
> DeviceTimeout=5
and I didn’t change it myself.
Should I edit and add the 2 lines in /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf.rpmnew ?
@**Knurpht
**Do you mean active= enable?
What the only repos should I keep enable? Should I remove the others or only deactivate auto-refresh?
I generally keep old configurations just in case I break something. I would (sudo code here miodify the path):
cp /etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf /some/path/I/can/clean/up/laster/plymmouthd.conf-5-5-18
You need to check all the Linphone packages I mentioned, one by one, for the repository which supplied the package – ‘zypper info <Package name>’ will provide this information.
If any of those packages has been loaded by a “home:” repository, you’ll need to re-install that package from the main Leap 42.3 repository.
Then, you’ll need to check all the dependencies for each of the Linphone packages I mentioned – ‘zypper info --requires <Package name>’ will provide this information.
If any of those packages has been loaded by a “home:” repository, you’ll need to re-install that package from either the main Leap 42.3 repository or the “update” repositories.
[HR][/HR]If that’s too much, you can simply disable all the “home:” packager repositories and then reinstall all the “orphaned” packages – the YaST Software Manager is possibly the best way to deal with this situation.
I can’t find any package in the “zypper info --requires” list for every pkg compared with the “zypper packages --orphaned” list
I tried again
Started Linphone from CLI. No crash as long as I don’t use the webcam.
When I start webcam, I get error message in the desktop CLI:
** Message: Video used=0, video requested=1, automatically_accept=1
libv4l2: error turning on stream: No space left on device
Desktop webcam is not working.
When I click pause in the desktop this is ok, when I click again pause, crash. Error message
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
....
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
In fact my (old) webcam Philips PCVC730K is not working with Linphone, so the second time I activate it, after pause or after cam on/off, the application crashes.
Hope this will help
