XMPP Standards Foundation Mission and Standards Development

The XMPP Standards Foundation is a non-profit organization that oversees the development of the XMPP protocol. It was founded in 2005 by a group of developers who wanted to create a standardized way for instant messaging and presence information to be exchanged between different systems.

The foundation's mission is to promote the adoption and development of the XMPP protocol, ensuring it remains a widely adopted and open standard. This mission is achieved through the development and maintenance of XMPP standards.

The XMPP Standards Foundation has a formal process for developing and maintaining XMPP standards, which involves a combination of community input and expert review.

For more insights, see: Xmpp Clients

The XMPP Standards Foundation is a non-profit organization that oversees the development and maintenance of the XMPP protocol. It was founded in 2002 by Jeremie Miller.

The foundation has a diverse group of members from around the world, including companies, individuals, and organizations. Its members are united by a shared interest in the XMPP protocol and its applications.

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The foundation's mission is to promote the XMPP protocol and its ecosystem through education, advocacy, and community building. It also provides a platform for XMPP developers to collaborate and share knowledge.

The foundation's board of directors is responsible for making strategic decisions about the organization's direction and priorities. It is composed of experienced industry professionals who are committed to the success of the XMPP protocol.

The foundation's members also participate in various working groups, which focus on specific aspects of the XMPP protocol, such as security and interoperability. These working groups provide a forum for developers to discuss issues and propose solutions.

The foundation's work has led to the development of many XMPP-related technologies and applications, including instant messaging clients and servers, as well as more specialized tools for tasks like file transfer and voice over IP.

The XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) has a well-defined governance process in place to ensure the technical integrity and direction of the XMPP protocol. Members of the XSF vote on acceptance of new members, a technical Council, and a Board of Directors.

The unit of work at the XSF is the XMPP Extension Protocol (XEP), which specifies the process for XEPs to be accepted by the community. This process is outlined in XEP-0001, which is followed by the community to ensure consistency and quality.

The XMPP Council is the technical steering group that approves XMPP Extension Protocols, and it's elected by the members of the XSF each year in September. The Council is governed by the XSF Bylaws and XEP-0001.

Here's a list of the current members of the XMPP Council (2020-2021):

The Board of Directors of the XMPP Standards Foundation is responsible for overseeing the business affairs of the organisation. They are elected by the XSF membership.

The Board consists of five individuals, each with their own unique background and expertise. Dave Cridland, for example, has been involved with XMPP for many years and has worked on multiple XMPP server projects.

Dave Cridland is also an independent consultant for Extensible Messaging Ltd, working mostly on XMPP-based messaging things for a number of clients. Edward Maurer, on the other hand, has been volunteering in XMPP since more than five years already and is thriving the XSF Communication Team.

Ralph Meijer is an independent consultant for Nuntians Services B.V., working on real-time communications systems, event-driven architectures, and observability. He has been a member of the XMPP Council from 2004 to 2013 and Director since 2013.

The Board also includes Florian Schmaus, a software developer who leads the development of Smack, an XMPP client library targeting Android and Java. Arne-Bruen Vogelsang, the founder and lead developer of monocles, is another member of the Board.

Here's a brief overview of the Board members:

The XMPP Council is the technical steering group that approves XMPP Extension Protocols.

The Council is governed by the XSF Bylaws and XEP-0001, as augmented by various policies and procedures.

The Council is elected by the members of the XMPP Standards Foundation.

The Council meets once a week in a chatroom, where anyone can join in and comments from the floor are welcome.

Here is a list of past and present Council members:

The Council members for the period 2020-2021 are:

The XSF has a voting process for new members, technical Council, and Board of Directors. Members can vote on these new additions.

The unit of work at the XSF is the XMPP Extension Protocol, or XEP. XEP-0001 outlines the process for accepting new XEPs.

Most of the XSF's work takes place on the XMPP Extension Discussion List, the jdev, and the xsf chat room.

The XSF provides resources for XMPP developers, service providers, and users through its membership program and defines standards through XMPP Extension Protocols (XEPs). The XEP process involves submission, public discussion, approval by the XSF council, and publication of final standardized extensions.

XEPs are written in an XML format that's pretty simple and straightforward, formally described in XEP-0001. To submit a new XEP, you'll need to send an email to the XMPP Editor with a properly-formatted source file.

The XSF has a series of "XEPs" or XMPP Extension Protocols, auxiliary protocols defining additional features. Some notable XEPs include Data Forms, Service Discovery, and Multi-User Chat.

Broaden your view: Comparison of Instant Messaging Protocols

XEPs are a crucial part of the XMPP ecosystem, and understanding how they work is essential for developers and users alike.

XEPs, or XMPP Extension Protocols, are auxiliary protocols that define additional features for XMPP. They are developed by the XSF, a nonprofit organization that defines open protocols for real-time communication over XMPP.

The XSF has a formal process for creating XEPs, which involves submission, public discussion, approval by the XSF council, and publication of final standardized extensions.

To create a XEP, you need to write up your idea in an XML format, following the syntax described in XEP-0001. Once you're happy with your proposal, send it to the XMPP Editor, a team of XSF members who will review and update your proposal.

Worth a look: Why Are Standards Important for Protocols

Some notable XEPs include Data Forms, Service Discovery, Multi-User Chat, Publish-Subscribe, and XHTML-IM. These XEPs have been developed and refined through the XSF's formal process.

Here's a brief overview of the XEP process:

The XSF uses a formal process to ensure that XEPs are thoroughly reviewed and tested before they are published. This process includes a public discussion phase, where anyone can provide feedback and suggestions.

Once everyone seems satisfied that the XEP is "right", you can ask Council to start the process to move it to Stable. This happens in three phases.

The Council decides whether the XEP seems ready, and agrees on whether to move it on. This is generally treated as a pure majority vote.

The XEP then enters Proposed state, and the Editor issues a Last Call for comments. You might consider this a “Beta” state.

A Last Call is typically two weeks, though this period is a minimum, and the Editor can keep it going as long as they think is right, for example if there are still conversations happening.

Once all this dies down, a few further changes might be needed to the XEP. Once the new version is announced, the Editor will either reissue a Last Call, or else return the XEP to Council for advancement.

The XSF Mission is to build an open, secure, feature-rich, decentralized infrastructure for real-time communication and collaboration over the Internet. This mission is achieved by developing the world's best open protocols for instant messaging, presence, and other forms of near-real-time communication, based on the IETF's Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP).

The XSF's product is protocols, and the XSF's market is developers. The organization does not write code, but instead makes it possible for others to write code by working with developers, service providers, and end users to create protocols that solve problems.

The XSF values freedom, openness, and good technical design, and all of its work occurs in public forums among an open community of technical experts, led by the XMPP Council. The XSF has a membership program that is free to apply/join, with 4 application periods/year.

Here's an interesting read: Presence Information

The XMPP Standards Foundation has a group of esteemed individuals who have made significant contributions to the organization. Ryan Eatmon is an emeritus member of the XMPP Standards Foundation.

These individuals have earned the title of emeritus member due to their dedication and hard work. Peter Millard, unfortunately, passed away, but his contributions to the organization are still remembered.

Let's take a look at the list of emeritus members. Here are some of the notable individuals who have been recognized for their contributions:

The XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) is a nonprofit organization that defines open protocols for real-time communication over XMPP. It provides resources for XMPP developers, service providers, and users.

The XSF has a membership program that is free to apply or join, with four application periods per year. Anyone can contribute to XMPP and become a member.

To create a XEP, the submission process involves solving an existing problem or introducing an innovative feature. The XMPP Extensions Editor reviews the submission, and the transfer of ownership is handled accordingly.

The publication process involves the XMPP Council, which allows 14 days for objections. The council addresses feedback, and the XEP is published with a version number and type, such as Experimental or Version 0.1.

The discussion process is public, with feedback collected on the Standards mailing list. The XEP is republished with new versions, and if there is no activity for 12 months, it is deferred.

The proposal process involves the XMPP Council, which proposes a Draft Standard XEP. There is a last call for open discussion, and the council votes on the proposal.

The approval process involves the XMPP Council, which votes on the XEP. The council requires a majority +1 vote to approve the XEP, with no single -1 vote allowed.

Here is a summary of the XEP process:

The XMPP Standards Foundation has a rigorous process for releasing and developing new standards.

A Release Candidate is essentially a final check before a specification is considered stable. The Council votes on moving the XEP to Stable, and if Proposed is "Beta", Stable might be considered a "Release Candidate" specification.

Breaking changes are frowned upon during this phase, and Council members have a veto option if they feel the XEP needs more work. Changes that might alter the protocol itself need discussion on the list and approval by the Council.

Once a specification is considered stable, it can be advanced to Final after at least 6 months. This means there's no expectation of the XEP ever changing in an incompatible way.

To ensure stability, the Editor puts out a Call For Experience, which is an explicit call for comments from people who've implemented and deployed the specification. This might cause a few updates to clarify the XEP.

The specification must have been implemented by at least two different codebases, one of which has to be Open Source, before it can be moved to Final.

The XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) hosts a biannual event called the XMPP Summit. This meeting brings together software and protocol developers from around the world to share ideas and discuss topics related to the XMPP protocol and XEPs.

The XSF biannually holds a XMPP Summit where software and protocol developers from all around the world meet and share ideas and discuss topics around the XMPP protocol and the XEPs. In winter it takes place around the FOSDEM event in Brussels, Belgium and in summer it takes place around the RealtimeConf event in Portland, USA.

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These meetings are open to anyone and focus on discussing both technical and non-technical issues that the XSF members wish to discuss with no costs attached for the participants. However the XSF is open to donations.

The first XMPP Summit took place on July 24 and 25, 2006, in Portland.

The editorial and development process at the XMPP Standards Foundation is quite straightforward. Members of the XSF vote on acceptance of new members, a technical Council, and a Board of Directors.

The unit of work at the XSF is the XMPP Extension Protocol (XEP), and XEP-0001 specifies the process for XEPs to be accepted by the community. Most of the work happens on the XMPP Extension Discussion List, the jdev, and the xsf chat room.

The process begins with an Editor creating a ProtoXEP, which involves correcting minor formatting errors and announcing it to the list. The document is then put in source control, and the Editor verifies with the creator that they're willing to transfer ownership to the XSF.