Installing Prosody IM on Arch Linux

Prosody IM is a simple yet powerful instant messaging server that is easy to set up and runs on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Prosody IM on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

Before you proceed with the installation, make sure that you have the following prerequisites:

• A user account with sudo privileges
• Arch Linux up-to-date

Step 1: Update the System

As always, it's a good idea to update the system with the latest packages. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal:

$ sudo pacman -Syu

Step 2: Install the Prosody Package

Prosody is available in the official Arch Linux repositories. To install it, run the following command:

$ sudo pacman -S prosody

Step 3: Configure Prosody

After installing Prosody, you need to configure it before you can use it. Prosody comes with a default configuration file located at /etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua. Open this file with your favorite text editor:

$ sudo nano /etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua

The configuration file is well-commented and easy to understand. You can customize it to suit your needs. Here are a few basic configuration options that you might want to change:

• admins - This is a list of users who have administrative privileges. Replace the example username with your own username:

admins = { "admin@example.com" }

• modules_enabled - This is a list of Prosody modules that are enabled by default. You can add or remove modules as required:

modules_enabled = {
    "roster"; -- Allow users to have a roster. Recommended ;)
    "saslauth"; -- Authentication for clients and servers. Recommended if you want to log in.
    "tls"; -- Add support for secure TLS on c2s/s2s connections
    "dialback"; -- s2s dialback support
    "disco"; -- Service discovery
    "posix"; -- POSIX functionality, sends server to background, enables syslog, etc.
   -- "vcard"; -- Allow users to set vCards
   -- "private"; -- Private XML storage (for room bookmarks, etc.)
   -- "privacy"; -- Support privacy lists
   -- "legacyauth"; -- Legacy authentication. Only used by some old clients and bots.
};

• Virtual Hosts - Prosody can host multiple domains, each with its own XMPP domain name. You can define virtual hosts using the following syntax:

VirtualHost "example.com"
    ssl = {
        key = "/etc/prosody/certs/example.com.key";
        certificate = "/etc/prosody/certs/example.com.crt";
    }

For more advanced configuration options, you can refer to the official Prosody configuration documentation.

Step 4: Start the Prosody Service

Once you have configured Prosody, you can start the service by running the following command:

$ sudo systemctl start prosody

To enable Prosody to start at boot time, run the following command:

$ sudo systemctl enable prosody

Step 5: Verify the Prosody Installation

You can verify the Prosody installation by accessing the web-based admin console. Open your web browser and navigate to https://localhost:5281/admin/. You should see a login screen. Log in with your administrative username and password.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Prosody IM on Arch Linux. You can now start using it for instant messaging.

If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!

Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!