- [Choosing your server name](#choosing-your-server-name) - [Picking a database engine](#picking-a-database-engine) - [Installing Synapse](#installing-synapse) - [Installing from source](#installing-from-source) - [Platform-Specific Instructions](#platform-specific-instructions) - [Prebuilt packages](#prebuilt-packages) - [Setting up Synapse](#setting-up-synapse) - [TLS certificates](#tls-certificates) - [Client Well-Known URI](#client-well-known-uri) - [Email](#email) - [Registering a user](#registering-a-user) - [Setting up a TURN server](#setting-up-a-turn-server) - [URL previews](#url-previews) - [Troubleshooting Installation](#troubleshooting-installation) # Choosing your server name It is important to choose the name for your server before you install Synapse, because it cannot be changed later. The server name determines the "domain" part of user-ids for users on your server: these will all be of the format `@user:my.domain.name`. It also determines how other matrix servers will reach yours for federation. For a test configuration, set this to the hostname of your server. For a more production-ready setup, you will probably want to specify your domain (`example.com`) rather than a matrix-specific hostname here (in the same way that your email address is probably `user@example.com` rather than `user@email.example.com`) - but doing so may require more advanced setup: see [Setting up Federation](docs/federate.md). # Picking a database engine Synapse offers two database engines: * [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org) * [SQLite](https://sqlite.org/) Almost all installations should opt to use PostgreSQL. Advantages include: * significant performance improvements due to the superior threading and caching model, smarter query optimiser * allowing the DB to be run on separate hardware For information on how to install and use PostgreSQL, please see [docs/postgres.md](docs/postgres.md) By default Synapse uses SQLite and in doing so trades performance for convenience. SQLite is only recommended in Synapse for testing purposes or for servers with light workloads. # Installing Synapse ## Installing from source (Prebuilt packages are available for some platforms - see [Prebuilt packages](#prebuilt-packages).) System requirements: - POSIX-compliant system (tested on Linux & OS X) - Python 3.5.2 or later, up to Python 3.9. - At least 1GB of free RAM if you want to join large public rooms like #matrix:matrix.org Synapse is written in Python but some of the libraries it uses are written in C. So before we can install Synapse itself we need a working C compiler and the header files for Python C extensions. See [Platform-Specific Instructions](#platform-specific-instructions) for information on installing these on various platforms. To install the Synapse homeserver run: ``` mkdir -p ~/synapse virtualenv -p python3 ~/synapse/env source ~/synapse/env/bin/activate pip install --upgrade pip pip install --upgrade setuptools pip install matrix-synapse ``` This will download Synapse from [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/matrix-synapse) and install it, along with the python libraries it uses, into a virtual environment under `~/synapse/env`. Feel free to pick a different directory if you prefer. This Synapse installation can then be later upgraded by using pip again with the update flag: ``` source ~/synapse/env/bin/activate pip install -U matrix-synapse ``` Before you can start Synapse, you will need to generate a configuration file. To do this, run (in your virtualenv, as before): ``` cd ~/synapse python -m synapse.app.homeserver \ --server-name my.domain.name \ --config-path homeserver.yaml \ --generate-config \ --report-stats=[yes|no] ``` ... substituting an appropriate value for `--server-name`. This command will generate you a config file that you can then customise, but it will also generate a set of keys for you. These keys will allow your homeserver to identify itself to other homeserver, so don't lose or delete them. It would be wise to back them up somewhere safe. (If, for whatever reason, you do need to change your homeserver's keys, you may find that other homeserver have the old key cached. If you update the signing key, you should change the name of the key in the `.signing.key` file (the second word) to something different. See the [spec](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/server_server/latest.html#retrieving-server-keys) for more information on key management). To actually run your new homeserver, pick a working directory for Synapse to run (e.g. `~/synapse`), and: ``` cd ~/synapse source env/bin/activate synctl start ``` ### Platform-Specific Instructions #### Debian/Ubuntu/Raspbian Installing prerequisites on Ubuntu or Debian: ``` sudo apt-get install build-essential python3-dev libffi-dev \ python3-pip python3-setuptools sqlite3 \ libssl-dev virtualenv libjpeg-dev libxslt1-dev ``` #### ArchLinux Installing prerequisites on ArchLinux: ``` sudo pacman -S base-devel python python-pip \ python-setuptools python-virtualenv sqlite3 ``` #### CentOS/Fedora Installing prerequisites on CentOS 8 or Fedora>26: ``` sudo dnf install libtiff-devel libjpeg-devel libzip-devel freetype-devel \ libwebp-devel tk-devel redhat-rpm-config \ python3-virtualenv libffi-devel openssl-devel sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools" ``` Installing prerequisites on CentOS 7 or Fedora<=25: ``` sudo yum install libtiff-devel libjpeg-devel libzip-devel freetype-devel \ lcms2-devel libwebp-devel tcl-devel tk-devel redhat-rpm-config \ python3-virtualenv libffi-devel openssl-devel sudo yum groupinstall "Development Tools" ``` Note that Synapse does not support versions of SQLite before 3.11, and CentOS 7 uses SQLite 3.7. You may be able to work around this by installing a more recent SQLite version, but it is recommended that you instead use a Postgres database: see [docs/postgres.md](docs/postgres.md). #### macOS Installing prerequisites on macOS: ``` xcode-select --install sudo easy_install pip sudo pip install virtualenv brew install pkg-config libffi ``` On macOS Catalina (10.15) you may need to explicitly install OpenSSL via brew and inform `pip` about it so that `psycopg2` builds: ``` brew install openssl@1.1 export LDFLAGS=-L/usr/local/Cellar/openssl\@1.1/1.1.1d/lib/ ``` #### OpenSUSE Installing prerequisites on openSUSE: ``` sudo zypper in -t pattern devel_basis sudo zypper in python-pip python-setuptools sqlite3 python-virtualenv \ python-devel libffi-devel libopenssl-devel libjpeg62-devel ``` #### OpenBSD A port of Synapse is available under `net/synapse`. The filesystem underlying the homeserver directory (defaults to `/var/synapse`) has to be mounted with `wxallowed` (cf. `mount(8)`), so creating a separate filesystem and mounting it to `/var/synapse` should be taken into consideration. To be able to build Synapse's dependency on python the `WRKOBJDIR` (cf. `bsd.port.mk(5)`) for building python, too, needs to be on a filesystem mounted with `wxallowed` (cf. `mount(8)`). Creating a `WRKOBJDIR` for building python under `/usr/local` (which on a default OpenBSD installation is mounted with `wxallowed`): ``` doas mkdir /usr/local/pobj_wxallowed ``` Assuming `PORTS_PRIVSEP=Yes` (cf. `bsd.port.mk(5)`) and `SUDO=doas` are configured in `/etc/mk.conf`: ``` doas chown _pbuild:_pbuild /usr/local/pobj_wxallowed ``` Setting the `WRKOBJDIR` for building python: ``` echo WRKOBJDIR_lang/python/3.7=/usr/local/pobj_wxallowed \\nWRKOBJDIR_lang/python/2.7=/usr/local/pobj_wxallowed >> /etc/mk.conf ``` Building Synapse: ``` cd /usr/ports/net/synapse make install ``` #### Windows If you wish to run or develop Synapse on Windows, the Windows Subsystem For Linux provides a Linux environment on Windows 10 which is capable of using the Debian, Fedora, or source installation methods. More information about WSL can be found at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10 for Windows 10 and https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-on-server for Windows Server. ## Prebuilt packages As an alternative to installing from source, prebuilt packages are available for a number of platforms. ### Docker images and Ansible playbooks There is an offical synapse image available at https://hub.docker.com/r/matrixdotorg/synapse which can be used with the docker-compose file available at [contrib/docker](contrib/docker). Further information on this including configuration options is available in the README on hub.docker.com. Alternatively, Andreas Peters (previously Silvio Fricke) has contributed a Dockerfile to automate a synapse server in a single Docker image, at https://hub.docker.com/r/avhost/docker-matrix/tags/ Slavi Pantaleev has created an Ansible playbook, which installs the offical Docker image of Matrix Synapse along with many other Matrix-related services (Postgres database, Element, coturn, ma1sd, SSL support, etc.). For more details, see https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy ### Debian/Ubuntu #### Matrix.org packages Matrix.org provides Debian/Ubuntu packages of the latest stable version of Synapse via https://packages.matrix.org/debian/. They are available for Debian 9 (Stretch), Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial), and later. To use them: ``` sudo apt install -y lsb-release wget apt-transport-https sudo wget -O /usr/share/keyrings/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg https://packages.matrix.org/debian/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.matrix.org/debian/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/matrix-org.list sudo apt update sudo apt install matrix-synapse-py3 ``` **Note**: if you followed a previous version of these instructions which recommended using `apt-key add` to add an old key from `https://matrix.org/packages/debian/`, you should note that this key has been revoked. You should remove the old key with `sudo apt-key remove C35EB17E1EAE708E6603A9B3AD0592FE47F0DF61`, and follow the above instructions to update your configuration. The fingerprint of the repository signing key (as shown by `gpg /usr/share/keyrings/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg`) is `AAF9AE843A7584B5A3E4CD2BCF45A512DE2DA058`. #### Downstream Debian packages We do not recommend using the packages from the default Debian `buster` repository at this time, as they are old and suffer from known security vulnerabilities. You can install the latest version of Synapse from [our repository](#matrixorg-packages) or from `buster-backports`. Please see the [Debian documentation](https://backports.debian.org/Instructions/) for information on how to use backports. If you are using Debian `sid` or testing, Synapse is available in the default repositories and it should be possible to install it simply with: ``` sudo apt install matrix-synapse ``` #### Downstream Ubuntu packages We do not recommend using the packages in the default Ubuntu repository at this time, as they are old and suffer from known security vulnerabilities. The latest version of Synapse can be installed from [our repository](#matrixorg-packages). ### Fedora Synapse is in the Fedora repositories as `matrix-synapse`: ``` sudo dnf install matrix-synapse ``` Oleg Girko provides Fedora RPMs at https://obs.infoserver.lv/project/monitor/matrix-synapse ### OpenSUSE Synapse is in the OpenSUSE repositories as `matrix-synapse`: ``` sudo zypper install matrix-synapse ``` ### SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Unofficial package are built for SLES 15 in the openSUSE:Backports:SLE-15 repository at https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:/Backports:/SLE-15/standard/ ### ArchLinux The quickest way to get up and running with ArchLinux is probably with the community package https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/any/matrix-synapse/, which should pull in most of the necessary dependencies. pip may be outdated (6.0.7-1 and needs to be upgraded to 6.0.8-1 ): ``` sudo pip install --upgrade pip ``` If you encounter an error with lib bcrypt causing an Wrong ELF Class: ELFCLASS32 (x64 Systems), you may need to reinstall py-bcrypt to correctly compile it under the right architecture. (This should not be needed if installing under virtualenv): ``` sudo pip uninstall py-bcrypt sudo pip install py-bcrypt ``` ### Void Linux Synapse can be found in the void repositories as 'synapse': ``` xbps-install -Su xbps-install -S synapse ``` ### FreeBSD Synapse can be installed via FreeBSD Ports or Packages contributed by Brendan Molloy from: - Ports: `cd /usr/ports/net-im/py-matrix-synapse && make install clean` - Packages: `pkg install py37-matrix-synapse` ### OpenBSD As of OpenBSD 6.7 Synapse is available as a pre-compiled binary. The filesystem underlying the homeserver directory (defaults to `/var/synapse`) has to be mounted with `wxallowed` (cf. `mount(8)`), so creating a separate filesystem and mounting it to `/var/synapse` should be taken into consideration. Installing Synapse: ``` doas pkg_add synapse ``` ### NixOS Robin Lambertz has packaged Synapse for NixOS at: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/modules/services/misc/matrix-synapse.nix # Setting up Synapse Once you have installed synapse as above, you will need to configure it. ## TLS certificates The default configuration exposes a single HTTP port on the local interface: `http://localhost:8008`. It is suitable for local testing, but for any practical use, you will need Synapse's APIs to be served over HTTPS. The recommended way to do so is to set up a reverse proxy on port `8448`. You can find documentation on doing so in [docs/reverse_proxy.md](docs/reverse_proxy.md). Alternatively, you can configure Synapse to expose an HTTPS port. To do so, you will need to edit `homeserver.yaml`, as follows: * First, under the `listeners` section, uncomment the configuration for the TLS-enabled listener. (Remove the hash sign (`#`) at the start of each line). The relevant lines are like this: ``` - port: 8448 type: http tls: true resources: - names: [client, federation] ``` * You will also need to uncomment the `tls_certificate_path` and `tls_private_key_path` lines under the `TLS` section. You will need to manage provisioning of these certificates yourself — Synapse had built-in ACME support, but the ACMEv1 protocol Synapse implements is deprecated, not allowed by LetsEncrypt for new sites, and will break for existing sites in late 2020. See [ACME.md](docs/ACME.md). If you are using your own certificate, be sure to use a `.pem` file that includes the full certificate chain including any intermediate certificates (for instance, if using certbot, use `fullchain.pem` as your certificate, not `cert.pem`). For a more detailed guide to configuring your server for federation, see [federate.md](docs/federate.md). ## Client Well-Known URI Setting up the client Well-Known URI is optional but if you set it up, it will allow users to enter their full username (e.g. `@user:`) into clients which support well-known lookup to automatically configure the homeserver and identity server URLs. This is useful so that users don't have to memorize or think about the actual homeserver URL you are using. The URL `https:///.well-known/matrix/client` should return JSON in the following format. ``` { "m.homeserver": { "base_url": "https://" } } ``` It can optionally contain identity server information as well. ``` { "m.homeserver": { "base_url": "https://" }, "m.identity_server": { "base_url": "https://" } } ``` To work in browser based clients, the file must be served with the appropriate Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) headers. A recommended value would be `Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *` which would allow all browser based clients to view it. In nginx this would be something like: ``` location /.well-known/matrix/client { return 200 '{"m.homeserver": {"base_url": "https://"}}'; default_type application/json; add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin *; } ``` You should also ensure the `public_baseurl` option in `homeserver.yaml` is set correctly. `public_baseurl` should be set to the URL that clients will use to connect to your server. This is the same URL you put for the `m.homeserver` `base_url` above. ``` public_baseurl: "https://" ``` ## Email It is desirable for Synapse to have the capability to send email. This allows Synapse to send password reset emails, send verifications when an email address is added to a user's account, and send email notifications to users when they receive new messages. To configure an SMTP server for Synapse, modify the configuration section headed `email`, and be sure to have at least the `smtp_host`, `smtp_port` and `notif_from` fields filled out. You may also need to set `smtp_user`, `smtp_pass`, and `require_transport_security`. If email is not configured, password reset, registration and notifications via email will be disabled. ## Registering a user The easiest way to create a new user is to do so from a client like [Element](https://element.io/). Alternatively you can do so from the command line if you have installed via pip. This can be done as follows: ``` $ source ~/synapse/env/bin/activate $ synctl start # if not already running $ register_new_matrix_user -c homeserver.yaml http://localhost:8008 New user localpart: erikj Password: Confirm password: Make admin [no]: Success! ``` This process uses a setting `registration_shared_secret` in `homeserver.yaml`, which is shared between Synapse itself and the `register_new_matrix_user` script. It doesn't matter what it is (a random value is generated by `--generate-config`), but it should be kept secret, as anyone with knowledge of it can register users, including admin accounts, on your server even if `enable_registration` is `false`. ## Setting up a TURN server For reliable VoIP calls to be routed via this homeserver, you MUST configure a TURN server. See [docs/turn-howto.md](docs/turn-howto.md) for details. ## URL previews Synapse includes support for previewing URLs, which is disabled by default. To turn it on you must enable the `url_preview_enabled: True` config parameter and explicitly specify the IP ranges that Synapse is not allowed to spider for previewing in the `url_preview_ip_range_blacklist` configuration parameter. This is critical from a security perspective to stop arbitrary Matrix users spidering 'internal' URLs on your network. At the very least we recommend that your loopback and RFC1918 IP addresses are blacklisted. This also requires the optional `lxml` and `netaddr` python dependencies to be installed. This in turn requires the `libxml2` library to be available - on Debian/Ubuntu this means `apt-get install libxml2-dev`, or equivalent for your OS. # Troubleshooting Installation `pip` seems to leak *lots* of memory during installation. For instance, a Linux host with 512MB of RAM may run out of memory whilst installing Twisted. If this happens, you will have to individually install the dependencies which are failing, e.g.: ``` pip install twisted ``` If you have any other problems, feel free to ask in [#synapse:matrix.org](https://matrix.to/#/#synapse:matrix.org).