[infinispan-dev] Replacing IRC

[Tristan Tarrant]

Dear all,

last week we discussed the possibility of abandoning IRC in favour of a 
more modern alternative.

Hard requirements:
- free (as in beer)
- hosted (we don't want to maintain it ourselves)
- multi-platform client: native (Linux, MacOS, Windows), browser
- persistent logs
- distinction between channel operators and normal users
- guest access (without the need for registration)
- integration with Jira for issue lookup
- integration with GitHub for PR lookup
- IRC bridge (so that users can connect with an IRC client)
- ability to export data in case we want to move somewhere else
- on-the-fly room creation for mini-teams

Optionals:
- Free (as in freedom)
- offline notifications (i.e. see if I was notified while away)
- mobile client: Android and iOS
- proper native client (as most Electron clients are quite fat)
- chat logs accessible without a client (it is acceptable if this is 
achieved via a bot)
- integration with Jenkins for CI status
- XMPP bridge (so that users can connect with an XMPP client)

Not needed:
- file sharing, audio/video

Here is a list of candidates:
- IRC (i.e. no change)
- Slack
- Stride (Atlassian's upcoming replacement for HipChat)
- Matrix (Matrix.org, unfortunately with funding issues)
- Gitter
- Discord
- Rocket.chat (unfortunately hosting is paid)

If you have any other suggestions/recommendations, they are more than 
welcome.

Tristan

-- 
Tristan Tarrant
Infinispan Lead
JBoss, a division of Red Hat