Fractal is an instant messaging client and collaboration software for the

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

desktop based on the Matrix protocol. It is

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

version 3. Fractal can be installed on various

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

s via Flathub, which is the recommended installation method, although some distributions provide packages through their official repositories.

Features

Fractal integrates well into the GNOME desktop with a clean and easy-to-use user interface design that is optimized for collaboration in big groups. The functionality was still limited in early releases from spring 2018, when features such as

video chat Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Videophones'' are ...

and

end-to-end encryption End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a method of implementing a secure communication system where only communicating users can participate. No one else, including the system provider, telecom providers, Internet providers or malicious actors, can ...

were missing. The user interface targets both

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s and desktop systems and adapts to different screen sizes and formats.

Architecture

Fractal is written in

Rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH) ...

and has a graphical user interface that, like software for GNOME, is based on the

GTK GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both Free software, free and ...

widget toolkit. For the adaptive user interface, it uses a software library called

Libadwaita Adwaita is the design language of the GNOME desktop environment. As an implementation, it exists as the default theme and icon set of the GNOME Shell and Phosh, and as widgets for applications targeting usage in GNOME. Adwaita first appeared i ...

. Logon credentials can be stored in any local

password manager A password manager is a software program to prevent password fatigue by Random password generator, automatically generating, Autofill, autofilling and storing Password, passwords. It can do this for Application software, local applications or web ...

that provides the Secret Service API. The functionality is to be split into separate frontends for mass chat and personal instant messaging using a common backend, tentatively called ''Discussions'' and ''Messages'', respectively.

History

The first code was committed to Fest (formerly known as ''ruma-gtk'') on December 29, 2016, from which the Fractal codebase was forked by Daniel García Moreno in August 2017. For the first release (v0.1.0) on November 10, 2017, it was called ''Guillotine''. With the release of version 0.1.22 on March 27, 2018, it entered beta status. With GNOME version 3.30 of September 5, 2018, it reached release status. Over that summer, two students worked on Fractal, which was sponsored as part of the

Google Summer of Code The Google Summer of Code, often abbreviated to GSoC, is an international annual program in which Google awards stipends to contributors who successfully complete a free and open-source software coding project during the summer. , the program is ...

program, including the development of localization and spell-checking support. Computer manufacturer

Purism Purism, referring to the arts, was a movement that took place between 1918 and 1925 that influenced French painting and architecture. Purism was led by Amédée Ozenfant and Charles Edouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier). Ozenfant and Le Corbusier f ...

is working to integrate it into the crowd-funded Linux smartphone

Librem 5 The Librem 5 is a smartphone manufactured by Purism that is part of their Librem line of products. The phone is designed with the goal of using free software whenever possible and includes PureOS, a Linux operating system, by default. Like other ...

, scheduled for market release in "Q4 2019". Purism is therefore sponsoring the development of some features such as support for Matrix'

(E2EE) that was standardized in 2018. E2EE is implemented as a separate software module whose basic functionality was available by autumn 2018.

References

External links

*
Source code repository
{{GNOME 2018 software Free instant messaging clients Free software programmed in Rust GNOME Applications Instant messaging clients that use GTK