snapshot of https://github.com/jitsi/jicofo.git @ 9ab59aa3d348e282da89da2c9f11ecbecd3f7b79 (2026-09-15)

README.md

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+# Jicofo
+
+JItsi COnference FOcus is a signaling server, one of the backend components in the [Jitsi Meet] stack.
+
+[Jitsi Meet]: https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet
+
+## Overview
+
+Jitsi Meet conferences are associated with an XMPP 
+[Multi-User Chat (MUC) room](https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0045.html). The MUC functionality is provided by the 
+XMPP server (prosody).
+
+Jicofo joins the conference MUC and is then responsible for initiating a 
+[Jingle](https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0166.html) session with each participant (in this sense it is the "focus" of the
+conference, which is where its name comes from). While Jicofo manages and terminates Jingle sessions, it does not
+process any of the media (audio/video). Instead, it uses one or more
+[Jitsi Videobridge](github.com/jitsi/jitsi-videobridge/) instances.
+
+Jicofo is responsible for selecting a Jitsi Videobridge for each participant, and manages the set of videobridges for 
+the conference with the COLIBRI protocol (colibri version 2 is now used, the format in XEP-0340 is now deprecated).
+
+In general the conference participants and videobridge instances are accessed through different XMPP connections --
+the configured Client and Service connections, respectively, though they may coincide.
+
+![Connection between Jicofo and the other components in the Jitsi Meet stack.](https://github.com/jitsi/jicofo/blob/master/doc/diagram.png?raw=true)
+
+# Configuration
+Jicofo takes its configuration from a [hocon](https://github.com/lightbend/config/blob/main/HOCON.md) config file,
+usually installed in `/etc/jitsi/jicofo/jicofo.conf`. See the
+[reference.conf](https://github.com/jitsi/jicofo/blob/master/jicofo-selector/src/main/resources/reference.conf) file
+for the available options.
+
+# Installation
+## Debian
+
+The recommended way to install Jicofo and Jitsi Meet is to follow the
+[Quick Install Guide](https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet/blob/master/doc/quick-install.md) for debian-based systems.
+
+### Binaries
+
+You can download Debian/Ubuntu binaries here:
+* [stable](https://download.jitsi.org/stable/) ([instructions](https://jitsi.org/downloads/ubuntu-debian-installations-instructions/))
+* [testing](https://download.jitsi.org/testing/) ([instructions](https://jitsi.org/downloads/ubuntu-debian-installations-instructions-for-testing/))
+* [nightly](https://download.jitsi.org/unstable/) ([instructions](https://jitsi.org/downloads/ubuntu-debian-installations-instructions-nightly/))
+
+## Docker
+Jicofo is available as a docker image as part of [docker-jitsi-meet](https://github.com/jitsi/docker-jitsi-meet).
+
+## Manual
+This section is only required for a manual setup, not necessary when using Quick Install or other methods.
+
+### Prosody configuration
+
+Jicofo needs privileges to create Multi-User Chat rooms. To grant these privileges we create an account for it and add
+it to the global `admins` list. We create a new virtual host, because the one used by clients only supports anonymous
+authentication. We add this to Prosody's config file (`/etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua` by default):
+```
+admins = { focus@auth.jitsi.example.com }
+VirtualHost "auth.jitsi.example.com"
+    authentication = "internal_hashed"
+```
+Then restart Prosody and create the user account:
+```
+sudo prosodyctl restart
+sudo prosodyctl register focus auth.jitsi.example.com focuspassword
+```
+
+### Building Jicofo
+Build using maven with:
+```commandline
+mvn install
+```
+
+This will create a package in `jicofo/target/jicofo-1.1-SNAPSHOT-archive.zip`
+### Running Jicofo
+Extract the distribution package and run with `jicofo.sh`.
+
+### Certificates
+Jicofo uses an XMPP user connection (on port 5222 by default), and since the
+upgrade to smack4 it verifies the server's certificate. In a default
+installation the debian installation scripts take care of generating a
+self-signed certificate and adding it to the keystore.
+
+For situations in which the certificate is not trusted you can add it to the
+store by:
+
+#### On Linux
+```
+sudo cp cert.pem /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/ 
+sudo update-ca-certificates
+```
+
+#### On MacOS X
+On Mac java uses its own keystore, so adding the certificate to the system one
+does not work. Add it to the java keystore with:
+```
+sudo keytool -importcert -file cert.pem -keystore /Library/Java//JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_25.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/security/cacerts
+```
+
+Note that if the XMPP server you are connecting to is a prosody instance
+configured with the jitsi-meet scripts, then you can find the certificate in:
+```
+/var/lib/prosody/$JICOFO_AUTH_DOMAIN.crt 
+```