Question regarding external contacts (Mastodon, Diaspora, etc.)

2026-04-25 08:22:14

adminsforum@hubzilla.org

Anthony wrote the following post Sat, 25 Apr 2026 08:22:13 +0200

Question regarding external contacts (Mastodon, Diaspora, etc.)

I’m just wondering how contacts with other protocols are handled if you disable those protocols.
What happens to the contacts when the protocol is disabled ? Are they ‘archived’ ? Or deleted after a certain amount of time ?

If anyone has a reliable answer on this subject, please let me know. Thanks in advance, and have a good day.

Anthony

2026-04-25 12:09:37

Der Pepe (Hubzilla) ⁂

pepecyb@hub.hubzilla.hu

@Hubzilla Support Forum @Anthony

A very(!) interesting question!
I’ll give it a go on one of my test channels straight away and let you know what happens...

2026-04-25 12:48:38

Der Pepe (Hubzilla) ⁂

pepecyb@hub.hubzilla.hu

@Anthony

First test (using ActivityPub only... Diaspora to follow):

With the ActivityPub protocol app installed, I connected to a Mastodon channel using a Hubzilla account. The connection worked normally.

I then deleted the ActivityPub protocol from the Hubzilla channel.

1. The connection remains unchanged in the ‘Connections’ app. The permissions (coloured circle next to the avatar image) also remain unchanged, as does the status (normal state, i.e. not marked as ‘archived’).

2. However, a post from the Hubzilla channel is not delivered to the Mastodon channel (it does not appear in the timeline), which is also confirmed by the post’s delivery report (a delivery attempt apparently does not take place).

3. Posts from the Mastodon channel do not appear in the Hubzilla channel’s stream. As expected, the “Recent Activity” section of the Mastodon channel in the Hubzilla channel is also empty.

4. However, editing the connection does not produce any error messages. It at least appears as though changes are being applied there, even though no mutual deliveries are taking place.

I then reinstalled the ActivityPub protocol app on the Hubzilla channel.

5. Posts made whilst the protocol was disabled do not appear in the other channel’s stream/timeline.

6. New posts from the Hubzilla channel are, however, delivered immediately again, meaning they appear in the Mastodon channel’s timeline.

7. New posts from the Mastodon channel are also delivered immediately again and appear in the Hubzilla channel’s stream.

Conclusion: Disabling ActivityPub results in the correct behaviour, namely that federation with AP contacts no longer takes place. It is misleading, however, that AP contacts are still displayed as connections in the app. In this case, it would make more sense if the connections were marked as ‘archived’ (and... ideally... automatically restored from ‘archived’ status when AP is reactivated).