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configuring-playbook-etherpad.md

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Setting up Etherpad (optional)

The playbook can install and configure Etherpad for you.

Etherpad is an open source collaborative text editor. It can not only be integrated with Element clients (Element Web/Desktop, Android and iOS) as a widget, but also be used as standalone web app.

When enabled together with the Jitsi audio/video conferencing system (see our docs on Jitsi), it will be made available as an option during the conferences.

Adjusting DNS records

By default, this playbook installs Etherpad on the etherpad. subdomain (etherpad.example.com) and requires you to create a CNAME record for etherpad, which targets matrix.example.com.

When setting, replace example.com with your own.

Adjusting the playbook configuration

To enable Etherpad, add the following configuration to your inventory/host_vars/matrix.example.com/vars.yml file:

etherpad_enabled: true

# Uncomment and adjust this part if you'd like to enable the admin web UI
# etherpad_admin_username: YOUR_USERNAME_HERE
# etherpad_admin_password: YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE

Adjusting the Etherpad URL (optional)

By tweaking the etherpad_hostname and etherpad_path_prefix variables, you can easily make the service available at a different hostname and/or path than the default one.

Example additional configuration for your vars.yml file:

# Switch to the domain used for Matrix services (`matrix.example.com`),
# so we won't need to add additional DNS records for Etherpad.
etherpad_hostname: "{{ matrix_server_fqn_matrix }}"

# Expose under the /etherpad subpath
etherpad_path_prefix: /etherpad

After changing the domain, you may need to adjust your DNS records to point the Etherpad domain to the Matrix server.

If you've decided to reuse the matrix. domain, you won't need to do any extra DNS configuration.

Configure the default text (optional)

You can also edit the default text on a new pad with the variable etherpad_default_pad_text.

To do so, add the following configuration to your vars.yml file (adapt to your needs):

# Note: the whole text (all of its belonging lines) under the variable needs to be indented with 2 spaces.
etherpad_default_pad_text: |
  Welcome to Etherpad!

  This pad text is synchronized as you type, so that everyone viewing this page sees the same text. This allows you to collaborate seamlessly on documents!

  Get involved with Etherpad at https://etherpad.org

Extending the configuration

There are some additional things you may wish to configure about the component.

Take a look at:

  • etherpad role's defaults/main.yml for some variables that you can customize via your vars.yml file. You can override settings (even those that don't have dedicated playbook variables) using the etherpad_configuration_extension_json variable

Installing

After configuring the playbook and potentially adjusting your DNS records, run the playbook with playbook tags as below:

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,ensure-matrix-users-created,start

Notes:

  • The ensure-matrix-users-created playbook tag makes the playbook automatically create the Etherpad admin user (etherpad_admin_username).

  • The shortcut commands with the just program are also available: just install-all or just setup-all

    just install-all is useful for maintaining your setup quickly (2x-5x faster than just setup-all) when its components remain unchanged. If you adjust your vars.yml to remove other components, you'd need to run just setup-all, or these components will still remain installed.

  • If you change the Etherpad admin user's password (etherpad_admin_password in your vars.yml file) subsequently, the admin user's credentials on the homeserver won't be updated automatically. If you'd like to change the admin user's password, use a tool like synapse-admin to change it, and then update etherpad_admin_password to let the admin user know its new password.

Usage

The Etherpad UI should be available at https://etherpad.example.com, while the admin UI (if enabled) should then be available at https://etherpad.example.com/admin.

If you've decided on another hostname or path-prefix (e.g. https://matrix.example.com/etherpad), adjust these URLs accordingly before using it.

Managing / Deleting old pads

If you want to manage and remove old unused pads from Etherpad, you will first need to create the Etherpad admin user as described above.

After logging in to the admin web UI, go to the plugin manager page, and install the adminpads2 plugin.

Once the plugin is installed, you should have a "Manage pads" section in the UI.

Integrating a Etherpad widget in a room

Note: this is how it works in Element Web. It might work quite similar with other clients:

To integrate a standalone Etherpad in a room, create your pad by visiting https://etherpad.example.com. When the pad opens, copy the URL and send a command like this to the room: /addwidget URL. You will then find your integrated Etherpad within the right sidebar in the Widgets section.