In XMPP pubsub is it possible for a subscriber to retrieve the Subscriptions List or combine it with MUC?

Question

In XMPP pubsub is it possible for a subscriber to retrieve the Subscriptions List or combine the pubsub service with a MUC, so that a subscriber could see people online (like in the MUC)?

Is it only the owner who can retrieve the subscriptions list? could he somehow make it public to all the people in the pubsub?

Answer 1

While it's not specified in XEP-0060 that non-owners should be able to access the subscriber list, I'd say it's perfectly reasonable for a given pubsub service implementation to allow you to override access control rules.

Unfortunately I don't know Openfire enough to know whether this is possible there.

Update: On re-reading your question I realise you might be trying to use a pubsub node as a pseudo-MUC room. The problem with this is that you will not receive notification when the subscriber list changes (i.e. someone joining or leaving). You will also not be able to add extended information the same way you can with normal presence stanzas.

For this reason I don't recommend this approach (given the little I know of what you are trying to do).

Answer 2

You could write a plugin that made every subscriber an owner (add the affiliation) and removed that affiliation when they unsubscribe.

Otherwise you could of course create a custom version of openfire with the access rules changed.