MSC2230: Store Identity Server in Account Data

proposals/2230-identity-server-account-data.md

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+# MSC2230: Store Identity Server in Account Data
+
+The URL of the Identity Server to use is currently specified at registration and
+login time and then used for the lifetime of a login session. If users wish to
+specify a custom one, they must do so each time they log in on every client.
+Once they have chosen an Identity Server to advertise their 3PIDs on, it would
+be normal that they would wish to continue using this Identity Server for all
+Identity requests in their account accross all clients. This proposal aims to
+make this easier.
+
+## Proposal
+
+The base URL of the Identity Server is to be stored in user account data. It
+shall be stored in the same format as in a .well-known file under the event type
+`m.identity_server` and shall comprise a single key, `base_url` which is the
+base URL of the ID Server to use (that is, the part before `/_matrix`, including
+`https://`).
+
+Upon registration or login, a client SHOULD refrain from performing any requests
+to the Identity Server until the account data has been fetched from the server.
+Once it has the account data, it SHOULD check for the presence of the
+`m.identity_server` key. If present, the `base_url` in this key SHOULD be used
+as the Identity Server base URL for the duration of the login session. If this
+key is not present, the client SHOULD use whatever value it would have used prior
+to this MSC. It should not update the account data in this situation.
+
+Client SHOULD listen for changes in the `m.identity_server` account data value
+and update the URL that they use for ID Server requests accordingly.
+
+Clients can offer a way for users to change the ID server being used. If they
+do, the client MUST update the value of `m.identity_server` accordingly.
+
+The `m.identity_server` may be present with a `base_url` of `null`. In this case,
+clients MUST treat this as no ID Server URL being set and not perform ID
+Server requests, disabling any functionality that requires such requests.
+
+Conversely, if a user wishes to disable ID Server functionality, the client
+shall action this by setting the `base_url` of the `m.identity_server`
+account data entry to `null`.
+
+### Transition Period
+
+Clients will continue to use whatever IS URLs they currently use until the
+user sets one explicitly, at which point it will be written to account data
+and all clients will start using this value.
+
+## Tradeoffs
+
+There are a number of ways to transition to this new scheme. Clients could
+populate the account data with their current ID Server URL as soon as
+possible, and immediately use any new value seen on account data. This
+would a much faster migration but any users with clients using different
+ID Servers would suddenly find all their clients using the ID Server of
+whichever client they updated first.
+
+## Potential issues
+
+Users will no longer be able to have different clients configured with
+different ID Servers.
+
+## Security considerations
+
+An attacker would be able to force all a user clients to use a given ID Server
+if they gained control of any of a user's logins.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+This makes the ID server an account setting which means it persists between
+logins. The intention would be to phase out clients ever asking for an ID
+Server URL at registration or login: this will be much easier for users to
+understand whilst still retaining the flexibilty for those who want it.