arch-wiki-md-repo/wiki/_content/english/Ring.md

All arch-wiki articles in markdown format, updated every two days.

[Ring](https://ring.cx) is a new peer-to-peer communication solution, offering voice, video and chat in a decentralised and secure way. It is being developed by [Savoir-faire Linux](https://www.savoirfairelinux.com/), a Canadian company specialising in Free Software.

The ancestor of Ring is [SFLphone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_(software)#History "wikipedia:Ring (software)"), a portable SIP/AIX software phone, also developed by Savoir-faire Linux. Ring retains most of the audio and SIP capabilities of SFLphone, while adding a Bittorrent-like DHT to completely avoid dependency on servers, and offering video and chat communication.

Additionally, Ring has a clean separation between daemon and user interface. The supported platforms are GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac OSX and Android.

## Installation

Ring is currently packaged in [community], with some third-party clients in AUR. You can choose between several versions:

*   official Gnome client, weekly/monthly snapshot: [ring-gnome](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=ring-gnome)
*   unofficial KDE client, stable version: [ring-kde](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ring-kde/)
*   Gnome client, latest git version: [ring-gnome-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ring-gnome-git/)
*   KDE client, latest git version: [ring-kde-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ring-kde-git/)

## Usage

You can use the desktop launcher provided by your desktop environment, or run the `ring.cx` command as user:

```
$ ring.cx

```

It will detect which client is installed (Gnome or KDE) and run it. The daemon is launched automatically by clients.