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Version: 3.0

new-features

BigBlueButton 3.0 runs on Ubuntu 22.04

Overview​

This document is still a draft, BigBlueButton 3.0 is under development​

BigBlueButton 3.0 offers users improved usability, increased engagement, and more performance.

  • Usability - making common functions (such as raise hand) easier
  • Engagement - giving the instructor more ways to engage students
  • Performance - increasing overall performance and scalability

Here's a breakdown of what's new in 3.0.

Usability​

Upgraded whiteboard​

We have done significant work to adopt the newly released version 2 of tl;draw. It comes with even more tools and capabilities and has allowed us to embark on more ambitious whiteboard projects, for example a prototype of an Infinite Canvas.

Improved UX for joining audio for transparentListenOnly​

When transparentListenOnly is enabled on the server, users can now switch seamlessly between Listen Only and Microphone modes without needing to rejoin audio.

To further improve the user experience, you can disable listenOnlyMode (public.app.listenOnlyMode in /etc/bigbluebutton/bbb-html5.yml or userdata-bbb_listen_only_mode). This removes the need to choose between Microphone or Listen Only mode when joining audio in a session. Instead, you are taken directly to the audio configuration screen.

audio controls when joining audio

Once you are joined in audio, you can dynamically change your audio device configuration from a dropdown located on the mute-yourself button.

mute yourself has a dropdown menu allowing device changes

New layouts for specific integration scenarios​

Several new layouts have been added ("Cameras Only", "Presentation Only", and "Participants and Chat Only") to address various use cases of hybrid education - for example splitting views of the BigBlueButton session to be visible on different physical screens.

Improved Away mode​

We have made changes so that when you set yourself as being Away, your microphone is now automatically muted, your webcam is also muted (blank).

set yourself away

When you return and unmute yourself this counts as disabling Away mode. The control for toggling away mode is now positioned in the Reactions bar.

set yourself active

Away mode also is recorded in the public chat area.

away public chat

Leave meeting button​

A contribution from community member Jan Kessler, the direct Leave Meeting button was first introduced in BigBlueButton 2.7.5. Starting with BigBlueButton 3.0 we are making it enabled by default.

leave the meeting red button

Viewers can leave the meeting by using this new red button, previously hidden near the Setting menu. For moderators, the button includes the option to end the meeting as well.

Better looking polling results​

We have enhanced the view of the polling results that appear over the whiteboard. It is now much more intuitive to read.

better polling results

Private chat messages have a "seen" indicator​

We have added an indicator showing when your private chat recipient has seen the message.

checkmark beside the message indicating it was seen

Push to talk was added​

You can now use the "M" shortcut while in a conference to control how long your microphone is open. If the option for push to talk is enabled in settings.yml holding "M" will keep your microphone unmuted for as long you hold the key down. Releasing it will mute you again.

Engagement​

Behind the scene​

Introduction of plugins​

We have made significant changes to the architecture of BigBlueButton and have introduced support to plugins -- optional custom modules included in the client which allow expanding the capabilities of BigBlueButton. A data channel is provided to allow for data exchange between clients. See the HTML5 Plugin SDK for examples and more information.

At the moment of writing this documentation, the official list of plugins includes:

Replaced Akka framework with Pekko​

Following the license change of Akka back in September 2022 we considered several options and decided to replace our use of Akka with Apache Pekko More on the transition: https://github.com/bigbluebutton/bigbluebutton/pull/18694

Override client settings through API /create call​

Administrators will appreciate that we now allow passing of custom client settings through the meeting create API call. You no longer need separate servers to accommodate for sessions requiring vastly different settings.yml configuration

Removal of Meteor and MongoDB​

For years we have discussed internally the topic of replacing Meteor.js with other technologies in order to improve scalability, performance, etc. In the last year we have introduced several different new components to replace Meteor. These new components are: bbb-graphql-server, bbb-graphql-middleware, bbb-graphql-actions, database Postgres, GraphQL server Hasura. As of BigBlueButton 3.0.0-beta.1 we are no longer using Meteor or MongoDB.

Note: The services bbb-html5-backend, bbb-html5-frontend, bbb-html5 and mongod have been removed. The client code is compacted and served by NginX. The service disable-transparent-huge-pages.service was also removed as it was used to improve performance of MongoDB and is now obsolete. The package bbb-html5-nodejs is no longer needed.

Important: Please make sure you're no longer carrying around NodeJS v14 which we used to deploy in bbb-html5-nodejs. Your directory /usr/lib/bbb-html5/node should not exist.

We have forked the tldraw project and use our fork​

We upgraded tl;draw from version 1 to version 2.0.0-alpha.19 (the last version on Apache 2.0 licence). That was quite a significant task but brought better performance, better looks, improved stylus support and many more. Note that we have forked tldraw's project as of their version 2.0.0-alpha.19 to ensure we remain on the Apache 2.0 license. We will be maintaining the fork so that BigBlueButton has a stable whiteboard in the future.

Support for Collabora Online as document converter​

Collabora Productivity contributed the support for an alternative conversion script where Collabora Online (deployed locally [as a docker container] or running remotely) can be used for document conversion. For more information check the pull request

Support for ClamAV as presentation file scanner​

We have added support for ClamAV to automatically scan every presentation file for viruses before sharing it with the others in the session. To use it you would need to first install ClamAV: The simplest way would be to run it locally as a container.

docker pull clamav/clamav`
docker run --name "clamav" --mount type=bind,source=/var/bigbluebutton,target=/var/bigbluebutton -p 3310:3310 -p 7357:7357 clamav/clamav:latest

The above run command may take a minute to start. If you prefer you could run with -d flag to make it detachable.

Now when you check the running containers you should see an entry like this one:

root@test30:~# docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                                       COMMAND                  CREATED          STATUS                    PORTS                                                                                                           NAMES
bda7f5596192   clamav/clamav:latest                                        "/init"                  21 minutes ago   Up 21 minutes (healthy)   0.0.0.0:3310->3310/tcp, :::3310->3310/tcp, 0.0.0.0:7357->7357/tcp, :::7357->7357/tcp                            clamav

Additionally you will have to enable scanning: Specify scanUploadedPresentationFiles=true in /etc/bigbluebutton/bbb-web.properties and restart BigBlueButton via sudo bbb-conf --restart

When you create a new session and try uploading some presentation files, you should not see anything different if the file was fine. However, if a threat was detected, you will see the message "Upload failed: Virus detected! Please check your file and retry." in the client and the presentation sharing will not proceed. Additionally, in the logs for bbb-web you will see similar log lines:

Oct 09 01:07:18 test30 java[2810929]: 2024-10-09T01:07:18.285Z DEBUG o.b.w.c.PresentationController - processing file upload eicar.com.txt (presId: f7ff3fd7c0ab460f7139541c02df46f24ac90b67-1728436037947)
Oct 09 01:07:18 test30 java[2810929]: 2024-10-09T01:07:18.550Z DEBUG o.b.w.c.PresentationController - file upload success eicar.com.txt
Oct 09 01:07:23 test30 java[2810929]: 2024-10-09T01:07:23.589Z ERROR o.b.p.DocumentConversionServiceImp - Presentation upload failed for meetingId=4814d8e60f2e15576bebfe7cef34367ef5b54539-1728435987030 presId=f7ff3fd7c0ab460f7139541c02df46f24ac90b67-1728436037947
Oct 09 01:07:23 test30 java[2810929]: 2024-10-09T01:07:23.590Z ERROR o.b.p.DocumentConversionServiceImp - Presentation upload failed because a virus was detected in the uploaded file

You can test your setup with one of the files from eicar.org.

Experimental​

Infinite Whiteboard (experimental)​

We have added initial support for infinite whiteboard in the live session. Only the presenter can trigger it. It allows for annotations to be created in the margins, or to write content without being limited by space.

the trigger for infinite whiteboard is in the middle of the presenter toolbar

Everyone sees the margins and follows the presenter's point of view. If multi-user whiteboard is also enabled, viewers can roam around the canvas independently.

with infinite whiteboard enabled annotations can be made on the margins and more

Recording is not yet implemented, meaning that if you enable this experimental feature on your server and use it in a recorded session, the recording will most likely have broken whiteboard at best. The recording (and playback) work is planned for after BigBlueButton 3.0.

Integration with LiveKit​

We have added initial support for LiveKit as a media framework for BigBlueButton. It's an experimental feature and, consequently, disabled by default. For an in-depth overview of this initiative, please refer to issue 21059. Feature parity with the current media framework is not yet achieved, but the aforementioned issue provides parity tracking in section Annex 1.

To enable support for LiveKit:

  1. Install bbb-livekit: $ sudo apt-get install bbb-livekit
  2. Enable the LiveKit controller module in bbb-webrtc-sfu: $ sudo yq e -i '.livekit.enabled = true' /etc/bigbluebutton/bbb-webrtc-sfu/production.yml
  3. Restart bbb-webrtc-sfu: $ sudo systemctl restart bbb-webrtc-sfu
  4. Guarantee that Node.js 22 is installed in your server: $ node -v
    • Older 3.0 installations might still be using Node.js 18. If that's the case, re-run bbb-install or correct any custom installation scripts to ensure Node.js 22 is installed.
  5. Only when using BigBlueButton via the cluster proxy configuration:
    1. Set the appropriate LiveKit endpoint URL in bbb-html5.yml's public.media.livekit.url. See the aforementioned docs section for details.

Once enabled, LiveKit still won't be used by default. There are two ways to make use of it in meetings:

  • Per meeting: set any of the following meeting /create parameters
    • audioBridge=livekit
    • cameraBridge=livekit
    • screenShareBridge=livekit
  • Server-wide: set any of the following properties in /etc/bigbluebutton/bbb-web.properties
    • audioBridge=livekit
    • cameraBridge=livekit
    • screenShareBridge=livekit

Those parameters do not need to be set concurrently. LiveKit can be enabled for audio only, for example, while keeping the current media framework for camera and screen sharing by setting just audioBridge=livekit.

To enable recording/capture with LiveKit (optional):

  1. Create /etc/bigbluebutton/egress.yaml 
    log_level: debug
    redis:
      address: localhost:6379
    api_key: YOUR_API_KEY # see /etc/bigbluebutton/livekit.yaml
    api_secret: YOUR_API_SECRET # see /etc/bigbluebutton/livekit.yaml
    health_port: 7005
    ws_url: ws://localhost:7880
    file_prefix: /var/lib/bbb-webrtc-recorder
    file_only: true
    prometheus_port: 6790
  2. Set appropriate key and secret in the file above
  3. Change capture directory permissions: chmod -R 777 /var/lib/bbb-webrtc-recorder
    • The recorder runs as root in the docker container
  4. Enable egress in bbb-webrtc-sfu : yq e -i ".livekit.egress.enabled = true" /etc/bigbluebutton/bbb-webrtc-sfu/production.yml
  5. Run egress 
    docker run -t -d --rm \
        --name egress \
        -e EGRESS_CONFIG_FILE=/etc/bigbluebutton/egress.yaml \
        -v /etc/bigbluebutton/:/etc/bigbluebutton/ \
        -v /var/lib/bbb-webrtc-recorder:/var/lib/bbb-webrtc-recorder \
        --network host \
        livekit/egress
  6. Restart bbb-webrtc-sfu

Keep in mind that the LiveKit integration is still experimental and not feature complete. Configuration, API parameters, and other details are subject to change. We encourage users to test it and provide feedback via our GitHub issue tracker or the mailing lists.

Upgraded components​

Under the hood, BigBlueButton 3.0 installs on Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit, and the following key components have been upgraded ...

For full details on what is new in BigBlueButton 3.0, see the release notes.

Recent releases:

Other notable changes​

Removal of Kurento​

We have removed all use of Kurento Media Server. For the live media transmission we rely on mediasoup. For the recording portion we make use of our own component bbb-webrtc-recorder. BigBlueButton 3.0 is the first release where we do not install Kurento.

Select Random User feature removed and is now a plugin​

The functionality Select Random User which used to be part of the BigBlueButton core was removed. A plugin with the same functionality was developed and made public.

Typed captions feature removed and is now a plugin​

We removed the built-in typed captions support given that we support several options for automatic captions which seem to be much more popular. We implemented a plugin for typed captions - Typed captions plugin which you could use instead.

Removed userStatus​

The userStatus feature was replaced by userReaction. They were vastly overlapping, causing some confusion when using and maintaining.

Changes to User Muting Actions​

  • The "Mute all except presenter" button now only mutes all current users except the presenter, as the label suggests. It no longer affects the mute state of incoming users.
  • A new button, "Enable Users Join Muted" / "Disable Users Join Muted", has been added to manage whether new users join muted.
  • The "Mute all users" button has been removed, as muting all users (except the presenter) is covered by the existing functionality, and the presenter can be muted individually if needed.

Upgrade of config editing tool yq​

We have upgraded yq from version 3.4.1 (which was no longer maintained) to 4.16.2. This is a major jump and the syntax used is quite different as well. We went through all internal uses of yq - packaging, bbb-install.sh, bbb-conf and others and updated the syntax. However, if you have custom scripts, you may have to rework the syntax too. Here is a guide.

Improved support for various SHA algorithms for checksum calculation​

In BigBlueButton 2.6.17/2.7.5/3.0.0-alpha.5 we added a new configuration property for bbb-apps-akka package under services called checkSumAlgorithmForBreakouts. By default the value is "sha256". It controls the algorithm for checksum calculation for the breakout rooms join link. In case you overwrite bbb-web's supportedChecksumAlgorithms property removing sha256 you will need to set a supported algorithm here too. For example if you want to only use sha512, set supportedChecksumAlgorithms=sha512 in /etc/bigbluebutton/bbb-web.properties and also set checkSumAlgorithmForBreakouts="sha512" in /etc/bigbluebutton/bbb-apps-akka.conf and then restart BigBlueButton.

Deprecating join parameter defaultLayout, replacing with userdata-bbb_default_layout.​

In BigBlueButton 3.0.0-alpha.5 we replaced the JOIN parameter defaultLayout with the JOIN parameter userdata-bbb_default_layout. If none provided the meetingLayout (passed on CREATE) will be used. If none passed, and if none passed there, the defaultMeetingLayout from bbb-web will be used.

Added new setting and userdata to allow skipping echo test if session has valid input/output devices stored​

  • Client settings.yml: skipEchoTestIfPreviousDevice. Defaults to false
  • Can be overridden on JOIN with Custom Parameter: userdata-bbb_skip_echotest_if_previous_device=

Recording event TranscriptUpdatedRecordEvent blocked​

In BigBlueButton 2.7.5/3.0.0-alpha.5 we stopped propagating the events.xml event TranscriptUpdatedRecordEvent due to some issues with providing too much and too repetitive data.

Added new setting and userdata to allow skipping video preview if session has valid input devices stored​

  • Client settings.yml: skipVideoPreviewIfPreviousDevice. Defaults to false
  • Can be overridden on JOIN with Custom Parameter: userdata-bbb_skip_video_preview_if_previous_device=

Replaced all user facing instances of "meeting" with the word "session"​

The word "session" is more generic and encompasses both educational and work contexts. Up until BigBlueButton 3.0 we were using the two keywords interchangeably. Moving forward we are preferring to use "session".

Changes to events.xml​

Retired events

  • DeskShareNotifyViewersRTMPRecordEvent
  • DeskshareStartRtmpRecordEvent
  • DeskshareStopRtmpRecordEvent
  • TranscriptUpdatedRecordEvent

Modified/added events

bbb-web properties changes​

  • allowOverrideClientSettingsOnCreateCall=false added
  • sessionsCleanupDelayInMinutes=60 added
  • graphqlWebsocketUrl=${bigbluebutton.web.serverURL}/graphql added
  • muteOnStart default value set to true - which helps now that transparentListenOnly is enabled by default too. See (PR 20848)[https://github.com/bigbluebutton/bigbluebutton/issues/20848] for more info.

Removed support for POST requests on join endpoint and Content-Type headers are now required​

In BigBlueButton 2.6.18/2.7.8 POST requests are no longer allowed for the join endpoint. To ensure they are validated properly, a Content-Type header must also be provided for POST requests that contain data in the request body. Endpoints now support a limited set of content types that includes text/xml, application/xml, application/x-www-form-url-encoded, and multipart/form-data. By default each endpoint only supports application/x-www-form-urlencoded and multipart/form-data, but individual endpoints can override this and define their own set of supported content types. The create endpoint supports all of the four previously listed content types while insertDocument supports only text/xml and application/xml. Any requests with a content type that differs from the set supported by the target endpoint will be rejected with a new unsupportedContentType error.

Changes in document formats we support​

We improved the documentation for which types of files we support when uploading presentations. Support for .odi and .odc was dropped. Support for .svg, .odg and .webp was officially added even though animated webp's are no longer animated after the image processing.

We mirror the webcam preview by default now​

We have supported the option to mirror your own webcam while viewing it. Starting with BigBlueButton 3.0.0-beta.6 we mirror it by default (which leads to the same result you would expect if you looked yourself in a physical mirror).

Development​

For information on developing in BigBlueButton, see setting up a development environment for 3.0.

The build scripts for packaging 3.0 (using fpm) are located in the GitHub repository here.

Contribution​

We welcome contributors to BigBlueButton 3.0! The best ways to contribute at the current time are: