RocketChat read only with internet access blocked

Community Support
1

Hello Rocket.Chat Community,

I’m writing this post out of frustration and disappointment, and I hope it starts a constructive conversation about Rocket.Chat’s licensing model and its consequences — especially in regions experiencing crisis.

Our organization has been using Rocket.Chat Community Edition for over four years as our primary internal communication tool. It has always been important for us to have control over our infrastructure, particularly in a country like Iran where access to global platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram can be unstable or blocked.

Recently, after war broke out between Iran and Israel, our government shut down access to the global internet, isolating the country from the outside world. As expected, all major communication platforms became inaccessible. But what we didn’t expect was that Rocket.Chat itself would also stop working.

Our self-hosted server, running the Community Edition, went into read-only mode and displayed this message:

“Workspace in read-only mode. Admins can restore full functionality by connecting it to the internet or upgrading to a premium plan.”

At a time when every communication channel in the country was cut off by the regime, and we were relying on Rocket.Chat as our only functional internal platform, we were suddenly locked out — not by censorship or a technical failure, but by the software we trusted to remain under our control.

We contacted Rocket.Chat support and explained the situation but the support team declined our request for a temporary license grace period, citing sanctions.

This experience raises a serious concern: how can software that claims to be open-source and self-hostable fail in exactly the kind of situation where self-hosting is supposed to matter most?

This wasn’t just a technical limitation — it was a direct disruption to our ability to communicate during a national emergency. If you promote open-source tools for secure, self-hosted communication, they must actually function independently of centralized infrastructure, especially in crisis scenarios.

I hope this post encourages the Rocket.Chat team to reconsider the current approach to license enforcement in the Community Edition, and to ensure that critical communication software doesn’t fail the people who rely on it most — especially when they have no alternatives left.

P.S.
Things still haven’t returned to normal. We’re still struggling every day just to keep our Rocket.Chat server online and functional

Thank you.
A frustrated, sanction-locked Middle Eastern sysadmin

2

So, lets be clear.

Rocket.Chat did not lock you out.

All services were up and running.

The people responsible for locking you out were the government of Iran - not RocketChat. Your argument is with the Iranian government.

On top of that are laws that companies have to abide by.

Again, this is not in RocketChats ability to change. They are a company, registered in the US, and as a result have no vote.

As far as open source goes please be quite clear on what that really means.

You can take the code from github, remove any restrictions you don’t like (look for fossify), and build your own system free of any encumbrances.

However, if you want to use pre-built binaries eg docker, snaps etc, app marketplace, notification systems et al then THAT is licensed.

So RocketChat can be self hosted without restrictions. You just have to build it yourself.

None of this is what you want to hear, but this is the reality of open source, and a common misapprehension.

It’s open source. It isn’t a free lunch.

Yup, I personally empathise with your situation. But it isn’t the fault of RocketChat.

3

Topic edited to reflect the actual issue.

4

I looked at your profile, and I noticed your top reply is actually a criticism about Rocket.Chat restricting read-receipts. Most of your other top replies seem to follow the same line.

Now you show up telling me “It’s open source. It isn’t a free lunch.” and even change the title of my post.

Honestly, this feels like a step backward for the community.

5

Show up? Really? Regrettably no one else has.

If you read back far enough you’ll discover I’ve been a thorn in the side of Rocket for a decade.

I’ve also worked for them, am a GSoC and GSoD mentor, triage bugs, help support on open.rocket, and moderate & support here.

Not to mention other projects I actually code on as well.

So, yup, I’ve put lot into the open source community for over 25 years, and proud to say I’ve earned the respect of many.

Yup I’ve complained about a lot of decisions Rocket have taken over the years - check github too - and you can thank me for ensuring that a lot of features they were going to remove as ‘free’ are still here, and still ‘free’.

However, I also run a business, and understand developers can’t code for free. There is no such thing as a free lunch. They have to be paid somehow. I pay with my time.

I also understand the dfference between “free software” and “open source”.

None of that changes the two simple facts.

  1. Your government blocked your access, not RocketChat. Complain to them about access.

  2. If you don’t like the licence then you can take the open source code and build it the way you want. Run your own notification server, build your mobile apps etc. You are free to do that with the ‘open source code’ assuming you aren’t blocked by your government from accessing that too.

That’s it, and the topic reflects the facts, not opinion or political point scoring which are contrary to community guidelines and can get you banned.

I look forward to seeing your contributions in due course.

NB. Airgapped licence subcriptions are generally available on request.