Improved wording of documentation and config option naming

docs/usage/configuration/config_documentation.md

@@ -246,8 +246,8 @@ Example configuration:
 ```yaml
 presence:
   enabled: false
-  sync_presence_tracking: true
+  local_activity_tracking: true
-  federation_presence_tracking: true
+  remote_activity_tracking: true
 ```
 
 `enabled` can also be set to a special value of "untracked" which ignores updates
@@ -259,14 +259,17 @@ received via clients and federation, while still accepting updates from the
 Enabling presence tracking can be resource intensive for the presence handler when server-side
 tracking of user activity is enabled. Below are some additional configuration options which may
 help improve the performance of the presence feature without outright disabling it:
-* `sync_presence_tracking` (Default enabled): Determines if the server tracks a user's presence
+* `local_activity_tracking` (Default enabled): Determines if the server tracks a user's activity
-activity when syncing. If disabled, the server will not automatically update the user's presence
+when syncing or fetching events. If disabled, the server will not automatically update the
-activity when the sync endpoint is called. Note that client applications can still update their
+user's presence activity when the /sync or /events endpoints are called. Note that client
-presence by calling the respective presence endpoints.
+applications can still update their presence by calling the presence /status endpoint.
-* `federation_presence_tracking` (Default enabled): Determines if the server will accept
+* `remote_activity_tracking` (Default enabled): Determines if the server will accept presence
-presence EDUs that only contain presence activity updates. If disabled, the server will drop
+EDUs from remote servers that are exclusively user activity updates. If disabled, the server
-processing EDUs that do not contain updates to the `status_msg`, `displayname`, or
+will reject processing these EDUs. However if a presence EDU contains profile updates to any of
-`avatar_url` fields.
+the `status_msg`, `displayname`, or `avatar_url` fields, then the server will accept the EDU.
+
+If the presence `enabled` field is set "untracked", then these options will both act as if set
+to false.
 
 ---
 ### `require_auth_for_profile_requests`

synapse/config/server.py

@@ -385,13 +385,13 @@ class ServerConfig(Config):
         self.track_presence = self.presence_enabled and presence_enabled != "untracked"
 
         # Disabling server-side presence tracking
-        self.sync_presence_tracking = presence_config.get(
+        self.presence_local_activity_tracking = presence_config.get(
-            "sync_presence_tracking", True
+            "local_activity_tracking", True
         )
 
         # Disabling federation presence tracking
-        self.federation_presence_tracking = presence_config.get(
+        self.presence_remote_activity_tracking = presence_config.get(
-            "federation_presence_tracking", True
+            "remote_activity_tracking", True
         )
 
         # Custom presence router module

synapse/federation/federation_server.py

@@ -1425,11 +1425,21 @@ class FederationHandlerRegistry:
         self._edu_type_to_instance[edu_type] = instance_names
 
     async def on_edu(self, edu_type: str, origin: str, content: dict) -> None:
+        """Passes an EDU to a registered handler if one exists
+
+        This potentially modifies the `content` dict for `m.presence` EDUs when
+        presence `remote_activity_tracking` is disabled.
+
+        Args:
+            edu_type: The type of the incoming EDU to process
+            origin: The server we received the event from
+            content: The content of the EDU
+        """
         if not self.config.server.track_presence and edu_type == EduTypes.PRESENCE:
             return
 
         if (
-            not self.config.server.federation_presence_tracking
+            not self.config.server.presence_remote_activity_tracking
             and edu_type == EduTypes.PRESENCE
         ):
             filtered_edus = []

synapse/handlers/presence.py

@@ -201,7 +201,9 @@ class BasePresenceHandler(abc.ABC):
 
         self._presence_enabled = hs.config.server.presence_enabled
         self._track_presence = hs.config.server.track_presence
-        self._sync_presence_tracking = hs.config.server.sync_presence_tracking
+        self._presence_local_activity_tracking = (
+            hs.config.server.presence_local_activity_tracking
+        )
 
         self._federation = None
         if hs.should_send_federation():
@@ -585,7 +587,7 @@ class WorkerPresenceHandler(BasePresenceHandler):
         if (
             not affect_presence
             or not self._track_presence
-            or not self._sync_presence_tracking
+            or not self._presence_local_activity_tracking
         ):
             return _NullContextManager()
 
@@ -1152,7 +1154,7 @@ class PresenceHandler(BasePresenceHandler):
         if (
             not affect_presence
             or not self._track_presence
-            or not self._sync_presence_tracking
+            or not self._presence_local_activity_tracking
         ):
             return _NullContextManager()