View Source: Jabber - Waikato Linux Users Group

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Like most things proprietary, OpenSource people have written their own InstantMessenger, called [Jabber].  [Jabber] is built on a robust model, similar to [SMTP] and [HTTP], and completely unlike [IRC]'s unscalable mess.  It is based on a core router which speaks [XML] with small plugin modules handling all the various parts of the InstantMessaging.

!! Terminology

Users are identified by way of their [JID], which is similar in concept to [ICQ]'s [UIN], but looks like an email address, __whateveryouchoose@your.jabber.server__.  The contact list is called the __roster__.  Adding people to it is called __subscribing__ to their __presence__.  Subscriptions can be both ways (you can see them and they can see you) or only one way, but unlike most other IM clients, Jabber also lets you know when people have you on their roster: this appears as a subscription from them, not to them.  People can be added to your roster either by their Jabber ID or by searching for them in the Jabber Users' Directory.

!! Foreign protocols

Jabber supports "Transports", server-side plugins which allow a Jabber user to talk to users of other InstantMessenger networks such as [AIM], [MSN], [ICQ], YahooMessenger, [SMTP], [IRC], [IMAP] and many others. Thus, clients need not support any other protocol than [Jabber] itself.

!! Clients

There are many clients for MicrosoftWindows, [Linux], various [PDA]'s and other machines/devices. Here's a list of clients for Linux at the time of writing:

; %%% [GTK]/[GNOME] :
** [Gabber] for [GNOME] (uses [GTK])
** [Gaim], a multiprotocol [GTK2] [InstantMessenger] which has a [Jabber] plugin
** [Gnome Jabber | http://gnome-jabber.sf.net/], a newcomer which is full of [GTK2] goodness. (The web page says that the author has stopped development of this and is working with the Gossip authors.)
** [Gabber2 | http://gabber.jabberstudio.org/], the [GTK2] port of [Gabber]. Still in development.
** [Gossip | http://gossip.imendio.org/], another [GTK2] Jabber client
; %%% [Qt]/[KDE] :
** [Psi | http://psi.affinix.com/], the canonical [Qt] client
** [Kopete | http://kopete.kde.org/], [KDE]'s main multiprotocol IM client.
** [Konverse | http://konverse.sf.net] for [KDE]. Webpage was last updated in 2001.
; %%% Console :
** [imcom | http://imcom.floobin.cx/] for console (requires [Python])
** [jabmsg | http://sf.net/projects/jabmsg/] batch-mode Jabber message sender (requires [Perl])
** [CenterIcq], a multiprotocol [Curses] [InstantMessenger] which has a [Jabber] plugin
; %%% MicrosoftWindows :
** [Exodus | http://exodus.jabberstudio.org/] for MicrosoftWindows
** Jabber.com's client for MicrosoftWindows. (Current version seems to only let you connect to Jabber.com's server)
** [JAJC | http://jajc.ksn.ru/] for MicrosoftWindows
** [Rhymbox | http://www.rhymbox.com/], [MSN] Messenger for Jabber. Looks *really* nice in Windows XP
; %%% Others :
** [Tkabber | http://tkabber.jabber.ru/], written in [TCL]/[Tk] (requires a couple of extra [TCL] libraries) so this should run on any OperatingSystem that [TCL]/Tk runs on. It's UserInterface sucks, but it's very feature complete.
** [Nitro | http://nitro.jabberstudio.org/] for [MacOSX]

!! See also

* JabberNotes
* JabberWiki
16 pages link to Jabber:
Version 3, saved on Sunday, April 18, 2004 6:49:24 pm by AristotlePagaltzis
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