This page is possibly InNeedOfRefactor.

Introduction

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 XML router with small plugin modules handling all the various parts of the InstantMessaging. It supports "Transports" 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. It has clients for MicrosoftWindows, Linux, various PDA's and other machines/devices.

You may want a nice simple introduction to SettingUpJabber?. PerryLorier has also written a JabberWiki.

Clients for Linux

;
GTK/GNOME : ** Gabber for GNOME (uses GTK) ** Gaim, a multiprotocol GTK2 InstantMessenger which has a Jabber plugin ** Gnome Jabber, 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, the GTK2 port of Gabber. Still in development. ** Gossip, another GTK2 Jabber client ;
Qt/KDE : ** Psi, the canonical Qt client ** Kopete, KDE's main multiprotocol IM client. ** Konverse for KDE. Webpage was last updated in 2001. ;
Console : ** imcom for console (requires Python) ** jabmsg batch-mode Jabber message sender (requires Perl) ** CenterIcq, a multiprotocol Curses InstantMessenger which has a Jabber plugin ;
MicrosoftWindows : ** Exodus for MicrosoftWindows ** Jabber.com's client for MicrosoftWindows. (Current version seems to only let you connect to Jabber.com's server) ** JAJC for MicrosoftWindows ** Rhymbox, MSN Messenger for Jabber. Looks really nice in Windows XP ;
Others : ** Tkabber, 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 for MacOSX

Client notes

Multiple logins on the same account

This is what the "resource" is. So you could log in from different machines, and give each a different resource name. If a message is sent to just your account (without specifying a resource) then it goes to whichever of your clients has the highest "priority" (which you can set at log in time).

Offline messages

If you are not online when a message is sent to you, your Jabber server will hold it for you until you next connect.

Tkabber: conference actions

Click on the Subject: to get a list of actions.

Using Transports

Transports provide a gateway to other communication services such as multiuser conferencing, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, IRC, or even SMTP (ie Email). Your Jabber server will have a list of transports you can use, normally with descriptive names like icq.jabber.org so they are easy to guess.

Transport options for ICQ

Note: the DNS names below are fictional, make sure you check what your Jabber server uses.

ICQ and AIM actually use the same protocol, so the AIM-t transport can be used for ICQ as well. However, the JIT transport handles ICQ messaging and ICQ-SMS a lot better than the AIM-t transport.

If your Jabber server uses the AIM-t transport, you should subscribe to the icq.jabber.example.net agent, using your ICQ username and password, and then you can add contacts of the form icqid@icq.jabber.example.net. You can send SMS messages by sending something like the following to any ICQ recipient on your roster: SEND-SMS:+cellphonenumber:<message>

If your Jabber server uses the JIT transport, then use that instead. Its a lot nicer, supports user searching correctly, handles SMS better, so on. You can add contacts of the form icqid@jit.jabber.example.net for ICQ, or phonenumber@sms.jabber.example.net for SMS.

Running a Jabber Server

Debian: newly registered users get a 401 error on log in attempt

The mod_auth_plain module is commented out in the package sample configuration, presumably to prod users to use secure authentication methods. Unfortunately, creating new users requires mod_auth_plain. Uncomment this module and registration will work.