Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client • Hacker News Board

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#31

Post by mr_gibbins » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

Rooster61 wrote: post #17

Considering this is open source (which I'm assuming includes the plugins), wouldn't this be a much better alternative to the native apps on mobile? Curious as to why this hasn't been ported to Android/iOS. I'd much prefer this over apps that need permission to my blood type to function. Pidgin was great back in the day for convenience, but there is a legitimate argument to be made for privacy here too. EDIT: It just…

If it were ported to Android/iOS, it'd need to adhere to the relevant standards from Google/Apple. If it did (and that's a hard task itself, see every other 'Google/Apple blocked my app' thread on HN) then it'd quickly be squashed by the other major competitors.

Can't have a non-monetised, FOSS, universal application available in the app stores! That's like ... that's like COMMUNISM, or something! /s

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#32

Post by GlTChWhISKY » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

Rooster61 wrote: post #17

Considering this is open source (which I'm assuming includes the plugins), wouldn't this be a much better alternative to the native apps on mobile? Curious as to why this hasn't been ported to Android/iOS. I'd much prefer this over apps that need permission to my blood type to function. Pidgin was great back in the day for convenience, but there is a legitimate argument to be made for privacy here too. EDIT: It just…

The simple answer is the developer (Gary) doesnt have the time. The project needs help. Rwgrim on twitch is the lead dev

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#33

Post by fattire » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

Rooster61 wrote: post #17

Considering this is open source (which I'm assuming includes the plugins), wouldn't this be a much better alternative to the native apps on mobile? Curious as to why this hasn't been ported to Android/iOS. I'd much prefer this over apps that need permission to my blood type to function. Pidgin was great back in the day for convenience, but there is a legitimate argument to be made for privacy here too. EDIT: It just…

For whatever reason I kind of remember Gaim/Adium/Pidgin/libpurple had a run of security issues back in the day too.. I assume that stuff got fixed up by now... but I think at the time that accounted for its decline. Oh, now that I think of it wasn't XMPP (streaming XML) originally invented for Jabber which Pidgin supported?

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#34

Post by _joel » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

creaturemachine wrote: post #23

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #3

I'm glad to see Pidgin still alive and well. I remember ages ago moving to it from Trillian, and I don't think there's any other software around like it.

Personally I'm holding out for the resurrection of ICQ.

Isn't that now an unencrypted network owned by a questionable Russian chap?

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#35

Post by marco_craveiro » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

Wow great to see Pidgin still going. libpurple was a fantastic idea, and its great to see there is bitlbee integration [1]. Need to update my Emacs setup to use this! [2]

[1] https://wiki.bitlbee.org/HowtoPurple [2] https://200ok.ch/posts/2019-11-01_irc_and_emacs_all_the_thin...

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#36

Post by thecrumb » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

TameAntelope wrote: post #5

brightball wrote: post #2

This is exciting! I thought Pidgin had died off, but with the sheer number of chat platforms out there I'd much rather install a single Pidgin client to keep up with them. Can it work effectively with the more closed system clients that exist today though?

Surprising to see both Discord and Slack on the list! No MS Teams, though.

And what does my company use... MS Teams... what has to be the worst program ever. Sigh.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#37

Post by haunter » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:16 PM UTC

Why do 3 people mentioning in the comments that the main dev is streaming on Twitch with link to the channel? Seems suspicious

Like literally nothing to add just

"the main maintainer livestreams his work on pidgin on twitch"

"One of the main developers of pidgin streams on twitch"

Edit: of course I got downvoted when I pointed this out. Astroturfing is prevalent on HN as well.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#38

Post by sneak » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

Rooster61 wrote: post #17

Considering this is open source (which I'm assuming includes the plugins), wouldn't this be a much better alternative to the native apps on mobile? Curious as to why this hasn't been ported to Android/iOS. I'd much prefer this over apps that need permission to my blood type to function. Pidgin was great back in the day for convenience, but there is a legitimate argument to be made for privacy here too. EDIT: It just…

iOS applications aren't allowed to stay awake constantly talking to a bunch of different network services.

For iOS IM to work, a centralized server (and corresponding developer ID) has to send a notification to you, sent first to Apple to be proxied via Apple's push notification service (APNS) to which each iOS device maintains a persistent connection.

This means that some third party service has to know when you get a message (and thus needs to proxy your connections to the IM services, and know your credentials and see your message contents) to be able to know when to send that notification.

This (and Signal now replacing the cryptographically shattered iMessage) is probably the main reason I'm switching to Android; truly decentralized/private notifications aren't really possible on iOS. They have to come from the app developer's own 24/7 online servers, sent from them to you via Apple servers, which means that federated stuff is basically out without providing your login details to the developer (which of course lets them see all your messages). This is also why almost no ActivityPub/fediverse clients can notify you of DMs on iOS either if you run your own instance.

I know there's Background App Refresh now that lets apps wake up periodically to download stuff; I'm not sure if such polling can fire off notifications from the local app. It's probably too much latency for IM, however, due to the fact that Background App Refresh isn't (last I looked) allowed to run continuously (for battery reasons).

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#39

Post by Andrew_nenakhov » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

azhenley wrote: post #13

Two days ago Beeper, a (almost?) universal chat app, was discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25848278

They are two different classes of applications. Beeper uses transports (or 'bridges'), Pidgin is a multiprotocol client.

Re: Pidgin – A Universal Chat Client

#40

Post by MrAlex94 » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 4:17 PM UTC

Rooster61 wrote: post #17

Considering this is open source (which I'm assuming includes the plugins), wouldn't this be a much better alternative to the native apps on mobile? Curious as to why this hasn't been ported to Android/iOS. I'd much prefer this over apps that need permission to my blood type to function. Pidgin was great back in the day for convenience, but there is a legitimate argument to be made for privacy here too. EDIT: It just…

Not sure if this has changed, but at least on why it's not on iOS [1]:

> In a nutshell, the Apple Developer Agreement is the biggest "problem" preventing a Pidgin build for iOS devices. We won't quote the exact text here, but the Agreement requires that developers allow Apple to impose additional restrictions on applications above and beyond the application's own license. Among these additional restrictions are the well-known "5-device limit" and a prohibition on redistribution of the application. It is also quite clear from the terms of the Agreement that the developer of an application is not the distributor of the application in the App Store--Apple is.

> The additional restrictions required by Apple directly violate the GPL Pidgin is licensed under (Pidgin is licensed as "GPLv2 or later," and cannot transition to GPLv3 for a number of reasons not suited for this topic). GPLv2 forbids adding restrictions above and beyond those included in the GPL's own text, thus any distribution via Apple's App Store is a direct violation of the GPL. This is the root of the problem.

https://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/WhyNoiOSVersion