STATUS

STATUS of Gaim CVS tree. Last modified $Date: 2001-10-18 08:12:38 -0400 (Thu, 18 Oct 2001) $ by
$Author: warmenhoven $.

This file is meant to provide gaim users who use the CVS version to see whether
they actually want to compile what they just checked out. Gaim CVS is usually
relatively stable (we use it all the time), but has tendencies to be quirky at
times.

There always seems to be some iffy-ness by a lot of people about whether to
use the CVS version or stick with a stable release. Use the CVS version. If
you need a version that you know is reliable, then keep your favorite one in
case of an emergency. But for the most part, gaim is not mission-critical
software, and if you can help us find a few bugs before we release, all the
better. (Also, CVS tends to be more stable than releases, since we get 10 or
12 bug reports right after we make a release, and all those bugs are fixed
within a day or two usually.)

Each protocol is hacked by both Rob and Eric, though there is one person that
kind of "owns" a protocol (mostly indicating that they were the person that
originally wrote it). Their name will be next to the protocol; they're the
people to complain to when something doesn't work ;).


OVERALL
=======

Everything right now is more or less peachy. I regularly use seven protocols
at the same time and don't have any problems (all of them except Napster and
Zephyr). You shouldn't be using 0.10.3; there are serious bugs in it (including
a remote exploit). Always use CVS, or if not, the most recent release.


Buddy List
==========

The buddy list should now be stable. The only thing that'll be missing is if
you're signed on as more than one name, the tooltips and idle times for buddies
won't display correctly.


Applet
======

The applet should be stable and completely functional now (as far as the applet
part of it goes). Please, someone send in better icons. And preferably OS-
neutral ones.


Plugins
=======

The plugin system got a good reworking. It's got a few more features now. Nearly
every plugin is going to need to be rewritten.  Have fun porting from 0.10.x to
0.11.0 (it's actually very simple).


Perl
====

Perl has its good side and bad side. It didn't completely survive the transition
to multiple connections, but it was never really intended for more than a chatbot
anyway, which should still work just wonderfully.


TOC (Rob)
===

TOC is working reasonably well. TOC cannot get people's away messages; TOC also
cannot make requests to send files. It is possible, however, to have an AIM user
request to get a file from or send a file to you. Support for Direct IM, Buddy
Icons, and Voice Chat is being worked on.


Oscar (Eric)
=====

Oscar can get people's away messages, so you should use it if that's what's
important to you. Oscar also supports requesting and accepting Direct IM
connections, but doesn't yet let you send/receive files through this or through
the Get File/Send File method. Permit/Deny lists should work properly now.

Oscar is the "default" protocol now, because it supports every feature that TOC
supports and more (except file transfer, but TOC doesn't do file transfer very
well), and is in general more reliable than TOC. When you add new accounts it
defaults to using Oscar (you can specify TOC or any other protocol); when gaim
can't figure out which protocol you wanted to use (e.g. when you type in a
screenname into the Login window for an account gaim doesn't know about), it
will sign it on using Oscar. It is also recommended that you use Oscar instead
of TOC.


Yahoo (Eric)
=====

Yahoo currently supports signing on/off, changing status (only to user-defined
so far though), checking other people's status (via right-clicking in the
buddy list), and sending/receiving messages. You can also select your active ID,
though currently you have to just remember what it is since there's nothing in
the UI that'll let you know. Chat and file transfer are planned but not yet
implemented. Yahoo servers are flaky at best so if you're having problems it's
probably not my fault. Make sure to watch the debug window if you're having any
problems.


IRC (Eric)
===

IRC currently supports signing on/off, sending and receiving messages,
joining chat rooms and holding conversations within them.  The buddylist
also works. Several /commands work as well, /help in any window will show
you a full list.


MSN (Eric)
===

MSN currently supports signing on/off, sending and receiving messages, and going
away/idle. You can also change your friendly name.


ICQ (Eric)
===

ICQ currently supports signing on/off, changing status, checking other people's
status (but not status message), sending/receiving messages, and receiving URLs.
Keepalives are sent regardless of whether or not you want them; it's necessary
since it's a UDP protocol.  Chat and file transfer are planned but not yet
implemented.


Jabber (Eric)
======

Jabber can sign on/off, send/receive messages, and add/remove buddies. All good
things. If you have a registered transport then you can still use that; however
you won't see it on your buddy list yet; and you can't add or remove transports
yet. Chat is working now.


Napster (Rob)
=======

Heh.  Ok, so I (Rob) am on crack!  Gaim can sign on/off of Napster, add/remove
people to your hotlist (buddylist) as well as chat privately and in chat rooms.
You can search for files and browse a list of other user's files.  You can
currently download files as long as the person you're retrieving files from
is not firewalled.


Zephyr (Eric)
======
Let me start off by saying how much I really despise Zephyr. They do a lot of
things that make me realize why this never caught on. For those of you who are
unfortunate enough to feel compelling need to use this, gaim now has a Zephyr
plugin. It can currently sign on/off, handles presence/buddy lists (it even
imports your .anyone file!), and can send/receive personal messages. A lot of
stuff is missing, this is just a real rough first stab at it.