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Definition
Jabber
- Rapid and indistinct speech
- To talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
- A streaming XML technology mainly used for instant messaging
Jabber is best known as "the Linux of instant messaging" -- an open, secure, ad-free alternative to consumer IM services like AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo. Under the hood, Jabber is a set of streaming XML protocols and technologies that enable any two entities on the Internet to exchange messages, presence, and other structured information in close to real time. Jabber technologies offer several key advantages:
- Open -- the Jabber protocols are free, open, public, and easily understandable; in addition, multiple implementations exist for clients, servers, components, and code libraries.
- Standard -- the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has formalized the core XML streaming protocols as an approved instant messaging and presence technology under the name of XMPP, and the XMPP specifications have been published as RFC 3920 and RFC 3921.
- Proven -- the first Jabber technologies were developed by Jeremie Miller in 1998 and are now quite stable; hundreds of developers are working on Jabber technologies, there are tens of thousands of Jabber servers running on the Internet today, and millions of people use Jabber for IM.
- Decentralized -- the architecture of the Jabber network is similar to email; as a result, anyone can run their own Jabber server, enabling individuals and organizations to take control of their IM experience.
- Secure -- any Jabber server may be isolated from the public Jabber network (e.g., on a company intranet), and robust security using SASL and TLS has been built into the core XMPP specifications.
- Extensible -- using the power of XML namespaces, anyone can build custom functionality on top of the core protocols; to maintain interoperability, common extensions are managed by the Jabber Software Foundation.
- Flexible -- Jabber applications beyond IM include network management, content syndication, collaboration tools, file sharing, gaming, and remote systems monitoring.
- Diverse -- a wide range of companies and open-source projects use the Jabber protocols to build and deploy real-time applications and services; you will never get "locked in" when you use Jabber technologies.
It is also the preferred IM protocol for the UbuntuForums.
Setup Jabber
The instructions below detail how to setup a Jabber account using the Gajim, PSI and Pidgin instant messenger & your existing gmail account. ' Note: Pidgin is installed by default in Ubuntu, but lacks good support for the Jabber protocol, if you plan on using Jabber for more than just chatting (filetransfer, for example), you are recommended to use a dedicated Jabber client, such as Gajim, PSI (Qt) or Gossip ' Also note that Filetransfer might not work with other Jabber-users if you are using using your GMail account (if you need this, register at a different server, jabber.org for example.)
Gajim
Edit > Accounts
- New
- I already have an account I want to use (If you have an account)
- Username: your.address (before @ sign)
- Server: gmail.com
- Password: Your gmail password
- Connect when I press Finish
PSI
(Menu bottom left) > Account Setup
- Add
- Name: What you want to call your account
Jabber ID: your.address@gmail.com
- Password: Your gmail password
- Save
(Menu bottom right) > Set Status: Online
Pidgin
Tools > Accounts > Add
Use drop-down menu & select "XMPP"
Screen Name : <your.address (before @ sign)
- Server : gmail.com (after @ sign)
- Resource : Gaim (default)
- Password : Your gmail password
- Alias : Your alias or nickname
- More Options / Advanced
- Connect Server : talk.google.com
- Register / Connect
Transports
With Jabber it is possible to chat with other IM systems using so-called "Transports". Not all providers support this (GMail and Jabber.org do not), so if you need this functionality you'll need to register an account that does. Jabber.no is a reliable server that provide several transports (MSN, ICQ, AIM and IRC). Also note that Pidgin can not setup transports, if you use Pidgin you will need to register the transport with a different client, or by using the servers homepage.
The process of registering a transport is different in each client, find something that resembles "Discover Services", choose the transport you want, press "register" (or similar) then follow the instructions.
If you need further instructions, look at the link at the bottom of the page.
Clients