Specification

• Launchpad Entry: https://features.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/feisty-telepathy

• Created: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 11:49:59 +0100 by DanielHolbach

• Contributors: SimonMcVittie, Raphaël Slinckx, ScottJamesRemnant, DanielHolbach, MurrayCumming, JorgeOCastro, MarioDanic, BrunoAbinader

Summary

[http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/wiki/ Telepathy] provides a unified framework for all forms of real time conversations, including instant messaging, IRC, voice calls and video calls. It uses the DBus messaging system to provide a simple interface for client applications, allowing them to quickly benefit from Telepathy's functionality. By defining general interfaces, all its subprojects manage to most efficiently solve one set of problems. It's the future of real time conversations.

Rationale

Having separate products, packages and upstreams for all the individual parts of real-time conversation will improve the overall quality of software over time. It will make it possible to re-use the best implementations of modules and empower developers to contribute more easily and make use of collaborative features for their software.

Use cases

• Mark wants his client software to nicely expose all the features the real time conversation framework of his distro has to offer.

• Jono wants to add collaborative features to jokosher. He wants to have packages ready to start developing with.

Scope

The spec describes the Telepathy related changes we do in Ubuntu for Feisty.

Design

• Maintain and update the packages that are in already: [:Telepathy/Modules]
• Introduce new packages in Ubuntu:

  • gossip-telepathy,

  • landell.

• Consider gossip-telepathy in main with select connection-managers.

Implementation

gossip-telepathy

[http://developer.imendio.com/projects/gossip/ Gossip] traditionally used the [http://developer.imendio.com/projects/loudmouth loudmouth library] and "just" did Jabber. A branch of it is embracing the telepathy efforts and exposing its features through the UI.

We're going to package gossip-telepathy as a separate package which replaces the existing gossip package. This is currently the best contestant.

Landell

[http://tapioca-voip.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Landell Landell] is a client using Mono and Telepathy, which is under heavy development too. It currently lives in SourceForge SVN only, but we'll package a SVN version to get it tested and out to the masses.

Telepathy Stack

The stack that is currently in Feisty is in good shape. It simply needs updating and merging with Debian, which is being worked on by the [http://launchpad.net/people/telepathy/ Ubuntu Telepathy team].

We will also keep on introducing new connection managers and other modules as they creep up. One example is an early telepathy-salut, a link-local XMPP connection manager.

Apart from that the team will take care of updating and maintaining cohoba, a panel applet, that momentarily serves proof of concept purposes, but works ok already.

Random notes

Telepathy for Feisty

Abstract the protocols from the UI. "Pervasive chat throughout the desktop"

Current Status

• Edgy ships an initial set of telepathy packages (the entire suite + cohoba).

What software will use Telepathy

• gossip, a Gnome/Gtk IM client
• kopete, a Kde/Qt IM client

• Landell is a Instant Messenger for the GNOME Desktop. It is written using C# and Telepathy (though the use of Tapioca#, which is a high-level convenience library based on Telepathy# (http://tapioca-voip.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Landell)

Things being worked on / problems

• galago vs mission control (what to be done about email?)

  • What does this part mean? I don't think Galago and MC are in conflict. What does email have to do with Telepathy? -- DafyddHarries

    • DanielHolbach: the question crept up, if mail could be understood as a type of conversation also and how a UI was supposed to cope with the use case of "reading a mail from Bob, I want to start a Jabber session with him".

      • Netscape 6/7, and Apple Mail, handle this by having a clickable avatar of the sender in the e-mail message window. -- MatthewPaulThomas

• telepathy-sharp

Things feasible for Feisty release

• gabble (working on feature parity)
• wilde (getting there slowly)
• butterfly (getting there slowly)
• Gossip-telepathy (hopefully) - "replacing" regular gossip
• Tapioca (hopefully)

Things yet to come

• at some stage: libtelepathy-gtk, libtelepathy-qt (reusable widgets)

Improvements

• Packages for tapioca should be done for feisty (http://tapioca-voip.sourceforge.net/)

Comments

• One can't reach most of the people using Ekiga (it doesn't support MSN/IRC, the most common protocols and IM features), one can't use any VOIP features using GAIM (it doesn't have any). To be able to collaborate well with people you will have to run multiple clients all the time (major usability issue) and still you can not do everything with every other party. Telepathy/Tapioca sort of stuff to replace Ekiga/Gaim completely on Ubuntu is a great idea. Desktop that supports collaboration well could actually drive more people into using Ubuntu, it is a strong selling point for some! -- Erich
  • It's using mono, so it won't be acceptable for a large group of people. --soc

• Tapioca/Landell packages for Ubuntu Feisty available here: http://www.dcc.ufam.edu.br/~boa/feisty/

Outstanding Issues

• gossip-telepathy is not ready for main yet (Crashes).

• telepathy-butterfly crashes a lot: [https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/telepathy-butterfly/+bugs bug reports] (MSN support)

• No working ICQ support.

  • telepathy-wilde is written in Java and [https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libdbus-java one dependency doesn't build],

  • No commits to the project since SoC ended.

[:CategoryTelepathy]BR [:CategorySpec]