About

Taken from aMSN's homepage

aMSN is a free open source MSN Messenger clone, with features such as:

• Offline Messaging
• Voice Clips
• Display pictures
• Custom emoticons
• Multi-language support (around 40 languages currently supported)
• Webcam support
• Sign in to more than one account at once
• Full-speed File transfers
• Group support
• Normal, and animated emoticons with sounds
• Chat logs
• Timestamping
• Event alarms
• Conferencing support
• Tabbed chat windows

For a full list, see the features page. More features can be added to aMSN with plugins , or completely change its look with different skins!"

How to install an updated version

Rationale

On Aug 5 2008 my aMSN stopped working. Turned out Microsoft had changed the behaviour of their servers causing aMSN, which expected a certain reply from the server, to be forever at the "Logging in" stage. The issue was speedily resolved by the aMSN developers which deployed a new version, aMSN 0.97.2 . The updated version isn't yet at Ubuntu official repositories and as such a custom install of aMSN is the easiest way to be able to connect again.

Options

• Install patched (but not latest) aMSN from Ubuntu (RECOMMENDED)

• Install latest aMSN using autopackage (NOT RECOMMENDED)

• Install latest aMSN from source -- YET TO BE WRITTEN (and NOT RECOMMENDED)

Install patched (but not latest) aMSN from Ubuntu

Binary Distribution (like Debian and Ubuntu) Workflow

When a change is needed to stable packages, the source package is updated, compiled, uploaded to a testing repository and afterwards out in a stable repository.

Assuming Hardy Heron, the testing repository is hardy-proposed and the stable repository is hardy-updates.

As such you can:

• Wait for the package to be in hardy-updates
• Test the package in hardy-testing

Wait for the package to be in hardy-updates

Wait and you're done, sooner or later the package will appear.

Test the package in hardy-testing

Enable {Ubuntu version}-proposed, aka hardy-proposed for most of you

Don't forget to add/edit the file /etc/apt/preferences as mentioned in the wiki, otherwise you'll end up testing ALL hardy-proposed packages instead of just the one you want, which is aMSN.

Finally, do:

'
' sudo aptitude -t hardy-proposed install amsn
'
(as you might have guessed, the -t hardy-proposed indicates that that particular package is to be downloaded from that category, hardy-proposed).