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Requirements: Open source; Cross-platform (at least Windows, Linux, OS X); Text

ID: 660411 • Letter: R

Question

Requirements:

Open source;
Cross-platform (at least Windows, Linux, OS X);
Text chatting, group chatting;
Encryption of messages;
Reliable eventual delivery of messages (including to offline contacts);
Sending files;
Skype-grade NAT traversal; bonus for IPv6 support;
Sent messages editing;
Searching in active chat and in chat history.

What can be used instead of proprietary Skype for text chatting?

Are there planned or alpha projects that explicitly (i.e. not like optional XEPs in XMPP) plan to do all the points above?

XMPP does all of the above well in theory, but not in practice (according to my experiments with various clients) and gives "design by community" feeling

Explanation / Answer

Pidgin is an open-source multiplatform (Windows, Linux, MacOSX) chatting client supporting several protocols and including XMPP along with others. It also has plugins for OTP (One-Time Pads), GPG and other encryption methods as well as a Tor-based P2P messaging protocol. It will also allow to share images and files, size may be restricted though.

Comment on your requirements:

Open source
Cross-platform (Windows, Linux, OS X);
Text chatting, group chatting (depends on protocol, supports many);
Encryption of messages (through plugins: GPG, One-Time Pads, others);
Reliable eventual delivery of messages (Configuration option: Offline Message Emulation);
Sending files
Skype-grade NAT traversal; bonus for IPv6 support (depends on protocol, server and setup. Not confirmed.)
Sent messages editing (Not sure, maybe extendable through plugins)
Searching in active chat and in chat history (Not sure, maybe extendable through plugins, history logs visible and configurable)

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