Jabber

Jabber is an open, XML-based protocol for instant messaging and presence. Jabber-based software is deployed on thousands of servers across the internet and is used by over ten million people worldwide, according to the Jabber Software Foundation: [1] (http://www.jabber.org/press/2003-09-22.php).

Jeremie Miller began the project in 1998; its first major public release occurred in May 2000. The project's main product is jabberd, a server to which Jabber clients connect in order to chat. This server can either create a private Jabber network (behind a firewall, for instance) or it can join the global public Jabber network. The key features of Jabber is the distributed nature of the IM system and the use of streaming XML.

A unique feature of the Jabber system is that of transports, also known as gateways, which allow users to access networks using other protocols - such as AIM and ICQ (using OSCAR), Yahoo!_Messenger, MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger (using the .NET Messenger Service), SMS or E-mail. Unlike multi-protocol clients like Trillian or Gaim, Jabber provides this access at the server level by communicating via special gateway services running on a remote computer. Any Jabber user can 'register' with one of these gateways by providing the information needed to log on to that network, and can then communicate with users of that network as though they were Jabber users. This means that any client which fully supports the Jabber protocol can be used to access any network to which a gateway exists, without the need for any extra code in the client.

The basis of the Jabber protocol, now managed by the Jabber Software Foundation, has been accepted by the IETF as a standards-track protocol under the name XMPP, with RFC 3920 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3920.txt). It has often been regarded as being in competition with SIMPLE, based on the SIP protocol, as the standard protocol for instant messaging and presence notification; however, the design of XMPP is intended to provide a more general-purpose inter-application middleware facility.

Contents

1 Jabber clients 1.1 Jabber-only clients 1.2 Multi-Protocol clients with Jabber support 2 Jabber servers 3 Regional Jabber communities 4 Example client-server conversation using the Jabber protocol 5 See also 6 External links

Jabber clients

Jabber-only clients

• Akeni Jabber Client (Cross-platform, proprietary (free for non-commercial use)) http://www.akeni.com
• cabber (Cross-platform, GPL) http://cabber.sourceforge.net/ (text mode interface, outdated)
• Chatopus (PalmOS, proprietary) http://www.chatopus.com/
• Exodus (Windows, GPL)
• Gabber (Linux/Unix, Gnome, GPL)
• Gajim (Cross-platform, GPL) http://www.gajim.org/
• Gossip (Linux/Unix, Gnome, GPL) http://developer.imendio.com/wiki/Gossip
• Gush (Linux/Mac OS X/Windows, Creative Commons) http://2entwine.com/
• Iruka (Cross-platform, GPL) http://www.nongnu.org/iruka/ (outdated)
• jabber.el (Emacs-Lisp, GPL) http://sourceforge.net/projects/emacs-jabber (Emacs interface)
• JabberFoX (Mac OS X, BSD license) http://jabberfox.sourceforge.net
• Jabberzilla (Cross-platform, MPL/GPL/LGPL) http://jabberzilla.jabberstudio.org/
• Jabber Messenger (Windows, proprietary) http://www.jabber.com
• Jabber WindowGram Client ((Mac OS X,Linux/Unix, GPL) http://jwgc.blathersource.org/ (text mode interface)
• JAJC (Windows, proprietary, but free for any use)
• JBother (Java, GPL) http://jbother.org/
• Jeti (Java,GPL) http://jeti.jabberstudio.org/
• Jeti/2 (Java, eComStaton OS/2, GPL) http://www.ehlertronic.de/jeti2.htm
• Neos (Windows, proprietary) http://www.neosmt.com/
• Nitro (Mac OS X, GPL) http://nitro.jabberstudio.org/
• Pandion (Windows, proprietary) http://www.pandion.be/
• Psi (Cross-platform, GPL) http://psi.affinix.com/
• sjabber (Cross-platform, GPL) http://www.pipetree.com/jabber/sjabber/ (text mode interface, outdated)
• The Coccinella (Windows,Mac OS X,Linux/Unix, GPL) http://hem.fyristorg.com/matben/
• Tkabber (Cross-platform, GPL) http://tkabber.jabber.ru/
• Whisper IM (Java, Creative Commons) https://whisperim.dev.java.net/
• JWChat (Javascript, GPL) http://jwchat.sourceforge.net/

Multi-Protocol clients with Jabber support

• Adium X (Mac OS X, GPL)
• Bitlbee via IRC (Cross-platform, Free) http://www.bitlbee.org
• Centericq (Cross-platform, GPL) (text mode interface)
• Fire (Mac OS X, GPL)
• Gaim (Linux/Unix/Windows, GPL)
• Proteus (Mac OS X, proprietary)
• Kopete (Linux/Unix, GPL) http://kopete.kde.org
• Miranda IM (Windows, GPL)
• SIM (Linux/Windows, GPL) http://sim-icq.sourceforge.net
• Trillian Pro (Windows, proprietary) with plug-in
• iChat (Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger only, proprietary)

Jabber servers

• Antepo OPN (Java, Commercial) http://www.antepo.com/?products.opnserver
• chime (Java, GPL) http://www.codecobra.com/chime/ (doesn't have S2S support (http://www.codecobra.com/chime/todo.html) yet)
• ejabberd (Cross-platform, GPL) http://ejabberd.jabber.ru/
• Jabber XCP (Linux, Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Commercial) http://www.jabber.com/
• jabberd (Cross-platform, GPL) http://jabberd.jabberstudio.org
• jabberd2 (Cross-platform, GPL) http://jabberd.jabberstudio.org/2/
• Jive Messenger (Java, GPL) http://www.jivesoftware.org (doesn't have S2S support (http://www.jivesoftware.org/issues/browse/JM-6?page=history) yet)
• Merak IM (Microsoft Windows, Commercial) http://www.icewarp.com/products/instant_messaging/
• Tigase (Java, GPL) https://tigase.dev.java.net/
• xmppd.py (Cross-platform, GPL) http://sf.net/projects/xmpppy/

Regional Jabber communities

In a few places around the world, communities have evolved where the main focus is advocating Jabber and bringing Jabber closer to the end user. Usually services are offered, such as a Jabber server, a web portal to assist users with signing up to Jabber and forums.

Some examples of these Jabber communities include:

• Jabber Russia - http://www.jabber.ru/
• Jabber Australia - http://www.jabber.org.au/
• Jabber Africa - http://www.jabberafrica.org/
• JabberES (Spain) - http://www.jabberes.org/
• JabberPL (Poland) - http://www.jabberpl.org/

Example client-server conversation using the Jabber protocol

A client (kuusipuu) connects to jabber server (amessage.de port 5222/tcp), sends a message (Subject: "test 1449" and Body: "test 1449") to another client (tero) and logs out.

kuusipuu:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<stream:stream xmlns:stream="http://etherx.jabber.org/streams"
xmlns="jabber:client" to="amessage.de">

amessage.de:

<stream:stream xmlns='jabber:client'
xmlns:stream='http://etherx.jabber.org/streams' from='amessage.de'
id='1461777714'>

kuusipuu:

<iq type="set" id="auth_2" to="amessage.de" >
  <query xmlns="jabber:iq:auth">
    <username>kuusipuu</username>
    <password>mypassword</password>
    <resource>Work</resource>
   </query>
</iq>

amessage.de:

<iq from="amessage.de" id='auth_2' type='result'/>

kuusipuu:

<message to="tero@example.com" >
  <subject>test 1449</subject>
  <body>test 1449</body>
</message>
<presence type="unavailable" >
  <status>Logged out</status>
</presence>
</stream:stream>

amessage.de:

</stream:stream>

See also

• List of instant messengers
• Comparison of instant messengers
• XMPP specifications

External links

• Jabber Software Foundation (http://www.jabber.org)
• Jabber User Guide (http://www.jabber.org/user/userguide/) - Introduction to using Jabber for new users.

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