KDE Jabber Library

[Justin Karneges]

Hello,

I am the author of Psi, a Qt-based Jabber client.  See http://psi.sf.net/ for 
details.  Recently, I have been working on a Jabber client library based on 
the Psi backend.  The library is accessible in KDE CVS, under 
kdenonbeta/psi/libpsi/

It is not finished yet, but I am already quite proud of it.  The Psi Jabber 
backend has undergone 3 revisions since it began over a year ago, this last 
one mainly a move to a library.  It is completely based on Qt, and makes use 
of signals/slots, QObject, full unicode, etc.

My proposal is to rename the library to "kimp" (to stand for KDE Instant 
Messaging and Presence) and for it to be included and developed within 
kdelibs.  As a member of the Jabber Software Foundation (or JSF, see 
http://www.jabber.org/), I am involved very much with the Jabber development 
process and advocacy.  Many of us have wanted to "Jabber-enable" a desktop 
environment, and I think KDE would be a great place to begin.

There is a lot of potential here.  By putting kimp in kdelibs:
 - Any KDE application could utilize Jabber easily.  Not only for just 
chit-chat, but also for ease of detecting presence and sending data between 
users / desktops.
 - It could be used as a foundation for an IM services platform (a la 
WindowsXP and MSN).  KDE could keep track of your Jabber connections, have a 
wallet, etc.
 - I'd like to see jabber:// URIs, and the notion of a standard Jabber client 
(just like standard web and mail clients).  There is already a proposed URI 
spec at jabber.org, but no environment has yet to use it.

Of course, kimp would only supply a Jabber library, analogous to an http 
library.  Much of this stuff above could/would actually be implemented as 
further libraries and expansion.  I just wanted to point out the 
possibilities.

By making Jabber so easily accessible from KDE, I think we'd see a lot more 
buzz and developer interest in both KDE and Jabber.  What do you think?

Thanks,
-Justin