| Tkabber | |
|---|---|
 | |
Screenshot  Tkabber 0.10.0 | |
| Developer | The Tkabber Team |
| Initial release | 2002 |
| Stable release | |
| Preview release | |
| Written in | Tcl/Tk |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Instant messagingclient |
| License | GNU GPL |
| Website | tkabber |
| Repository | |
Tkabber is aGPLinstant messagingclient for theXMPP protocol which uses theTk toolkit for theGUI. It runs on anything to whichTcl/Tk is ported: almost anyX-based system (namely, anyLinux and*BSD,Solaris, etc.),Microsoft Windows, andMac OS X.
Tkabber was started by Alexey Shchepin (also the author ofejabberd XMPP server) in 2002. Several people contributed into it, notably Marshal T. Rose, Michail Litvak and Sergei Golovan, who is the current maintainer of the project.
In October 2004, Alexey Shchepin won an Honorable Mention for Tkabber in theActiveState Programmer Network's Coolest Tk Screenshot Contest. Coincidentally, anotherJabber/XMPP client was a Grand Prize Winner: Mats Bengtsson forCoccinella.[2]
The word "Tkabber" is built of two words: "Tk" and "Jabber" which alludes to the GUI toolkit used and the family of network protocols implemented. No one really knows how it is pronounced. Russian speakers (including the Tkabber's author, who invented this name) pronounce it as [t'kabber].
Tkabber is primarily distributed in the form of twotarballs containing the code of its "core" and standard externalplugins. Since Tkabber is written in an interpreted language, it does not require any "building" for a target platform. Nevertheless, Tkabber is packaged by most of knownLinux distros andFreeBSD. Also special "all-in-one" packages forMicrosoft Windows are provided (they don't require separate installation of theTcl/Tk runtime) in the forms ofinstaller and starpack. Starpack for Linux x86 is also provided.
The goal of the Tkabber project is to create across-platformXMPP client which isfeature-rich andis easy to hack. Tkabber is written inTcl allowing it can be customized without knowledge of a low-level language such asC++ and its build system.
