ELI5 why Pidgin is preinstalled in Trisquel and GNUnet uses mainly Pidgin for communicating

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GrevenGull
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A rejoint: 12/18/2017

Can someone ELI5 why Pidgin is preinstalled in Trisquel and GNUnet uses mainly Pidgin for communicating when on their "using Pidgin" guide ( https://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/Using%20Pidgin ) they "indirectly guide you" to registering a MSN/Yahoo account. MSN/Hotmail is Windows which proprietary.

I don't understand this. Why do they link to this?

I mean one thing is saying "Yeah, you can use this program with your already registered MSN account", but linking to the registering page is something completely different.

Can someone ELI5 why GNUproject and Trisquel is okay with this?

aloniv

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A rejoint: 01/11/2011

Another issue with Pidgin is that passwords are stored in plain text (this will be fixed in a future version of Pidgin).

https://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/PlainTextPasswords

SuperTramp83

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A rejoint: 10/31/2014

>Another issue with Pidgin is that passwords are stored in plain text (this will be fixed in a future version of Pidgin).

You want to install the package pidgin-gnome-keyring then.

But then again why would you use that incredible bloated mess of a pidginno? ->

http://www.profanity.im/

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

Can someone ELI5 why Pidgin is preinstalled in Trisquel and GNUnet uses mainly Pidgin for communicating when on their "using Pidgin" guide ( https://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/Using%20Pidgin ) they "indirectly guide you" to registering a MSN/Yahoo account.

It is also an XMPP client, an IRC client, a Bonjour client, etc.

As for GNUnet, I assume you refer to https://gnunet.org/contact_information that gives Pidgin as an example of IRC client.

MSN/Hotmail is Windows which proprietary.

Even if you have an MSN account, connecting to it with Pidgin on Trisquel does not make you run Windows!

I mean one thing is saying "Yeah, you can use this program with your already registered MSN account", but linking to the registering page is something completely different.

Does Pidgin do that?

GrevenGull
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A rejoint: 12/18/2017

> Does Pidgin do that?

https://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/Using%20Pidgin

If you scroll down to the "How do I register for a new account?"-paragraph you can see they link to all kinds of stuff including (for example) a direct link to "create a Microsoft account".

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

OK. I thought you were talking about Pidgin, the program not the project website.

chaosmonk

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A rejoint: 07/07/2017

It would certainly be better to use something like XMPP rather than MSN, but that does not mean there is no situation in which in which making an MSN account is a bad idea. Suppose that someone is only willing to communicate with you via Skype or MSN and you are unable to convince them to learn a new method of communication. It would be much better to make an MSN account to use with free software like Pidgin than to install the proprietary software needed to use Skype.

Similarly, I prefer .odt files over .doc files, but when someone insists on sending me a .doc file I am glad that I can read it using free software like LibreOffice rather than installing Micro$oft Word.

GrevenGull
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A rejoint: 12/18/2017

Now this explains it all :) thank you for being you :)

calher

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A rejoint: 06/19/2015

I don't know why Pidgin is preinstalled, but it annoys me.

If I install Gajim and try to remove Pidgin, the package manager
threatens to remove most of Trisquel!

I don't know why people still use Pidgin. It works OK for basic XMPP,
but if you use services like JMP.chat, you need Gajim for its extra
features, and Gajim is the officially supported client of JMP.chat.

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

The package named "trisquel" is a meta-package. Same thing for "trisquel-recommended", "trisquel-base", "trisquel-base-recommended", "trisquel-desktop-common", "trisquel-desktop-common-recommended", "trisquel-codecs", "trisquel-minimal", "trisquel-print-system", etc.

Being a meta-package means only existing to ease the installation of a bunch of packages: the dependencies of the meta-package. In other words, a meta-package does not install anything by itself (except for a "changelog" file and a "copyright" file in /usr/share/doc). That is why removing a meta-package makes no difference. It only means you do not have Trisquel's related default set of packages installed.

Well, it makes a difference when Trisquel developers decide to add some package to the default system (the next time it will happen will be probably when Trisquel 9 will be released). To do so, they add a dependency to one of the meta-packages. If you do not have it installed anymore, updating your system (through the package manager) will not propose you the installation of the package added to the default system.

Heather

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A rejoint: 03/06/2013

I was able to remove Pidgin from Uruk once  and then put it back on
yesterday. I'm guessing that was taken care of in Flidas but is still an
issue in Belenos.

Gajim doesn't work as an IRC client. We were using Riot before GDPR went
into effect and the TOS changed to 16+ year old users only. 

Pidgin is not great, but it's something a lot of casual/infrequent users
are going to be familiar with. It used to be called GAIM and I think
it's been around the free software world even longer than I have, so at
least since 2005. I remember using it with AOHell messenger protocol
back in the day.

Magic Banana

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A rejoint: 07/24/2010

The earliest archived release was on December 31, 1998.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin_(software)#History

As I explained above, removing a meta-package, such as "trisquel", does not removing any functionality.

Long time no see: how are you doing Heather?

Heather

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A rejoint: 03/06/2013

I never went anywhere except lurkdom, Mr. Banana.

My Freedom-Misc mailing list subscription is kind of messed up right now
so this isn't in the right place on the thread; if some benevolent
overlord mod is just trying to protect me from my oversharing self, it's
no big deal and not taken the wrong way, nor is it if the community
needs to be protected from me.

I'm loving all the positive changes to the Trisquel community that I can
see from my browser and wish I was in a better position to be a part of it.

Maybe someday.

I'm probably going to try McAbber for me when I'm ready to be more
active on IRC but something graphical that is pretty and
preteen-friendly is a higher priority today. I'll join the 21st century
as far as using XMPP instead of email for friendly communication but
only if you'll let me send you offline messages.

/socially inept dork

Heather

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A rejoint: 03/06/2013

Ugh; McAbber is for Jabber; I must have left my short term memory in my
other for-parts-or-repair eBay laptop.

I don't even remember the name of the command line IRC client I have my
eye on. The preteen might be able to use the matrix servers at Disroot
so I'll just start another thread about IRC clients here if it really
does turn out to be a problem.

OP, as an unrepentant distro slut, I'm pretty sure the issues with
removing Pidgin are upstream and that Mr. Banana's advice on how to do
so without destroying your whole system is sound and easy enough to follow.

chaosmonk

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A rejoint: 07/07/2017

> Ugh; McAbber is for Jabber;

I don't use IRC much, but weechat seems to work fine.

Heather

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A rejoint: 03/06/2013

Weechat would be right up my own alley if I could figure out what
dependencies are missing or where I messed up when I compiled it.

No worries; heathers are too oldschool to do but so much real time chat.

This kid may need something that isn't connected to the Matrix network,
just irc.  S/he uses graphic emoji and video or at least voice chat and
all that kid stuff.

S/he's on Uruk and doesn't have sudo privileges yet.

Most tech forums are 13+ only and no judgement on any teens or tweens
who might be reading this, but the age restrictions have to do with data
collection and are there to protect the minor.

chaosmonk

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A rejoint: 07/07/2017

> Weechat would be right up my own alley if I could figure out what dependencies are missing or where I messed up when I compiled it.

It's in the Trisquel repo, so it should be installable in Uruk as well without having to build it.

Heather

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A rejoint: 03/06/2013

Thank you.

I, first person singular, am in the process of migrating to Hyperbola
with no previous experience with Arch or Parabola and not at all
sensitive about how much I have to learn or how badly I bork some of my
installs along the way.

< warm smiles >

The minor is the one with the immediate issue. Pretty much any IRC
client in the Flidas reps should be in the Uruk reps as well, but it
can't connect through Matrix unless Disroot is able to let him/her use
Riot with their servers.

Apologies for the hijack, GrevenGull.

GrevenGull
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A rejoint: 12/18/2017

No problem, I do that all the time so I would be a major hypocrite if I got mad :P

Anyway... I use Wire and it rocks, try it. Although, the other person you want to talk to must have wire also though. So yeah.

calher

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A rejoint: 06/19/2015

I pride myself on being a noob and so I use HexChat.

SuperTramp83

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A rejoint: 10/31/2014
calher

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A rejoint: 06/19/2015

> I'm guessing that was taken care of in Flidas but is still an
> issue in Belenos.

Oh, OK. That's great! As long as I can remove unwanted software.

> Gajim doesn't work as an IRC client. We were using Riot before GDPR went
> into effect and the TOS changed to 16+ year old users only.

HexChat and Pidgin were the common chat apps of the 2000s.

Heather

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A rejoint: 03/06/2013

I took the opposite approach with the T7 install I still have and
started with the netinstall .iso.

It was an adventure in tracking down dependencies, but eventually I
wound up with exactly what I wanted:

a dedicated antisocial networking machine with no browser, no email
program, and perfectly working wget and apt. I get so much work done on
that thing.

I was going to try hexchat once but never got around to it. Pidgin can
spew your personal information all over the internet if you're not
careful when you set it up. By default it will take the personal
information you gave the computer when you installed your OS.

Personal anecdote for example: when I installed my OS, I told my
computer that my name was "Heather" and didn't think much about it, but
I am known offsite by a different username. Since I didn't change that
info when I set up Pidgin, a kind friend let me know after clicking on
"info" from within Pidgin and it was easy enough to fix.

It's no big deal if you know about it but a potential privacy nightmare
for new users.

SuperTramp83

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A rejoint: 10/31/2014

>Personal anecdote for example: when I installed my OS, I told my
computer that my name was "Heather" and didn't think much about it, but
I am known offsite by a different username. Since I didn't change that
info when I set up Pidgin, a kind friend let me know after clicking on
"info" from within Pidgin and it was easy enough to fix.

Heh, I 'member. But you also included the surname, so yeah it spewed out your full name :)