NAME¶
AnyEvent::XMPP - An implementation of the XMPP Protocol
VERSION¶
Version 0.52
SYNOPSIS¶
use AnyEvent::XMPP::Connection;
or:
use AnyEvent::XMPP::IM::Connection;
or:
use AnyEvent::XMPP::Client;
DESCRIPTION¶
This is the head module of the AnyEvent::XMPP XMPP client protocol (as described
in RFC 3920 and RFC 3921) framework.
AnyEvent::XMPP::Connection is a RFC 3920 conforming "XML" stream
implementation for clients, which handles TCP connect up to the resource
binding. And provides low level access to the XML nodes on the XML stream
along with some high level methods to send the predefined XML stanzas.
AnyEvent::XMPP::IM::Connection is a more high level module, which is derived
from AnyEvent::XMPP::Connection. It handles all the instant messaging client
functionality described in RFC 3921.
AnyEvent::XMPP::Client is a multi account client class. It manages connections
to multiple XMPP accounts and tries to offer a nice high level interface to
XMPP communication.
For a list of "Supported extensions" see below.
There are also other modules in this distribution, for example:
AnyEvent::XMPP::Util, AnyEvent::XMPP::Writer, AnyEvent::XMPP::Parser and those
I forgot :-) Those modules might be helpful and/or required if you want to use
this framework for XMPP.
See also AnyEvent::XMPP::Writer for a discussion about the brokenness of XML in
the XMPP specification.
If you have any questions or seek for help look below under "SUPPORT".
REQUIREMENTS¶
One of the major drawbacks I see for AnyEvent::XMPP is the long list of required
modules to make it work.
- AnyEvent
- For the I/O events, timers, TCP, TLS, DNS and I/O
buffering.
- Object::Event
- The former AnyEvent::XMPP::Event module has been outsourced
to the Object::Event module to provide a more generic way for more other
modules to register and call event callbacks.
- XML::Writer
- For writing "XML".
- XML::Parser::Expat
- For parsing partial "XML" stuff.
- MIME::Base64
- For SASL authentication
- Authen::SASL
- For SASL authentication
- Net::LibIDN
- For stringprep profiles to handle JIDs.
- Digest::SHA
- For component authentication and old-style
authentication.
And yes, all these are essential for XMPP communication. Even though 'instant
messaging' and 'presence' is a quite simple problem XMPP somehow was
successful at making the task complicated enough to keep me busy for a long
time. But all of that time wasn't only for the technology required to get it
started, mostly it was for all the quirks, hacks and badly applied
"XML" in the protocol which complicated the matter.
RELEASE NOTES¶
Here are some notes to the last releases (release of this version is at top):
Version¶
- •
- 0.51
Maintenance release. Added a patch which fixes Object::Event compatibility
and another fix w.r.t. memory leak in the parser. And added the original
node to AnyEvent::XMPP::IM::Message (thanks go to mons@cpan.org).
NOTE: Version 0.6 of AnyEvent::XMPP will be API incompatible! If you
are already eager to try the new version out contact me!
- •
- 0.5
Maintenance release. Added a patch from Marcus Dubois for Ext::Pubsub. Also
fixed some memleaks in AnyEvent::XMPP::Parser.
Also wanted to note that the next version of AnyEvent::XMPP will have an
incompatible API. If you are eager to try out the new complete rewrite of
AnyEvent::XMPP contact me.
- •
- 0.4
Minor fixes and feature enhancements: Added old_style_ssl option for direct
port 5223 SSL connections. Providing 'get_own_contact' for keeping track
of own resources.
The AnyEvent::XMPP::Ext::MUC extension was rewritten and provides a more
sane API now.
For details consult the Changes file in the distribution.
- •
- 0.3
Fixed some small bugs and improved documentation a bit, especially w.r.t.
parameter passing of host and ports.
- •
- 0.2
Renamed module from Net::XMPP2 to AnyEvent::XMPP. Net::XMPP2 is herby
deprecated!
Rewrote the low-level socket stuff to use AnyEvent::Socket and
AnyEvent::Handle. Removed blocking write functionality, which can't be
supported that easily with AnyEvent::Handle (however, if you want to wait
until the send-buffer is empty you best use the
"send_buffer_empty" event of AnyEvent::XMPP::Connection).
For more details consult the Changes file of the AnyEvent::XMPP
distribution.
- •
- older
For older release notes please have a look at the Changes file or CPAN.
TODO¶
There are still lots of items on the TODO list (see also the TODO file in the
distribution of AnyEvent::XMPP).
TEST SUITE¶
If you are a developer and want to test either a server or maybe just whether
this module passes some basic tests you might want to run the developer test
suite.
This test suite is not enabled by default because it requires some human
interaction to set it up, please see AnyEvent::XMPP::TestClient for hints
about the setup procedure for the test suite.
I wrote the test suite mostly because I wanted to make sure I didn't break
something essential before a release. The tests don't cover everything and I
don't plan to write a test for every single function in the API, that would
slow down development considerably for me. But I hope that some grave show
stopper bugs in releases are prevented with this test suite.
The tests are also useful if you want to test a server implementation. But there
are maybe of course conformance issues with AnyEvent::XMPP itself, so if you
find something where AnyEvent::XMPP doesn't conform to the XMPP RFCs or XEPs
consult the BUGS section below.
If you find a server that doesn't handle something correctly but you need to
interact with it you are free to implement workarounds and send me a patch, or
even ask me whether I might want to look into the issue (I can't guarantee
anything here, but I want this module to be as interoperable as possible. But
if the implementation of a workaround for some non-conformant software will
complicate the code too much I'm probably not going to implement it.).
Of course, if you find a bug in some server implementation don't forget to file
a bugreport to them, one hack less in AnyEvent::XMPP means more time for bug
fixing and improvements and new features.
Why (yet) another XMPP module?¶
The main outstanding feature of this module in comparison to the other XMPP (aka
Jabber) modules out there is the support for AnyEvent. AnyEvent permits you to
use this module together with other I/O event based programs and libraries
(ie. Gtk2 or Event).
The other modules could often only be integrated in those applications or
libraries by using threads. I decided to write this module because I think
CPAN lacks an event based XMPP module. Threads are unfortunately not an
alternative in Perl at the moment due the limited threading functionality they
provide and the global speed hit. I also think that a simple event based I/O
framework might be a bit easier to handle than threads.
Another thing was that I didn't like the APIs of the other modules. In
AnyEvent::XMPP I try to provide low level modules for speaking XMPP as defined
in RFC 3920 and RFC 3921 (see also AnyEvent::XMPP::Connection and
AnyEvent::XMPP::IM::Connection). But I also try to provide a high level API
for easier usage for instant messaging tasks and clients (eg.
AnyEvent::XMPP::Client).
Supported extensions¶
See AnyEvent::XMPP::Ext for a list.
EXAMPLES¶
Following examples are included in this distribution:
- samples/simple_example_1
- This example script just connects to a server and sends a
message and also displays incoming messages on stdout.
- samples/conference_lister
- See below.
- samples/room_lister
- See below.
- samples/room_lister_stat
- These three scripts implements a global room scan.
"conference_lister" takes a list of servers (the file is called
"servers.xml" which has the same format as the xml file at
<http://www.jabber.org/servers.xml>). It then scans all servers for
chat room services and lists them into a file
"conferences.stor", which is a Storable dump.
"room_lister" then reads that file and queries all services for
rooms, and then all rooms for their occupants. The output file is
"room_data.stor", also a Storable dump, which in turn can be
read with "room_lister_stat", which transform the data
structures into something human readable.
These scripts are a bit hacky and quite complicated, but maybe it's of any
value for someone. You might note "EVQ.pm" in samples which is a
module that handles request-throttling (You don't want to flood the server
and risk getting the admins attention :).
- samples/simple_component
- This is a (basic) skeleton for a jabber component.
- samples/simple_oob_retriever
- This is a simple out of band file transfer receiver bot. It
uses "curl" to fetch the files and also has the sample
functionality of sending a file url for someone who sends the bot a 'send
<filename>' message.
- samples/simple_register_example
- This is a example script which allows you to register,
unregister and change your password for accounts. Execute it without
arguments for more details.
- samples/disco_info
- This is a small example tool that allows you to fetch the
software version, disco info and disco items information about a JID.
- samples/talkbot
- This is a simple bot that will read lines from a file and
recite them when you send it a message. It will also automatically allow
you to subscribe to it. Start it without commandline arguments to be
informed about the usage.
- samples/retrieve_roster
- This is a simple example script that will retrieve the
roster for an account and print it to stdout. You start it like this:
samples/# ./retrieve_roster <jid> <password>
- samples/display_avatar
- This is just a small example which should display the
avatar of the account you connect to. It can be used like this:
samples/# ./display_avatar <jid> <password>
For others, which the author might forgot or didn't want to list here see the
"samples/" directory.
More examples will be included in later releases, please feel free to ask the
"AUTHOR" if you have any questions about the API. There is also an
IRC channel, see "SUPPORT".
AUTHOR¶
Robin Redeker, "<elmex at ta-sa.org>", JID: "<elmex at
jabber.org>"
BUGS¶
Please note that I'm currently (July 2007) the only developer on this project
and I'm very busy with my studies in Computer Science. If you want to ease my
workload or want timely releases, please send me patches instead of bug
reports or feature requests. I won't forget the reports or requests if you
can't or didn't send patches, but I can't gurantee immediate response. But I
will of course try to fix/implement them as soon as possible!
Also try to be as precise as possible with bug reports, if you can't send a
patch, it would be best if you find out which code doesn't work and tell me
why.
Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-net-xmpp2 at
rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=AnyEvent-XMPP
<
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=AnyEvent-XMPP>. I will
be notified and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug
as I make changes.
SUPPORT¶
You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.
perldoc AnyEvent::XMPP
You can also look for information at:
- •
- IRC: AnyEvent::XMPP IRC Channel
IRC Network: http://freenode.net/
Server : chat.freenode.net
Channel : #ae_xmpp
Feel free to join and ask questions!
- •
- AnyEvent::XMPP Project Site
http://www.ta-sa.org/net_xmpp2 <http://www.ta-sa.org/net_xmpp2>
- •
- AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation
http://annocpan.org/dist/AnyEvent-XMPP
<http://annocpan.org/dist/AnyEvent-XMPP>
- •
- CPAN Ratings
http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/AnyEvent-XMPP
<http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/AnyEvent-XMPP>
- •
- RT: CPAN's request tracker
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=AnyEvent-XMPP
<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=AnyEvent-XMPP>
- •
- Search CPAN
http://search.cpan.org/dist/AnyEvent-XMPP
<http://search.cpan.org/dist/AnyEvent-XMPP>
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS¶
Thanks to the XSF for the development of an open instant messaging protocol
(even though it uses "XML").
And thanks to all people who had to listen to my desperate curses about the
brokenness/braindeadness of XMPP. Without you I would've never brought this
module to a usable state.
Thanks to:
- •
- J. Cameijo Cerdeira
For pointing out a serious bug in "split_jid" in
AnyEvent::XMPP::Util and suggesting to add a timeout argument to the
"connect" method of AnyEvent::XMPP::SimpleConnection.
- •
- Carlo von Loesch (aka lynX) <http://www.psyced.org/>
For pointing out some typos.
- •
- All other people ..
... I mentioned in the CONTRIBUTORS file which comes with the AnyEvent::XMPP
distribution.
COPYRIGHT & LICENSE¶
Copyright 2007, 2008 Robin Redeker, all rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.