NAME
AnyEvent::XMPP - An implementation of the XMPP Protocol
VERSION
Version 0.55
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
* 0.55
Bugfixes, see Changes file.
* 0.54
Add AnyEvent::XMPP::Ext::Receipts, small bugfixes, see Changes file.
* 0.53
Maintenance release. Patches for various small issues, see Changes
file.
* 0.52
Maintenance release.
* 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>. 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>
* AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation
<http://annocpan.org/dist/AnyEvent-XMPP>
* CPAN Ratings
<http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/AnyEvent-XMPP>
* RT: CPAN's request tracker
<http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=AnyEvent-XMPP>
* Search CPAN
<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.