RTalk

RTalk is an IM client based on the Rediff BOL protocol.

General

1. RTalk

RTalk is an instant messenger client for the Rediff Bol protocol designed to run on the Java platform. RTalk is graphical and uses the Swing toolkit for its user interface.

2. What are the requirements to run it ?

A Java 6 runtime. The runtime needs to be update-1 or above (which has this bug fixed.)

3. How do I run it ?

If your system is configured to load and run jar files, double click on the jar file from your UI. Otherwise open a console and execute "java -jar RTalk.jar". You can also view program output (and exception traces !) in the console that way. For building, you will need SE6 JDK. Use a subversion client to get the code, and use ant to build.

svn co https://rtalk.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/rtalk/trunk rtalk
cd rtalk
ant

4. Will this work on Linux ?

Yes. RTalk is 100% pure Java. You will need to have a correctly configured Java 6 runtime. If you have Compiz Fusion enabled and see gray windows, please see this bug for more info.

5. What works ?

Your mileage may vary. As there are large holes in my understanding of the protocol and as well that Rediff can modify their protocol, it is probable that things break. Implemented so far are 1-1 chat, buddy management, chat rooms functionality and several others.

For Developers

1. How do I contribute/contact you ?

Please contact me via SourceForge (binu_paul@users.sourceforge.net).

2. How can I reverse engineer the protocol ?

To see what's going on, I use Wireshark on a Windows box running RBol. The protocol is binary (as opposed to a text based protocol), so it is harder to see what is going on.

3. Why JRE 6 ?

RTalk uses SwingWorker.

4. Can you summarize the protocol ?

I am planning to document my understanding of the protocol here. Meanwhile, have a look at the source code to know more. Here's my attempt at a summary though:

5. Is there a Pidgin plugin ?

For a Pidgin plugin project (by Arnold Noronha) that uses HTTP (instead of the RBOL protocol) look at rediffbol-prpl.

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