Inspirated

Pidgin is a multi-protocol instant-messaging client which I use for all my MSN/Google Talk/IRC communication. Apart from offering adept support for all of these protocols (and plenty others as well), Pidgin also provides decent logging support. However, I’m not at all interested in having my daily MSN conversations recorded. On the other hand, I prefer having my previous IRC chats with me for reference. Right now, Pidgin does not support any options in the Preferences which would allow me to selectively turn on logging based on the protocols I’m using. If I turn it on for chat windows, it also starts producing logs for every MSN chat I participate in.

Most of the people wouldn’t/don’t see any issue with this behavior. For those who do want to keep a history of their conversations only for particular protocols, here’s a quick workaround for doing it:

• Check the appropriate options under the “Logging” tab in Preferences window.
• Have a few chats the likes of which you’d prefer being logged.
• Go to the directory containing Pidgin logs (default is ~/.purple/logs):

  [user@host ~]$ cd ~/.purple/logs/

  [user@host ~]$ cd ~/.purple/logs/

• See whether the protocols you want to be logged have a directory named for them:

  [user@host logs]$ ls

  [user@host logs]$ ls

  irc msn

• Remove the protocols you do not want to have logs for (in my case, MSN):

  [user@host logs]$ rm -rf msn

  [user@host logs]$ rm -rf msn

• Change directory permissions to stop new protocols from getting logged:

  [user@host logs]$ chmod 500 .

  [user@host logs]$ chmod 500 .

And you’re done. Now, whenever you start a conversation in a protocol which does not have a respective directory in ~/.purple/logs, you’ll see a “Logging failed” error message in the conversation window. For other (allowed) protocols, logging will work as expected. To turn off selective logging, reset directory permissions with:

[user@host ~]$ chmod 600 ~/.purple/logs/

It is also possible to apply the same workaround on contacts. For example … :

• [user@host ~]$ cd ~/.purple/logs/msn/ [user@host msn]$ ls

  [user@host ~]$ cd ~/.purple/logs/msn/ [user@host msn]$ ls

  bestbuddy@live.com ignorantmoron@live.com

• [user@host msn]$ rm -rf ignorantmoron@live.com

  [user@host msn]$ rm -rf ignorantmoron@live.com

• [user@host msn]$ chmod 500 .

  [user@host msn]$ chmod 500 .

… will disable logging for all MSN contacts including ignorantmoron@live.com, but will record everything communicated with bestbuddy@live.com. Like the previous example, you just have to reset directory permissions to re-enable nondiscriminatory logging:

[user@host ~]$ chmod 600 ~/.purple/logs/msn/

This time though, the 0.2 version bump is pseudo-official, as the experimental branch has finally been merged with the trunk. New features from the revision I just pushed include:

• An “Append” option which, who would’ve expected, appends user-defined text at the end of the countdown.
• An option to select whether the target time is specified in UTC. This was especially problematic as all my sandwiches started taking an extra five hours to heat up in the oven. Initially blaming Pidgin for having some psychic connection with the microwave, it later turned out that the countdown was aiming five hours ahead because, well, that’s the timezone I live in.

Keeping up with the tradition, here’s the obligatory screenshot:

The 0.2 version bump is kinda unofficial as my code branch hasn’t yet been merged into Pidgin Countdown‘s trunk. Nevertheless, here’s the changelog of what I’ve worked on so far:

• Reimplemented preferences with calendar and spin buttons for user-friendliness and validation.

  

• Fixed plugin unloading.
• Added “activation” of the saved countdown status message.

The plugin has become quite handy now. I do have another set of features planned which I will be implementing as soon as I get some more time for leisure coding. Still, as things stand right now, I am pretty content with being able to countdown my IM status to Roma fixtures, Fedora releases or even my sandwich’s heat-up time in the microwave with just a few clicks.