Provided by: libanyevent-xmpp-perl_0.55-4_all 
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.