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Revision 1.1 by elmex, Tue Jan 23 15:56:47 2007 UTC vs.
Revision 1.4 by elmex, Wed Jul 11 20:56:49 2007 UTC

1NAME 1NAME
2 Net::XMPP2 - An implementation of the XMPP Protocol 2 Net::XMPP2 - An implementation of the XMPP Protocol
3 3
4VERSION 4VERSION
5 Version 0.01 5 Version 0.02
6 6
7SYNOPSIS 7SYNOPSIS
8 use Net::XMPP2::Connection;
9
10 or:
11
12 use Net::XMPP2::IM::Connection;
13
14 or:
15
8 use Net::XMPP2; 16 use Net::XMPP2::Client;
9 ...
10 17
11FUNCTIONS 18DESCRIPTION
12 init 19 This is the head module of the Net::XMPP2 XMPP client protocol (as
20 described in RFC 3920 and RFC 3921) framework.
21
22 Net::XMPP2::Connection is a RFC 3920 conformant "XML" stream
23 implementation for clients, which handles TCP connect up to the resource
24 binding. And provides low level access to the XML nodes on the XML
25 stream along with some high level methods to send the predefined XML
26 stanzas.
27
28 Net::XMPP2::IM::Connection is a more high level module, which is derived
29 from Net::XMPP2::Connection. It handles all the instant messaging client
30 functionality described in RFC 3921.
31
32 Net::XMPP2::Client is a multi account client class. It manages
33 connections to multiple XMPP accounts and tries to offer a nice high
34 level interface to XMPP communication.
35
36 For a list of "Supported extensions" see below.
37
38 There are also other modules in this distribution, for example:
39 Net::XMPP2::Util, Net::XMPP2::Writer, Net::XMPP2::Parser and those I
40 forgot :-) Those modules might be helpful and/or required if you want to
41 use this framework for XMPP.
42
43 See also Net::XMPP2::Writer for a discussion about the brokeness of XML
44 in the XMPP specification.
45
46 If you have any questions or seek for help look below under "SUPPORT".
47
48REQUIREMENTS
49 One of the major drawbacks I see for Net::XMPP2 is the long list of
50 required modules to make it work.
51
52 AnyEvent
53 For the I/O events and timers.
54
55 XML::Writer
56 For writing "XML".
57
58 XML::Parser::Expat
59 For parsing partial "XML" stuff.
60
61 MIME::Base64
62 For SASL authentication
63
64 Authen::SASL
65 For SASL authentication
66
67 Net::LibIDN
68 For stringprep profiles to handle JIDs.
69
70 Net::SSLeay
71 For SSL connections.
72
73 Net::DNS
74 For SRV RR lookups.
75
76 And yes, all these are essential for XMPP communication. Even though
77 'instant messaging' and 'presence' is a quite simple problem XMPP
78 somehow was successful at making the task complicated enough to keep me
79 busy for a long time. But all of that time wasn't only for the
80 technology required to get it started, mostly it was for all the quirks,
81 hacks and badly applied "XML" in the protocol which complicated the
82 matter.
83
84RELEASE NOTES
85 Here are some notes to the releases (release of this version is at top):
86
87 Version
88 * 0.02
89 This release adds lots of small improvements on the API (mostly new
90 events), and also some bugfixes here and there. The release also
91 comes with some new examples, you might want to take a look at the
92 "EXAMPLES" section.
93
94 As a highlight I also present the implementation of XEP-0004 (Data
95 Forms), see also Net::XMPP2::Ext for a description.
96
97 I also added some convenience functions to Net::XMPP2::Util, for
98 example "simxml" which simplifies the generation of XMPP-like "XML".
99
100 * 0.01
101 This release has beta status. The code is already used daily in my
102 client and I keep looking out for bugs. If you find undocumented,
103 missing or faulty code/methods please drop me a mail! See also
104 "BUGS" below.
105
106 Potential edges when using this module: sparely documented methods,
107 missing functionality and generally bugs bugs and bugs. Even though
108 this module is in daily usage there are still lots of cases I might
109 have missed.
110
111 For the next release I'm planning to provide more examples in the
112 documentation and/or samples/ directory, along with bugfixes and
113 enhancements along with some todo items killed from the TODO file.
114
115 TODO
116 There are still lots of items on the TODO list (see also the TODO file
117 in the distribution of Net::XMPP2).
118
119 Sadly this module still misses some decent DOM implementation. Do you
120 know some decent DOM Level 2 implementation for Perl? (I considered
121 switchting to XML::LibXML but I somehow have more trust in the "expat"
122 XML parser, maybe someone wants to implement XML::LibXML based parsing
123 for me (and of course a DOM interface for Net::XMPP2::Node?)
124
125Why (yet) another XMPP module?
126 The main outstanding feature of this module in comparison to the other
127 XMPP (aka Jabber) modules out there is the support for AnyEvent.
128 AnyEvent permits you to use this module together with other I/O event
129 based programs and libraries (ie. Gtk2 or Event).
130
131 The other modules could often only be integrated in those applications
132 or libraries by using threads. I decided to write this module because I
133 think CPAN lacks an event based XMPP module. Threads are unfortunately
134 not an alternative in Perl at the moment due the limited threading
135 functionality they provide and the global speed hit. I also think that a
136 simple event based I/O framework might be a bit easier to handle than
137 threads.
138
139 Another thing was that I didn't like the APIs of the other modules. In
140 Net::XMPP2 I try to provide low level modules for speaking XMPP as
141 defined in RFC 3920 and RFC 3921 (see also Net::XMPP2::Connection and
142 Net::XMPP2::IM::Connection). But I also try to provide a high level API
143 for easier usage for instant messaging tasks and clients (eg.
144 Net::XMPP2::Client).
145
146A note about TLS
147 This module also supports TLS, as the specification of XMPP requires an
148 implementation to support TLS.
149
150 Maybe there are still some bugs in the handling of TLS in
151 Net::XMPP2::Connection. So keep an eye on TLS with this module. If you
152 encounter any problems it would be very helpful if you could debug them
153 or at least send me a detailed report on how to reproduce the problem.
154
155 (As I use this module myself I don't expect TLS to be completly broken,
156 but it might break under different circumstances than I have here. Those
157 circumstances might be a different load of data pumped through the TLS
158 connection.)
159
160 I mainly expect problems where available data isn't properly read from
161 the socket or written to it. You might want to take a look at the
162 "debug_send" and "debug_recv" events in Net::XMPP2::Connection.
163
164Supported extensions
165 See Net::XMPP2::Ext for a list.
166
167EXAMPLES
168 Following examples are included in this distribution:
169
170 samples/simple_example_1
171 This example script just connects to a server and sends a message
172 and also displays incoming messages on stdout.
173
174 samples/devcl/devcl
175 This is a more advanced 'example'. It requires you to have Gtk2
176 installed. It's mostly used by the author to implement
177 proof-of-concepts. Currently you start the client like this:
178
179 ../Net-XMPP2/samples/devcl/# perl ./devcl <jid> <password>
180
181 The client's main window displays a protocol dump and there is
182 currently a service discovery browser implemented.
183
184 This might be a valuable source if you look for more real-world
185 applications of Net::XMPP2.
186
187 samples/conference_lister
188 See below.
189
190 samples/room_lister
191 See below.
192
193 samples/room_lister_stat
194 These three scripts implements a global room scan.
195 "conference_lister" takes a list of servers (the file is called
196 "servers.xml" which has the same format as the xml file at
197 <http://www.jabber.org/servers.xml>). It then scans all servers for
198 chat room services and lists them into a file "conferences.stor",
199 which is a Storable dump.
200
201 "room_lister" then reads that file and queries all services for
202 rooms, and then all rooms for their occupants. The output file is
203 "room_data.stor", also a Storable dump, which in turn can be read
204 with "room_lister_stat", which transform the data structures into
205 something human readable.
206
207 These scripts are a bit hacky and quite complicated, but maybe it's
208 of any value for someone. You might note "EVQ.pm" in samples which
209 is a module that handles request-throttling (You don't want to flood
210 the server and risk getting the admins attention :).
211
212 For others, which the author might forgot or didn't want to list here
213 see the "samples/" directory.
214
215 More examples will be included in later releases, please feel free to
216 ask the "AUTHOR" if you have any questions about the API. There is also
217 an IRC channel, see "SUPPORT".
218
13AUTHOR 219AUTHOR
14 Robin Redeker, "<elmex at ta-sa.org>" 220 Robin Redeker, "<elmex at ta-sa.org>", JID: "<elmex at jabber.org>"
15 221
16BUGS 222BUGS
223 Please note that I'm currently (July 2007) the only developer on this
224 project and I'm very busy with my studies in Computer Science in Summer
225 2007. If you want to ease my workload or want timely releases, please
226 send me patches instead of bug reports or feature requests. I won't
227 forget the reports or requests if you can't or didn't send patches, but
228 it can take a long time until I get enough time to fix/implement them.
229
230 Also try to be as precise as possible with bug reports, if you can't
231 send a patch, it would be best if you find out which code doesn't work
232 and tell me why.
233
17 Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-net-xmpp2 at 234 Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-net-xmpp2 at
18 rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at 235 rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
19 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Net-XMPP2>. I will be 236 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Net-XMPP2>. I will be
20 notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your 237 notified and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your
21 bug as I make changes. 238 bug as I make changes.
22 239
23SUPPORT 240SUPPORT
24 You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. 241 You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.
25 242
26 perldoc Net::XMPP2 243 perldoc Net::XMPP2
27 244
28 You can also look for information at: 245 You can also look for information at:
29 246
247 * IRC: Net::XMPP2 IRC Channel
248 IRC Network: http://freenode.net/
249 Server : chat.freenode.net
250 Channel : #net_xmpp2
251
252 Feel free to join and ask questions!
253
254 * Net::XMPP2 Project Site
255 <http://www.ta-sa.org/>
256
30 * AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation 257 * AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation
31 <http://annocpan.org/dist/Net-XMPP2> 258 <http://annocpan.org/dist/Net-XMPP2>
32 259
33 * CPAN Ratings 260 * CPAN Ratings
34 <http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Net-XMPP2> 261 <http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Net-XMPP2>
… …
38 265
39 * Search CPAN 266 * Search CPAN
40 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Net-XMPP2> 267 <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Net-XMPP2>
41 268
42ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 269ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
270 Thanks to the XSF for the development of an open instant messaging
271 protocol (even though it uses "XML").
272
273 And thanks to all people who had to listen to my desperate curses about
274 the brokenness/braindeadness of XMPP. Without you I would've never
275 brought this module to a usable state.
276
277 Thanks to:
278
279 * Carlo von Loesch (aka lynX) <http://www.psyced.org/>
280 For pointing out some typos.
281
43COPYRIGHT & LICENSE 282COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
44 Copyright 2007 Robin Redeker, all rights reserved. 283 Copyright 2007 Robin Redeker, all rights reserved.
45 284
46 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it 285 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
47 under the same terms as Perl itself. 286 under the same terms as Perl itself.

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