[OTR-dev] Creating a libotr.so ...

[Donny Viszneki]

On 6/7/07, Rüdiger Kuhlmann <l-otr.0705+23jv-l at ruediger-kuhlmann.de> wrote:
> recently I got OTR support for my instant messaging application (mICQ) by
> using the library that should better be called libgaimotr. I found the API
> it provides rather lacking, for the following reasons:

I think you may have misunderstood the purpose of gaim-otr. Gaim-otr
is not called libgaimotr because it isn't a library in casual
parlance.

It is a library in the sense that it is distributed a dynamically
linkable or shared object, aka library (an SO file on Linux, a DLL
file on Windows.)

However it is not a library in the sense that it is meant to be
employed for developers to incorporate into their applications.
Rather, the opposite is true. Gaim-otr is written for a specific
application. In casual parlance, this is called a plugin or a module.

On the other hand, libotr IS something you'd call a "library." The
Gaim plugin gaim-otr provides glue between Gaim and libotr. If you
want OTR functionality to be an optional add-on to your client, you
should write a similar plugin to provide glue between your client and
libotr. You could probably start with gaim-otr as either a reference
or take the code and modify it into something that fits your
application. However, what you are NOT meant to do is link gaim-otr
into another IM client and write your own glue code to connect
gaim-otr and your IM client.

I hope this clarified some things (if there were any ambiguities to
begin with -- I may have mistook your meaning.)