[OTR-dev] dynamic linking and gtk_imhtml_append_text_with_images

[Greg Troxel]

I have been using pidgin-otr just fine on NetBSD for a long time:

pidgin-2.7.3nb2     Multi-protocol Instant Messaging client GTK frontend
pidgin-otr-3.2.0nb7 Plugin for pidgin to add OTR (Off-The-Record) encryption

On OS X, the plugin is greyed out, and it complains about not finding
gtk_imhtml_append_text_with_image.  I at first thought that this was due
to -lgtk* not being given on the link line, and edited that in to
Makefile.{am,in}.  Then I realized that
gtk_imhtml_append_text_with_image is from pidgin, not gtk.  On my NetBSD
system, pidgin is stripped, so I don't understand how that symbol is
found by the otr plugin.  On the mac, the pidgin binary doesn't seem to
define the symbol either.

Hints about how this is supposed to work would be appreciated - I'd like
to fix up pkgsrc so that pidgin-otr/pidgin work on the mac when built
that way.

Specifically:

  how is the U symbol gtk_imhtml_append_text_with_image in the plugin
  resolved if pidgin is stripped?

  how are symbols in gtk resolved in the plugin if the plugin does not
  link against gtk?  Are they available because pidgin has linked
  against them?

  How can pidgin-otr work with the text-mode libpurple client?  Or is
  this truly a pidgin plugin only?

Thanks,
Greg