Install Pidgin 2.6.4 a how-to.

Hi

I fully realize that Debian is “all about conservative safety”, so if a moderator wants to remove this post because of safety concerns, then my permission is hereby given.

Pidgin interacting with Yahoo Messenger is something that I particularly have to have for reasons that I don't need to go into. And, unfortunately the supplied Pidgin suffers from the problem created by Yahoo and I'm not real great with Debian's way of doing things.

But... here is how I got it working.

HOW I, PARTICULARLY, installed Pidgin 2.6.4 so that I could use Yahoo Messenger.

I DO NOT KNOW if it will interact with any other particular messaging service.

Again, in the interests of safety first, if the reader is new to Linux he or she should read this.

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Deb_file...ebian_Packages

There are several ways to install packages in Debian, however the “usual suspects” did not work for me having spent my small time in Linux using Ubu variants.

I tried Kpackage, which can be found in Synaptic, but it didn't work.

So, after some diddling around I found that the following would work, however, it involves enabling other repositories.

IF you are not comfortable with that then you might not want to do it, however, if having a working Pidgin that is able to connect to Yahoo is a “make or break”, which it rather is for me, then you can forge on.

(For the more experienced folks, yes, I realize that this is not going to “pin” the system but we'll let that go to let folks try the distro with a working Pidgin, I have given several warnings.)

Here we go:

Go to the little Start icon and then go to Preferences/Synaptic manager and click it.

When it is open go to Settings/Repositories/New(button). In the URL box copy and paste this line: DO NOT CLICK WHAT LOOKS LIKE A LINK.

deb http://www.backports.org/debian lenny-backports main contrib non-free

Click OK, it will say that your sources list has changed.

Then go up to the “Reload” button and click it and you will see a box showing that things are updating.

Close Synaptic.

Go to the terminal, that is the little black box in the lower left panel with a > in it and click it.

In it, unless you have changed things, you should see something like:

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ with a cursor box.

Copy, go to the cursor and put the cursor in the little cursor box and past this and hit enter.

sudo apt-get update

Then copy and paste this and hit enter.

sudo apt-get remove pidgin

It will churn around and do so.

Then copy and paste this and hit enter.

sudo apt-get -t lenny-backports install pidgin pidgin-data libpurple0

Then copy and paste this and hit enter.


sudo apt-get install pidgin-otr pidgin-blinklight

A lot of stuff will go on in the terminal box, you will just have to sit and wait or go and get something to drink, visit with the family, etc.

DO NOT try to use Pidgin when things are done.

After everything has stopped happening, close the terminal and anything else you may have open and restart the computer.

When you restart and click Pidgin in the menu, it should work HOWEVER, for some reason the normal interactive box did not appear for me.

The little conversation balloon with a green ball appeared in the lower right panel, I clicked it and THEN the normal interactive box appeared and I logged into Yahoo messenger as usual and it worked! :D :D

LET ME RESTATE: Debian is “all about” “conservative safety”. If you feel uncomfortable with changing repositories, or using the terminal or any of this, then...well, maybe this is not for you.

Well, I hope this helps somebody and AGAIN, if a moderator wants to delete the post you have my permission to do so!

great distro!

woodsmoke