Funpidgin is now Carrier
A few months back there was a big argument between the developers of the instant messaging application known as Pidgin and its users. It began because the developers removed the ability to resize the text entry window which annoyed its users to say the least and even sparked an ethical condemnation. However, what was even more irritating was the developers staunch and unswerving refusal to not only add such feature back into the application, but also their refusal to add in a plugin that was already developed by someone else. If that wasn’t enough to push users away, it became quite apparent that the developers did not consider the users’ satisfaction to be the top priority, but rather their own agenda and if by chance the users happened to think the same way, it would be a bonus. While in some ways I can see both sides of the story, once the userbase becomes as large as it was and also Pidgin becoming the defacto messaging client of various Linux distributions, sometimes the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts and the agenda needs to change. Most likely the most alienating aspect of the upheaval was the combination of refusing to add in the option for text entry area resizing when users knew full well that adding the option would be a simplistic chore. The developers’ disregard for the users’ request just added to the flamewar.
With all of that said, I believe that the text area resizing feature was once again added in a later release. While sometimes I can be forgiving, there is a fundamental reason why I choose to use Linux that I really appreciate which is not being force fed any features or lack thereof. It is for this reason that I quickly adopted the fork of Pidgin called FunPidgin. Funpidgin developers advertise on their site that “Unlike the Pidgin developers, we believe the user should have the final say in what goes into the program.” To me, this is a huge selling point. Even though the Pidgin developers may have added in the said feature in the end after a ridiculously long standoff, the feeling that this disregard for the average user still lingers strongly enough for me that I will likely never return to the original especially as long as there is an alternative and one with several more features at that!
I have recently uploaded the necessary packages to switch to Carrier on the ELG Arch Linux repositories for those in the know. This is available on 32 bit and 64 bit repos. For those who just want to install it manually, you will now need two packages: Webkit and Carrier for 32 bit systems from this directory and Webkit and Carrier for 64 bit systems from this directory. These can be installed using pacman -U pkgname in the corresponding order. Special thanks to Connor Behan who is one of the developers for FunPidgin/Carrier and put the effort into making a pkgbuild for Arch Linux users.