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How to install Pidgin on Ubuntu 16.04

To install Pidgin on Ubuntu 16.04

Pidgin is a free widely used instant messaging chat application, which gives you the ability to log into multiple chat network accounts simultaneously. This application allows you to chat with friends on most of the popular chat services like Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MXit, as well as Zephyr. This tutorial covers the installation procedure of Pidgin on Ubuntu 16.04.

Installation procedure

To start with the installation procedure, add the dependency package into repository via ppa by executing the following command. 

root@linuxhelp:~# add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/backports
 Backports of various (low impact) packages to Trusty and Xenial
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~jonathonf/+archive/ubuntu/backports
Press [ENTER] to continue or ctrl-c to cancel adding it
.
.
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)
OK

The repositories are added to the target system. Update the machine by executing the apt-get update command. 

root@linuxhelp:~# apt-get update
Hit:1 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonathonf/backports/ubuntu xenial InRelease [18.1 kB]
Hit:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/plushuang-tw/uget-stable/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:4 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [102 kB]   
.
.
1 Metadata [5,132 B]
Fetched 1,601 kB in 5s (274 kB/s)              
Reading package lists... Done

The target system is updated with required repositories. Install the pidgin application by running the following command. 

root@linuxhelp:~#  apt-get install pidgin
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  gnome-software-common libgtkspell3-3-0
.
.
Setting up pidgin (1:2.12.0-1ubuntu1~16.04.york0) ...
Setting up pidgin-libnotify (0.14-9ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu3) ...

The Pidgin application is installed successfully in the system. Type the application name in the Ubuntu dashboard. Click on the icon to run the application.

The Pidgin application is running successfully in the target system.

The Pidgin application is done successfully.

Tag : Messaging-chat server Ubuntu
FAQ
Q
How do I apply the patch "something.diff" on pidgin?
A
Type patch -p0 < something.diff from the top level of the source directory (pidgin/, not pidgin/pidgin/ or pidgin/finch/). If that does not work, try patch -p1 < something.diff.
Q
How can I get Pidgin to report idleness based on keyboard and mouse usage?
A
You will need to install the libxss-dev package. Check with your distributions package manager for the exact package name. The package name given here is for Ubuntu/Debian. Without this package
Q
Can I install Pidgin on Mac OS X?
A
Yes you can, but we do not provide a package for it. The reason being that in order to use Pidgin on Mac OS X, you need to install GTK+ and other libraries, which we are not prepared to support.
Q
is Pidgin support for multi-platform?
A
yes pidgin is multi-platform supported tool.
Q
what are the similar tools like pidgin?
A
try the following tools which are similar to pidgin Tox,
Jitsi,
Rambox,
Trillian,
Ring.