Design decisions for new Protocol: Adium vs Libpurple

[Peter Hosey]

On Jun 26, 2010, at 13:35:34, David Smith wrote:
> … the upside is just the additional front ends …

Which is a mixed upside, since you then have to test your plug-in on those additional front ends, on any platforms you support.

I'd say don't worry about Pidgin/Finch support (or, conversely, Adium support) until you have an additional developer willing to test those platforms for you.

So it comes down to whether you'll ever want to support Pidgin or Finch. If not, you might as well write it directly as an Adium plug-in. If you might, you can write it as a Libpurple plug-in, and only release Adium builds until you have another developer to test Pidgin/Finch.

Of course, if you use Pidgin or Finch as well as Adium, you can disregard all the foregoing and just go for it. You'll still be testing for two, but you'll have self-interest motivating you.