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Configure Pidgin for Kontalk
To have Pidgin running on the Kontalk network you need the following prerequisites:
- A mobile device with Kontalk Messenger installed and configured for sending messages
- Pidgin installed on your GNU/Linux machine.
- GnuPG version 2.1.3 or newer on your GNU/Linux machine.
Export your Kontalk key. Open Kontalk Messenger in your mobile, go to the Settings menu and chose Export your personal key. This will save in your SD card the file kontalk-keys.zip which contains your personal key and login certificates. Transfer the file kontalk-keys.zip to your GNU/Linux machine.
Start the SSL tunnel bridge. Create the folder "kontalk" in your home directory (it does not matter the name of the folder), extract from the file kontalk-keys.zip the files kontalk-login.crt and kontalk-login.key and place theme into the folder kontalk. Download the file ssl_bridge.py into the kontalk folder and make it executable for your Linux user:
chmod 755 ssl_bridge.py
Now that you should have the files ssl_bridge.py, kontalk-login.crt and kontalk-login.key you are ready to run the SSL tunnel bridge with the following command:
./ssl_bridge.py -d -p 5224 --domain beta.kontalk.net -c kontalk-login.crt -k kontalk-login.key beta.kontalk.net:5222
That comand will listen on port 5224 which will be forwarded to beta.kontalk.net:5222 after STARTTLS has been negotiated.
Compile and install the Kontalk plugin for Pidgin.
You'll need header files for pidgin and gpgme library. On debian based systems run
sudo apt-get install pidgin-dev libgpgme11-dev
Download the Kontalk plugin for Pidgin to your computer and install it with:
make install
You will find the plugin in ~/.purple/plugins, ready to be used by Pidgin.
Compile and install pidgin-xmpp-receipts plugin. Download the pidgin-xmpp-receipts to your computer and install it using the same command:
make install
Import your key pair. Extract kontalk-private.asc and kontalk-public.asc from kontalk-keys.zip and import them in your gpg keyring:
Note: Since Kontalk uses new ECC (Elliptic Curve Crypto) keys, you will need gpg version 2.1.6 or later (On debian, you can install gnupg2 and gpg-agent from experimental)
gpg --import kontalk-private.asc
gpg --import kontalk-public.asc
Now you need to know which is the ID of your private key. Run
gpg --list-key
and look for a key with you Kontalk's name and something like <long-hash@beta.kontalk.net>.
Configure the Kontalk plugin for Pidgin. Copy the ID of the key then go to Pidgin > Tools > Plugins, check "Kontalk integration" then chose Configure and paste the ID of your private key. Be sure to also activate the XMPP Receipts plugin.
Open Pidgin in the Account menu chose Manage your account, then create a new XMPP account with the following parameters:
- Protocol: XMPP
- Username: chose-your-user
- Domain: beta.kontalk.net
- Password: anything (and flag remember it)
In the advanced tab:
- Security of connection: Use encryption if available
- check Allow plaintext auth over unencrypted streams
- connect port: 5224
- connect server: localhost
Now you can start the XMPP account for Kontalk.
When you start or receive new messages form your Kontalk contact you will only see the hash instead of the name of the contacts, unfortunately you have to rename the contact's hash with the name.