[JDEV] ANN: Smack -- Open Source Java Jabber library

[Matt Tucker]

Brian,

> That looks by far the easiest API to use, how big is this 
> library going to be and what other libraries is it dependant on?

There are still a few important pieces missing, such as roster support, but
the API shouldn't grow too much larger. I'll update the documentation to
reflect dependencies, which is simply JDK 1.2 or later. The only 3rd party
lib is for XML parsing, which is included in the Smack JAR (see below).

> Is XML Parsing built in?

We use the XPP3 pull parser (http://www.xmlpull.org). Pull parsers are great
for this type of application since the XML is streaming. It's also the
fastest parser available and the JAR for it is small at 45K. That JAR will
be embedded in the Smack, so yes, XML parsing will be "built-in".

The total JAR file (Smack classes plus XML parser) should weigh in at less
than 100K. The size of Smack will likely grow slowly over time as additional
features such as SASL and end-to-end encryption are added, but the focus
will always be on having a compact API.

Regards,
Matt