[jdev] That presence problem again

[JD Conley]

> How should my Jabber _client_ get the latest news about the remote
JID?

Ghosted users is an interesting (and common) issue that we've been
discussing a lot in the Standards list recently. Ideally the server
handles this for you. But, as you mention, remote servers going offline
aren't always handled cleanly. Using presence is probably sub-optimal
because the behavior is going to vary across the different server
implementations. 

If you haven't received anything from a previously available contact in
a long time you may want to try an IQ directed at the resource that the
client is likely to respond to automatically -- like a disco#info. If
they are offline or unreachable by your server you'll get an error in
response. From there you can take actions as if they were unavailable in
your client without manipulating your own presence. If you get a
real/correct response then you have to assume your presence is up to
date or you're using very broken servers. :)

-JD