[jdev] File Transfer Interoperability

[Robin Redeker]

On Sun, Aug 05, 2007 at 05:49:55PM +0200, Michael Laukner wrote:
> Hi,
> I have been reading the discussions about Basic/Intermediate Client 2008
> because I was interested in file transfer interoperability. Although
> there is a standard (XEP-96) file transfer does not work properly
> within the XMPP famliy of clients.
> 
> http://www.igniterealtime.org/forum/thread.jspa?messageID=152457#152457
> http://forum.psi-im.org/thread/4174
> http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.network.jabber.standards-jig/10468
> 
> Wouldn't it be nice if file transfer worked as seamless as an e-mail
> attachment? I would love if at least the main players (recommended
> clients in jabber.org) could agree on an implementation guideline.

That surely would be nice, but standards@ currently works
on a replacement, called jingle filetransfers. The spec is still not
finished yet, and once it is out the bar for implementing filetransfer
will be set up to implementing ICE (NAT traversal technique by the
IETF, hooraay!).

I currently wonder how much energy is spent on implementing a maybe
soon (or not so soon?) outdated filetransfer method.

But I can at least agree on your observation that filetransfer doesn't
really work. I lately had someone behind some restricted firewall
and we were unable to transmit a simple small image. I thought with
IBB there is almost no way this wouldn't work (I used tkabber, but I
don't know what he used).

Maybe people think jingle with ICE will be the magical golden bullet to kill
that problem (maybe at least standards@ thinks so).

I hope that at least jingle filetransfer will be made compatible with SI
in some way (maybe there is already a protocol in the tmp queue?).


Robin