Bug 70538 - Webcam support for MSN
Summary: Webcam support for MSN
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: kopete
Classification: Applications
Component: MSN Plugin (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Compiled Sources Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Kopete Developers
URL:
Keywords:
: 68388 91026 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2003-12-15 22:26 UTC by Juan Luis Baptiste
Modified: 2005-08-28 14:49 UTC (History)
10 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:


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Description Juan Luis Baptiste 2003-12-15 22:26:41 UTC
Version:            (using KDE Devel)
Installed from:    Compiled sources

The tittle says it all, add webcam support to the MSN plugin!!!
Comment 1 Jason Keirstead 2003-12-15 22:41:14 UTC
There is a KDE program called KPhone that can do this

http://www.wirlab.net/kphone/

Future Kopete integration with KPhone may be possible in some way.
Comment 2 Juan Luis Baptiste 2003-12-18 18:07:39 UTC
Subject: Re:  Webcam support for MSN

>There is a KDE program called KPhone that can do this
>
>http://www.wirlab.net/kphone/
>
>Future Kopete integration with KPhone may be possible in some >way.

Yes, but KPhone msn video support only worked with msn 4.2 and the authors where only successful compiling KPhone+vic in Debian. 

Cheers,
--
-------------------------------
Juan Luis Baptiste M.
Linux registered user #119248
http://www.merlinux.org
http://knetworkconf.sf.net

"we're back to the times
 when men were men and
 wrote their own drivers"
        Linus Torvalds
-------------------------------

Comment 3 Jason Keirstead 2003-12-18 18:32:15 UTC
Subject: Re: [Kopete-devel]  Webcam support for MSN

On December 18, 2003 1:07 pm, Juan Luis Baptiste wrote:
> Yes, but KPhone msn video support only worked with msn 4.2 and the authors
> where only successful compiling KPhone+vic in Debian.

Well if they could only compile it in debian, they're not very adept at 
compiling :P Debian doesn't have some magic flag that makes software work in 
it only, it just depends on if you have the right dependancies installed in 
whatever distro your running.

As for the MSN 4.2, vs. 6, as far as I can see the video protocol has not 
changed much. It is more than likely that they only tested it with 4.2...

Anyways, even if it does not fully work, KPhone is still in heavy development 
and as of right now it is your best (and only) option for SIP based 
telephony, like MSN,  in KDE. And if Kopete ever did support video in the MSN 
plugin it would almost certainly be through an external program like KPhone.

Comment 4 Degand Nicolas 2004-01-06 00:35:19 UTC
I would be willing to put a bounty (something like 20 € for myself) to have this functionality soon (Let's say before July). I could also open a challenge for example at sourcesupport.org to collect funds if initial feedback is positive.
Comment 5 Bart Verwilst 2004-01-21 16:32:40 UTC
webcam support (native) for kopete would be awesome! Not only for MSN, but for things like jabber too.. Don't know if there is a JEP for it yet though on jabber.org.
Comment 6 Olivier Goffart 2004-01-21 16:46:34 UTC
An IM program do Instent messaging, an video conferance program has webcam support.

Since Kopete is an IM program, it will only do IM, and not video conferance.
Let gnomemeeting, kphone, (video_conferance?) , ... doing webcam suppport.

Anyway, for the usability, Kopete could handle invitation, and, with the KPart technology, maybe "include webcam support"
Comment 7 Juan Luis Baptiste 2004-01-21 17:12:39 UTC
I don´t agree at all. The use of voice and video in a IM application it´s a natural evolution of it, and thus kopete should support it. And independently if "webcam support" is part or not of an IM application, it´s a very nice feature for such application to have. But hey, it´s YOUR software, you can do whatever you want with it, right?
Comment 8 Jason Keirstead 2004-01-21 17:25:16 UTC
There will likely at some point be support for Webcam using KPhone, as stated above. It would be very trivial for Kopete to run KPhone and use DCOP to accept the call.

If you want this support faster I suggest encouraging the KPhone developers. Kopete developers are not going to be the ones doing the work here.
Comment 9 Olivier Goffart 2004-03-12 22:31:48 UTC
*** Bug 68388 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 Torsten Hesse 2004-03-13 08:52:09 UTC
If we close Bug 68388 with the following comment:

"VoIP / Webcam / Voice / video conferance / ......
For MSN / ICQ / Jabber, whatever ....
This is all the same crap :-)"

I would like to add these as featurewwishes here at this bug:
VoIP (Voice) + Webcam (Video) for:
MSN
ICQ
Yahoo
Jabber
and what ever
Comment 11 Helge Hielscher 2004-04-13 11:34:43 UTC
Maybe the integration of http://speak-freely.sourceforge.net/ could be a first step? This would already help many people since speak-freely is cross plattform.
Comment 12 Jason Keirstead 2004-04-14 00:42:11 UTC
From what I know speak freely is it's own protocol and is not compatible with either SIP, MSN SIP, or H.323, so I don't see how it could help.
Comment 13 Phil 2004-04-15 23:18:31 UTC
You should then definitly have a look at http://teamspeak.org/ which has a free Linux/win group voice conference program. An extra "Call connect" in Kopete linked to this program would be great
Comment 14 Jason Keirstead 2004-04-16 01:39:01 UTC
Another link to another incompatable protocol....

This bug is for webcam support for MSN. Given that, it is naturally assumed that this support must be compatible with the real MSN webcam support. It's not a feature request for a generic "webcam" plugin that can work with any protocol.

That being said, feel free to post such a wish. Though, most of these things will not work with all protocols, since you need to know the direct IP of the clients, and you often cannot just request that in a generic way.
Comment 15 Andrew Somerville 2004-04-16 01:47:22 UTC
> This bug is for webcam support for MSN. Given that, it is naturally assumed that this support must be compatible with the real MSN webcam support. It's not a feature request for a generic "webcam" plugin that can work with any protocol. 

How do you propose that we go about figuring out MSN's native protocol for such things. I would suggest that that would be a good starting point, since we're probably the first to do this sort of thing. 

There are 3 techniques that I would propose, (in the weakness of my limited experience with cracking protocol):
1. Packet sniffing
2. Some sort of telnet related goofing
3. Write some functions into the existing client, that allows us to send arbitrary messages to the MSN server, and see the responces, which will enable us to crack the protocol. 

What do you guys think?
Comment 16 Siegfried Leonard 2004-04-16 02:01:04 UTC
There was a similar discussion in the miranda forums:
http://forums.miranda-im.org/viewtopic.php?p=92088

They say it's possible to use the netmeeting protocol to use the webcam feature (if the ip is known).

An invitation could be made via the known GUIDs at http://www.hypothetic.org/docs/msn/client/invitation_types.php

This might be something in the distant future, as I don't know _any_ third party messengers that can use the Webcam feature.  It would be a great milestone to see this accomplished, however.
Comment 17 Jason Keirstead 2004-04-16 02:08:41 UTC
On April 15, 2004 08:47 pm, Andrew Somerville wrote:
> How do you propose that we go about figuring out MSN's native protocol for such things. I would suggest that that would be a good starting point, since we're probably the first to do this sort of thing. 

It doesn't have to be figured out, it has already been figured out.

- One version of the MSN webcam support uses H.323. This is supported by Gnomemeeting and other applications. There is already a plugin in CVS that does this using Gnomemeeting and it works AFAIK.

- Another version uses a variant of SIP. This is supported by KPhone and other applications, to some extent. The protocol itself is normal SIP, the
only difference with MSN is how the connection is negotiated and set up, which is different.

Regardless, just because the protocol is known doesn't mean that such a thing can be coded overnight. We have full docs for the Jabber protocol and support for it in Kopete is nowhere near complete. These things take time, which all the developers are very short on, please be patient.

Comment 18 Olivier Goffart 2004-04-16 09:27:31 UTC
Note:  we already support gnome meeting.
see the netmeeting plugin in kopete/plugins/netmeeting  (not compiled by default)
Comment 19 Chris Cannon 2004-04-28 17:15:31 UTC
Supporting MSN protocols makes my heart heavy.

On one hand, you should expect MS to be obstructive. MS doesn't want consumers to have options. Development exerted in these directions is wasted in the sense that it will have to be redone for the next .net "upgrade". MS will never open their standards (at least not until they lose some ground). I would much rather see users migrate away from MSN in addition to migrating away from Windows. Therein lies true independence.

On the other hand, extending compatibility to the most popular protocols and desktop OS is clearly an important step for Linux. We can't expect to replace Windows unless we can meet users' current needs.
Comment 20 Eduardo Robles Elvira 2004-05-25 20:15:52 UTC
Kphone indeed WORKS with actual msn protocol. And it's going to work with other protocols... just ask to gaim-vv (gaim-video-voice) people: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gaim-vv

News about this has already appeared in osnews and slashdot, I'm surprised noone has already talked about this here. I guess we could start collaborating with gaim-vv people to get it done!

Good luck with it, we kopete users are very interested and awating :-)
Comment 21 Juan Luis Baptiste 2004-05-27 06:30:51 UTC
Can you give us some instructions on how make kphone work with msn? in kphone's web site there isn't instructions on how doing this... 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Eduardo Robles Elvira <edulix@iespana.es> 
Date: 25 May 2004 18:15:56 -0000 
To: juancho@linuxmail.org 
Subject: [Bug 70538] Webcam support for MSN  
 
------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- 
You reported the bug, or are watching the reporter. 
You are a voter for the bug, or are watching someone who is. 
       
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=70538       
 
 
 
 
------- Additional Comments From edulix iespana es  2004-05-25 20:15 ------- 
Kphone indeed WORKS with actual msn protocol. And it's going to work with other protocols... just ask to gaim-vv (gaim-video-voice) people: 
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gaim-vv 
 
News about this has already appeared in osnews and slashdot, I'm surprised noone has already talked about this here. I guess we could start 
collaborating with gaim-vv people to get it done! 
 
Good luck with it, we kopete users are very interested and awating :-) 
 
 
 
Comment 22 Eduardo Robles Elvira 2004-05-27 12:20:46 UTC
Juan Luis Baptiste:

I'm sorry I was wrong! It's not kphone what gaim-vv people are using, but linphone. Linphone seems to be in a more active development and also it seems to be more mature, although they use gtk2 libraries.

Anyway, as both kphone and linphone use SIP, which is the protocol that is used within MSN, I feel like it would be possible to use kphone. Sorry for my mistake :).
Comment 23 Degand Nicolas 2004-05-27 19:01:52 UTC
To summarize, the solution does not lie in Kopete, but in Kphone (once supported in Kphone, it will be trivial to add support in Kopete. Well maybe not trivial in absolute terms, but trivial relatively to creating a solution from scratch). So I was interested to taking a closer look to Kphone development. 

However, it seems to be only loosely associated with the KDE project (ie their CVS is independent...) and their website ( http://www.wirlab.net/kphone/ ) is very scarce in infos. Does anyone know if there are things such as a roadmap or a dedicated mailing list somewhere ?
Comment 24 Paulo Fidalgo 2004-06-03 05:51:35 UTC
just to say that I'm another one that wants this feature in our kopete...
I'm compiling kphone in gentoo ATM and it goes good, so It not only compile in debian but in gentoo too, and possible in almost other distros, since they all use the same compiler and libs...
Comment 25 Jason Keirstead 2004-06-03 15:17:04 UTC
On June 3, 2004 12:51 am, Kanniball wrote:
> kopete... I'm compiling kphone in gentoo ATM and it goes good, so It not
> only compile in debian but in gentoo too, and possible in almost other
> distros, since they all use the same compiler and libs...

Yes, but can you use it successfully to talk to someone over MSN?

I do not know anyone who uses windows MSN with a camera so testing this for me 
is impossible.

If you succeed at it please report your progress back here, along with 
instructions on what you did out of the ordinary ( if any ) to make it work. 
If KPhone is talking to MSN well now then perhaps we can integrate with it.

Comment 26 Jason Keirstead 2004-10-11 19:21:25 UTC
*** Bug 91026 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 27 Hugo Costelha 2004-11-24 12:23:44 UTC
Have you seen PhoneGaim? It seems interesting (although I coulnd't find out out to talk to an MSN messenger person).
Comment 28 Sebastian Turzański 2004-12-13 13:14:21 UTC
kopete dev team should check "konference" 
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=10395 , as u c in the comments the author is willing to cooperate 
Comment 29 Jason Keirstead 2004-12-13 14:00:37 UTC
On Monday 13 December 2004 8:14 am, Sebastian TurzaÅski wrote:
> kopete dev team should check "konference"
> http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=10395 , as u c in the
> comments the author is willing to cooperate

Kopete basically already works with Konference. As long as Konference supports 
making calls to an IP via the command line, it will work via Kopete's 
NetMeeting plugin.

But this will do nothing for you RE MSN video chat. That doe snot use H.323 
and thus neither Konference nor Gnomemeeting will work with it.

You may have better luck getting KPhone working, since it is SIP based - 
unfortunatly it's documentation is sparse and last I checked it did not work.

http://www.wirlab.net/kphone/


Comment 30 Matija Šuklje 2005-01-31 09:21:30 UTC
Kphone probably won't help you much ...well, at least nothing in the MSN-specific direction.

I sent a mail to their mailing list, and this is what I got:

---[start quote]---
No proprietary protocols (such as the MSN) will be supported by KPhone, at
least not provided by Wirlab. Of course, as usual, the community is free
to utilize the source code for whatever needs they might have.

Cheers,
Mika
---[end quote]---
Comment 31 Cédric Bellegarde 2005-02-23 13:15:46 UTC
http://farsight.sourceforge.net/

Kopete need to use this project to have msn webcam support.
Comment 32 Marek Laane 2005-03-27 01:26:09 UTC
Seems that Mercury (previously dMSN) has somewhat resolved the problem and allows to use webcams. As I have no programming knowledge, those who have could check their website http://www.mercury.to/ .
Comment 33 Ole André Vadla Ravnås 2005-03-27 01:56:24 UTC
Mercury's implementation is a translation of libmimdec. http://www.jblinux.net/libmimdec/

(And for the record the Mercury project is currently violating the LGPL by not releasing the translated/derivative code).
Comment 34 Hugo Rodrigues 2005-03-27 03:33:02 UTC
On libmimdec's website it states that libmimdec has been merged with the Farsight project (http://farsight.sourceforge.net/). This should be the one to go for Kopete to show MSN's video webcams.
Comment 35 Jason Keirstead 2005-03-27 21:05:35 UTC
Will everyone please stop filling this bug up with library suggestions. Finding some libraries for video codec handling are not the issue to supporting this, it is not that trivial. For one, there are *two* networking standards used for webcam in the official client, SIP and RTP, which one is used dpeends on which of the two methods you use to initiate the conversation in the official client.  On top of that, each of these network connection methods use different video codecs. So  it is not as simple as 'use this library' and it will be done in no time. If someone feels that it *is* that trivial, they are free to code up support themselves and integrate it in.

All this 'me too' posting of various libraries is annoying at best, discouraging at worst - it will be done when it is done. 
Comment 36 Hugo Rodrigues 2005-03-27 21:20:47 UTC
I'm sorry but the only thing discouraging I've read in this bug report is your last comment. I'm sure everyone wrote what they wrote in an effort to encourage anyone with the expertise to do it to see an actual need for their time to be spend on getting this implemented, not the other way around, I belive.
Comment 37 Olivier Goffart 2005-03-27 22:46:15 UTC
I've started to try to implement MSN Webcam support.
It will probably be in KDE 3.5
Comment 38 Olivier Goffart 2005-03-27 22:48:18 UTC
So many request are not discouraging,  but just annoying :-)
(for me)

Anyway, I like the interest people have for Kopete.
Comment 39 Dennis Menge 2005-06-29 12:56:17 UTC
whats the status ?
im very interested in this topic

Greetz

Dennis
Comment 40 Olivier Goffart 2005-08-27 10:07:53 UTC
Done
(In KDE 3.5)
Comment 41 Mark Hannessen 2005-08-27 19:16:40 UTC
woot, your my hero!!!!
Comment 42 Dennis Menge 2005-08-28 00:36:12 UTC
GREAT !

BIG THX!

Greetz Dennis
Comment 43 Ollivier-Lapeyre Johann 2005-08-28 14:49:16 UTC
BIG THX also!!

It's not difficult to use Kopte svn together an 3.4 KDE following this:

1) Install libjpeg-devel
2)
svn co -N svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/branches/KDE/3.5/kdenetwork
cd kdenetwork
svn up kopete
svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/branches/KDE/3.5/kde-common/admin
make -f Makefile.cvs
./configure --enable-debug
cd kopete
make
su -c "make install" 

It works on my Suse9.3/Kde 3.4