Software update: BSFlite 0.80

BSFlite is an instant messaging program for the AIM network and is referred to as “minimalist” by the developer. This is partly because the program is written as a command shell interface instead of the usual full screen console interface. It supports most AIM functions, however chat rooms and block lists are not supported. It is very suitable for daily contact with friends or colleagues if you like this type of interface. Version 0.80 has been enjoying the light of day for a few days now with the following changelog:

Version 0.80:

• Changed keepalive messages to FLAP channel 0x05 messages, as recommended.
• Re-implemented idle time reporting. Any keystroke in bsflite now resets your idle time, rather than only on sending a message.
• New option “respond_idle_only” to send away message auto-response only when away and idle.
• Fixed the terminal line erasing problem previously detailed in the README both in UNIX (using vt100 sequences), Windows (using console functions) and DOS (using conio functions). Plan 9 is unaffected since the rio terminal properly supports reverse line wrap.
• Screen names longer than 16 characters are trimmed to the first 13 characters plus “…” in the buddy list display. Use ‘wf’ to see the entire name. This is necessary now with @mac.com and @thematrixonline.com accounts.
• New command ‘G’ : write away messages in ~/.bsflite/awaymessages, one per line, and use ‘G’ to set them.
• Finally added server side buddy lists. Buddy add/delete now stores the information on the server. If you have a buddies file, run this new version with it once, then delete it.
• Optional “netspeak cleaner” – see cleaner.c and config file
• Cleaned up and sped up login sequence.
• Fixed a mysterious bug where mobile users would disappear from the buddy list even though they were online.
• imcomm now supports sending more than one packet at a time, which seems to be how other clients do some things. The fetch awaymsg/profile command now takes advantage of this, which seems to improve the rate limit situation a bit. Also, the ‘b’ command works most of the time without triggering a rate limit warning.
• Buddy list display now adjusts with screen size.
• Added a configuration file. See config-example for details.
• Changed default paths to ~/.bsflite/[config,log,profile,buddies,icon]
• Fixed the endlessly repeating error messages on certain platforms.
• l command now shows the last 20 lines instead of 10.
• Implemented MD5-based login in IMComm instead of the old, “roasted” password algorithm. This improves things on three fronts:
  • your password is no longer sent in plaintext
  • you can login with a @mac.com account
  • you can login with an ICQ UIN

  This is the way the official client has done things for a while. I used MD5 routines developed by L. Peter Deutsch (md5.c, md5.h in imcomm/) for this, at least until I become inspired enough to write my own.

[break]BSFlite is available to download in the following flavors:
Fedora Core 2 – i386
Fedora Core 3 – x86 64
Mac OS X
DOS
Plan 9
solaris
Windows
source