Pidgin IM client updated to 2.8.0

The Pidgin development team has announced the release of version 2.8.0 of its open source instant messenger application. Pidgin 2.8.0 implements basic silence suppression for voice calls to prevent wasting bandwidth for silent periods during a call, and adds the DigiCert High Assurance CA-3 intermediate CA certificate which is needed for validation of the Facebook XMPP interface's certificate.

Users can now test microphone settings via the Voice/Video Settings plugin. Other changes include various code cleanups to remove duplicate code and fixes for several protocol specific bugs affecting ICQ, IRC, MSN and AIM. Support for new connection states in NetworkManager 0.9 has been added to the libpurple library used by Pidgin and other instant messaging clients, such as Adium and Meebo. The developers also note that they've removed the QQ protocol plugin as "it hasn't worked in a long time and isn't being maintained, therefore we no longer want it."

Further details, including a full list of changes and bug fixes, can be found in the change log. At the time of writing, the project's home page and official download page have yet to be updated to reflect the latest release. Pidgin 2.8.0 tarballs are available to download from SourceForge – RPMs, Windows installers and Ubuntu PPA packages will be made available "soon". Hosted on SourceForge, Pidgin is licensed under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL).

(crve)