Unofficial Miranda News

AIM TOC 1.0 discontinued

2005-08-20T12:24:00.000Z

Since AIM TOC 1.0 have been discontinued by AOL, the AIM plugin for miranda has stopped working. Currently there are no official released for AIM TOC 2.0 or AIM OSCAR plugins. However, there is a modified plugin by Snaphat that does TOC 2.0 login. Also ICQ Joe is working on making the ICQ Oscar plugin AIM Oscar friendly.

dbx_3x and clist_classic gets Unicode support

2005-07-19T16:38:00.000Z

Thanx again to Ghazan, the current source in the CVS for dbx_3x and Classic CList has built-in support for Unicode. Don't believe me? Check out the changes here. Though there is no news for any new nightly builds (unless there were some in the forums, which I haven't checked for a while now), it would be nice once the build comes out. We all know how well requested feature this was. The question is, does this break Win9x?

The future(s) of clist_nicer

2005-07-14T14:24:00.000Z

We reported some time back that Pixel has given up hope for Clist_nicer and started on a new project. Now we come back to report to you that there have been some good progress made to that and also some progress that Nightwish made on the original Clist_nicer. Nightwish has released his version as Clist_nicer+ as some of you might know.

Also as some of you might know, you can get some great info on the yet to be name new Clist plugin from pixel right here. Just check out the screen shots and say.. WHOA!

Miranda gets a Web Installer

2005-07-05T15:47:00.000Z

Some of you may have noticed this already, and some of you (like me) could be just finding this out. Miranda has finally introduced a Web Installer for their 0.4.0.1 release. The installer allows you to just download the plugins you want and not download the whole package and then only install the plugin you want. This not only saves the use some download time, this also helps SourceForge.net to save some bandwidth.

I'm tested it on a Dialup connection and it was awesome. Can't wait for clist_mw and tabSRMM to make their fainal releases so that they get added into the offical Release.

Upcoming m.4.0.1 release

2005-06-03T14:45:00.000Z

Even though it hasn't been all that long since the m.4 release, there has been a lot of things going on in the community. Firstly, m.4.0.1 includes a bunch of security updates, compile updates, protocol updates, etc. There are some features that you won't see in m.4.0.1, however, which includes tabbed chat dialog and improved script-enabled IRC. Those, I believe, are targetted towards m.4.1 release.

Other than the software itself, core developer Rainwater has left the team due to personal (time consuming) reasons. As we know, earlier Egodust has stepped back and taken a watcher role due to some of his personal (time consuming) reasons. Currently, we do still have all our protocol developers actively working with their designated protocols.

Ghazan has been awesome and has added optional MSN Messenger 7 protocol support. ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber, and IRC has some important updates too. m.4.0.1 release is coming close, however, there have been no date set yet. Those bold enough can test the nightly builds and report problems in the user forums.

Crashes on ICQ login?

2005-05-03T14:04:00.000Z

In Miranda 0.4 release, the ICQ plugin had a bug that has been exposed due to changes made to the AOL server. This bug can cause your Miranda to crash during the ICQ login procedure. Fortunately, the ICQ dev is already on top of things and have already posted a fix for the plugin.

In case you can seeing erratic crashes at login, try one of the post April 20th testing builds. If you don't want to deal with alpha version of Miranda, it is suggested you wait for the 0.4.0.1 release.

Clist_nicer leak update

2005-04-28T14:18:00.000Z

Recently, Ghazan has been on a memory/resource leak prowl and found a handful of memory leaks that have been fixed for a 0.4.0.1 release. Some of the leaks however was found in our ol' faithful Clist_classic. Since Clist_nicer is based on the classic one, these leaks were present in the (previousl) latest build of the plugin.

Pixel, the original dev for the plugin, have stopped maintaining the plugin and started work on a new plugin under the working title Clist_modern. Since the CVS version was not patched, Nightwish, your favourite TabSRMM dev, have kindly patched Clist_nicer with these leak fixes.

You can get the updated version from here. However, it will still report as version 0.3.4.11.

Miranda-im.org removes support for Miranda Installer

2005-04-18T22:11:00.000Z

The Miranda Installer tool provided a quick option to allow Miranda users to click on a link and download and install plugins, sound packs, etc. for Miranda. SecurityFocus reported that this opens up a possibility for users to load malicious code from other websites thru this feature.

Due to this security issue, Miranda-im.org have removed the Miranda Installer tool and the support for use that tool to download and install customation snippets from the official website. It is recommended to discontinue the use of the tool to avoid the secuirity risk.

Popup+ had remotely exploitable buffer overflow

2005-04-18T21:03:00.000Z

As reported on various security lists, popup plus plugin with smiley add support enabled causes a bug which can be used by a remote attacker to run any code of their choice. As the original author (zazoo) has gone AWOL (we thinks), Egodust has kindly decided to offer a fix for the bug.

Get 2.0.3.9: Plugin | SRC

This release only fixes the buffer-overflow problem. Other problems in the plugin that may have been there is still present. Regardless, it is suggested that you update your version of PopUp plug plugin to avoid security hazards.

Note: This security issue is not present is PopUp plugin, it is only present in PopUp+ plugin.

VersionInfo still very helpful

2005-04-07T17:59:00.000Z

It has been over a year now since Hrk left the Windows community and went to using Linux. Hrk was a very active developer during the time he was an active Miranda user. He developed Version Info plugin, that creates one of the favourite logs used in bug reports.

If you are considering discussing or reporting bugs, attaching a versionInfo log would cut one feedback stage of the process. This plugin neatly details information about Miranda build used along the the active and inactive plugin versions. Very very handy. Even from a mods point of view :)

The new SRMM (2.1)

2005-03-30T14:24:00.000Z

The crash reported here was due to the ongoing developement on the SRMM plugin. This crash has been fixed before the release of testing build of March 29.

The plugin still looks the same, but there have been certain exchanges in features. Upgrading from Miranda 0.3x to Miranda 0.4 you will notice that the SRMM plugin no longer has the multi-send feature. Other things that immediately pops into attention is the missing "Show Timestamps" button. The things that you don't notice right off the bat are that now you can click on the userid of the contacts. I believe Rainwater's original plan was to allow you to copy the user id from a menu option though it doesn't function that way yet.

Also added to SRMM 2.1 is a feature to display avatars. As always it's optionally and can be turned off from Options->Events\Messaging. Unfortunately however, the avatar is always displayed on the left side of the typing area. CVS commit comments show that SRMM 2.1 also sports Simple Message API 0.0.0.2.

Titbit: SRMM stands for Send/Recieve Message Module.

Got RSS?

2005-03-25T14:26:00.000Z

If you have an RSS feed reader(s), then you can subscribe to the following Miranda Feeds if you will.

Developer Journal

Active Forum Topics

Newly added to file listing

Recently updated at file listing

This blog

Nightlies crash while typing a message

2005-03-21T21:10:00.001Z

It has been confirmed that the nightly builds does crash occasionally while trying to send a message to an MSN contact. This only happens with the nightly builds while using the SRMM plugin. The CVS version has some code for displaying avatar that apparently is not working properly is could be the source of the crash. If you want to use the nightly builds and avoid this particular crash you can do so by using TabSRMM or the release version of SRMM plugin.

MSN Protocol code split

2005-03-18T19:52:00.000Z

Since yesterday the last MSN protocol (found here) has been released that is compatible with Miranda 0.3x releases. A separate version was released (found here) that is only compatible with 0.4 and onwards. Lucky for the users it's also on version 0.4x, so users will only need to remember that if you ain't got m.4 you can't use msn.4.

Updated TweakUI beta

2005-03-02T14:44:00.000Z

A new beta is available for the TweakUI plugin bumping the plugin version to 0.0.0.4. This version adds support to configure contacts' opacity. You can get your paws on this release here.

The nicer contact list

2005-02-17T19:45:00.000Z

Since version 0.4 (which still in Release Candidate 2 at the time of writing), Miranda has been stripped off it's contact list and database code. This opened up the opportunity to use alternative plugins for displaying the contact list and storing the database.

Currently there are three alternatives available in the CVS. First the Classic contact list (clist_classic), second the Multi Window contact list (clist_mw) and finally the boldly named Nicer contact list (clist_nicer).

Nicer contact list gives the user the ability to select different colors for group names, contacts in different status, etc. It goes further than just provide colour options for each and allows the user to chose transparency options, rounded corners, etc. This combined with the fore-mentioned TweakUI plugin can create a contact list like the one shown here.

Nicer contact list is still considered to be in alpha stage and recommended for advanced users only. It is currently avialable for download at this location.

Windowless Contact lists

2005-02-17T13:50:00.000Z

A lot of screenshots in the forums (and even the one of the on the main site) shows that the contact list of Miranda to be windowless. By windowless I mean no windows style borders, may be even rounded corners or a completely transparent contact list. The plugin that will let you have this feature is TweakUI. The reason I believe it never made to the file listing was that it never actually came out of beta testing. The link above will take you to the aurthor's page where the download is still avialable (at the time of writing).

Is AOL suspending AIM accounts for MIM users?

2005-02-14T20:44:00.000Z

No, not that we are aware of. This issue seems to be an error in AOL's account administration, but that is also unconfirmed. Some users have had to reset their passwords as a temporary solution, but often changing the password has little or no effect. A majority of AIM users do not seem to be experiencing this issue. Miranda uses the TOC protocol, released for projects just like Miranda, so that developers would not hack the closed OSCAR protocol. Miranda is the last group of users who should be violating the AIM TOS. Some users have reported the following message from AOL:

"AIM User, We have detected that the AIM Screen Name ***** associated with this email address has been used in a way that violates the terms and conditions of the AOL Instant Messenger service. Because of these violations, AOL has suspended the use of this screen name. If you believe that this suspension has occurred in error, please fill out the form located at www.aim.com/suspended_account. By providing accurate information, you will enable us to properly investigate the situation. Sincerely, The AOL Instant Messenger Team** Please note this e-mail is not a commercial e-mail and is intended only to provide official notice about an AOL Instant Messenger account identified with this e-mail address."

As a precaution, it is recommended that AIM users utilizing Miranda's aim.dll update their valid email address using the following link:
https://my.screenname.aol.com/
This way if you do encounter this issue, you can reset your password in an attempted workaround.

** Update ** A user commented that the suspended_account path doesnt work off of the aim.com site, and that perhaps this is a hoax, and at first I agreed, but if you view the following page, you will see that this is, indeed, a valid issue. http://www.aim.com/help_faq/report.adp?aolp=

Crash using SmileyAdd

2005-02-14T20:16:00.000Z

No matter which version of Miranda or messaging plugins you are using SmileyAdd can cause Miranda to crash. This happens due to a known bug in the SmileyAdd plugin. There is no direct way of going around the problem. The best bet is to use the DB Editor plugin. This plugin gives you access to manually going in and changing the values in the database. Step into Settings\SmileyAdd to check the options for the SmileyAdd plugin. Typically deleting the values for -filename entries help. Though in certain cases you might have to manually provide the path to a valid smiley file. Remember when you add a new protocol and you are using different smileys for different protocol, SmilayAdd will cause Miranda to crash when you open a message dialog for someone using that protocol.

Alpha CVS Releases

2005-02-14T20:10:00.000Z

Currently, Alphas are on hiatus, due to issues beyond anyone's control. The Development Staff is using this opportunity to take a vacation from posting CVS builds, and as a result the /testing path from the miranda-im.org site will redirect to the main Miranda index. Please do not make any further posts about alphas, and please try not to email anyone about the CVS stuff, as we'll be notifed when they resume. Thanks for understanding.

If you are using one of the latest unstable nightlies and would like an earlier build, we would suggest getting 0.4 RC2.

Welcome!

2005-02-14T18:58:00.000Z

This is a beta of the Miranda Mod Blog. If it takes off we can make it more advanced!