How do I install the Instant Messaging application IP Messenger?

Question

I've recently downloaded g2ipmsg (IP Messenger for Ubuntu 11.10). However - this comes not as an installable package as previous ubuntu versions.

Thus I think I need to compile it. This application needs gtk so I've installed libgtk2.0-dev using Synaptic Package Manager.

Now when I run ./configure command it gives me the following error.

checking for APPLET... configure: error: Package requirements (libpanelapplet-2.0) were >not met:

No package 'libpanelapplet-2.0' found

Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you
installed software in a non-standard prefix.

Alternatively, you may set the environment variables APPLET_CFLAGS and
APPLET_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config. See the pkg-config
man page for more details.

Where can I find the path for PKG_CONFIG_PATH?

This is what I have done so far:

I've installed libxml-parser-perl, libgnomeui-dev, gettext, intltool according to the post Installing IP messenger on Ubuntu linux but could not find the package libpanel-applet2-dev.

Then I even tried to install libpanelappletmm-2.6-dev and libpanelappletmm-2.6-1c2 but could not find this packages

but still get the same error

configure: error: Package requirements (libpanelapplet-2.0) were not met

---

There are lot of problems with g2ipmsg in ubuntu, specially there are lot of problems during file transfer.

Instead of installing Ip messanger using wine or g2ipmsg use Iptux.

Its perfectly compatible with Ip Messanger.

Installing Iptux sudo apt-get install iptux

Solution 1

The package g2ipmsg is available in the repositories - v0.9.6 for all versions of ubuntu except for oneiric. Thus to install in versions prior to oneiric or for 12.04 and above:

g2ipmsg

However its not available in Oneiric (11.10) because it doesnt compile under oneiric due to the changes to Gnome-Panel and the dependency on the gnome-2 applet libraries.

You could compile and install to produce this result in gnome-classic (no-effects)

Note - when the application starts - it starts minimised to the gnome-panel. For some reason, in Unity, this application does not appear - probably the minimised application is not directly visible in the Unity panel.

To get the application to work under Unity you need to enable the old sys-tray:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['all']"

Then logout and login before searching for g2ipmsg in Dash

I've compiled and added this to my PPA. If you wish to compile this yourself, then instructions are below.

Install from PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fossfreedom/g2ipmsg
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install g2ipmsg

to run g2ipmsg

1. If you are using the Gnome-Classic interface, then G2ipmsg will be found in the Accessories menu option
2. If you are using Gnome-Shell then search in Activities for g2ipmsg and the application will start minimized in the system-tray notification area (bottom right) of the screen. You will need to move you mouse to that area to make the application icon visible. My recommendation would be to use the system-tray extension to make the application icon visible at all times in the top-right of the screen. See my link answer below for more information about these areas and how to install the extension
3. If you are using Unity/Unity 2D you will need to manually enable the system-tray area for the application to start in the top-right area of the screen next to the indicator area.

how to compile

• Get the sources:

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/g2ipmsg_0.9.6%2Bdfsg.orig.tar.gz
wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/g2ipmsg_0.9.6%2Bdfsg-1.1.diff.gz

• Now install some prerequisites and libraries

sudo apt-get install build-essential devscripts cdbs debhelper autotools-dev libgnomeui-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev libxml-parser-perl libssl-dev

• Then uncompress and patch the sources

 tar zxvf g2ipmsg_0.9.6+dfsg.orig.tar.gz
 gunzip g2ipmsg_0.9.6+dfsg-1.1.diff.gz
 patch -p0 < g2ipmsg_0.9.6+dfsg-1.1.diff

• Compile to create deb packages

cd g2ipmsg-0.9.6+dfsg/
debuild -us -uc

• Install the deb package

cd ..
sudo dpkg -i g2ipmsg_0.9.6+dfsg-1.1_i386.deb

Note - if you are compiling 64bit - then the package name will end in amd64.deb

---

Linked Question:

1. How to open aMSN that has been minimised to the tray?

Solution 2

When you see an error message like that from pkg-config ("No package 'foo' found"), that means that the file foo.pc cannot be found by pkg-config. The usual reason for this is that you don't have the package which provides this file installed, so you should search either using apt-file or on packages.ubuntu.com for it. In this specific case however, you'll get no results because the old GNOME 2 panel applets have all been removed.

If you pass --disable-applet to ./configure, you should be able to get past this step.

Comments

[Searock]

Yeah you are right. It gives me the same error message. Is there any chance of installing panel parallel to the 3rd version?

[Iain Lane]

Not really, the application just has to be ported to the new API. You should be able to do `./configure --disable-applet', as I said in my answer, to at least get g2ipmsg working without the panel applet. There's been a new revision uploaded to Debian with precisely this fix, and I'm going to take care of getting it into 12.04.

[Iain Lane]

Done launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/g2ipmsg/0.9.6+dfsg-1.1

[Searock]

It still says No package 'libpanelapplet-2.0' found :( ... configure: error: Package requirements (libpanelapplet-2.0) were not met: No package 'libpanelapplet-2.0' found Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you installed software in a non-standard prefix. Alternatively, you may set the environment variables APPLET_CFLAGS and APPLET_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config. See the pkg-config man page for more details. Do I need to pass --disable-applet

[Searock]

When I pass --disable-applet to ./configure every thing works fine but I can't see the GUI of the application but the process is running. Did I miss something? The documentation says To use applet edition of g2ipmsg, you need register the g2ipmsg_applet to your gnome2 panel with standard gnome2 panel operation.

[Iain Lane]

The applet edition won't work if you pass --disable-applet to configure. As part of marching into the future some stuff had to be left behind, and old GNOME 2 applets are one of those pieces. You'll have to use the non applet version until somebody comes up with a port to GNOME 3 applets. Better than nothing? :-)

[Searock]

When I tried to run the command sudo apt-get install libpanel-applet-4-0 it says libpanel-applet-4-0 is already the newest version.

[Searock]

The problem is no matter what version I install it keeps crying for the 2.0 version.

[nilsonneto]

@snoop - probably this is your Q&A - askubuntu.com/questions/243438/…

[d a i s y]

Better to provide a detail answer with its steps to install.

[Balasubramanian mani]

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install iptux

[d a i s y]

Post it as an answer not as comment