Kadu

Kadu is an open source graphical software that provides users with a multi-protocol instant messaging solution for the Gadu-Gadu protocol. It supports GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

The application is fully functional, good-looking and fully compatible with the widely used Jabber/XMPP protocol. It offers a familiar, user-friendly, easy to use and flexible graphical interface.

Features at a glance

Among some of its major features, we can mention message encryption, file transfer support, graphical messages, emoticons, support for numerous plugins, easy and comprehensive configuration, as well as bot, annoyers and spammers protection.

However, its power consists of the numerous standard plugins maintained by the Kadu developers, as well as external add-ons created and maintained by users. They add support for SMS, MPD media players, Growl notifications, and much more.

Whether you want to encrypt your conversations, add sound support from external applications, set auto away messages, add custom notifications, add support for FALF media players, protect yourself against unwanted chats, or store chat history, you need a plugin.

It integrates with many popular apps

Additionally, the plugins can also be used to integrate Kadu with other popular applications, such as the Amarok music player, or add support for PC speakers, import profiles from old Kadu installations, and change the window mode.

Third-party plugins will allow the application to automatically split long messages, use TeX formulas in chats, import history from other Gadu-Gadu clients, and display history of sent messages directly in the conversation windows.

Being written in Qt, Kadu is a cross-platform software that runs on all major operating systems and it’s translated into English, French, German, Polish, Czech and Russian languages.

Bottom line

It has many rivals out there, but if you use it strictly under the KDE desktop environment and only for the Gadu-Gadu and/or Jabber protocols, it provides for a stable and reliable IM client.

What is new in this release:

• File transfers:
• Kadu 3 supports new file transfer protocol that is compatible with GaduGadu 11 and 12. It requires encrypted connection to server (enabled by default in Kadu 3, can be easily turned on in Your Accounts window).
• It is still possible to transfer files to earlier versions of Kadu and GaduGadu - URL to GG Drive will be presented to receiver. File transfer window was chagned to occupy less space and present information in more consistent way. It allows to execute additional actions like Open file and Open folder. File transfers can be accepted and rejected from this window - it is no longer required to have notifications enabled.
• On Unity and Windows total progress of file transfers is not displayed on Kadu icon in Launcher/Taskbar (requires unity_integration plugin).
• Gadu-Gadu:
• Kadu 3 supports server notifications about avatar updates. New avatars are immediately downloaded and displayed on buddy list.
• XMPP/Jabber:
• Library for XMPP/Jabber support was changed from Iris to QXmpp. It already made connections with XMPP servers including Google Talk/Hangouts much faster. Few long outstanding bugs was easily fixed. In future QXmpp will allow to implement voice and video chats.
• Facebook:
• Facebook had removed its XMPP support and didn't provide a replacement protocol. Since Kadu 3 it will be no longer possible to create or add Facebook accounts and to use existing ones to chat with Facebook friends.
• Encryption:
• Old encryption plugin (encryption_ng i encryption_ng_simlite) at first use displays message encouraging replacing simlite with OTR. In future versions of Kadu these plugins will be removed nad OTR message encryption will be the only one available (please note that connection encryption is something different from message encryption).
• Sound:
• Sound system got another batch of improvements. Unneccessary threads are no longer created on playing sounds.
• Additionaly it is now possible to configure notification sound file per buddy (or per chat) - it will be played when this buddy (or chat) sends a message or changes its status.

What is new in version 2.1 / 3.0 Alpha 2:

• gui: #2970 fixed: Esc closes chat windows (Vogel)
• gui: #2995 fixed: fix licence window on Linux (Vogel)
• gadu: #2996 fixed: set status to offline after disconnected because of multilogin (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.5 / 2.0 RC2:

• Fixed bugs:
• gui: #2940 fixed: crash on exit when not using tabs plugin (Vogel)
• otr: #2947 fixed: marks in GG messages when otr is enabled (Vogel)
• translations: complete Turkish translation (kardanadam26)
• hints: #2924 fixed: not displaying avatars (Vogel)

What is new in version 2.0 RC1:

• Fixed bugs:
• translations: #2943 fixed: re-added Qt translation files (Vogel)
• hints: #2924 fixed: not displaying avatars (Vogel)
• translations: add Turkish translation (kardanadam26)

What is new in version 2.0 Beta 1:

• Fixed bugs:
• docking: #2921 done: change tooltip text on Windows (Vogel)
• hints: #2922 fixed: invalid images on Windows (Vogel)
• gui: #2920 fixed: problems with Open chat minimized option (Vogel)
• windows: #2923 fixed: Kadu hangs for few seconds from time to time (Vogel)
• hints: #2924 fixed: not displaying avatars (Vogel)
• gui: #2925 fixed: invalid plugin category names on Windows (Vogel)
• chat: #2930 fixed: count of unread messages is now proper when chat window is minimized (Vogel)
• chat: #2929 fixed: improve blinking timing on chat window with new messages (Vogel)
• tabs: #2934 fixed: properly handle common close button settings (Vogel)
• chat: #2928 fixed: properly hadnle disabling "Store opened chats" option (Vogel)
• sound: #2931 fixed: player thread could block itself on exit and never end (Vogel)
• windows: #2909 fixed: does not restore window geometry when "Start minimized" is on (Vogel)
• sound: #2935 fixed: sound playing works properly (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.5:

• otr: #2895 fixed: strange error messages when using libotr5-4.1.0 (Vogel)
• history: #2902 fixed: clear history menu item dissappears after a second (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.4:

• OTR encryption:
• OTR (Off-the-Record) is an encryption standard for instant messengers. Unlike simlite used in previous versions of Kadu and supported only by two programs (Kadu and ekg) it is widely accepted and used. OTR is much more user friendly and secure.
• Each single-user chat window (OTR, like simlite, does not support chat rooms/conference encryption) has a button with menu that allows to start or stop encryption. Identity of the correspondent can be verified during private conversation using the same menu with a shared secret or question-and-answer methods.
• In next versions of Kadu simlite encryption will be marked deprecated and then removed.
• Chat window:
• A button that displays menu with all current conversations was added next to tabs in chat window. It is shown only when not all tabs are visible at once.
• New 'Open chat with...' window:
• New 'Open chat with...' window using QML was created. It is used as test of this new technology in Kadu.
• Future developments:
• Kadu versioning will change - each new Kadu version will get new number (2, 3, 4...). When needed, bugfix version will be released with second number (1.1, 1.2, 1.3...).
• It is possible that version 2 will be released this year. The main change will be updating Qt from 4.8 to 5.x. Also a few minor functions will be added and lots of bugs will be fixed.
• In version 3 we will replace Iris XMPP/Jabber library with other one that will be easier to use and that will enable new XMPP functions in Kadu (remote history, services and transports will be first to be implemented).

What is new in version 1.3:

• Fixed bugs:
• gui: #2869 fixed: uuids visible in info panel after adding new buddy (Vogel)
• bsd: #2894 fixed: fix build on FreeBSD (Pekala)
• imagelink: #2896 fixed: support more image urls (Vogel)
• gadu: #2877 fixed: receiving images works again (Vogel)
• notify: #2897 fixed: new chat notification is now closed after opening chat widget (Vogel)
• gui: #2899 fixed: leaving conference properly closes chat widget (Vogel)
• bsd: #2898 fixed: fix scripts on FreeBSD (Pekala)

What is new in version 1.2:

• Fixed bugs:
• gui: #2881 fixed: after some imported configuration no contacts are displayed at all (Vogel)
• windows: #2880 fixed: improve hiding Kadu button on taskbar (Vogel)
• gadu: #2857 fixed: users of old GG versions could not receive messages from Kadu (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.1:

• tabs: #2867 fixed: open in new window/tab works properly (Vogel)
• jabber: #2861 fixed: double messages removed (Vogel)
• gui: #2859 fixed: avatars do not show for e-mail only contacts (Vogel)
• gui: #2866 fixed: ungroupped tab visible when it should not (Vogel)
• gui: #2865 fixed: properly filter buddies at start (Vogel)
• gadu: #2864 fixed: receiving images works properly now (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.0 RC10:

• tabs: #2852 fixed: properly handle tabs disabled by default (Vogel)
• spellchecker: #2816 fixed: allow empty dictionary list (Vogel)
• windows: #2853 fixed: do not remove user themes manually installed in Program Files during installation (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.0 RC9:

• jabber: #2851 fixed: properly support special chars (Vogel)
• jabber: #2850 fixed: long sign on time on windows (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.0 RC3:

• windows: fixed windows build (Vogel)
• jabber: #2800 fixed: unable to change buddy name with Facebook account to its real name (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.0 Alpha 5:

• gui: #2614 fixed: problems with displaying unread messages (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.0 Alpha 3:

• gadu: #2710 fixed: sending images works again (Vogel)
• message: #2717 fixed: invalid < and > handling (Vogel)
• plugin: #2706 fixed: smarter loading and unloading plugins (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.0 Alpha 2:

• gui: #2621 fixed: lots of Ungroupped tabs could appear in Group Tab Bar (Vogel)
• chat: #2696 fixed: do not open chat window when message is sent for Gadu-Gadu multilogon (Vogel)
• gui: #2678 fixed: remove new line characters from window title (Vogel)
• imagelink: #2676 fixed: improve image links recognition (Vogel)
• hints: #2677 fixed: allow wrapping text inside tool tip (Vogel)
• history: #2681 fixed: allow to maximize history windows on all Window Managers (Vogel)
• tabs: #2646 fixed: content of conversation disappears after detaching tab (Vogel)
• gadu: #2668, #2709 fixed: roster synchronization problems (Vogel)

What is new in version 1.0 Alpha 1:

• core: #2058 fixed: avoid notifications flood on connection error (Juzef, beevvy)
• gui: do not scale up avatars smaller than 32x32 on buddy list (beevvy)
• gui: square, rounded avatars on buddy list (Juzef)
• gui: #2622 fixed: ignoring buddies in buddy options window and using menu option (Juzef)
• gui: #1726 fixed: silent mode disables chat window auto-opening (Juzef)
• gui: #2553 done: new tray icon's tooltip (ultr)
• gui: #2552 done: display description in status button's tooltip (ultr)
• core: #2623 fixed: silent mode while DnD checks status of proper account, not default one (Juzef)
• core: #2652 fixed: StatusMenu correctly updated after account is disconnected (Juzef)
• sms: #2662 fixed: updated check of successful response after sending SMS to Orange network (Juzef)
• core: #2607 fixed: search bar in chat messages list gets highlighted if the phrase was not found (Juzef)
• jabber: #2651, #2573 fixed: avoid trying to download avatars after account is disconnected (Juzef)
• jabber: #2665 fixed: correct handling of chats with contacts on different resources at the same time (Juzef)
• gui: #2701 fixed: system notification's open chat button works again (Vogel)
• otr: #2683 done: implemetned OTR encryption (Vogel)

What is new in version 0.12.2:

• core: fixed every new profile of Kadu being lost on Windows (regression since 0.11.x) (beevvy)
• qt: ship more stable version of Qt on Windows (beevvy)
• icons: removed lots of unused status icons (beevvy)
• icons: fixed xmpp status icons in freedesktop notifications on GTK+-based platforms (beevvy)
• sql_history: fixed chat history with anonymous contacts not being displayed (beevvy)
• sms: fixed saving sent SMS'es in history (beevvy)
• spellchecker: fixed possible crash in configuration window (beevvy)
• translations: updated Polish and Czech translations, added French translation

Requirements:

• Qt