Empathy will not save Alias names for Yahoo and ICQ account

[Kai Mast]

Binary package hint: empathy

When im chatting instead of my Name i see my ICQ number. Of course this only happens when using the ICQ-Protocol.

Gnome Bugzilla Description:
"I can't enter an alias for my ICQ account.
Empathy always shows my ICQ number as my alias.
When I try to enter an alias in "Private informations" (don't know if that is
the really the name of the menu item i've got the german localization), it is
instantly reverted to my ICQ number when I close the window or pick another IM.
This works with Jabber and MSN, only for ICQ it doesn't."

telepathy-haze:
  Installed: 0.3.2-1
  Candidate: 0.3.2-1
Gnome 2.28.1
Linux 2.6.31-15-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 10 14:53:52 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Shadowarts (shadowarts)]

I was poking around on the Trac for libpurple and found this:

http://developer.pidgin.im/doxygen/2.2.0/html/account_8h.html#62c7f2f940b5da2091564321ad2fbde8

Wouldn't that mechanism be enough to set your own alias?

[Will Thompson (wjt)]

No. purple_account_set_alias sets the local alias for the account, which is what Pidgin displays as your name in your own conversation windows. It does not set the public alias that other people can see.

[Kai Mast (kai-mast)]

Binary package hint: empathy

When im chatting instead of my Name i see my ICQ number. Of course this only happens when using the ICQ-Protocol.

I consider this a regression because in Pidgin ICQ-Chatting used to work fine.

[Brian Curtis (bcurtiswx)]

Thank you for your bug report and helping to make Ubuntu better. Would you please give us the version of telepathy-haze you are using 'apt-cache policy telepathy-haze' in a terminal. Also the version of gnome you are using which can be found going to System-->About GNOME. Also the version of ubuntu by typing 'uname -a' in a terminal.

[Nicolò Chieffo (yelo3)]

I forwarded it here: http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/10005

[Nicolò Chieffo (yelo3)]

The problem is that HAZE does not support nickname changes, so you'll get the login nickname for every protocol

(regression)

[Nicolò Chieffo (yelo3)]

I forgot to specify that the problem is in libpurple, not in haze. there's no API to change the nickname

[Kai Mast (kai-mast)]

I realized that, but in Pidign you are able to set your local(!) nickname in account settings. Something like that would be wonderful.

[Stefan Hammer (j-4-deactivatedaccount)]

Found Bug on Gnome Bugzilla:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=599304

and Launchpad:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/telepathy-haze/+bug/404022

[Will Thompson (wjt)]

*** Bug 26697 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[antonioni (antonioni-rocha)]

Occurs in the Ubuntu 10.04 beta 1 (Gnome 2.30.0). My MSN nickname don't appears, it shows my MSN account.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

I came to this bug from #telepathy support channel. keeping an empathy task will be helpful for tracking purpose

[GabbaGandalf (d1no)]

Bug appears in Ubuntu 10.04 Final also:

Linux daniel 2.6.32-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 28 13:28:05 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
empathy 2.30.1-0ubuntu1
telepathy-haze 0.3.4-1
gnome 2.30

I can not set an alias for my ICQ Number...

[la_serpe (tom-mil)]

I have similiar problem but I don't see any asiases. I just look at the list of nubers and wonder who is who. When I click at a contact to show contact information, the icq number appears instead of alias. It's impossible to guess to who the number belongs. The only way is to ask everybody and change the aliases manually. It really sux. Especially when somebody tries to get my autorization, I don't know who's that, a friend or spamming robot. In other clients, such as Kopete or Pidgin everything works fine.

[Claude Gagné (miltiad)]

I also have this problem on Ubuntu 10.04 with Empathy 2.30.1. When I type in a chat box I see my ICQ number instead of my name even if I change it in Edit, Personal Information.

[nestoklon (nestoklon)]

The same problem. Ubuntu 10.04 with Empathy 2.30.0.1
No way to get info about ICQ user.

[Simon McVittie (smcv)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> This is mainly because libpurple provides no protocol-independent mechanism to
> set your server alias/friendly name/whatever.

Since 2.7.0, it does; see attached (rather simplistic) patch.

Note that in current libpurple, only the MSN prpl can take advantage of this.

[Felipe Contreras (felipec)]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Since 2.7.0, it does; see attached (rather simplistic) patch.

Which patch?

For the record, I have been pushing for this feature since a long time, and my latest proposal didn't receive any comments from Pidgin devs:
http://pidgin.im/pipermail/devel/2010-January/009177.html

My suggested patch for haze was in #26119.

It seems they added the API on 2.7.0 without even mentioning where the idea came from, nor discussing it with any potential users, and they aren't exercising it in any of their UI's. They decided it was a good idea to have callbacks without user_data pointers (silly IMO).

Anyway, fortunately it seems we don't need those pointers for now. I'm attaching a patch.

[Felipe Contreras (felipec)]

Created an attachment (id=37172)
Proposed patch

[Felipe Contreras (felipec)]

(In reply to comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #6)
> > Since 2.7.0, it does; see attached (rather simplistic) patch.
>
> Which patch?

Ah, in the URL. Well, AFAICR I tried something like that on Maemo5 and it didn't work correctly: the UI wasn't aware of the change.

[Felipe Contreras (felipec)]

FTR. I've been pushing Pidgin devs to implement this since a long time ago. Latest try with patch is here:
http://pidgin.im/pipermail/devel/2010-January/009177.html

On 2.7.0 the API seems to be there, but even if telepathy-haze utilizes it, it would only work for MSN; for other protocols you need to file bugs on Pidgin so they implement the functionality there.

[Simon McVittie (smcv)]

Review of attachment 37172:

You're right that producing change notification signals is desirable, so your patch is better than mine; thanks!

I think your patch is likely to end up with the change notification getting out of sync with the state recovery, due to Bug #25869? It's better than nothing, though.

(What I mean by that is: calling RequestAliases or whatever, just after the change signal, won't give the same answer as the signal)

I'd be inclined to not do the error reporting yet (i.e. behave like we both did here); I'll open a bug for the lack of error reporting.

::: src/connection-aliasing.c
@@ +179,2 @@
 static void
+set_alias_succeess_cb (PurpleAccount *account,

It's spelled "success" :-)

@@ +189,3 @@
+ g_value_init (&entry, HAZE_TP_ALIAS_PAIR_TYPE);
+ g_value_take_boxed (&entry,
+ dbus_g_type_specialized_construct (HAZE_TP_ALIAS_PAIR_TYPE));

It'd be better to include <telepathy-glib/gtypes.h> and use TP_STRUCT_TYPE_ALIAS_PAIR (we should kill off all the HAZE_TP_*_TYPE at some point, now that telepathy-glib generates them all).

With the change I suggest below, this wouldn't be necessary anyway.

@@ +197,3 @@
+
+ aliases = g_ptr_array_sized_new (1);
+ g_ptr_array_add (aliases, g_value_get_boxed (&entry));

We know that TP_STRUCT_TYPE_ALIAS_PAIR is a GValueArray<uint,string>, so since telepathy-glib 0.9.2 (sadly not available on Maemo 5), you could delete @entry entirely, and use:

aliases = g_ptr_array_sized_new (1);
g_ptr_array_add (aliases, tp_value_array_build (2,
    G_TYPE_UINT, base_conn->self_handle,
    G_TYPE_STRING, new_alias,
    G_TYPE_INVALID));

To make backporting to Maemo 5 easier, perhaps you could implement my other suggestions from above (producing a patch suitable for backporting to Maemo), then do this simplification as a second patch?

[Felipe Contreras (felipec)]

Hmm, all bugzillas I've seen add me to the Cc list by default... I just noticed I didn't receive a notification of this comment =/

(In reply to comment #10)
> Review of attachment 37172 [details]:
>
> You're right that producing change notification signals is desirable, so your
> patch is better than mine; thanks!
>
> I think your patch is likely to end up with the change notification getting out
> of sync with the state recovery, due to Bug #25869? It's better than nothing,
> though.

Well, it works fine on Maemo5 and Empathy: I see my nickname on the chat window.

> (What I mean by that is: calling RequestAliases or whatever, just after the
> change signal, won't give the same answer as the signal)
>
> I'd be inclined to not do the error reporting yet (i.e. behave like we both did
> here); I'll open a bug for the lack of error reporting.
>
> ::: src/connection-aliasing.c
> @@ +179,2 @@
> static void
> +set_alias_succeess_cb (PurpleAccount *account,
>
> It's spelled "success" :-)

Agh, typo.

> @@ +189,3 @@
> + g_value_init (&entry, HAZE_TP_ALIAS_PAIR_TYPE);
> + g_value_take_boxed (&entry,
> + dbus_g_type_specialized_construct (HAZE_TP_ALIAS_PAIR_TYPE));
>
> It'd be better to include <telepathy-glib/gtypes.h> and use
> TP_STRUCT_TYPE_ALIAS_PAIR (we should kill off all the HAZE_TP_*_TYPE at some
> point, now that telepathy-glib generates them all).

Ok, I just copy-pasted the code from somewhere else.

> With the change I suggest below, this wouldn't be necessary anyway.
>
> @@ +197,3 @@
> +
> + aliases = g_ptr_array_sized_new (1);
> + g_ptr_array_add (aliases, g_value_get_boxed (&entry));
>
> We know that TP_STRUCT_TYPE_ALIAS_PAIR is a GValueArray<uint,string>, so since
> telepathy-glib 0.9.2 (sadly not available on Maemo 5), you could delete @entry
> entirely, and use:
>
> aliases = g_ptr_array_sized_new (1);
> g_ptr_array_add (aliases, tp_value_array_build (2,
> G_TYPE_UINT, base_conn->self_handle,
> G_TYPE_STRING, new_alias,
> G_TYPE_INVALID));
>
> To make backporting to Maemo 5 easier, perhaps you could implement my other
> suggestions from above (producing a patch suitable for backporting to Maemo),
> then do this simplification as a second patch?

Ok, but I think the first patch should be just like the current patch... The second one might be of wider scope touching other parts of the code that have the same issues.

[Simon McVittie (smcv)]

I've done a branch based on Felipe's patch; I think it's ready for review, but it doesn't work ideally with the MSN prpl. When changing my alias from "wtf" to "omg", I get:

(haze:20880): haze-DEBUG: set_aliases_foreach: setting alias for myself to "omg"
purple/msn-INFO: C: NS 000: PRP 17 MFN omg
purple/msn-INFO: S: NS 000: PRP 17 MFN omg
purple/msn-Message: Update contact information for Me with new display name: omg
(haze:20880): haze-DEBUG: set_alias_success_cb: purple_account_set_public_alias succeeded, new alias omg
purple/msn-INFO: S: NS 000: NLN NLN <email address hidden> 1 omg 1074004004 0

but then the blist-node-aliased signal fires, and gives me a different alias, that I haven't used since several attempts ago:

(haze:20880): haze-DEBUG: blist_node_aliased_cb: Contact #1 '<email address hidden>' changed alias from "SMcV" to "SMcV"
purple/msn-Message: Update contact information for <email address hidden> with new display name: omg
purple/blist-Message: Updating buddy status for <email address hidden> (MSN)

This appears to be because I *also* have an AB.Nickname for myself (possibly from Butterfly?), which is "SMcV", overrides the public alias, and can't be changed via Haze.

Still, if it works in some situations (lack of an AB.Nickname), it's a minor improvement...

[Felipe Contreras (felipec)]

(In reply to comment #12)
> I've done a branch based on Felipe's patch; I think it's ready for review, but
> it doesn't work ideally with the MSN prpl. When changing my alias from "wtf" to
> "omg", I get:
>
> (haze:20880): haze-DEBUG: set_aliases_foreach: setting alias for myself to
> "omg"
> purple/msn-INFO: C: NS 000: PRP 17 MFN omg
> purple/msn-INFO: S: NS 000: PRP 17 MFN omg
> purple/msn-Message: Update contact information for Me with new display name:
> omg
> (haze:20880): haze-DEBUG: set_alias_success_cb: purple_account_set_public_alias
> succeeded, new alias omg
> purple/msn-INFO: S: NS 000: NLN NLN <email address hidden> 1 omg 1074004004 0
>
> but then the blist-node-aliased signal fires, and gives me a different alias,
> that I haven't used since several attempts ago:
>
> (haze:20880): haze-DEBUG: blist_node_aliased_cb: Contact #1
> '<email address hidden>' changed alias from "SMcV" to "SMcV"
> purple/msn-Message: Update contact information for <email address hidden> with new
> display name: omg
> purple/blist-Message: Updating buddy status for <email address hidden> (MSN)
>
> This appears to be because I *also* have an AB.Nickname for myself (possibly
> from Butterfly?), which is "SMcV", overrides the public alias, and can't be
> changed via Haze.
>
> Still, if it works in some situations (lack of an AB.Nickname), it's a minor
> improvement...

Yes, this would only happen if:
a) the user has himself on the list
b) has a private alias for himself
c) is using the stock msn protocol

(Works fine on msn-pecan)

[Alexander Schäfer (mbalex)]

This bug made me ditch ICQ. People were always asking "who are you?" when I wrote them over ICQ.

[Will Thompson (wjt)]

yeah, this all looks kosher. did anyone file a bug against the stock prpl?

[Simon McVittie (smcv)]

Fixed in git for 0.4.1 and 0.5.0, which will both depend on libpurple 2.7 as a result (Maemo 5 Extras have caught up with that version, so it seems reasonable to have a hard dependency even in the stable branch).

(In reply to comment #14)
> did anyone file a bug against the stock prpl?

I haven't yet; perhaps someone with a login there (Felipe?) could do so?

[Luis Roalter (roalter)]

Same for me, but not for all accounts. Sometimes even the select groups were forgotten.

[Brian Curtis (bcurtiswx)]

Upstream has this is 0.4.1 (eventually 0.5.0) which will be in Oneiric soon. Marking as fix committed until this makes it into Oneiric.

[Carlos Barros (silveringking)]

I am so sorry I was applying the patch on Ubuntu 11.04 (I have this issue on telepathy)...

[quote]carlos@ubuntu:~$ patch -p0 < 0001-aliasing-use-new-public_set_alias.patch
bash: 0001-aliasing-use-new-public_set_alias.patch: Ficheiro ou directoria inexistente[/quote]

It says here that the file or the directory is inexistent...

[Will Thompson (wjt)]

(Changing the resolution back to FIXED… Carlos, did you mean to change it to WONTFIX?)

And, wow, I haven't made a Haze release for … 11 months. Sorry about that. I'll cut a release now.

You're trying to apply a source code patch in your home directory, which is never going to work. The patch has been merged to Git master; if you want to try the latest development version of Haze, you'll want to clone and build <http://cgit.freedesktop.org/telepathy/telepathy-haze> — but better just wait for Haze 0.5.0.

[Carlos Barros (silveringking)]

(In reply to comment #17)
> (Changing the resolution back to FIXED… Carlos, did you mean to change it to
> WONTFIX?)
>
> And, wow, I haven't made a Haze release for … 11 months. Sorry about that. I'll
> cut a release now.
>
> You're trying to apply a source code patch in your home directory, which is
> never going to work. The patch has been merged to Git master; if you want to
> try the latest development version of Haze, you'll want to clone and build
> <http://cgit.freedesktop.org/telepathy/telepathy-haze> — but better just wait
> for Haze 0.5.0.

Sorry I'm quite new to this, I meant that it doesn't fix to me... I have Ubuntu for 2 days :( But I have 9 years of windows so I know my ways ;) .

[Will Thompson (wjt)]

(In reply to comment #18)
> (In reply to comment #17)
> > (Changing the resolution back to FIXED… Carlos, did you mean to change it to
> > WONTFIX?)
> >
> > And, wow, I haven't made a Haze release for … 11 months. Sorry about that. I'll
> > cut a release now.
> >
> > You're trying to apply a source code patch in your home directory, which is
> > never going to work. The patch has been merged to Git master; if you want to
> > try the latest development version of Haze, you'll want to clone and build
> > <http://cgit.freedesktop.org/telepathy/telepathy-haze> — but better just wait
> > for Haze 0.5.0.
>
> Sorry I'm quite new to this, I meant that it doesn't fix to me...

WONTFIX is used by developers to say “we will not fix this bug” and/or “we don't think this is a bug”. In this case, the bug was fixed, just not released.

> I have Ubuntu
> for 2 days :( But I have 9 years of windows so I know my ways ;) .

I released version 0.5.0 of telepathy-haze just now. It'll show up in the Telepathy PPA soon, I hope.

[Carlos Barros (silveringking)]

Sorry I am just a newbie ^^

[Sven Romeike (lun4tic)]

I still have this problem on the 12.04 Beta and got it confirmed by a friend.

[unmacaque (unmacaque)]

Which is me. I am using Arch Linux with:

empathy 3.2.2
telepathy-haze 0.5.0
libpurple 2.10.2

Though the bug is marked as fixed, I still cannot change aliases of haze accounts.

[Sven Romeike (lun4tic)]

still occures in the Ubuntu 12.04 beta with telepathy-haze 0.5.0-1

[Sven Romeike (lun4tic)]

I had it confirmed by a friend so it occurs in two independent systems with that version of the package

[unmacaque (unmacaque)]

Which is me. I am using Arch Linux with:

empathy 3.2.2
telepathy-haze 0.5.0
libpurple 2.10.2

Though the bug is marked as fixed, I still cannot change aliases of haze accounts.

[Vadim Rutkovsky (roignac)]

Reopening the issue per latest comments

[Simon McVittie (smcv)]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Note that in current libpurple, only the MSN prpl can take advantage of this.

Are you trying to set the alias of MSN or non-MSN accounts?

If you're trying to set the alias of non-MSN accounts and it doesn't work, that probably means the prpl (libpurple protocol plugin) for that protocol doesn't support setting your own alias yet. As of libpurple 2.7.0, the MSN prpl was the only one to support this.

If other prpls are enhanced to work the same way as the MSN one (if that hasn't already been done, it would be a libpurple feature request), then they should work in Haze.

[unmacaque (unmacaque)]

Indeed, the problem is with non-MSN accounts, ICQ and Yahoo specifically.

[Simon McVittie (smcv)]

(In reply to comment #25)
> Indeed, the problem is with non-MSN accounts, ICQ and Yahoo specifically.

Then that's not a Haze bug; please ask the developers of Pidgin (libpurple) to support the virtual methods used by purple_account_set_public_alias() in the ICQ and Yahoo prpls.

[Johan Sydseter (johansyd)]

I just verified that Empathy saves my inital alias, it is just not able to update it.
We was able to change my alias by deleting my account and set up a new one.

[Mikola (panamik)]

Johan Sydseter,

Can you give a bit more details about how you did the verification?

When I'm setting up a new ICQ account in Empathy, I don't see an option to specify my "initial alias".
The "Alias" input field appears only after the account has been created, but at that point you cannot change the alias...

Thanks