Pidgin requires restart after connecting to VPN (vpnc)

[luchon]

Binary package hint: network-manager-openvpn

After connecting to VPN (VPNC -> Cisco VPN), Pidgin fails to deliver (send and receive) messages. There is no errors of any sort. It appears that sent message went out, but there is no reply, and there are no new incoming messages.
Once Pidgin is bounced (quit/start) - messages flow normal, however, messages sent before the bounce were not delivered.
Another way to make messages flow without the restart is Disable/Enable pidgin accounts.

Did anyone else encountered this problem, and is there a work around?

[Michael (michaeljt)]

I fear that this is not easily fixable. AFAICS, you log on to an IRC server using your IP address, and when you connect to a VPN, your IP address changes. I think that the best Pidgin could do here would be to detect the routing change and reconnect automatically. (Notes: 1) I am another user, not a maintainer. 2) This should probably be made a Pidgin wishlist item).

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

i am currently working on a simple lib that will allow reacting on online/offline/route changes in a connection-manager agnostic fashion ... not yet ready, but first code is here: https://launchpad.net/ntrack

its a spare time project, so i think lucid is realistic for this.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

to test if it works you could build it and run make check ... and then run the test_monitor testcase ... which should spit out when there are connect/disconnect/route changes .... if you want that would be great to test already.

[Andreas Kern (kerna)]

maybe it's very easy to fix
the network-manager just has to announce the offline mode (vie D-Bus), which triggers pidgin to disconnect
when the network-manager finally established the new network connection (via vpn), he switches back to online mode and pidgin does the same

firefox already does this, so it should be reported to the network manager
opinions?

[CuteChaps (sh-senthilkumar)]

yes ... I too experience the same kind of issue looking for good solution at the earliest,,,,,,

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

submitted patch for ntrack support to pidgin upstream tracker: http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/13612