Programming Jabber

Library load

The core components of a Jabber server providing IM services are connected using the library load method. This simply means that the component sources are compiled into shared object (.so) libraries and loaded into the main Jabber process (jabberd).

The components are written specially with the Jabber backbone in mind and contain standard component registration routines that utilize functions in the core Jabber libraries. These routines are used to bind the component relationship with jabberd (for example, there is a “heartbeat” mechanism through which the components are monitored) and to specify packet receipt requirements.

Note

Components receive packets based upon their type (log, xdb, or service) and upon a <host/> configuration specification that we’ll see later in this chapter and can also specify when in the delivery sequence they are to receive the packets

The library load method, which is also sometimes known as dynamic load, is represented in the configuration by the <load/> tag, which wraps the library (or libraries) that should be loaded. Example 4-4 and Example 4-5 show how components can be plugged into the standard jabber.xml file using the library load. Example 4-4 shows the Client (to Server) Connections (c2s) component, which has been written and compiled as an .so library, being connected using the library load method.

Example 4-4. Loading of the c2s component with library load

<load> <pthsock_client>./pthsock/pthsock_client.so</pthsock_client> ...