yod.el chat client

Yod.el is obsolete. I haven't kept up with changes to the Yahoo! chat protocol, and don't have any plans to update the client.

About yod.el

yod.el is a client for the Yahoo!Messenger chat protocol. It is written in emacs lisp, and supports Yahoo! chatrooms, instant messages and conferences.

yod.el is released under the General Public License.

Disclaimer

yod.el is in no way affiliated with, nor endorsed by, Yahoo! Inc.

Getting yod.el

If you're lucky, and have a relatively recent version of emacs, you will need to download two files to run yod.el:

• yod.el (version 0.27, updated on 2006/06/11) - the emacs lisp source,
• the password encryption program:
  • ycrypt3.zip - a Windows binary and the source (updated 2004/07/01)
  • ycrypt3.tar.gz - Unix source (updated 2005/11/29)

There is a change log for anyone interested in that sort of thing.

Most of the C code came fom the Gaim project. Thanks to ridiculous_fish for pointing me to it.

Installing yod.el

1. Put yod.el in some directory (in these examples that will be "/home/elisp/yodel").
2. If some directory is not in your emacs' load-path, add a line to your emacs initialization file (it's probably called ".emacs") like this:
   (setq load-path (cons "/home/elisp/yodel" load-path))
3. Add a line to your .emacs to load yod.el.
   (load "yod")
4. Download, unpack and build the ycrypt program.
5. Tell yod.el where the ycrypt program is located:
   (setq yodel-crypt-program "/home/elisp/yodel/bin/ycrypt2/ycrypt")
6. Choose a directory where various bits of data will be stored, and tell emacs about it.
   (setq yodel-data-directory "/home/elisp/yodel")
7. Finally, you should compile the Lisp. The easiest way to do that is to open the file in emacs, select the Emacs-Lisp menu, then select the "Byte-compile And Load" menu item. (You only need to do this when you get a new yod.el or change your copy.)

The variables yodel-data-directory and yodel-crypt-program (among others) are customizable via the emacs Options menu. The yodel customizations are found under Applications.

Using yod.el

After loading yod.el, you need to run the command yodel-logon. That will attempt to connect to a Yahoo! server and prompt you for a user name and password.

Upon successfully logging in, you will be faced with a blank buffer called *yodel-instant-messages*. Type 'l' (ell) to see a list of your buddies that are online. Type 'L' and you will see a list of all your buddies.

yod.el is a little different than other chat clients. It uses a command mode style interface; when you want to type a message, you hit enter (or return), and type the user's name and your message in the minibuffer. When you're done typing and press enter again, the message is sent to the user and appears in your chat buffer. A list of commands is available through emacs normal help facilities and by typing "hb" (help on bindings).

By default, all chat sessions are displayed in one buffer. You can split individual chat sessions into their own buffers by using the 'n' (new-buffer) command. When you are entering a message in a specific user's chat buffer, you won't be prompted to enter their name.

Most text prompts you encounter while using yod.el have some kind of automatic completion list associated with them. Try typing tab to see any available options when you get a pompt.

Other Handy Things

All my yodel .emacs entries.

The emacs wiki.

Troubleshooting

Most of the problems I hear about seem to be caused by yod.el not being able to find the crypt program. To find out if yod.el can find it on your system, run the command yodel-crypt-test.

If you do use yod.el, I'd like to hear about it: dmarti+yod.el@gmail.com

Last updated on July 15, 2008