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= Telepathy — the Flexible Communications Framework =

Telepathy is a flexible, modular communications framework that enables real-time communication via pluggable protocol backends.

Telepathy creates the idea of communication as a desktop service. It uses [[http://dbus.freedesktop.org|D-Bus]] to separate components running in separate processes. Telepathy clients use this D-Bus API (usually via a convenience library — e.g. telepathy-glib) to share connections between multiple clients (e.g. an instant messaging program, presence in email application, collaboration in word processor). 

Telepathy has several key features:
 * '''Real-time''': Telepathy supports instant messaging (both one-to-one and in groups), voice calls and video calls; it's less suited for store-and-forward applications like email
 * '''Unified''': Many different programs can take advantage of these communications; Telepathy lets these programs work together
 * '''Modular''': Telepathy components are modular, this means that developers can focus on making each component being the best it can be.

{{http://people.collabora.co.uk/~danni/telepathy-book/figures/telepathy-architecture-overview.png}}

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Various [[Presentations]] about Telepathy have been made (including at LCA 2008).

Telepathy development is supported by [[http://www.collabora.co.uk/projects/telepathy/|Collabora Limited]].

== Telepathy for Users ==

 * [[Download]]
 * [[Rationale]]: why Telepathy is the way it is
 * [[Protocols Support]]: which all features of the protocols are supported 
 * [[Setup]]: how to get various Telepathy components up and running
 * [[System Overview]]
 * [[Components]]: the parts of the Telepathy system
 * [[FAQ]]

=== Clients ===
 * [[http://live.gnome.org/Empathy|Empathy]]: IM/VoIP client for GNOME

== Discuss ==

 * [[http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/telepathy|Mailing list]]
 * IRC channel: {{{#telepathy}}} on {{{irc.freenode.net}}}

== For Developers ==

At the core of Telepathy is the D-Bus interface specification; which describes how Telepathy components communicate with each other. The current major version of the specification is [[http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/spec/|version 0.17]].

For a more approachable introduction to the structure of the framework, try the [[System Overview]] document or the [[http://people.collabora.co.uk/~danni/telepathy-book/|Telepathy Developer's Manual]]. The [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTUIM/DesktopIntegrationSIPIM|Ubuntu spec for SIP/IM integration]] includes a good rationale for this distributed approach.

 * The [[http://people.collabora.co.uk/~danni/telepathy-book/|Telepathy Developer's Manual]] is still a work in progress, but already provides good introductions to many features useful to IM clients.
 * [[http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/spec/|D-Bus interface specification]], with older versions and spec format notes available from DbusSpec

=== Contribute ===
 * [[Git|Source Code Repository]]
 * [[Bugs]]
 * [[Debugging]]: how to obtain information when things break
 * [[Style]]: style recommendations for Telepathy implementations
 * [[Review Procedure]]

=== Developer Notes ===
 * [[Streamed Media]]
 * [[Tubes]]
 * [[Tutorial]]: an introduction to Telepathy and D-Bus basics
 * [[LanguageBindings|Language Bindings]]
 * [[Roadmap]]
 * [[File Formats]]: specification for Telepathy's file formats
 * [[Recipes]]: how to accomplish various tasks with the Telepathy API
 * For developers interested in Telepathy within KDE, the [[http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Telepathy|Techbase Project Page]] provides more information.
 * [[Specification TODO]]
 * [[Gabble TODO]]
 * [[Release Checklist]]: thinks to do when making a release
 * [[GabbleReleaseBlockers]] and [[SalutReleaseBlockers]]

=== Miscellany ===
 * "[[http://www.ourwealthiswork.com/sumana/2009/10/08/0|Oversimplified Cliffs Notes about Telepathy]]"
 * [[Suggestions]]
 * [[Python Example]] is a very simple, unpractical example of doing things with Telepathy in Python
 * [[DTube Tutorial]] is a tutorial (and example) for doing one-to-one D-Tubes
 * [[Perl Example]] is a very simple, unpractical implementation of [[Python Example]] in Perl
 * [[Telepathy and other Projects]]: try to list integration of Telepathy in other projects
 * [[Usage_Scenarios]]
 * [[Telepathy/Empathy BOF at GCDS 2009]]

== IPCF ==
Telepathy was originally known as IPCF (Inter-Personal Communication Framework). Thanks to David Malcolm for giving us a  much cooler name.