Getting Started

Summary

From a developer’s perspective, Gaim is exciting because it provides a platform for working with still emergent, yet already very relevant, instant messaging technology. By installing a build environment and familiarizing yourself with the Gaim application, you’ve prepared yourself not only for compiling and modifying Gaim, but for developing your own cross-platform applications. In the next chapter, I’ll provide some insight into the open source development process. I’ll explain important principles surrounding it and how to make your small hobby project grow as actively developed and widely used as Gaim.