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How To Build an Openfire Chat Server On Debian 5

Posted by kdawson on from the take-aim-first dept.

palegray.net writes "Inspired by a recent Ask Slashdot, I've written a step-by-step tutorial for setting up an Openfire server on Debian Linux, for those interested in running their own open source collaboration server. Aimed at those just getting started with collaboration software, the tutorial shows precisely how to get Openfire up and running quickly on a base Debian install, and offers a basic feature tour of the software's plugin and IM gateway functionality."

6 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. How To's are so 90s.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    These days you make me a VMWare image I can just pop-in and run.

  2. Re:very odd by ianfs · · Score: 5, Informative

    FYI - XMPP is the Jabber protocol.

    --
    "Terminate?"
    "Terminate... with extreme prejudice"
  3. Finally... by smooth+wombat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    someone who knows how to document a procedure. I don't use linux but even I could follow the instructions.

    This is one of the key reasons for a slow adoption rate among interested users. Instead of getting the usual, "RTFM newb!", if there was more explicit documentation such as this that people could be pointed to, people would not be so readily turned off.

    And no, MAN pages do not count as documentation. Some people (dare I say most?) need step-by-step instructions on how to do something the first time so they are sure they are doing things correctly. Afterwards, they're free to tinker til their hearts delight.

    *gives a mold-friendly thumbs up*

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    1. Re:Finally... by value_added · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And no, MAN pages do not count as documentation.

      I appreciate the general sentiments in your post, but the above is simply not correct. Putting aside issues of writing style, quality, completeness, etc., along with the abomination called info pages, manpages ARE documentation.

      What you are looking for or expecting is a Tutorial. And most likely one written in a friendly style that includes a breadth of related topics (like "How do I install this thing?" or "What's a protocol?" or "How does XMMP work?". For that, I'd suggest a Google search. Programmers are expected to document their work, but it's unreasonable to expect them to write Tutorials.

      To put things in a reverse perspective, the frustrating thing for non-Windows users is that on Windows, almost nothing is documented. Lots recursive clicky links that pop up HowTo's with explanatory or descriptive verbage, but no real documentation.

    2. Re:Finally... by fm6 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Man pages are (or are meant to be) reference documentation. Reference docs are important, but yeah, so are procedural docs.

      Thing is, they're really hard to write well. I earn an absurd amount of money because I'm good at writing them. Most developers are not. Even the ones who are good writers (a distinct minority) tend to be good at academic-style writing, where you assume a lot of sophistication on the part of your reader. Such writers have no patience for the nit-picky detail good procedural docs need.

      (I once wrote software release notes which included an explanation of how to unzip an archive. The developers, who happened to be pretty brilliant computer scientists doing cutting-edge work, thought their audience was "smarter" than that and made me take it out. Wackiness ensued.)

      If you want good procedural documentation, you have to put a lot of work into creating it. Most open source projects don't have the extra bandwidth, and even if they do, they don't have people with the right skill set. That boils down to fluency with language and and stubborn patience when describing boring details. Not a big skill set, but one very few people seem to have.

  4. For the rest of us... by geekmux · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Something this basic requires a posting on the front of Slashdot? Great choice, kdawson!

    I'll be sure to try and get my article about setting Openfire up on FreeBSD here soon..........

    Ah, feel free to excuse yourself at anytime if you feel the rest of us are not worthy of your all-knowing power.

    He was merely posting as a response to several queries he had received for the information, and since it's not quite as simple as apt-get to do this, along with the fact that FOSS collaboration tools are gaining popularity in this economy of ever-shrinking budgets, I find it rather relevant.