0.17 TAC release - 07/17/01 INTRODUCTION Tac is a pure Tcl version of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). The Tac client began its life as a small add-on program distributed with TiK, the Tcl/Tk client. Tac has only a few of the features found in native Windows and Macintosh clients. It is easy for users to add features to Tac using Tcl. Tac is meant to give users with only console access the ability to use AOL Instant Messenger. HOMEPAGE Please check for new versions at http://users.tmok.com/~smike, before reporting bugs or feature requests. E-Mail smike@users.tmok.com to submit ideas or code. INSTALLATION 1) Change into the location where you want the "tac" directory created: "cd /usr/local" for example. 2) Unarchive the client: "tar zxf tac-X.XX.tar.gz" 3) OPTIONAL: Add a link into a directory in your path so you just have to type "tac" to run the client. "ln -s /usr/local/tac/tac.tcl /usr/local/bin/tac" PROTOCOL Tac uses the TOC application protocol which is documented in the PROTOCOL file. We have provided a tcl implementation of TOC inside toc.tcl. The TOC application protocol runs on top of SFLAP, which is a framing transport protocol. The TOC protocol is not the same as the full protocol used by the native AOL Instant Messenger clients. LOGGING The default log file is ~/.taclog, as defined in the example config file. You can specify any name, either in the program, which lasts that for that session only, or in the config file, which will remain until changed. You can also specify whether or not to log at all, and which components to log. Here are some examples of what you might find in the log: === ((yourname)) Log start Tuesday, January 01 2000 12:00:00AM === 00:00:00AM ** user has signed on. # The user has signed on 00:00:00AM ** user has signed off. # The user has signed off 00:00:00AM <> message # Indicates incoming message 00:00:00AM ((user)) message # Indicates outgoing message 00:00:00AM <> *away* message # This is users's away message 00:00:00AM ((user)) *away* message # This is your away message === Log end Tuesday, January 01 2000 12:00:00AM === Not all components may show up in the log file, depending on which you have selected in the config file. The default is ON for all options. MAILING LIST There is a mailing list which announces new versions of Tac. To subscribe, send an e-mail to majordomo@cw.dyndns.org with the words 'subscribe tac' in the body of the message. When a new version of Tac is released, you will recieve an e-mail telling you about it. To unsubscribe to this list, send a message to the above address, with the words 'unsubscribe tac' in the body. Many thanks to compwiz@bigfoot.com for hosting and setting up this list. You can also finger smike@users.tmok.com to find out the latest version, when it was released, and the current status of the release. CONTRIBUTORS The following people have contributed ideas or code segments to Tac and have given permission for their name and/or email address to be included. If you feel you should be on this list, or have found a mistake with your name or address, please send mail to smike@users.tmok.com and I will make the necessary changes. Jeff Taylor Brian Fisk Doug Melton Joey Parrish Todd A. Jacobs