Spark 2.6.0 BETA Releases!

Spark Spark Support
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Hey all!

So, today we released (Thanks Daniel for building and upload them) a BETA version of Spark 2.6.0 (formally 2.5.9), this includes many bug fixes and new features.

Why is this 2.6.0 and not 2.5.9?

Well, Daniel and I agreed that with the new GUI change we should jump up a little and form a new series of 2.6.x

What’s changed?

SPARK-898 org/jivesoftware/spark/ui/RetryPanel.java uses non-standard Smack

SPARK-909 Spark Crashes after ending a Muted Call

SPARK-937 Wrong notification popup upon receiving a file

SPARK-789 Some text not internationalized

SPARK-921 Sometimes Spark can’t change to Available automatically

SPARK-878 Linux idle plugin not properly handling coming back from idle

SPARK-906 Spark’s build should unpack .pack’d files at build time, not at first startup

SPARK-835 Update translations inside Spark

SPARK-849 “[ ] Enable Emotions” should disable more

SPARK-667 Spark should only transform first /me

SPARK-799 Server is editable on failed login

SPARK-886 Reconnection logic not working properly

SPARK-913 Settings not always being saved after changes made

SPARK-914 Spark does not handle messages with subjects very well

SPARK-901 Fix JVM crash when using Jingle on the Mac OS X

SPARK-912 Localization improvements w/ bonus other improvements

SPARK-278 URL parser issues

SPARK-947 Add QQ transport support?

SPARK-969 When someone performs a file transfer or non-message related event, the last message before it is shown in growl notifications

SPARK-1004 if a username is too long then it gets cut off

SPARK-991 Group Chat Highlighting

SPARK-1009 Make gateway icons more transparent to fit with new theme

SPARK-1010 On toast popup from a MUC show the nickname of whoever said the comment

SPARK-1012 Update Jingle implementation to latest in Smack

SPARK-926 Custom status editing no longer working in trunk

SPARK-24 Memory does not decrease after closing chat window.

SPARK-1019 Spark IRC support passing wrong variable for nickname

SPARK-700 Add an option to turn off Spark’s update-checking feature

SPARK-848 Jabber:IQ:Time not showing up on request.

SPARK-815 Local time is not completed in the Client Version

SPARK-997 An error occurs when enetering no Gateway username

SPARK-993 Improve the GUI

SPARK-637 BUZZ highlight chat tab

SPARK-1011 When someone says my name in an MUC, show a custom toast popup if enabled

SPARK-950 Spark is not showing /" chars in chat window

SPARK-286 unicode display bug / window title

SPARK-944 After language change should be “Exit now?”, not “Restart now?”

This BETA doesn’t have a feature I want. What should i do?

There’s already a topic in the Spark community to request new features.

I’ve noticed something that hasen’t been reported, What should i do?

Feel free to post something here, i hope that we can resolve issues quickly. Please don’t post something that we know about or is in the Jira.

Where should i download this BETA?

Right here: http://www.igniterealtime.org/downloads/beta.jsp

Thanks!

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A list of open issues: Spark Open Issues

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How out of date is this build?

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mtstravel wrote:

How out of date is this build?

Should be recent enough. As i see latest changes in SVN was about changelog and About stuff. So beta should be build on the latest trunk.

Thank’s for the Beta, WinSrev. Will be easier to test that at work. Though i think it should be better to divide fixed and not-fixed issues in that list. Not all forum visitors are familiar with JIRA markings.

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Btw, there is a similar bug to SPARK-937, with invitation popup. Should be easy to fix probably. SPARK-1020

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Yeah, removed the non-complete issues and are basically left with the changes between 2.5.8 and 2.6.0.beta1

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There are “some” noticeable improvements in 2.6.0 beta but I would really like to see this client optimized more for low end systems.it still seems to use 80+mb of ram at times and when first loading the contact list uses up 100% cpu until the list has loaded.

Also what ever happened to the plans for spark be made into a flash flex or adobe air based spark desktop client?

lets face it java is the main problem that impacts performance with the client and if the spark client was to be recompiled into flash flex or adobe air there would be less ram required etc.

correct me if i am wrong but it has been such a long time since a new version of spark came out and so far i’m not too impressed.

my company has also been considering a new im client for next year since this client just seems to use up too much ram etc

I was really hoping when i saw the beta release that it would have been the new flash or air client but seems i am sadly disapointed.

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jcarson wrote:

Also what ever happened to the plans for spark be made into a flash flex or adobe air based spark desktop client?

Nothing i think. Plans are just plans. There wasnt any time frame given. I’ve heard only about some experiments done by Daniel in his spare time. And that’s about AIR. Flex is for web as far as i know? I think Flex is in use in SparWeb project, but that’s a browser based client. Actually, i cant say i’m waiting for AIR version, because i havent seen any AIR application (except examples) working. So, we cant know is it really the savior.

lets face it java is the main problem that impacts performance…

True and it always was (and i dont think any real improvements could be done in future) a bad thing for a GUI. I cant remember any java based GUI which didnt s*ck. In Spark case it looks nice, but it is still a bit slowly.

correct me if i am wrong but it has been such a long time since a new version of spark came out and so far i’m not too impressed.

November 14, 2007 is the date of 2.5.8 release. Spark development is slow now, mostly done by community member. There were no intentions or plans to make Spark suitable for low end systems with 2.6.0. Actually it never was designed for such systems and i think it cant. Because it’s Java. It just cant use 10 MB of RAM and be fast.

my company has also been considering a new im client for next year since this client just seems to use up too much ram etc

So i suggest to do so, find another client. We are using Exodus for 3 years now, and i dont think we will switch soon. Spark is improving (mostly features). Still counting it as a possible replacement. Especially when our hardware company wide will be better (more RAM, etc.).

I was really hoping when i saw the beta release that it would have been the new flash or air client but seems i am sadly disapointed.

Well, sorry for that. Just dont expect what is not possible. Spark will remain java-based and sluggish for a long. Any talks about AIR version can be started after official Jive annoucement that the work has been started and there is a timeframe/roadmap etc.

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Thanks for the response anyways. I just really wish that this post from awhile back had come true.

It was after the post regarding the possibilities of a spark client based on Adobe AIR that had me hoping eventually that spark would at least work slightly better.

From what I understood that was the direction that jivesoftware was headed but maybe those plans all changed as you said.

Anyways my question about spark and Adobe AIR or Flash Flex was mainly based on what I had read in this post:

http://www.igniterealtime.org/community/blogs/ignite/2007/10/31/our-client-strat egy

Shown Below

Our Client Strategy

Posted by @matt

7 months ago

So, what’s up with Spark? Many of you have commented on the fact that

the pace of development has slowed and that Derek is less present in

the community. Now that a major new version of SparkWeb is out, it

seems like a good time to provide a more detailed status report on

everything happening around client development.

First up, an announcement: Derek has taken a new position (Sales

Engineer) inside of Jive. So far he seems to be loving it, but I’ll let

him comment on this blog post with further details.

Unfortunately, that means that Spark has lost its lead developer. For

the time being, other team members have stepped in to help out. We’re

committed to providing bug fixes and minor new fixes to Spark for the

foreseeable future. It remains one of the best cross-platform XMPP

clients available.

Since Spark development is slowing down, what’s next? Most of Jive’s

XMPP client efforts are now focused on the web via the SparkWeb Flash

client. We’re using the same technology base to add real-time features

to Clearspace. Further, the upcoming Adobe Air

technology offers the intriguing possibility of building a new desktop

client using Flash. To us, it all seems like the perfect triple play –

a single code base that can be used for Sparkweb, Clearspace features

and a new Spark desktop client. Only Sparkweb is ready so far, but

you’ll see new real-time features in Clearspace soon and we’ll keep

everyone updated on a desktop client based on Adobe Air.

Change isn’t always easy and I’m sure that some of you will be

disappointed to hear that our approach to how we build Spark is

changing. There may be some rough spots as we move from one technology

to another, but we’re pretty excited about where things are headed.

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Actually, the plans are still in the works for the Air version of Spark. And yes, I’ve been working on it in my fair time. It’s not going to be some magic bullet that makes Spark suddenly use no ram and run on a 386 though. In fact the set of OSs that support Air are a little short right now. =/ I have a working proof of concept that I need to do some cleanup work on. Right now it basically looks like SparkWeb, split apart into desktop style windows. Nothing super cute. Right now the primary issue is, SparkWeb itself is undergoing a lot of fast improvements and the desktop version of it is sort of waiting for things to calm down. =) It’s pretty fun to work on though, I’ll definitely say that! Lends itself well for sharing desktop and web code.

Most likely Spark 3.0 will be the air version, if things go the way I want them to. If that happens, I’d like to see Spark Java gain a new name and continue on, since it’s a nice client and does a lot of cool stuff, just doesn’t fit everyone’s needs. =)

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my god.The question fo Chinese account log has resolved!

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my god.The question fo Chinese account log has resolved!

celebration!

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jadestorm wrote:

I’d like to see Spark Java gain a new name and continue on

Maybe AIR version should get a new name (not spoiled with older Spark impressions ) SpAIR

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Doubt that’ll happen.

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This beta breaks for me. I currently use 2.5.8 with my ejabberd server and it works well.

I tried using this beta, and I am unable to logon.

Upon looking at the debugging screen, it looks like spark is trying to use an authentication method that my server is not advertising. (server advertises CRAM-MD5, spark tries to use DIGEST-MD5, or something to that effect).

If needed, I can reisntall the beta to provide more debugging information, just let me know.

Thank you,

-Greg

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Hi,

great release that solves an issue with reconnecting to the server that was regulary failing after a network connection change. Now it does the reconnect much better. In fact it is not failing any more. Thank you for including Smack 3.0.5… Would be great, if you could remove the references to stun.xten.net in the Smack source code, to prevent Spark from using STUN, if the STUN services are supressed on the server.

Kind regards,

Walter

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Smack 3.0.5? From what you can see that? It’s not released yet.

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Hi wroot,

it’s displayed in the debug screen during 2.6.0 startup.

Regrads,

Walter Ebeling

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The spark icon still does not display in the task bar on linux.

The fix for this is to fix the plugin.xml file in jniwrapper.ja. It currently has the line

<os>Windows, Linux</os>

If you remove the space after the coma the jniwrapper will load and the icon will displayed

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Thanks for this, going to add it to the SVN on the next commit.