Jeremie Miller began the project in 1998; its first major public release occurred in May 2000. The project's main product is jabberd, a server to which Jabber clients connect in order to chat. This server can either create a private Jabber network (behind a firewall, for instance) or it can join the global public Jabber network. The key features of Jabber is the distributed nature of the IM system and the use of streaming XML.

A unique feature of the Jabber system is that of transports, also known as gateways, which allow users to access networks using other protocols - such as AIM and ICQ (using OSCAR), MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger (using the .NET Messenger Service), SMS or E-mail. Unlike multi-protocol clients like Trillian or Gaim, Jabber provides this access at the server level by communicating via special gateway services running on a remote computer. Any Jabber user can 'register' with one of these gateways by providing the information needed to log on to that network, and can then communicate with users of that network as though they were Jabber users. This means that any client which fully supports the Jabber protocol can be used to access any network to which a gateway exists, without the need for any extra code in the client.

The basis of the Jabber protocol, now managed by the Jabber Software Foundation, has been accepted by the IETF as a standards-track protocol under the name XMPP, with RFC number 3920. It has often been regarded as being in competition with SIMPLE, based on the SIP protocol, as the standard protocol for instant messaging and presence notification; however, the design of XMPP is intended to provide a more general-purpose inter-application middleware facility.

Jabber clients

Jabber-only clients

• Akeni Jabber Client (Cross-platform, proprietary (free for non-commercial use)) http://www.akeni.com
• cabber (Cross-platform, GPL) http://cabber.sourceforge.net/ (console, outdated)
• Chatopus (PalmOS, proprietary) http://www.chatopus.com/
• Exodus (Windows, GPL)
• Gabber (Linux/Unix, Gnome, GPL)
• Gajim (Cross-platform, GPL) http://www.gajim.org/
• Gossip (Linux/Unix, Gnome, GPL) http://www.imendio.com/projects/gossip/
• Gush (Linux/Mac OS X/Windows, Creative Commons) http://2entwine.com/
• JabberFoX (Mac OS X, BSD license) http://jabberfox.sourceforge.net
• Jabberzilla (Cross-platform, MPL/GPL/LGPL) http://jabberzilla.jabberstudio.org/
• Jabber Instant Messenger (Windows, proprietary) http://www.jabber.com
• Jabber WindowGram Client ((Mac OS X,Linux/Unix, GPL) http://jwgc.blathersource.org/
• JAJC (Windows, proprietary, but free for any use)
• JBother (Java, GPL) http://jbother.org/
• Jeti (Java,GPL) http://jeti.jabberstudio.org/
• Jeti/2 (Java, eComStaton OS/2, GPL) http://www.ehlertronic.de/jeti2.htm
• Nitro (Mac OS X, GPL) http://nitro.jabberstudio.org/
• Pandion (software) (Windows, proprietary) http://www.pandion.be/
• Psi (Cross-platform, GPL)
• sjabber (Cross-platform, GPL) http://www.pipetree.com/jabber/sjabber/ (console, outdated)
• The Coccinella (Windows,Mac OS X,Linux/Unix, GPL) http://hem.fyristorg.com/matben/
• Tkabber (Cross-platform, GPL) http://tkabber.jabber.ru/
• Whisper IM (Java, Creative Commons) https://whisperim.dev.java.net/

Multi-Protocol clients with Jabber support

• Adium X (Mac OS X, GPL)
• Bitlbee via IRC (Cross-platform, Free) http://www.bitlbee.org
• Centericq (Cross-platform, GPL)
• Fire (Mac OS X, GPL)
• Gaim (Linux/Unix/Windows, GPL)
• Kopete (Linux/Unix, GPL) http://kopete.kde.org
• Miranda IM (Windows, GPL)
• SIM (Linux/Windows, GPL) http://sim-icq.sourceforge.net
• Trillian Pro (Windows, proprietary) with plug-in

Jabber servers

• Antepo OPN (Cross-platform, Commercial) http://www.antepo.com/?products.opnserver
• chime (Cross-platform, GPL) http://www.codecobra.com/chime/
• ejabberd (Cross-platform, GPL) http://ejabberd.jabber.ru/
• Jabber XCP (Linux, Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Commercial) http://www.jabber.com/
• jabberd (Cross-platform, GPL) http://jabberd.jabberstudio.org
• Jive Messenger (Cross-platform, GPL) http://www.jivesoftware.org
• Merak IM (Microsoft Windows, Commercial) http://www.icewarp.com/products/instant_messaging/
• Tigase (Cross-platform, GPL) https://tigase.dev.java.net/

Regional advocacy groups / User portals

In a few places around the world, enthusiasts have created organisations in order to promote Jabber. Part of this usually involves setting up a Jabber server, along with a portal web site to assist users with signing up to Jabber. The idea is to bring Jabber closer to the end user.

Some examples of these organisations include:

• Jabber Australia - http://www.jabber.org.au/
• Jabber Africa - http://www.jabberafrica.org/
• JabberES (Spain) - http://www.jabberes.org/

Example client-server conversation using the Jabber protocol

A client (kuusipuu) connects to jabber server (amessage.de port 5222/tcp), sends a message (Subject: "test 1449" and Body: "test 1449") to another client (tero) and logs out.

kuusipuu:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<stream:stream xmlns:stream="http://etherx.jabber.org/streams"
xmlns="jabber:client" to="amessage.de">

amessage.de:

<stream:stream xmlns='jabber:client'
xmlns:stream='http://etherx.jabber.org/streams' from='amessage.de'
id='1461777714'>

kuusipuu:

<iq type="set" id="auth_2" to="amessage.de" >
  <query xmlns="jabber:iq:auth">
    <username>kuusipuu</username>
    <password>mypassword</password>
    <resource>Work</resource>
   </query>
</iq>

amessage.de:

<iq from="amessage.de" id='auth_2' type='result'/>

kuusipuu:

<message to="tero@example.com" >
  <subject>test 1449</subject>
  <body>test 1449</body>
</message>
<presence type="unavailable" >
  <status>Logged out</status>
</presence>
</stream:stream>

amessage.de:

</stream:stream>

See also

• List of instant messengers
• Comparison of instant messengers
• XMPP specifications

External links

• Jabber Software Foundation
• Jabber User Guide - Introduction to using Jabber for new users.