Need help getting started with libpurple

[Alfred.D'Souza at Instinet.com]

I'm new to libpurple and am trying to programmatically send an AOL IM
message, I don't need the ability to receive messages.
I compiled pidgin2.12.0 and am running libpurple/example/nulclient, but it
fails to get any protocols.
I'm guessing that some configuration is missing, maybe in prefs.h? I have
not been able to find the format for prefs.h or a sample file.
Seems like status.xml, accounts.xml, blist.xml are also missing. Are sample
files available for these?

Here is the output of nullclient

sdkvpgin01 example $ nullclient
libpurple initialized.
Select the protocol [0--1]: 0
Failed to gets protocol.Aborted

sdkvpgin01 example $ nullclient
libpurple initialized.
Select the protocol [0--1]: 1
Failed to gets protocol.Aborted

Can somebody give me a pointer on how I can make progress?
Thanks

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