[Pidgin] #7458: Google Talk contact 'Full Name' aliases should be used in place of User ID

[Pidgin]

#7458: Google Talk contact 'Full Name' aliases should be used in place of User ID
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 Reporter:  stinky2nine  |        Owner:  darkrain42 
     Type:  defect       |       Status:  new        
Milestone:               |    Component:  Google Talk
  Version:  2.5.2        |   Resolution:             
 Keywords:               |  
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Comment(by darkrain42):

 Replying to [comment:16 VuDu]:
 > Replying to [comment:15 deryni]:
 > > If you don't see the name in the initial roster fetch pidgin isn't
 getting it from anywhere other than the local blist.xml (in fact I bet
 that if you open that file up you will see all of the aliases for these
 non- at gmail.com buddies and no-longer-in-roster @gmail.com buddies).
 >
 > But how weird is it that the only contacts without a name sent in the
 roster are the contacts that are ACTUALLY in the contact list? Does the
 client have any control on that kind of response? If so, might it be that
 pidgin is doing it wrong?
 >

 Looking at the log, that's not what I see. I see plenty of people in the
 buddy list that have names set (and some of the people that are hidden
 have no name).


 > > The problem with fetching and storing the vCard name is that we have
 no way of guaranteeing that it is up to date and it is technically not
 required to even exist, so for a buddy who doesn't set one we would
 potentially be fetching it on every login (unless we stored an empty
 response as well, which is more information to get out of sync with).
 >
 > About Gmail users, I'm confident that everyone must have at least a
 minimum vCard. I have users that just use gmail's embed chat and have a
 Full Name. The one on the pidgin_xmpp_getinfo.txt is an example of such
 users.

 There's no way to determine whether a user in the roster uses Google Talk
 or not. Yes, 'gmail.com' and 'googlemail.com' are obvious enough, but
 Google Apps for Your Domain means there's no way to verify that for other
 domains.

 > > In addition to fetching the info when we add someone (though I wonder
 if we should only do this after they approve the addition, which makes
 tracking it harder) I wonder if perhaps we should have a 'Get Info for All
 Buddies' account action, but then again a plugin can add that (though if
 they can't do it without causing Get Info dialogs that's unfortunate).
 >
 > I'm not really sure, but MSN must have a similar problem with display
 pictures. "When to fetch? Is it updated?" Or maybe that's just handled
 server-side? Not sure...
 >

 There are push-based mechanisms for XMPP avatars (and, as deryni said, for
 picking up remote nicknames, though the latter isn't as effective when
 using Google Talk).

 >
 > Now, about the actual user account I think there should be done
 something too. Currently, users have to set their local alias in the
 account options so that they don't see the "username at gmail/something"
 instead of the user's real full name. The alternative that I use is adding
 myself to my contact list and doing a "Get Info" on myself after every
 pidgin start.

 This should be its own request, I think, although I don't see why XMPP
 should act any differently in this case than other protocols.  The correct
 solution is to set the Alias field in the account settings.

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Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/7458#comment:18>
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