[Pidgin] #12231: XMPP smiley size

[Pidgin]

#12231: XMPP smiley size
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 Reporter:  Darius                     |        Owner:  deryni 
     Type:  defect                     |       Status:  closed 
Milestone:                             |    Component:  XMPP   
  Version:  2.6.6                      |   Resolution:  wontfix
 Keywords:  Emoticon smiley size XMPP  |  
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Changes (by darkrain42):

  * status:  new => closed
  * resolution:  => wontfix


Comment:

 Whether or not Google's servers contain "the majority of XMPP users" is
 immaterial.  XMPP is an open standards protocol, so we follow the
 standards (RFCs and XEPs), not just doing willy-nilly what we (or the
 users) want when the relevant specs spell out the issue at hand.

 In this case, the issue isn't at all a stanza size limit, it's a limit
 (specified in [http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0231.html XEP-0231 Bits of
 Binary]) on the size of data that is sent using this (horrifically
 inefficient, which I'll get to in a minute) method, instead of more
 efficient, out-of-band, methods.

 Anyway, prior to 2.6.6, there was a file size limit.  The change was in
 whether the file size was calculated before or after Base64 encoding (the
 spec was unclear -- the intention was for the spec to limit the stanza
 size to ~8 KiB, whereas Pidgin was limiting the original file size to 8
 KiB).  Since the limit is now enforced on the Base64 data, the file size
 limit ended up being decreased.  Base64 compression is ''roughly'' (IIRC)
 4/3 the space of the original data, so the file size limit is now
 somewhere around (8 * 3/4) KiB.

 XMPP is a streaming XML protocol, so in order to transfer any binary data
 in-stream requires ridiculously ugly and horribly space-inefficient base64
 encoding, which is why it's generally discouraged and why the Bits of
 Binary spec provides an upper bound on the file size.

 On a personal note, your tone is entirely unhelpful.  As I already
 mentioned, there was a previous file size limit, ''and'' the specification
 already plainly states that the blobs SHOULD be no more than a specific
 size.  You would have been much better received if you'd simply asked what
 the file size was and why the change was made.

 I'm closing this as wontfix because we have no intention of changing the
 limit; sending large blogs of binary over XMPP is horribly inefficient,
 stalls the stream, and isn't what this spec was intended for.  That said,
 #10056 might be of interest to you. (I would certainly like to see such an
 Informational spec written up and support added to Pidgin).

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/12231#comment:1>
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