Hello Linux Geeksters. As you may know, Empathy is a multi protocol instant messenger client, similar to Pidgin, used as the default chat client for the GNOME desktop environment. It has support for the most popular messaging services like MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo, IRC, Facebook and many more. The latest version available is Empathy 3.10 Beta 1 (Empathy 3.9.90). For a full list of changes brought by Empathy 3.10 Beta 1, see the official changelog.
In this article I will show you how to install Empathy 3.9.90 (Empathy 3.10 Beta 1) on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, Linux Mint 16 Petra, Linux Mint 15 Olivia, Linux Mint 14 Nadia, Linux Mint 13 Maya, Elementary OS 0.2 Luna, Debian Jessie, Debian Sid, Debian Wheezy and Debian Squeeze.
Because there isn’t any repository containing the latest Empathy version yet, we will have to do an installation from sources. Follow these instructions exactly, in order to get a successful installation:
Install the needed depepdencies:
$ sudo apt-get install gnome-common gettext libglib2.0-dev gnome-doc-utils gtk-doc-tools libxml2-dev libtelepathy-glib-dev libmissioncontrol-client-dev libtelepathy-farsight-dev libx11-dev libgtk2.0-dev libcanberra-gtk-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev libebook1.2-dev libnotify-dev libunique-dev libgnome-keyring-dev libtelepathy-logger-dev libwebkitgtk-3.0-dev libgnutls-dev libfolks-dev libfolks-telepathy-dev libcanberra-gtk3-dev libgcr-3-dev gsettings-desktop-schemas-dev
Download the Empathy 3.9.90 (Empathy 3.10 Beta 1) archive and extract it:
$ wget -c http://ftp.acc.umu.se/pub/GNOME/sources/empathy/3.9/empathy-3.9.90.tar.xz
$ tar -xJvf empathy-3.9.90.tar.xz
Install Empathy 3.9.90 (Empathy 3.10 Beta 1):
$ cd empathy-3.9.90
$ ./autogen.sh
$ make
$ sudo make install