Run the binary or `python plchat.py`. Log in to your account on the fediverse and start chatting. If your server runs behind a reverse proxy, it will need to proxy websocket connections.
## Installation
Installation instructions for PlChat. If you are looking to package this program or build from source, skip to Building From Source or Packaging down below.
Download the installer from https://pond.waldn.net/plchat/windows/latest.zip extract the zip file. Other versions can be found at, for example, https://pond.waldn.net/plchat/windows/1.0.1.zip . Run the installer.
A prepackaged deb file is provided in https://git.waldn.net/git/knotteye/plchat/releases as ~~well as a compiled binary for amd64 linux~~. The precompiled binary was extremely not-portable and did not work well. Use a package or build from source.
~~Nuitka does not support cross compilation and I do not have a working MacOS machine or VM, but it should theoretically compile and run just fine. Feel free to message me for support, and I'll be glad to link to your site if you host any binaries you build.~~
A macos binary has been provided by [~am](https://decept.org/users/am). You can find it on the releases page. Run `brew install libmagic` before running.
PlChat comes with a Makefile for compiling to a binary, but it is of course possible to run the source directly with just `python plchat.py`. The easiest way to package PlChat is just to make sure the dependencies are installed and write a script that sets the appropriate pythonpath and runs plchat.py.
Otherwise you can see below for instructions on building the binary.
You will need the following libraries: PyQt5, Secret Service (on linux or BSD), libmagic (python-magic-bin from pypi on windows), and some codecs for qtmultimedia.
The windows codecs can be found above, and on linux you will need gstreamer and some plugins. On gentoo, `sudo emerge media-plugins/gst-plugins-base media-plugins/gst-plugins-good media-plugins/gst-plugins-bad media-plugins/gst-plugins-ugly media-plugins/gst-plugins-neon media-plugins/gst-plugins-soup media-plugins/gst-plugins-libav` should do. Other distributions are on your own.
And, obviously, a copy of python. Python3.5+ is the only thing I will support but other versions may work. End users will need the same version of python used to compile the binary. Other versions may work but this is what nuitka officially supports.
You will need the following packages from pypi: PyQt5, keyring, notify-py, appdirs, python-magic(or python-magic-bin on windows), python-dateutil, requests, urllib3, and websockets.
Once everything is installed and in your path it should be a simple `make && sudo make install` to build everything. The resulting binary will have it's own copy of all the python build dependencies, which can then be uninstalled or ignored. You can also `make systemlibs` if you wish, and the resulting binary will rely on system packages for all python modules listed above as build depencies. Nuitka produces very large binaries. UPX works well if you want to reduce the size.
