Using Pidgin Messenger on Ubuntu

Pidgin can work well with XMPP (Google Talk), Yahoo IM, IRC, etc.

Security

I understand that the login connection with Google Talk and Yahoo are SSL encrypted. However the conversations on Yahoo are not encrypted. On Gtalk the conversations are encrypted. Read more here.

Caveats


To use Google Talk with a custom domain, one must use talk.google.com as the "Connect Server" (Add Account > Advanced).

To disable the "drive-me-nuts" notifications whenever a user signs-in, configure the "Libnotify Plugin".

Setting up https + lighttpd

I used the method described here. Actually it turned out to be a little simpler than setting up SSL with Apache.