How are .plist files being added when address book is off?

[Complexity]

I'm trying to set up Adium for the first time, and I ran into all sorts of problems with it getting messed up groups, etc. So I decided to completely remove everything and start over from scratch, adding each contact manually rather than allowing Adium to rummage through my Address Book.

So I closed Adium, and then removed the Adium 2.0 folder and the com.adiumX.adiumX.plist preference file.

Then I started Adium, but before I entered any account information, I immediately turned off the Address Book preference in the Advanced settings. I closed Adium and then opened it back up.

I then double checked to be sure the Address Book setting was turned off. It was. I felt safe.

While I was entering my first account, I also had the Adium 2.0 folder open and was watching the ByObject folder, and sure enough, as soon as I entered my first account, the folder had new plist files (for example: AIM.afriendsid.plist).

Where is Adium getting this info? What is the purpose of it?

At this point, I have no groups, no contacts and just one account set up. From my experience, as soon as I set up my other accounts, the ByObject folder will fill up with a bunch of those plist files. How the heck is Adium getting this info and what does it do with it?

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Plexi

[Catfish_Man]

The files in ByObject are full of information used only by Adium, such as when the contact was last seen, and what the preferred account for talking to them is. My guess is that it was filling in info a) from libgaim's blist.xml file, or b) by pulling it off the buddy list stored on the server. You could try downloading FSEventer from versiontracker.com and watch which files are being used.

[Complexity]

My guess is that it was filling in info a) from libgaim's blist.xml file, or b) by pulling it off the buddy list stored on the server.

Okay, it appears to be the latter of the two.

I did yet another clean start, trashing everything again, this time remembering to trash the cache files. I even moved my backup Adium 2.0 folder to another Mac and disconnected that server so there was no way for Adium to find it (being a bit paranoid ).

And while FSEventer is a great utility (thank you), I found the best way to watch it was to watch the ByObject folder. The instant I hit the okay button for a new account and it managed to log on, that's when the plist files were added. And that's when the info was added into the blist.xml file (I've been watching it using BBEdit).

Only 1 plist added itself from AIM, but MSN added a bunch.

I believe the huge number I had seen before was from my address book. I'm not sure if Adium got them from the cache files the second time around when I had turned off the address book or not as I hadn't figured out what was going on quite yet at that point.

What I'd like to do is figure out where this info is being stored on the AIM and MSN servers. Not that it's a big deal, but I just like to know how things work. It helps me to better user software to my liking.

Okay, so now to see if I can get the rest set up the way I want, and then copy it all over to my other main Mac. Thanks for your help!

[evands]

You'll see the same info if you log in with an official client, such as iChat, MacAIM, or MSN Messenger. Adium stores per-contact preferences in the ByObject folder, including initial information when a contact is added to your list such as what order you've specified for the contact if you are manually ordering your list. For example, if you set an alias or an event action in the Get Info window for a contact or group, that data will be stored in the appropriate plist.

[Complexity]

Yup, so I found out. And this whole thing explained why my groups were getting mixed up. I have 3 Macs which had, over time, accessed AIM and MSN chat using various software, and so they had ended up stepping over each other's toes.

What I finally did was log onto AIM and MSN directly and delete all the contacts and groups from there. Once I had that cleaned out, I then cleaned out Adium AGAIN. Finally, I could set everything up without so many errors.

Adium still added some plist files in the ByObject folder, but nothing like what it had been doing before. And now I don't have fantom groups hanging around, coming from nowhere, claiming they can't be deleted because they have contacts in them (when they don't as far as Adium is concerned), only to find that they were deleted, only to find that they truly were not deleted, and 'round and 'round I kept going.

Now the fun will be to see how well Adium handles having two Macs using the exact same accounts logged on at the same time with one being a PowerBook that I frequently open and close for various reasons. iChat had no problems keeping up with this, even when I would switch computers in the middle of a chat. I hope Adium can do the same!

Thanks for the help. Greatly appreciated.

[edit]Fixed mindless misspelling of Adium[/edit]

[ofri]

The name is Adium, not Adius :-P

[twopeak]

I use two macs and an Ubuntu linux, and everywhere everything stays ok.
But i keep the discipline to have one mac main account, and add people only on that computer. I don't think this affects things much, because I use MSN and everything is stored on servers.

Society forces me to use MSN.

[Complexity]

The name is Adium, not Adius :-P

Yikes!! How in the heck did I manage to do that? I know how to spell the correct name. In my own defense, I wrote that post after having to go to both, MSN and AOL, websites. That had to have fried some of my brain cells.

I edited the post as to not insult your fine software. And for my punishment, I shall write Adium on the blackboard 1,000 times.

Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium

Okay, maybe just 10 times.

[zaudragon]

The name is Adium, not Adius :-P

Yikes!! How in the heck did I manage to do that? I know how to spell the correct name. In my own defense, I wrote that post after having to go to both, MSN and AOL, websites. That had to have fried some of my brain cells.

I edited the post as to not insult your fine software. And for my punishment, I shall write Adium on the blackboard 1,000 times.

Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium

Okay, maybe just 10 times.

Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Adium Fire Fire Proteuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus!
^ yay, another Badger lyric change!