What is IMPULS?

IMPULS (Instant Messenger Personal User Log Storage) is a toolset which allows to retrieve, store and display messages from different IM instances in a central database.

Motivation

The project's idea arose from the problem of having multiple IM-clients on several systems. Though the contacts can be synchronized using the server-side lists, histories are scattered and often get lost during reinstallation.

A second problem occurs if the client is run on a remote console: The user interface merely allows the history to be browsed in an efficient way and often the connection to other programmes, like calling a web browser on clicking a link, is not possible.

Goal

IMPULS is meant to be a central and persistent storage for histories of an arbitrary number of different instant messenging clients, which should allow the stored data to be browsed in a comfortable way.

An important design aspect is the transparency to the user. Although the software cannot be totally hidden, data synchronization should be fully automated and the tools provided for browsing the histories should integrate as good as possible.

We want to emphasize, that IMPULS is supposed to be a personal tool. It should only be possible to the owner of the history to view his self produced conversation.

Participation

Feel free to contribute. Since we are in an early development stage the best thing you can do is code. Further information on how to participate now and later can be found on the Development page.