Telegram-Qt
Version: GIT Web: http://bit.ly/telegram-qt
Telegram is a popular messaging service that’s been warmly received by Linux users. Telegram has the open source API, it’s cloud-based and it’s also advertised as a security-aware chat service.
Recently, the Telegram team has released its new library called TDLib. It’s designed to help third-party developers create unofficial Telegram apps. We remembered that there was already a stack of such programs that competed with the official Telegram desktop client, and after a closer look we chose Telegram-Qt as the best of the bunch.
Those of you who want alternatives to the default Telegram program will love this month’s HotPick. If you struggled to get the QML-based Cutegram program to work, you’ll be even more pleased with Telegram-Qt. It’s compact and fast, and has a reliable shared library that you can use in other projects. If you need to develop a messaging program, or any other kind of software, that needs to feature Telegram integration (especially with Qt and C++), this library will make your life easier.
The good news keeps on coming. Telegram-Qt ships with a bundled ‘test client’ that contains the main Telegram features within a good-looking UI. The client isn’t advertised in any way, so if you clone the project’s code from Github and build it, you’ll just get the library alone. To get yourself the test app, cd to telegram-qt/clients/ widgets and execute the following: $ qmake-qt5 && make
Now run ./testApp and enjoy a feature-rich Telegram desktop client. When you launch it the app needs to connect to a data centre (the ‘main’ and ‘testing’ options are available) and then it’ll authorise you with a PIN code and give you access to your chats, channels, groups and other Telegram facilities. The test app can retrieve your messaging history from Telegram, list available channels and let you join it, so it’s nearly a fully fledged chat client that you can use for all your Telegram needs.
“Telegram-Qt is compact and fast, and has a reliable shared library”