FAQ
From TapiWiki
What is Tapioca?
Tapioca is a framework for Voice over IP (VoIP) and Instant Messaging (IM). Its main goal is to provide an easy way for developing and using VoIP and IM services in any kind of application.
What is this "Tapioca" name all about?
Tapioca is a regional food from Brazil. So basically the name does not have anything to do with VoIP or IM, we just chose it for fun, cause we like the name :).
What are the differences between Tapioca and Telepathy?
So Telepathy is a specification/protocol, while Tapioca is the implementation?
Telepathy is (in short) the specification on how connection managers and clients communicate via | D-Bus]. Tapioca currently provides APIs in several languages that abstracts all that D-Bus communication (i.e. Telepathy itself). In Tapioca you just deal with objects, instead of making D-Bus calls. Tapioca also uses a higher level of abstraction, so Tapioca components/concepts doesn't match one-to-one with Telepathy ones.
Tapioca used to be the whole thing (i.e., including the D-Bus API), having the same concepts like connection managers etc but we decided to merge efforts with the Telepathy guys a while ago since it would't make much sense to have two flavors of the same thing.
Why Tapioca?
Because by the time the project was started there was no easy way of implementing IM and VoIP services in an application.
Why should I use Tapioca?
Because it enables an application to use (or provide) IM an VoIP services quickly and neatly.
Will I be able to use the Telepathy components using Tapioca?
Yes. Applications using Tapioca API are in fact communicating with Telepathy connection managers.
Where can I find documentation on how to use Tapioca?
We don't have exactly that documentation yet. But we do have documentation for our API. Check our Design Document page.
Is there any tutorial out there?
Yes. Have a look at Tasting Tapioca
What's the licence of Tapioca?
Tapioca is free software released under GNU-LGPL license.
