pidgin/nest

Simplify this answer and remove reference to Pidgin version that hasn't been

2019-08-07, John Bailey
fb1040c7a3a1
Simplify this answer and remove reference to Pidgin version that hasn't been
supported in over a decade.
---
title: "SILC"
date: 2019-06-17T23:14:46-04:00
---
### What is SILC?
SILC is an open, security-focused end-to-end encrypted protocol. Its website is currently hosted at [silc.github.io](https://silc.github.io).
### What do I need to use the SILC protocol?
You need to install the SILC Toolkit and the libpurple SILC plugin. These were generally provided as packages in several Linux distributions, however, many distributions have begun dropping these packages due to being "unmaintained." If you're compiling Pidgin and libpurple yourself, see the `./configure --help` for specifying the location of the SILC headers and libraries. If you're compiling with an SRPM, use `--with-silc` to build the `purple-silc` RPM
On Windows, the SILC Toolkit is installed with Pidgin.