Migrating OTR keys from Pidgin to Kopete

If you are trying to maintain your existing OTR (off-the-Record Messaging) keys and fingerprints between Pidgin and Kopete , you might run into a small road block. Simply copying your ~/.purple/otr.fingerprints and ~/.purple/otr.private_key to ~/.kde/share/apps/kopete_otr won't cut it. It seems there are some minor changes between the formats used by the two messaging clients. Here is how you can migrate your OTR settings:

In the following example, I am migrating from Pidgin to Kopete.

1. Copy key and fingerprint files
   
$ cp ~/.purple/otr.private_key ~/.kde/share/apps/kopete_otr/privkeys
$ cp ~/otr.fingerprints ~/.kde/share/apps/kopete_otr/fingerprints

   
2. Fingerprints and keys file will need some minor tweaking. You must edit both files and change all references to the following (vi example %s/prpl-aim/AIM/g):
   
   • (protocol prpl-aim) to (protocol AIM)
     
     
   • (protocol prpl-msn) to (protocol "WLM Messenger")
     
     
   • (protocol prpl-jabber) to (protocol Jabber). Additionally, remove the "/Home" or whatever resource name you used in Pidgin. So the Gtalk name parameter should look like (name "user@gmail.com"), and not (name "user@gmail.com/Home").
     
     
   • (protocol prpl-yahoo) to (protocol Yahoo)
     
     
   • (protocol prpl-icq) to (protocol ICQ)
     
     
3. Save both files and restart Kopete.
   
   
4. Go to Settings > Configure > Plugins > OTR and click on the tiny wrench icon. For each "Account" you should see your old "Fingerprint".
   
   
5. If this trick does not work, then simply generate new keys and then compare the privkeys and otr.privkeys files and figure out the difference.

Note: Pidgin version 2.5.8 and Kopete version 0.70.4

Happy secure chatting!
VVK