Fixedburn

First, remove Gaim by MainMenu-> Add/Remove-> Gaim

Use synaptic to install the required packages…
search for libgtk2.0 -> to install libgtk2.0-0 and libgtk2.0-dev
search for gstreamer0.10 -> to install libgstreamer0.10-0 libgstreamer0.10-dev libgstreamer0.10-plugins-good libgstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
libgstreamer0.10-plugins-bad libgstreamer0.10-plugins-ffmpeg
search for gtkspell -> to install libgtkspell0 and libgtkspell-dev

Open a terminal by MainMenu > Accessories > Terminal

Download pidgin-2.4.3.tar.bz2 from Pidgin website

Unzip/extract pidgin-2.4.3.tar.bz2 into a foler called pidgin-2.4.3 by
double clicking on tar.bz2 file-> click on Extract button-> Extract

Put that folder on your Desktop
Then type the commands (without “# “)

# cd Desktop/pidgin-2.4.3

# ./configure

Then if you encounter the following message…
quote “XScreenSaver extension development headers not found.
Use –disable-screensaver if you do not need XScreenSaver extension support, this is required for detecting idle time by mouse and keyboard usage.
” end of quote
Open Synaptic and search for “xscreensaver”

Then I found a package called “xscreensaver”, but it had no its dev file, so I had to skip that support by enter the following in the terminal…

# ./configure --disable-screensaver

Then if you encounter the following message…
quote “Startup notification development headers not found.
Use --disable-startup-notification if you do not need it.
” end of quote
Open Synaptic and search for “startup notification”
Install libstartup-notification0 and its dev file libstartup-notification0-dev
Then run the same command again …

# ./configure --disable-screensaver

Meanwhile development headers not found.
Use --disable-meanwhile if you do not need meanwhile (Sametime) support.
-> synaptic search: meanwhile -> install Meanwhile and its dev

avahi development headers not found.
Use --disable-avahi if you do not need avahi (Bonjour) support.
-> synaptic search: avahi bonjour
libavahi-compat-libdnssd-dev for
Development headers for the Avahi Apple Bonjour compatibility library
is not the one I need,
so I give up by adding “--disable-avahi” after ./configure
# ./configure --disable-screensaver --disable-avahi

D-Bus development headers not found.
Use --disable-dbus if you do not need D-Bus support.
-> libdbus-1-dev, simple interprocess messaging system (development headers) is not the one, so I put down “… no” here.

Perl development headers not found.
Use --disable-perl if you do not need Perl scripting support.
-> libperl-dev, Perl library: … yes

Neither GnuTLS or NSS SSL development headers found.
Use --disable-nss --disable-gnutls if you do not need SSL support.
MSN, Novell Groupwise and Google Talk will not work without GnuTLS or NSS. OpenSSL is NOT usable!
-> libgnutls-dev, the GNU TLS library - development files…yes

Tcl development headers not found.
Use --disable-tcl if you do not need Tcl scripting support.
-> tcl8.4-dev, Tcl (the Tool Command Language) v8.4 - development files… yes

Tk development headers not found.
Use –disable-tk if you do not need Tk scripting support.
-> tk8.4-dev, Tk toolkit for Tcl and X11, v8.4 - development files…yes

So eventually, the command becomes …
# ./configure --disable-screensaver --disable-avahi --disable-dbus
Then I followed the README and INSTALL files inside pidgin-2.4.3 folder..
# sudo make
# make check
# sudo make install
# make clean
# make distclean
# pidgin or # finch
or MainMenu > Internet > Pidgin

You can get origin script here.