What Coccinella was
Coccinella was a desktop communication client for Jabber/XMPP, designed to work across operating systems and across independently operated messaging servers.
The 2007 project site highlighted a built-in whiteboard, file transfer, plugins, group chat, avatars and emoticons, multiple languages, and secured connections using TLS and SASL. Its central proposition was not merely chat: it was lightweight collaboration on an open protocol.
Technical shape
Packaging records describe Coccinella 0.96.20 as a platform-independent package. The FreeBSD port lists Tcl/Tk and related libraries among its runtime dependencies, while Debian described it as a “Communication tool (XMPP/Jabber) with a built-in whiteboard.”
Open protocol
XMPP allowed users to connect through public servers or self-hosted servers, with federation providing communication across domains. Coccinella sat at the client edge of that network.
Desktop collaboration
Historic captions describe presence subscriptions, contact groups, one-to-one chat, Multi-User Chat, service discovery, file transfer and invitations into shared whiteboard sessions.
Why this archive exists
The former website accumulated documentation, screenshots, development posts and links from open-source package ecosystems. This rebuild keeps its subject and core routes intelligible without pretending that the original service or community functions still operate.
Every page distinguishes historical fact from current status. Where old descriptions or images are reused, attribution appears on the sources page.