Mac OS X

iChat has a mind of its own... Well, as far as setting your "Away" status it does! Recently, I created a system at work that allows the developers to kick off builds on our build machine using iChat. It's a pretty trick little system and I found some interesting things while engineering it.

One of those things is that iChat knows when you're away - or at least it thinks it does. If you do not interact with your computer after a specific amount of time (I don't know what amount of time - nor do I care), iChat will go to "idle". If you have specified (in the iChat Preferences), not to show others you are idle, then no one will see the idle status but you. After long enough in the "idle" state, iChat will set itself to "away". The only thing that can bring it out of this state is for you to interact with your computer.

When I say "interact" I mean via a human interface device. You cannot ssh into the box and move some files around. You cannot Applescript some moving windows or emulate key-presses. The interaction must be made via a mouse or a keyboard. Otherwise, iChat will continue to be "away".

It took me a while but I figured out how this interaction was happening and I figured out a way around it. Read on if you want to see my solution. Continue reading "Keeping iChat Awake"