TL;DR

Provided you are on 64bit architecture, here are the new DEB files:

• To get compact contact list, and contact sorted by status get this new fixed empathy deb for 12.10 (same for 13.10, or for 14.04) and install it.
• To re-enable calling landlines phone with your SIP account (only needed for 12.10), get this new account-plugin-sip deb for 12.10 and install it.
• To get instant message back in notification area ensure that you have telepathy-indicator installed and running.

How you could patch it yourself the next time

Open-source matters. Let me show you why:

Let's get the source code:

cd /tmp
apt-get source empathy

Note that this last command will get the source package of empathy, and apply ubuntu specific patches.

Now, we'll proceed with getting all build dependencies required for compilation of empathy sources:

apt-get build-dep empathy

With Ubuntu 12.10 (13.04, 13.10, and 14.04), the version of empathy is 3.6.0.3 (3.6.4, 3.8.4, and 3.8.6 respectively). We will now access to the source and make some modifications:

cd empathy-*
sed -ri 's/#define AVATAR_SIZE 48/#define AVATAR_SIZE 24/g' \
    libempathy-gtk/empathy-roster-contact.c

I'll let you tweak the size in this line, it's expressed in pixel. New value is 24 here, instead of 48.

Optionally, I found that the SIP bug that prevented to call landlines phones was corrected in empathy 3.7.4. And that it wasn't included in 12.10 but was in 13.04 and newer.

If using 12.10 and interested by this feature, you should cherry-pick the patch:

wget -O - "https://bug691195.bugzilla-attachments.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=232954&action=diff&collapsed=&context=patch&format=raw&headers=1" | patch -p 1

Optionally, I patched the sort algorithm to sort by contact status before sorting by alphabetical order, if you want to get this patch:

cat <<EOF | patch -p 1
diff --git a/libempathy-gtk/empathy-roster-view.c b/libempathy-gtk/empathy-roster-view.c
index c3ae66e..77d76d6 100644
--- a/libempathy-gtk/empathy-roster-view.c
+++ b/libempathy-gtk/empathy-roster-view.c
@@ -188,6 +188,10 @@ add_roster_contact (EmpathyRosterView *self,
   g_signal_connect (contact, "notify::alias",
       G_CALLBACK (roster_contact_changed_cb), self);

+  /* Need to resort if presence is changed */
+  g_signal_connect (contact, "notify::presence-type",
+      G_CALLBACK (roster_contact_changed_cb), self);
+
   gtk_widget_show (contact);
   gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (self), contact);

@@ -633,19 +637,76 @@ compare_roster_contacts_by_alias (EmpathyRosterContact *a,
 }

 static gint
+presence_sort_key (FolksPresenceType presence) {
+
+  switch (presence)
+    {
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_UNSET:
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_OFFLINE:
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_UNKNOWN:
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_ERROR:
+        return 0;
+
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_HIDDEN:
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_EXTENDED_AWAY:
+        return 1;
+
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_AWAY:
+        return 2;
+
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_BUSY:
+      case FOLKS_PRESENCE_TYPE_AVAILABLE:
+        return 3;
+
+      default:
+        g_warning ("Unknown FolksPresenceType: %d", presence);
+        return 0;
+  }
+
+}
+
+static gint
+compare_roster_contacts_by_presence (EmpathyRosterContact *a,
+    EmpathyRosterContact *b)
+{
+  FolksPresenceType presence_a, presence_b;
+  FolksIndividual *ind_a, *ind_b;
+  gint key_a, key_b;
+
+  ind_a = empathy_roster_contact_get_individual (a);
+  ind_b = empathy_roster_contact_get_individual (b);
+
+  presence_a = folks_presence_details_get_presence_type (
+      FOLKS_PRESENCE_DETAILS (ind_a));
+  presence_b = folks_presence_details_get_presence_type (
+      FOLKS_PRESENCE_DETAILS (ind_b));
+
+  key_a = presence_sort_key(presence_a);
+  key_b = presence_sort_key(presence_b);
+
+  return key_b - key_a;
+}
+
+static gint
 compare_roster_contacts_no_group (EmpathyRosterView *self,
     EmpathyRosterContact *a,
     EmpathyRosterContact *b)
 {
   gboolean top_a, top_b;
+  gint presence_cmp;

   top_a = contact_in_top (self, a);
   top_b = contact_in_top (self, b);

   if (top_a == top_b)
-    /* Both contacts are in the top of the roster (or not). Sort them
-     * alphabetically */
-    return compare_roster_contacts_by_alias (a, b);
+    {
+      /* Both contacts are in the top of the roster (or not). Sort them
+       * by status, then alphabetically */
+      presence_cmp = compare_roster_contacts_by_presence(a, b);
+      if (presence_cmp == 0)
+        return compare_roster_contacts_by_alias (a, b);
+      return presence_cmp;
+    }
   else if (top_a)
     return -1;
   else
@@ -676,14 +737,18 @@ compare_roster_contacts_with_groups (EmpathyRosterView *self,
     EmpathyRosterContact *b)
 {
   const gchar *group_a, *group_b;
+  gint presence_cmp;

   group_a = empathy_roster_contact_get_group (a);
   group_b = empathy_roster_contact_get_group (b);

-  if (!tp_strdiff (group_a, group_b))
+  if (!tp_strdiff (group_a, group_b)) {
     /* Same group, compare the contacts */
-    return compare_roster_contacts_by_alias (a, b);
-
+    presence_cmp = compare_roster_contacts_by_presence(a, b);
+    if (presence_cmp == 0)
+      return compare_roster_contacts_by_alias (a, b);
+    return presence_cmp;
+  }
   /* Sort by group */
   return compare_group_names (group_a, group_b);
 }
EOF

And proceeded with the recompilation of the debian package:

dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -b

After some time waiting for the compilation to finish, you should have some new 'deb' packages in /tmp:

cd ..
ls -al *.deb

Before installing these packages, you can make sure to remove any empathy/telepathy process:

killall telepathy-gabble empathy-auth-client empathy-chat \
        telepathy-idle telepathy-logger telepathy-rakia  \
        telepathy-salut telepathy-haze mission-control-5 \
        empathy

And then install the new empathy:

sudo dpkg -i empathy_*.deb

If you applied the SIP patch:

sudo dpkg -i account-plugin-sip_*.deb

Then run empathy by any usual way you could think of.

Install-ability

You need to be able to type python setup.py install (or something similar) in the source directory and all the magic required will fire out to set things how they are supposed to be in your python libraries, allowing you to invoke import foo in any of your python file without any unfriendly exception being cast.

distributability

Next, you should be able to type python setup.py sdist register upload (or something similar) to build a source distribution, register the package to the PyPI, and send it. So that, finally, from any computer having access to internet, you could cast a pip install foo (or something similar) to get your package downloaded from the PyPI, and installed.

Requirements

Make sure you have the last distribute installed. You can install it with this command:

curl -O http://python-distribute.org/distribute_setup.py
python distribute_setup.py

setup.py file

Then create a setup.py file in the same directory than foo.py, containing:

from setuptools import setup
setup(
    ## Required for ``python setup.py install``
    name="foo_utils",
    version="0.1",
    py_modules=["foo"]

    ## Required for ``python setup.py sdist upload install``
)

The name will be your package name and version will be its version, these are used for naming the .egg and PyPI references.

The following is a less documented option and makes the solution I have found so small: py_modules is the python module you want to distribute. Typing foo targets the foo.py file.

Actually, complete reference of this trick can be found in distutils documentation, I couldn't find any reference to py_modules anywhere in the distribute documentation.

Tada !

The small setup.py you've written should allow you to type:

python setup.py install

To send it to PyPI, you'll need some other metadata as the author, summary, licence and maybe a small description. These are to be added in your setup.py file, and then:

python setup.py sdist register upload

... will send it to PyPI.

At last you'll then be able to install it from anywhere with:

pip install foo_utils

Requirements

You need to install distutils2:

pip install distutils2

If you have any trouble installing distutils2, you might be interested in the ending section about the truth about distutils2. You could also try something like that (adapt the version of course !):

cd /tmp
wget https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/D/Distutils2/Distutils2-1.0a4.tar.gz
tar xvzf Distutils2-1.0a4.tar.gz
cd Distutils2-1.0a4
python setup.py install

setup.cfg

In the same directory than foo.py, you can create setup.cfg containing:

[metadata]
name = foo_utils
version = 0.1

[files]
modules = foo

Notice that py_modules is in a files section and has been renamed to modules.

This first version of setup.cfg will allow you to achieve first goal of "install-ability". But you'll need more to get your code sent to PyPI:

[metadata]
name = foo_utils
version = 0.1.0
summary = A Simple example Foo program
description-file = README.rst CHANGELOG.rst

## sdist info
author = John Doe
author_email = john.doe@example.com
classifier =
    Development Status :: 3 - Alpha
    License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License (GPL)

[files]
modules = foo_utils
extra_files =
    README.rst
    CHANGELOG.rst

Well, it's not that small, but I'm not sure what is actually really required, and I think a small summary or description won't hurt. Notice that we have to repeat our selves for the inclusion of the README.rst and CHANGELOG.rst files that are used in the description.

Of course, all details given hear are subject to changes in the upcoming releases of distutils2.

Tada !

The small setup.cfg you've written should allow you to type:

pysetup install

To reach the "install-ability" goal. And:

pysetup run sdist register upload

To send it to PyPI. Then you should be able to install it from anywhere with:

pysetup install foo_utils

If any of these commands don't work, jump ahead to the next section !.

The truth about distutils2

Before getting something actually working, I ran in multiple issues, and these are some of the trick I did to make it work.

First, get it installed:

cd /tmp
wget https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/D/Distutils2/Distutils2-1.0a4.tar.gz
tar xvzf Distutils2-1.0a4.tar.gz
cd Distutils2-1.0a4
python setup.py install

Then, I proceeded towards the distribute installation:

$ pysetup foo_utils
No handlers could be found for logger "distutils2"

Hum, after hacking into the distutils2 code, I've found that distutils hadn't any default logger, once one set, it was only to realize that it wanted to display a simple error to tell me that I messed with my arguments. The correct command is:

root@myhost$ pysetup install foo_utils
Checking the installation location...
Unable to write in "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages". Do you have the permissions ?
root@myhost$

What are you talking about ?! I'm root ! After looking around, I found there were no such directory site-packages in my testing VM, which should mimick an Ubuntu 12.04 standard install. I pursued by:

root@myhost$ mkdir /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages
root@myhost$ pysetup install foo_utils
Checking the installation location...
Getting information about 'foo_utils'...
u'python-debian': u'0.1.21ubuntu1' is not a valid version (field 'Version')
u'python-apt': u'0.8.3ubuntu7' is not a valid version (field 'Version')
u'ufw': u'0.31.1-1' is not a valid version (field 'Version')
u'Landscape Client': u'12.05' is not a valid version (field 'Version')
Installing u'foo_utils' 0.1.0...
running install_dist
running build
running build_py
running install_lib
byte-compiling /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/foo.py to foo.pyc
running install_distinfo
creating /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/foo-utils-0.1.0.dist-info
creating /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/foo-utils-0.1.0.dist-info/METADATA
creating /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/foo-utils-0.1.0.dist-info/INSTALLER
creating /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/foo-utils-0.1.0.dist-info/REQUESTED
creating /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/foo-utils-0.1.0.dist-info/RECORD
root@myhost$

Success ! I then did the test to see if I could "import" my lib:

root@myhost$ python
Python 2.7.3 (default, Aug  1 2012, 05:14:39)
[GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import foo
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named foo
>>>

Failure ! A quick check to sys.path will confirm that if the "site-package" was not existent, it wasn't included in the sys.path... which makes sense. I'm not aware of all these details, but why distutils2 then tries to install packages in this directory ?

Anyway, if I want to make sure that site-packages gets in sys.path, I can follow superuser advice:

echo ../site-packages > /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/site-packages.pth

This will easily add site-packages directory system wide.

The big picture

flymake-mode is very simple, as you type it'll create a copy of your current emacs buffer in a file usualy called <filename>-flymake.<ext>.

Then, it'll launch an executable on this file and will collect it's standard output.

To work out of the box, the format should be something like this:

myfile.myext:<line no>: <ERROR|WARNING>: error message

This is a typical output of my pycheckers script which combines pep8 code style checker and pylint (syntax, logical, code style, code smell checking):

converter.py:38: ERROR: E501 (pep8) line too long (141 characters)
converter.py:130: ERROR: E303 (pep8) too many blank lines (2)
converter.py:156: WARNING: W0212 (pylint) Access to a protected member _fields_id of a client class
converter.py:185: WARNING: R0911 (pylint) Too many return statements (9/6)

emacs will then use this output to highlight WARNING and ERROR message in two different colors.

What do I need ?

You'll need to enable flymake once for all by adding the following line to your ~/.emacs, which will launch flymake whenever you'll open a file:

(add-hook 'find-file-hook 'flymake-find-file-hook)

Then to set up flymake-mode for a langage you'll need to:

1. add a specific snippet of code in ~/.emacs to configure the analyzer (ie: to set the actual name of the executable analyzer and its command line arguments if any).

2. create the executable code as it often require some tweaking to get the correct output. This stage is optional if your analyzer output is already in the correct format.

Python

pip install pylint
pip install pep8

;; Python flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-pycheckers-init ()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                    'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
        (local-file (file-relative-name
                     temp-file
                     (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "~/bin/pycheckers.py"  (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
            '("\\.py\\'" flymake-pycheckers-init)))

mkdir -p ~/bin &&
cd ~/bin &&
wget https://raw.github.com/gist/3754270/a4fecffaff6ab702f5c8d37332afc90f6461e40b/pycheckers.py &&
chmod +x pycheckers.py &&
cat <<EOF >> ~/.emacs

;; Python flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-pycheckers-init ()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                    'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
        (local-file (file-relative-name
                     temp-file
                     (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "~/bin/pycheckers.py"  (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
            '("\\.py\\'" flymake-pycheckers-init)))

EOF

Php

#!/bin/bash

phplint --modules-path ~/var/lib/phplint/modules \
        --packages-path /usr/share/php \
        --no-print-notices "$@"

;; PHP flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-phplint-init()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                     'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
         (local-file (file-relative-name
                      temp-file
                      (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "phpcheckers" (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
             '("\\.php[345]?$" flymake-phplint-init))
  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
               '("\\.inc$" flymake-phplint-init)))

mkdir -p ~/bin &&
cd ~/bin &&
cat <<EOF > ~/bin/phpcheckers &&
#!/bin/bash

phplint --modules-path ~/var/lib/phplint/modules \
        --packages-path /usr/share/php \
        --no-print-notices "\$@"
EOF
chmod +x phpcheckers &&
cat <<EOF >> ~/.emacs

;; PHP flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-phplint-init()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                    'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
        (local-file (file-relative-name
                     temp-file
                     (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "~/bin/phpcheckers" (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
            '("\\.php[345]?$" flymake-phplint-init))
  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
               '("\\.inc$" flymake-phplint-init)))

EOF

Javascript

#!/bin/bash

filename="$1"

jslint "$filename" --nomen --maxerr 999999 |

## reformat from:
##
##  #45 Expected exactly one space between 'function' and '('.
##      init: function(parent, dataset, csv_import_record){ // Line 127, Pos 23
##
## to:
##
##  filename.js:94: WARNING: (jslint) Expected exactly one space between 'function' and '('.

         sed -r "N;s/^\s*#[0-9]+ (.*)\n\s+.*\/\/ Line ([0-9]+),.*/$filename:\2: WARNING: W000 (jslint) \1/" |

## Remove garbages lines that were not match by previous regex
## as their is a small header not matching regexp.

         grep -E "^$filename:[0-9]+:" |

         grep -v "at column.*not column.*." |
         grep -v "Expected '{' and instead saw 'return'" |
         grep -v "Expected exactly one space between ')' and 'return'" |
         grep -v "Combine this with the previous 'var' statement" |
         grep -v "Unexpected 'in'. Compare with undefined, or use .*"

## force errorlevel 0 so as to avoid emacs ``flymake-mode`` to complain
exit 0

#!/bin/bash

jshint "$1" --reporter ~/.emacs.d/jslint-emacs-reporter.js

#!/bin/bash

jslint-emacs "$1"
jshint-emacs "$1"

;; Javascript flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-jslint-init ()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                     'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
           (local-file (file-relative-name
                        temp-file
                        (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "jscheckers" (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
               '("\\.js\\'" flymake-jslint-init)))

mkdir -p ~/bin &&
cd ~/bin &&
cat <<EOF > ~/bin/jslint-emacs &&
#!/bin/bash

filename="\$1"

jslint "\$filename" --nomen --maxerr 999999 |

## reformat from:
##
##  #45 Expected exactly one space between 'function' and '('.
##      init: function(parent, dataset, csv_import_record){ // Line 127, Pos 23
##
## to:
##
##  filename.js:94: WARNING: (jslint) Expected exactly one space between 'function' and '('.

         sed -r "N;s/^\s*#[0-9]+ (.*)\n\s+.*\/\/ Line ([0-9]+),.*/\$filename:\2: WARNING: W000 (jslint) \1/" |

## Remove garbages lines that were not match by previous regex
## as their is a small header not matching regexp.

         grep -E "^\$filename:[0-9]+:" |

         grep -v "at column.*not column.*." |
         grep -v "Expected '{' and instead saw 'return'" |
         grep -v "Expected exactly one space between ')' and 'return'" |
         grep -v "Combine this with the previous 'var' statement" |
      grep -v "Unexpected 'in'. Compare with undefined, or use .*"

## force errorlevel 0 so as to avoid emacs ``flymake-mode`` to complain
exit 0
EOF
chmod +x jslint-emacs &&
cat <<EOF > ~/bin/jscheckers &&
#!/bin/bash

~/bin/jslint-emacs "\$1"
~/bin/jshint-emacs "\$1"

EOF
chmod +x jscheckers &&
mkdir -p ~/.emacs.d &&
cd ~/.emacs.d &&
wget https://raw.github.com/gist/3754379/3c43c50b4d85f50b8314af8e498b1b4f2cee58ea/jslint-emacs-reporter.js &&
cat <<EOF >> ~/.emacs

;; Javascript flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-jslint-init ()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                    'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
           (local-file (file-relative-name
                        temp-file
                        (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "jscheckers" (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
               '("\\.js\\'" flymake-jslint-init)))

EOF

ReSTructured Text

#!/bin/bash

rst2html "$1" > /dev/null

;; ReSTructured Text Flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-rst-init ()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                     'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
           (local-file (file-relative-name
                        temp-file
                        (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "rstcheckers" (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
               '("\\.rst\\'" flymake-rst-init)))

mkdir -p ~/bin &&
cd ~/bin &&
cat <<EOF > ~/bin/rstcheckers &&
#!/bin/bash

rst2html "\$1" > /dev/null
EOF
chmod +x rstcheckers &&
cat <<EOF >> ~/.emacs

;; ReSTructured Text Flymake configuration

(when (load "flymake" t)
  (defun flymake-rst-init ()
    (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy
                    'flymake-create-temp-inplace))
           (local-file (file-relative-name
                        temp-file
                        (file-name-directory buffer-file-name))))
      (list "rstcheckers" (list local-file))))

  (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks
               '("\\.rst\\'" flymake-rst-init)))

EOF

Structural Attributes

slapcat output contains all the LDAP database including some structural information as values associated to attribute modifyTimestamp, createTimestamp, creatorsName (and so on ...). These are set automatically by the ldap subsystem when you add/modify info in the ldap database, and thus cannot be set directly. These are similar to meta information stored by filesystems for each files (user, group, permissions, date of creation ...).

Stripping structural attributes

Applying output of a slapcat output directly to ldapadd will issue this error message (as of openldap 2.4.15):

# cat mybase.ldif | ldapadd -D cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org -W
Enter LDAP Password:
adding new entry "dc=example,dc=org"
ldap_add: Constraint violation (19)
additional info: structuralObjectClass: no user modification allowed

This error message simply states that the attribute structuralObjectClass is not to be modified by any user (even administrator).

These structural information do not carry any information you've stored in the LDAP, so they can be stripped away without any second thought.

Here's how to create a dump stripped out from its structural information:

slapcat |
    egrep -v  "^(structuralObjectClass|entryUUID|creatorsName|modifiersName|createTimestamp|modifyTimestamp|entryCSN):" |
    bzip2 > mybase.ldif.bz2

Note: this egrep filter works because all stripped entries are one-liners.