uowuo/abaddon

Abaddon

Alternative Discord client made in C++ with GTK

Current features:

• Not Electron
• Voice support
• Handles most types of chat messages including embeds, images, and replies
• Completely styleable/customizable with CSS (if you have a system GTK theme it won't really use it though)
• Identifies to Discord as the web client unlike other clients so less likely to be falsely flagged as spam¹
• Set status
• Unread and mention indicators
• Notifications (non-Windows)
• Start new DMs and group DMs
• View user profiles (notes, mutual servers, mutual friends)
• Kick, ban, and unban members
• Modify roles and modify members' roles
• Manage invites
• Manage emojis
• View audit log
• Emojis²
• Thread support³
• Animated avatars, server icons, emojis (can be turned off)

1 - Abaddon tries its best (though is not perfect) to make Discord think it's a legitimate web client. Some of the things done to do this include: using a browser user agent, sending the same IDENTIFY message that the official web client does, using API v9 endpoints in all cases, and not using endpoints the web client does not normally use. There are still a few smaller inconsistencies, however. For example the web client sends lots of telemetry via the /science endpoint (uBlock origin stops this) as well as in the headers of all requests.

See here for things you might want to avoid if you are worried about being caught in the spam filter.

2 - Unicode emojis are substituted manually as opposed to rendered by GTK on non-Windows platforms. This can be changed with the stock_emojis setting as shown at the bottom of this README. A CBDT-based font using Twemoji is provided to allow GTK to render emojis natively on Windows.

3 - There are some inconsistencies with thread state that might be encountered in some more uncommon cases, but they are the result of fundamental issues with Discord's thread implementation.

Building manually (recommended if not on Windows):

Windows (with MSYS2):

1. Install following packages:
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-ninja
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-sqlite3
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-nlohmann-json
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-curl
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-zlib
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-gtkmm3
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-libhandy
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-opus
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-libsodium
   • mingw-w64-x86_64-spdlog
2. git clone --recurse-submodules="subprojects" https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon && cd abaddon
3. mkdir build && cd build
4. cmake -GNinja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo ..
5. ninja

Mac:

1. git clone https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon --recurse-submodules="subprojects" && cd abaddon
2. brew install gtkmm3 nlohmann-json libhandy opus libsodium spdlog adwaita-icon-theme
3. mkdir build && cd build
4. cmake ..
5. make

Linux:

1. Install dependencies
   • On Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal) and newer:

     $ sudo apt install g++ cmake libgtkmm-3.0-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libsqlite3-dev libssl-dev nlohmann-json3-dev libhandy-1-dev libsecret-1-dev libopus-dev libsodium-dev libspdlog-dev

   • On Arch Linux

     $ sudo pacman -S gcc cmake gtkmm3 libcurl-gnutls lib32-sqlite lib32-openssl nlohmann-json libhandy opus libsodium spdlog

   • On Fedora Linux:

     $ sudo dnf install g++ cmake gtkmm3.0-devel libcurl-devel sqlite-devel openssl-devel json-devel libsecret-devel libhandy-devel opus-devel libsodium-devel spdlog-devel

     Note: On older versions of fedora you might need to install gtkmm30-devel instead of gtkmm3.0-devel. Use dnf search gtkmm3 to see available packages.

2. git clone https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon --recurse-submodules="subprojects" && cd abaddon
3. mkdir build && cd build
4. cmake ..
5. make

Downloads:

Latest release version: https://github.com/uowuo/abaddon/releases/latest

CI:

• Windows: here
• MacOS: here unsigned, unpackaged, requires gtkmm3 (e.g. from homebrew)
• Linux: here unpackaged (for now), requires gtkmm3. built on Ubuntu 18.04 + gcc9

Warning: If you use Windows, make sure to start from the bin directory

Resources

The two folders within the res folder (res/res and res/css) are necessary. Windows also uses the fonts folder. You can put them directly next to the executable. On Linux, css and res can also be loaded from ~/.local/share/abaddon or /usr/share/abaddon

abaddon.ini will also be automatically used if located at ~/.config/abaddon/abaddon.ini and there is no abaddon.ini in the working directory

How do I get my token?

Follow these instructions.

The Spam Filter

Discord likes disabling accounts/forcing them to reset their passwords if they think the user is a spam bot or potentially had their account compromised. While the official client still often gets users caught in the spam filter, third party clients tend to upset the spam filter more often. If you get caught by it, you can usually appeal it and get it restored. Here are some things you might want to do with the official client instead if you are particularly afraid of evoking the spam filter's wrath:

• Joining or leaving servers (usually main cause of getting caught)
• Frequently disconnecting and reconnecting
• Starting new DMs with people
• Managing your friends list
• Managing your user profile while connected to a third party client

Dependencies:

• gtkmm
• JSON for Modern C++
• IXWebSocket (provided as submodule)
• libcurl
• zlib
• SQLite3
• spdlog
• libhandy (optional)
• keychain (optional, provided as submodule)
• miniaudio (optional, provided as submodule, required for voice)
• libopus (optional, required for voice)
• libsodium (optional, required for voice)
• rnnoise (optional, provided as submodule, noise suppression and improved VAD)

TODO:

• User activities
• More server management stuff
• A bunch of other stuff probably

Styling

CSS selectors

Used in reorderable list implementation:

Used in guild settings popup:

Used in profile popup:

Settings

Settings are configured (for now) by editing abaddon.ini. The format is similar to the standard Windows ini format except:

• # is used to begin comments as opposed to ;
• Section and key names are case-sensitive

Warning: You should edit these while the client is closed, even though there's an option to reload while running.

This listing is organized by section. For example, memory_db would be set by adding memory_db = true under the line [discord]

discord

http

gui

style

notifications

voice

Environment variables