Gaim 1.5/2.0 with SSL support

Compile GAIM with SSL support on Linux (for MSN, gtalk/Google Talk)

when running gaim to connect to MSN/gtalk, it failed and said: SSL support is needed for MSN. Please install a supported SSL library. MSN (Microsoft Messenger) and Google Talk (GTalk or Gmail Talk) both require SSL authentication enabled when using GAIM instant messenger. See http://gaim.sf.net/faq-ssl.php for more information.

That mean you have not compiled GAIM with SSL support enabled or you don't have libraries (NSS and NSRP) in proper directories.
For gaim 1.5, you can just add "/usr/lib/firefox2.0/"(where your firefox is located) to the end of file /etc/ld.so.conf, and run ldconfig as root, then you can run gaim with SSL ; For gaim 2.0, you can install it from tarball and configure SSL support by the following steps:

1,Download SSL support libraries from Mozilla to /home/soft/gaim/:
#cd /home/soft/gaim/
#wget ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/security/nss/releases/NSS_3_9_RTM/Linux2.4_x86_glibc_PTH_OPT.OBJ/nss-3.9.tar.gz
#wget ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/nspr/releases/v4.4.1/Linux2.4_x86_glibc_PTH_OPT.OBJ/nspr-4.4.1.tar.gz

2.Copy SSL library files to proper locations (system libraries directory):
#cd /home/soft/gaim/
#tar xzvf nss-3.9.tar.gz
#tar xzvf nspr-4.4.1.tar.gz

#cp -rf nss-3.9/lib/* /usr/local/lib/
#cp -rf nspr-4.4.1/lib/* /usr/local/lib/
(you can use /usr/lib/ instead if required)

3.Install gaim 2.0 with ssl support
#tar xzvf gaim-2.0.0beta5.tar.gz (assume you have download gaim-2.0 to /home/soft/gaim )
#cd gaim-2.0.0beta5
#./configure --with-nss-includes=/home/soft/gaim/nss-3.9/include --with-nspr-includes=/home/soft/gaim/nspr-4.4.1/include --with-nss-libs=/home/soft/gaim/nss-3.9/lib --with-nspr-libs=/home/soft/gaim/nspr-4.4.1/lib

Configure should finish without an error - look for this line:
SSL Library/Libraries......... : Mozilla NSS

If the lines contains Mozilla NSS, then you are set.

#make
#make install

Now run GAIM and you should be done, if the previous steps went without the errors. Create MSN or Google Talk account and it should connect correctly.

ps, if you use KDE, kopete is good substitute for gaim. It works fine with MSN/gtalk, while gaim has a more extensive support for plugins, like tencent QQ.

Reference: http://www.ambience.sk/gaim-compile-ssl-linux-msn-google-talk