Pidgin + Pidgin plugin pack on Ubuntu

Pidgin is an open source multi-protocol chat client. Since I use AIM at work and most of my friends listen in on GTalk, I decided to install Pidgin. A quick Google search unearthed this link. But hey, what's the point of being on Linux and not performing the configure-make-make-install drill? Besides, I wanted the Pidgin Plugin Pack as well (which btw can also be installed by following the instructions here without building the sources). This pack has an extremely useful plugin - Mystatusbox - that allows you to selectively set the status of each of your IM accounts. So here's how I got around to getting both Pidgin and Pidgin plugin pack on my box:

1. download pidgin 2.2.1 source from sourceforge
2. downloaded various dependent sources (libxml-dev, libgtk-dev) and installed these
3. ./configure && make && sudo make install
4. downloaded the pidgin plugin pack from here
5. ./configure && make && sudo make install

I threw in a desktop launcher for good measure, and I was good to go.