1finch(1)                    General Commands Manual                   finch(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       Finch  -  A Pimpin' Penguin console frontend to libpurple. Instant Mes‐
7       saging client.
8

SYNOPSIS

10       finch [options]
11
12

DESCRIPTION

14       finch is a console-based modular messaging client  based  on  libpurple
15       which  is  capable  of connecting to XMPP, IRC, SILC, Novell GroupWise,
16       Lotus Sametime, Zephyr, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ all at once. It has many com‐
17       mon features found in other clients, as well as many unique features.
18
19

OPTIONS

21       The following options are provided by finch using the standard GNU com‐
22       mand line syntax:
23
24       -c, --config=DIR
25              Use DIR as the directory for config files instead of ~/.purple.
26
27       -d, --debug
28              Print debugging messages to stderr and start with the Debug win‐
29              dow.  The messages shown in the Debug window are the same as the
30              ones printed in stderr.
31
32       -h, --help
33              Print this help and exit.
34
35       -n, --nologin
36              Don't automatically login when finch starts.  Sets all  accounts
37              to Offline.
38
39       -v, --version
40              Display the version information window.
41
42

GNT Shortcuts

44       You  can  use the following shortcuts (see the "Widget Actions" section
45       for a more complete list):
46
47       Alt + a
48              Bring up a list of available actions. You can use this  list  to
49              access  the  accounts  window, plugins window, preference window
50              etc.
51
52       Alt + n
53              Go to the next window.
54
55       Alt + p
56              Go to the previous window.
57
58       Alt + w
59              Show the list of windows. You can select and jump to any  window
60              from the list.
61
62       Alt + c
63              Close the current window.
64
65       Alt + q
66              Quit.
67
68       Alt + m
69              Start moving a window. Press the cursor keys to move the window.
70              When you are done, press Enter or Escape.
71
72       Alt + r
73              Start resizing a window. Press the cursor  keys  to  resize  the
74              window. When you are done, press Enter or Escape.
75
76       Alt + D
77              Dump the contents of the screen in HTML format.
78
79       Alt + .
80              Move  the  position of the current window in the window list one
81              place to the right.
82
83       Alt + ,
84              Move the position of the current window in the window  list  one
85              place to the left.
86
87       Alt + l
88              Refresh  the windows. This is useful after resizing the terminal
89              window.
90
91       Alt + 1 2 ... 0
92              Jump to the 1st, 2nd ... 10th window.
93
94       Alt + Tab
95              Jump to the next URGENT (highlighted) window.
96
97       Alt + Shift + Tab
98              Jump to the previous URGENT (highlighted) window.
99
100       Ctrl + o  or  F10
101              Bring up the menu (if there is one) for a window.
102
103       F11  or  Ctrl + x
104              Popup the context menu (if there is one) for the  selected  wid‐
105              get.
106
107       Alt + /
108              Show  a list of available key-bindings for the current widget in
109              focus.
110
111       Alt + >
112              Switch to the next workspace
113
114       Alt + <
115              Switch to the previous workspace
116
117       Alt + t
118              Tag (or untag) the current window
119
120       Alt + T
121              Attached all the tagged windows to the current workspace
122
123       Alt + s
124              Show the workspace list
125
126       F9     Create a new workspace and switch to it
127
128

FILES

130       ~/.gntrc: configuration file for gnt applications.
131
132       A sample file looks like:
133              [Finch]
134              color-available = green; black
135              color-away = blue; black
136              color-idle = gray; black
137              color-offline = red; black
138              color-message-sent = cyan; default
139              color-message-received = red; default
140              color-message-highlight = black; green
141              color-message-action = yellow; default
142              color-timestamp = blue; default
143              #See below for details on color
144
145              [general]
146              shadow = 0
147              # There is experimental mouse support
148              mouse = 1
149              # To use some custom window-manager
150              wm = /usr/local/lib/gnt/s.so
151              # There's also a custom window manager called irssi.so
152              # Remember window-positions based on the titles (on by default)
153              remember_position = 1
154              # Use borderless one-line high buttons
155              small-button = true
156
157              # Workspaces are created simply by adding Workspace-X groups  as
158              follows:
159              [Workspace-1]
160              name = blist
161              # window-names specifies that windows with these semi-colon sep‐
162              arated names are placed into this workspace
163              window-names = buddylist;debug-window
164
165              [Workspace-2]
166              name = IM
167              window-names = conversation-window
168              # window-titles specifies that  windows  with  these  semi-colon
169              separated  titles  are  placed  into  this  workspace. These are
170              matched as substrings. Window titles take precedence over names.
171              window-titles = Preferences;Pounce
172
173              [colors]
174              # The RGB values range in [0, 1000]
175              black = 0; 0; 0
176              red = 1000; 0; 0
177              green = 0; 1000; 0
178              blue = 250; 250; 700
179              white = 1000; 1000; 1000
180              gray = 700; 700; 700
181              darkgray = 256; 256; 256
182
183              [colorpairs]
184              normal = white; black
185              highlight = white; blue
186              highlightd = black; gray
187              shadow = black; darkgray
188              title = white; blue
189              titled = white; gray
190              text = white; blue
191              disabled = gray; black
192              urgent = green; black
193
194              # Remap some keys for GntEntry
195              [GntEntry::remap]
196              # Remap the up-arrow to the left-arrow
197              ^[[A = ^[[D
198              # Remap the down-arrow to the right-arrow
199              ^[[B = ^[[C
200              # Remap 'a' to 'bcd'
201              a = bcd
202              # Completely ignore the key 'q'
203              q =
204              # But the following will NOT work
205              #abc = bcd
206
207              # Hitting 'space' will activate a button
208              [GntButton::remap]
209              \  = \r
210
211

Widget Actions

213       You can specify key-bindings for specific widgets.  The  following  en‐
214       tries  in  ~/.gntrc  correspond  to the default keybindings for the ac‐
215       tions:
216
217       [GntBox::binding]
218       tab = focus-next
219       right = focus-next
220       left = focus-prev
221
222       [GntComboBox::binding]
223       down = dropdown
224       up = dropdown
225
226       [GntEntry::binding]
227       c-a = cursor-home
228       home = cursor-home
229       c-e = cursor-end
230       end = cursor-end
231       backspace = delete-prev
232       del = delete-next
233       c-d = delete-next
234       c-u = delete-start
235       c-k = delete-end
236       c-b = cursor-prev
237       left = cursor-prev
238       c-f = cursor-next
239       right = cursor-next
240       tab = suggest-show
241       down = suggest-next
242       up = suggest-prev
243       page-down = suggest-next-page
244       page-up = suggest-prev-page
245       c-w = delete-prev-word
246       a-b = cursor-prev-word
247       a-f = cursor-next-word
248       a-d = delete-next-word
249       c-v = clipboard-paste
250       c-p = history-prev
251       c-n = history-next
252       c-r = history-search
253       c-up = history-prev
254       c-down = history-next
255
256       [GntTree::binding]
257       up = move-up
258       down = move-down
259       c-n = move-down
260       c-p = move-up
261       pageup = page-up
262       pagedown = page-down
263       backspace = move-parent
264       home = move-first
265       end = move-last
266       # Following is the default binding for the context-menu
267       menu = context-menu
268       # The following will let you open the  context-menu  in  the  buddylist
269       with c-b
270       # c-b = context-menu
271
272       [GntWidget::binding]
273       f11 = context-menu
274       c-x = context-menu
275
276       [GntWindow::binding]
277       c-o = show-menu
278       f10 = show-menu
279
280       The  c-  corresponds to the Control key. You can also use ctrl- or ctr-
281       or ctl- to indicate a combination. For alt-keys, you can use one of a-,
282       alt-, m- or meta-. You can also use home, end, left, right etc. keys.
283
284       To  unbind a key which has a default binding, you simply bind it to the
285       empty string.  For example, to unbind Alt + q from the  Quit  function,
286       you would use:
287
288       [GntWM::binding]
289       a-q =
290
291
293       You can also specify key-bindings to trigger specific menuitems in win‐
294       dows. For example, the following entry in ~/.gntrc will bind Ctrl  +  t
295       to the 'Send IM...' item in the buddylist:
296
297       [buddylist::menu]
298       c-t = send-im
299
300       The  following  is the list of IDs of the current menuitems in the bud‐
301       dylist:
302
303       send-im
304       join-chat
305       show-empty-groups
306       show-offline-buddies
307       sort-status
308       sort-alpha
309       sort-log
310       add-buddy
311       add-chat
312       add-group
313
314

Mouse Support

316       There is experimental mouse support. You can  focus  windows,  activate
317       buttons,  select rows in a list, scroll using the wheel-scroll etc. Se‐
318       lecting text in a text-view copies it to the gnt clipboard. Mouse  sup‐
319       port  is disabled by default, so you need to enable it in ~/.gntrc (see
320       the sample above).
321
322

Window Management

324       The default window management is very limited. But it  is  possible  to
325       write custom window managers to suit your needs. There is a sample win‐
326       dow-manager included (named s.so) which adds  a  little  'close-button'
327       for the windows, removes the borders from the buddylist and pops up new
328       windows in the middle of the  screen,  instead  of  at  the  upper-left
329       corder.  It  is  provided  as a sample simple manager, but it should be
330       possible to write more complex managers, and it's  very  possible  that
331       the  window-manager  API  will  need to be enhanced. Look at the sample
332       ~/.gntrc file above to see how to select a window-manager.
333
334       It is also possible to rebind the window-manager actions  in  ~/.gntrc,
335       eg:
336
337       [GntWM::binding]
338       a-n = window-next
339       a-p = window-prev
340       a-c = window-close
341       a-w = window-list
342       a-d = dump-screen
343       a-, = shift-left
344       a-. = shift-right
345       a-a = action-list
346       a-m = start-move
347       a-r = start-resize
348       a-q = wm-quit
349       a-l = refresh-screen
350       a-s = workspace-list
351       a-t = window-tag
352       a-T = place-tagged
353       a-C = toggle-clipboard
354       a-/ = help-for-widget
355       a-c-j = window-scroll-down
356       a-c-k = window-scroll-up
357       #  The following action is still incomplete, and doesn't have a default
358       binding
359       # switch-window-n
360       # Other actions: window-next-urgent, window-prev-urgent
361
362       # For the sample custom window manager
363       [GntS::binding]
364       a-b = toggle-buddylist
365
366       # For the irssi window manager
367       [Irssi::binding]
368       a-L = move-right
369       a-H = move-left
370       a-J = move-down
371       a-K = move-up
372
373

Conversation Commands

375       There are a few helpful commands in addition to the  regular  commands.
376       You can use these from any conversation to access other windows.
377
378
379       accounts
380              for the accounts window.
381
382
383       buddylist
384              for the buddylist.
385
386
387       debugwin
388              for the debug window.
389
390
391       plugins
392              for the plugins window.
393
394
395       prefs  for the preferences window.
396
397
398       status for the status window.
399
400

FAQ

402       FAQ for finch is located at
403       http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/Using%20Finch
404
405

BUGS

407       Known bugs are listed at
408       http://developer.pidgin.im/query?status=new&status=assigned&status=re‐
409       opened&component=finch+%28gnt%2Fncurses%29&order=priority
410
411       Before sending a bug report, please verify that  you  have  the  latest
412       version  of finch and libpurple.  Many bugs (major and minor) are fixed
413       at each release, and if yours is out of date, the problem  may  already
414       have been solved.
415
416

PATCHES

418       If  you  fix  a bug in finch (or otherwise enhance it), please submit a
419       patch (using mtn diff > my.diff against the  latest  version  from  the
420       Monotone repository) at http://developer.pidgin.im/simpleticket
421
422       You  are  also  encouraged  to drop by at #pidgin on irc.libera.chat to
423       discuss development.
424
425

SEE ALSO

427       http://pidgin.im/
428       http://developer.pidgin.im/
429       purple-remote(1)
430       pidgin(1)
431
432

LICENSE

434       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
435       under  the  terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
436       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at  your
437       option) any later version.
438
439       This  program  is  distributed  in the hope that it will be useful, but
440       WITHOUT ANY  WARRANTY;  without  even  the  implied  warranty  of  MER‐
441       CHANTABILITY  or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General
442       Public License for more details.
443
444       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
445       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
446       51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02111-1301  USA
447
448

AUTHORS

450       Sadrul Habib Chowdhury <sadrul@users.sourceforge.net>
451
452       This    manpage    was    written    by    Sadrul    Habib    Chowdhury
453       <sadrul@users.sourceforge.net>   and   Dennis   Ristuccia  <dennis@den‐
454       nisr.net>.
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459                                                                      finch(1)
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