1finch(1) General Commands Manual finch(1)
2
6 Finch - A Pimpin' Penguin console frontend to libpurple. Instant Mes‐
7 saging client.
8
10 finch [options]
11
14 finch is a console-based modular messaging client based on libpurple
15 which is capable of connecting to AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, XMPP, ICQ, IRC,
16 SILC, Novell GroupWise, Lotus Sametime, Zephyr, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ all
17 at once. It has many common features found in other clients, as well as
18 many unique features. Finch is not endorsed by or affiliated with
19 America Online, ICQ, Microsoft, or Yahoo.
20
23 The following options are provided by finch using the standard GNU com‐
24 mand line syntax:
25 -d, --debug
27 Print debugging messages to stderr and start with the Debug win‐
28 dow. The messages shown in the Debug window are the same as the
29 ones printed in stderr.
30 -c, --config=DIR
32 Use DIR as the directory for config files instead of ~/.purple.
33 -h, --help
35 Print this help and exit.
36 -n, --nologin
38 Don't automatically login when finch starts. Sets all accounts
39 to Offline.
40 -v, --version
42 Display the version information window.
43
46 You can use the following shortcuts:
47 Alt + a
49 Bring up a list of available actions. You can use this list to
50 access the accounts window, plugins window, preference window
51 etc.
52 Alt + n
54 Go to the next window.
55 Alt + p
57 Go to the previous window.
58 Alt + w
60 Show the list of windows. You can select and jump to any window
61 from the list.
62 Alt + c
64 Close the current window.
65 Alt + q
67 Quit.
68 Alt + m
70 Start moving a window. Press the cursor keys to move the window.
71 When you are done, press Enter or Escape.
72 Alt + r
74 Start resizing a window. Press the cursor keys to resize the
75 window. When you are done, press Enter or Escape.
76 Alt + D
78 Dump the contents of the screen in HTML format.
79 Alt + .
81 Move the position of the current window in the window list one
82 place to the right.
83 Alt + ,
85 Move the position of the current window in the window list one
86 place to the left.
87 Alt + l
89 Refresh the windows. This is useful after resizing the terminal
90 window.
91 Alt + 1 2 ... 0
93 Jump to the 1st, 2nd ... 10th window.
94 Alt + Tab
96 Jump to the next URGENT (highlighted) window.
97 Alt + Shift + Tab
99 Jump to the previous URGENT (highlighted) window.
100 Ctrl + o
102 Bring up the menu (if there is one) for a window.
103 Alt + /
105 Show a list of available key-bindings for the current widget in
106 focus.
107 Alt + >
109 Switch to the next workspace
110 Alt + <
112 Switch to the previous workspace
113 Alt + t
115 Tag (or untag) the current window
116 Alt + T
118 Attached all the tagged windows to the current workspace
119 Alt + s
121 Show the workspace list
122 F9 Create a new workspace and switch to it
124
127 ~/.gntrc: configuration file for gnt applications.
128 A sample file looks like:
130 [Finch]
131 color-available = green; black
132 color-away = blue; black
133 color-idle = gray; black
134 color-offline = red; black
135 color-message-sent = cyan; default
136 color-message-received = red; default
137 color-message-highlight = black; green
138 color-message-action = yellow; default
139 color-timestamp = blue; default
140 #See below for details on color
141 [general]
143 shadow = 0
144 # There is experimental mouse support
145 mouse = 1
146 # To use some custom window-manager
147 wm = /usr/local/lib/gnt/s.so
148 # There's also a custom window manager called irssi.so
149 # Remember window-positions based on the titles (on by default)
150 remember_position = 1
151 # Use borderless one-line high buttons
152 small-button = true
153 # Workspaces are created simply by adding Workspace-X groups as
155 follows:
156 [Workspace-1]
157 name = blist
158 # window-names specifies that windows with these semi-colon sep‐
159 arated names are placed into this workspace
160 window-names = buddylist;debug-window
161 [Workspace-2]
163 name = IM
164 window-names = conversation-window
165 # window-titles specifies that windows with these semi-colon
166 separated titles are placed into this workspace. These are
167 matched as substrings. Window titles take precedence over names.
168 window-titles = Preferences;Pounce
169 [colors]
171 # The RGB values range in [0, 1000]
172 black = 0; 0; 0
173 red = 1000; 0; 0
174 green = 0; 1000; 0
175 blue = 250; 250; 700
176 white = 1000; 1000; 1000
177 gray = 700; 700; 700
178 darkgray = 256; 256; 256
179 [colorpairs]
181 normal = white; black
182 highlight = white; blue
183 highlightd = black; gray
184 shadow = black; darkgray
185 title = white; blue
186 titled = white; gray
187 text = white; blue
188 disabled = gray; black
189 urgent = green; black
190 # Remap some keys for GntEntry
192 [GntEntry::remap]
193 # Remap the up-arrow to the left-arrow
194 ^[[A = ^[[D
195 # Remap the down-arrow to the right-arrow
196 ^[[B = ^[[C
197 # Remap 'a' to 'bcd'
198 a = bcd
199 # Completely ignore the key 'q'
200 q =
201 # But the following will NOT work
202 #abc = bcd
203 # Hitting 'space' will activate a button
205 [GntButton::remap]
206 \ = \r
207
210 You can specifiy key-bindings for specific widgets. The following
211 entries in ~/.gntrc correspond to the default keybindings for the
212 actions:
213 [GntEntry::binding]
215 c-a = cursor-home
216 home = cursor-home
217 c-e = cursor-end
218 end = cursor-end
219 backspace = delete-prev
220 del = delete-next
221 c-d = delete-next
222 c-u = delete-start
223 c-k = delete-end
224 c-b = cursor-prev
225 left = cursor-prev
226 c-f = cursor-next
227 right = cursor-next
228 tab = suggest-show
229 down = suggest-next
230 up = suggest-prev
231 c-w = delete-prev-word
232 a-b = cursor-prev-word
233 a-f = cursor-next-word
234 a-d = delete-next-word
235 c-v = clipboard-paste
236 [GntTree::binding]
238 up = move-up
239 down = move-down
240 c-n = move-down
241 c-p = move-up
242 pageup = page-up
243 pagedown = page-down
244 backspace = move-parent
245 # Following is the default binding for the context-menu
246 menu = context-menu
247 # The following will let you open the context-menu in the buddylist
248 with c-b
249 # c-b = context-menu
250 [GntWidget::binding]
252 f11 = context-menu
253 [GntWindow::binding]
255 c-o = show-menu
256 f10 = show-menu
257 The c- corresponds to the Control key. You can also use ctrl- or ctr-
259 or ctl- to indicate a combination. For alt-keys, you can use one of a-,
260 alt-, m- or meta-. You can also use home, end, left, right etc. keys.
261
264 You can also specify key-bindings to trigger specific menuitems in win‐
265 dows. For example, the following entry in ~/.gntrc will bind Ctrl + t
266 to the 'Send IM...' item in the buddylist:
267 [buddylist::menu]
269 c-t = send-im
270 The following is the list of IDs of the current menuitems in the bud‐
272 dylist:
273 send-im
275 join-chat
276 show-empty-groups
277 show-offline-buddies
278 sort-status
279 sort-alpha
280 sort-log
281 add-buddy
282 add-chat
283 add-group
284
287 There is experimental mouse support. You can focus windows, activate
288 buttons, select rows in a list, scroll using the wheel-scroll etc.
289 Selecting text in a text-view copies it to the gnt clipboard. Mouse
290 support is disabled by default, so you need to enable it in ~/.gntrc
291 (see the sample above).
292
295 The default window management is very limited. But it is possible to
296 write custom window managers to suit your needs. There is a sample win‐
297 dow-manager included (named s.so) which adds a little 'close-button'
298 for the windows, removes the borders from the buddylist and pops up new
299 windows in the middle of the screen, instead of at the upper-left
300 corder. It is provided as a sample simple manager, but it should be
301 possible to write more complex managers, and it's very possible that
302 the window-manager API will need to be enhanced. Look at the sample
303 ~/.gntrc file above to see how to select a window-manager.
304 It is also possible to rebind the window-manager actions in ~/.gntrc,
306 eg:
307 [GntWM::binding]
309 a-n = window-next
310 a-p = window-prev
311 a-c = window-close
312 a-w = window-list
313 a-d = dump-screen
314 a-, = shift-left
315 a-. = shift-right
316 a-a = action-list
317 a-m = start-move
318 a-r = start-resize
319 a-q = wm-quit
320 a-l = refresh-screen
321 a-s = workspace-list
322 a-t = window-tag
323 a-T = place-tagged
324 a-C = toggle-clipboard
325 a-/ = help-for-widget
326 # The following action is still incomplete, and doesn't have a default
327 binding
328 # switch-window-n
329 # Other actions: window-next-urgent, window-prev-urgent
330 # For the sample custom window manager
332 [GntS::binding]
333 a-b = toggle-buddylist
334 # For the irssi window manager
336 [Irssi::binding]
337 a-L = move-right
338 a-H = move-left
339 a-J = move-down
340 a-K = move-up
341
344 There are a few helpful commands in addition to the regular commands.
345 You can use these from any conversation to access other windows.
346 accounts
349 for the accounts window.
350 buddylist
353 for the buddylist.
354 debugwin
357 for the debug window.
358 plugins
361 for the plugins window.
362 prefs for the preferences window.
365 status for the status window.
368
371 FAQ for finch is located at
372 http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/Using%20Finch
373
376 Known bugs are listed at
377 http://developer.pidgin.im/query?status=new&status=assigned&sta‐
378 tus=reopened&component=finch+%28gnt%2Fncurses%29&order=priority
379 Before sending a bug report, please verify that you have the latest
381 version of finch and libpurple. Many bugs (major and minor) are fixed
382 at each release, and if yours is out of date, the problem may already
383 have been solved.
384
388 If you fix a bug in finch (or otherwise enhance it), please submit a
389 patch (using mtn diff > my.diff against the latest version from the
390 Monotone repository) at
391 http://developer.pidgin.im/newticket
392 You are also encouraged to drop by at #pidgin on irc.freenode.net to
394 discuss development.
395
398 http://pidgin.im/
399
402 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
403 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
404 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
405 option) any later version.
406 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
408 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MER‐
409 CHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
410 Public License for more details.
411 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
413 with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
414 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02111-1301 USA
415
418 Sadrul Habib Chowdhury <sadrul@users.sourceforge.net>
419 This manpage was written by Sadrul Habib Chowdhury
421 <sadrul@users.sourceforge.net> and Dennis Ristuccia <dennis@den‐
422 nisr.net>.
423 finch(1)