1pidgin(1) General Commands Manual pidgin(1)
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6 Pidgin v2.4.1 - Instant Messaging client
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9 pidgin [options]
10
13 pidgin is a graphical modular messaging client based on libpurple which
14 is capable of connecting to AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, XMPP, ICQ, IRC, SILC,
15 Novell GroupWise, Lotus Sametime, Zephyr, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ all at
16 once. It has many common features found in other clients, as well as
17 many unique features. Pidgin is not endorsed by or affiliated with
18 America Online, ICQ, Microsoft, or Yahoo.
19
22 The following options are provided by Pidgin using the standard GNU
23 command line syntax:
24 -c, --config=DIR
26 Use DIR as the directory for config files instead of ~/.purple.
27 -d, --debug
29 Print debugging messages to stdout. These are the same debug‐
30 ging messages that are displayed in the Debug Window.
31 -h, --help
33 Print a summary of command line options and exit.
34 -m, --multiple
36 Allow multiple instances of Pidgin to run.
37 -n, --nologin
39 Don't automatically login when Pidgin starts. Sets the global
40 status to Offline.
41 -l, --login[=NAME,NAME,...]
43 Enable the comma-separated list of accounts provided, disabling
44 all other accounts. If the user does not specify such a comma-
45 separated list, the first account in accounts.xml will be
46 enabled.
47 -v, --version
49 Print the current version and exit.
50
53 The Buddy List window is Pidgin's main interface window. Using this
54 window a user can see which of his/her buddies is online, away, idle,
55 etc. The user can also add buddies to and remove buddies from the
56 buddy list.
57 The Buddy List window contains a list of the user's buddies who are
59 online and have allowed the user to be notified of their presence. The
60 icon to the left of each buddy indicates the buddy's current status.
61 Double clicking a buddy will open a new Conversation window. Right
62 clicking will pop up a menu:
63 Get Info
65 Retrieves and displays information about the buddy. This infor‐
66 mation is also known as a Profile.
67 IM Opens a new Conversation window to the selected buddy.
69 Send File
71 Sends a file to the selected buddy (only available on protocols
72 that support file transfer).
73 Add Buddy Pounce
75 A Buddy Pounce is a configurable automated action to be per‐
76 formed when the buddy's state changes. This will open the Buddy
77 Pounce dialog, which will be discussed later.
78 View Log
80 Pidgin is capable of automatically logging messages. These logs
81 are either plain text files (with a .txt extension) or html
82 files (with a .html extension) located under the ~/.purple/logs
83 directory. This menu command will display Pidgin's log viewer
84 with logs loaded for that buddy or chat.
85 Alias Create an alias for this buddy. This will show an editable text
87 field where the buddy's screen name was displayed. In this
88 field one can give this buddy an alternate, more friendly name
89 to appear on the buddy list and in conversations.
90 For example, if a buddy's name screen name was jsmith1281xx and
92 his real name was 'John Q. Smith,' one could create an alias as
93 to identify the buddy by his common name.
94 The remainder of the menu will consist of protocol specific commands.
96 These commands vary depending on the protocol.
97 Status Selector
99 At the bottom of the Buddy List is a status selector which
100 allows one to change his/her status. This will be discussed
101 further in the STATUS MESSAGES section below.
102
105 The account editor consists of a list of accounts and information about
106 them. It can be accessed by selecting Manage from the Accounts menu.
107 Clicking Delete will delete the currently selected account. Clicking
108 Add or Modify will invoke a Modify Account window. Here, the user can
109 add or alter account information. When creating a new account, the
110 user will submit a screen name and password. The user will also choose
111 the protocol for the account.
112 If Remember Password is chosen, the password will be saved in Pidgin's
114 ~/.purple/accounts.xml configuration file.
115 If Enabled is checked in the accounts dialog, this account will follow
117 the status currently selected in the status selector. If it is not
118 checked, the account will always be offline.
119 Each protocol has its own specific options that can be found in the
121 modify screen.
122
125 All options take effect immediately.
126
129 Show system tray icon
130 Specifies when to show a Pidgin icon in the notification area of
131 the user's panel (commonly referred to as the System Tray).
132 Hide new IM conversations
135 Specifies when to hide new IM messages. Messages will queue
136 under the specified condition until shown. Clicking the Pidgin
137 icon in the notification area or system tray will display the
138 queued messages. An icon also appears in the buddy list's menu
139 bar; this icon may also be used to display queued messages.
140 Show IMs and chats in tabbed windows
143 When checked, this option will cause IM and chat sessions to
144 appear in windows with multiple tabs. One tab will represent
145 one conversation or chat. Where tabs are placed will be dic‐
146 tated by the preferences below.
147 Show close buttons on tabs
150 When checked, this option will cause a clickable "U+2715 MULTI‐
151 PLICATION X" unicode character to appear at the right edge of
152 each tab. Clicking this will cause the tab to be closed.
153 Placement
156 Specifies where to place tabs in the window. Some tab orienta‐
157 tions may allow some users to fit more tabs into a single window
158 comfortably.
159 New conversations
162 Specifies under which conditions tabs are placed into existing
163 windows or into new windows. For a single window, select Last
164 created window here.
165
168 Enable buddy icon animation
169 If a buddy's icon happens to be animated, this option will
170 enable the animation, otherwise only the first frame will be
171 displayed.
172 Notify buddies that you are typing to them
175 Some protocols allow clients to tell their buddies when they are
176 typing. This option enables this feature for protocols that
177 supports it. For XMPP, this also enables sending the "User has
178 left the conversation" message when ending the conversation.
179 Default Formatting
182 Allows specifying the default formatting to apply to all outgo‐
183 ing messages (only applicable to protocols that support format‐
184 ting in messages).
185
188 Allows the user to choose between different smiley themes. The "none"
189 theme will disable graphical emoticons - they will be displayed as text
190 instead. The Add and Remove buttons may be used to install or unin‐
191 stall smiley themes. Themes may also be installed by dragging and
192 dropping them onto the list of themes.
193
196 Method Lets the user choose between different playback methods. The
197 user can also manually enter a command to be executed when a
198 sound is to be played(%s expands to the full path to the file
199 name).
200 Sounds when conversation has focus
203 When checked, sounds will play for events in the active conver‐
204 sation if the window is focused. When unchecked, sounds will
205 not play for the active conversation when the window is focused.
206 Enable Sounds
209 Determines when to play sounds.
210 Sound Events
213 Lets the user choose when and what sounds are to be played.
214
217 STUN server
218 This allows specifying a server which uses the STUN protocol to
219 determine a host's public IP address. This can be particularly
220 useful for some protocols.
221 Autodetect IP address
224 When checked, causes Pidign to attempt to determine the public
225 IP address of the host on which Pidgin is running and disables
226 the Public IP text field listed below.
227 Public IP
230 If Autodetect IP address is disabled, this field allows manually
231 specifying the public IP address for the host on which Pidgin is
232 running. This is mainly useful for users with multiple network
233 interfaces or behind NATs.
234 Manually specify range of ports to listen on
237 Specify a range ports to listen on, overriding any defaults.
238 This is sometimes useful for file transfers and Direct IM.
239 Proxy Server
242 The configuration section to enable Pidgin to operate through a
243 proxy server. Pidgin currently supports SOCKS 4/5 and HTTP
244 proxies.
245
248 Browser
249 Allows the user to select Pidgin's default web browser. Fire‐
250 fox, Galeon, Konqueror, Mozilla, Netscape and Opera are sup‐
251 ported natively. The user can also manually enter a command to
252 be executed when a link is clicked (%s expands to the URL). For
253 example, xterm -e lynx "%s" will open the link with lynx.
254 Open link in
257 Allows the user to specify whether to use an existing window, a
258 new tab, a new window, or to let the browser to decide what to
259 do when calling the browser to open a link. Which options are
260 available will depend on which browser is selected.
261
264 Log format
265 Specifies how to log. Pidgin supports HTML and plain text, but
266 plugins can provide other logging methods.
267 Log all instant messages
270 When enabled, all IM conversations are logged. This can be
271 overridden on a per-conversation basis in the conversation win‐
272 dow.
273 Log all chats
276 When enabled, all chat conversations are logged. This can be
277 overridden on a per-conversation basis in the conversation win‐
278 dow.
279 Log all status changes to system log
282 When enabled, status changes are logged.
283
286 Report idle time
287 Determines under which conditions to report idle time. Based on
288 keyboard and mouse use uses keyboard and mouse activity to
289 determine idle time. From last sent message uses the time at
290 which the user last sent a message in Pidgin to determine idle.
291 Never disables idle reporting.
292 Auto-reply
295 Determines when to send an auto-reply on protocols which support
296 it (currently only AIM).
297 Change status when idle
300 When enabled, this uses the Minutes before becoming idle and
301 Change status to preferences described below to set status on
302 idle.
303 Minutes before becoming idle
306 Specifies how many minutes of inactivity are required before
307 considering the user to be idle.
308 Change status to
311 Specifies which "primitive" or "saved" status to use when set‐
312 ting status on idle.
313 Use status from last exit at startup
316 If this is checked, Pidgin will remember what status was active
317 when the user closed Pidgin and restore it at the next run.
318 When disabled, Pidgin will always set the status selected in
319 Status to apply at startup at startup.
320 Status to apply at startup
323 When Use status from last exit at startup is disabled, this
324 specifies which "primitive" or "saved" status to use at startup.
325
328 When starting a new conversation, the user is presented with the Con‐
329 versation window. The conversation appears in the upper text box and
330 the user types his/her message in the lower text box. Between the two
331 is a row of options, represented by icons. Some or all buttons may not
332 be active if the protocol does not support the specific formatting.
333 From left to right:
334 Font This menu provides font control options for the current conver‐
336 sation. Size, style, and face may be configured here.
337 Insert This menu provides the ability to insert images, horizontal
339 rules, and links where the protocol supports each of these fea‐
340 tures.
341 Smile! Allows the insertion of graphical smileys via the mouse. This
343 button shows the user a dialog with the available smileys for
344 the current conversation.
345
348 For protocols that allow it, Chats can be entered through the Buddies
349 menu.
350 Additional features available in chat, depending on the protocol are:
352 Whisper
354 The text will appear in the chat conversation, but it will only
355 be visible to the sender and the receiver.
356 Invite Invite other people to join the chat room.
358 Ignore Ignore anything said by the chosen person
360 Set Topic
362 Set the topic of the chat room. This is usually a brief sen‐
363 tence describing the nature of the chat--an explanation of the
364 chat room's name.
365 Private Message (IM)
367 Send a message to a specific person in the chat. Messages sent
368 this way will not appear in the chat window, but instead open a
369 new IM conversation.
370
373 Most protocols allow for status messages. By using status messages, a
374 user can leave an informative message for others to see. Status and
375 status messages are configured via the status selector at the bottom of
376 the Buddy List window. By default the menu shown here is divided into
377 sections for "primitive" status types, such as Available, Away, etc.; a
378 few "popular" statuses (including "transient" statuses) which have
379 been recently used, and a section which shows New Status... and Saved
380 Statuses... options for more advanced status manipulation.
381 Primitive Statuses
384 A primitive status is a basic status supported by the protocol.
385 Examples of primitive statuses would be Available, Away, Invisi‐
386 ble, etc. A primitive status can be used to create a Transient
387 Status or a Saved Status, both explained below. Essentially,
388 primitive statuses are building blocks of more complicated sta‐
389 tuses.
390 Transient Statuses
393 When one of the statuses from the topmost section of the status
394 selector's menu is selected, this creates a transient, or tempo‐
395 rary, status. The status will show in the "popular statuses"
396 section in the menu until it has not been used for a suffi‐
397 ciently long time. A transient status may also be created by
398 selecting New Status... from the status selector's menu, then
399 clicking Use once the user has entered the message.
400 Saved Statuses
403 Saved statuses are permanent--once created, they will exist
404 until deleted. Saved statuses are useful for statuses and sta‐
405 tus messages that will be used on a regular basis. They are
406 also useful for creating complex statuses in which some accounts
407 should always have a different status from others. For example,
408 one might wish to create a status called "Sleeping" that has all
409 accounts set to "Away", then create another status called "Work‐
410 ing" that has three accounts set to "Away" and another account
411 set to "Available."
412 New Status Window
415 When the user selects New Status... from the status selector
416 menu, Pidgin presents the user with a dialog asking for status-
417 related information. That information is discussed below:
418 Title - The name of the status that will appear in the status
420 selctor's menu. If the user clicks the Save or Save & Use but‐
421 ton, this name will also be shown in the Saved Status Window.
422 The title should be a short description of the status.
423 Status - The type of status being created, such as Available,
425 Away, etc.
426 Message - The content of the status message. This is what is
428 visible to other users. Some protocols will allow formatting in
429 some status messages; where formatting is not supported it will
430 be stripped to the bare text entered.
431 Use a different status for some accounts - This allows the cre‐
433 ation of complex statuses in which some accounts' status differs
434 from that of other accounts. To use this, the user will click
435 the expander to the left of the text, then select individual
436 accounts which will have a different status and/or status mes‐
437 sage. When the user selects an account, Pidgin will present
438 another status dialog asking for a status and a message just for
439 the selected account.
440 Saved Status Window
443 When the user selects Saved Statuses... from the status selec‐
444 tor's menu, Pidgin presents a dialog that lists all saved sta‐
445 tuses. "Transient" statuses, discussed above, are NOT shown
446 here. This window provides the ability to manage saved statuses
447 by allowing the creation, modification, and deletion of saved
448 statuses. The Use, Modify, and Delete buttons here allow opera‐
449 tion on the status selected from the list; the dd button allows
450 creation of a new saved status, and the Close button closes the
451 window.
452
455 A Buddy Pounce is an automated trigger that occurs when a buddy returns
456 to a normal state from an away state. The Buddy Pounce dialog box can
457 be activated by selecting the Buddy Pounce option from the Tools menu.
458 From this dialog, new pounces can be created with the Add button and
459 existing pounces can be removed with the Delete button. A pounce can
460 be set to occur on any combination of the events listed, and any combi‐
461 nation of actions can result. If Pounce only when my status is not
462 Available is checked, the pounce will occur only if the user is set to
463 a non-available status, such as invisible, do not disturb, away, etc.
464 If Recurring is checked, the pounce will remain until removed by the
465 Delete button.
466
469 Pidgin allows for dynamic loading of plugins to add extra functionality
470 to Pidgin. See plugins/HOWTO or http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/CHowTo
471 for information on writing plugins.
472 The plugins dialog can be accessed by selecting Plugins from the Tools
474 menu. Each plugin available appears in this dialog with its name, ver‐
475 sion, and a short summary of its functionality. Plugins can be enabled
476 with the checkbox beside the name and short description. More informa‐
477 tion on the currently selected plugin is available by clicking the
478 expander beside the text Plugin Details. If the selected plugin has
479 preferences or configuration options, the Configure Plugin button will
480 present the plugin's preferences dialog.
481
484 Pidgin allows for plugins to be written in the perl scripting language.
485 See Perl Scripting HOWTO in the Pidgin documentation for more informa‐
486 tion about perl scripting.
487
490 Pidgin allows for plugins to be written in the Tcl scripting language.
491 See plugins/tcl/TCL-HOWTO for more information about Tcl scripting.
492
495 Pidgin allows for interaction via D-Bus. Currently very little docu‐
496 mentation about this interaction exists.
497
500 /usr/bin/pidgin: Pidgin's location.
501 ~/.purple/blist.xml: the buddy list.
502 ~/.purple/accounts.xml: information about the user's accounts.
503 ~/.purple/pounces.xml: stores the user's buddy pounces.
504 ~/.purple/prefs.xml: Pidgin's configuration file.
505 ~/.purple/status.xml: stores the user's away messages.
506 ~/.purple/logs/PROTOCOL/ACCOUNT/SCREENNAME/DATE.{html,txt}: conversa‐
507 tion logs.
508
511 /usr/lib/pidgin/: Pidgin's plugins directory.
512 /usr/lib/purple-2/: libpurple's plugins directory.
513 ~/.purple: users' local settings
514 ~/.purple/plugins/: users' local plugins
515
518 The bug tracker can be reached by visiting http://developer.pid‐
519 gin.im/query
520
523 If you fix a bug in Pidgin (or otherwise enhance it), please submit a
524 patch (using mtn diff > my.diff against the latest version from the
525 Monotone repository) at http://developer.pidgin.im/simpleticket
526 Before sending a bug report, please verify that you have the latest
528 version of Pidgin. Many bugs (major and minor) are fixed at each
529 release, and if yours is out of date, the problem may already have been
530 solved.
531
534 http://pidgin.im/
535
538 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
539 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
540 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
541 option) any later version.
542 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
544 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MER‐
545 CHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
546 Public License for more details.
547 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
549 with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
550 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02111-1301 USA
551
554 Pidgin's active developers are:
555 Sean Egan (lead developer) <seanegan@gmail.com>
556 Daniel 'datallah' Atallah (developer)
557 John 'rekkanoryo' Bailey (developer)
558 Ethan 'Paco-Paco' Blanton (developer)
559 Thomas Butter (developer)
560 Ka-Hing Cheung (developer)
561 Sadrul Habib Chowdhury (developer)
562 Mark 'KingAnt' Doliner (developer) <thekingant@users.sourceforge.net>
563 Casey Harkins (developer)
564 Gary 'grim' Kramlich (developer)
565 Richard 'rlaager' Laager (developer) <rlaager@pidgin.im>
566 Richard 'wabz' Nelson (developer)
567 Christopher 'siege' O'Brien (developer)
568 Bartosz Oler (developer)
569 Etan 'deryni' Reisner (developer)
570 Tim 'marv' Ringenbach (developer) <marv_sf@users.sf.net>
571 Luke 'LSchiere' Schierer (support)
572 Megan 'Cae' Schneider (support/QA)
573 Evan Schoenberg (developer)
574 Kevin 'SimGuy' Stange (developer and webmaster)
575 Will 'resiak' Thompson (developer)
576 Stu 'nosnilmot' Tomlinson (developer)
577 Nathan 'faceprint' Walp (developer)
578 Our crazy patch writers include:
581 Dennis 'EvilDennisR' Ristuccia
582 Peter 'fmoo' Ruibal
583 Elliott 'QuLogic' Sales de Andrade
584 Gabriel 'Nix' Schulhof
585 Our artists are:
588 Hylke Bons <h.bons@student.rug.nl>
589 Our retired developers are:
592 Herman Bloggs (win32 port) <herman@bluedigits.com>
593 Jim Duchek <jim@linuxpimps.com> (maintainer)
594 Rob Flynn <gaim@robflynn.com> (maintainer)
595 Adam Fritzler (libfaim maintainer)
596 Christian 'ChipX86' Hammond (developer & webmaster)
597 <chipx86@chipx86.com>
598 Syd Logan (hacker and designated driver [lazy bum])
599 Jim Seymour (XMPP developer)
600 Mark Spencer (original author) <markster@marko.net>
601 Eric Warmenhoven (former lead developer) <eric@warmenhoven.org>
602 Our retired crazy patch writers include:
605 Felipe 'shx' Contreras
606 Decklin Foster
607 Peter 'Bleeter' Lawler
608 Robert 'Robot101' McQueen
609 Benjamin Miller
610 This manpage was originally written by Dennis Ristuccia <dennis@den‐
613 nisr.net>. It has been updated and largely rewritten by Sean Egan
614 <seanegan@gmail.com>, Ben Tegarden <tegarden@uclink.berkeley.edu>, and
615 John Bailey <rekkanoryo@pidgin.im>.
616 pidgin(1)