pidgin(1) User Commands pidgin(1)

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NAME

pidgin - Instant Messaging client

SYNOPSIS

pidgin [options]

DESCRIPTION

pidgin is a graphical modular messaging client based on libpurple
which is capable of connecting to XMPP, IRC, SILC, Novell GroupWise,
Lotus Sametime, Zephyr, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ all at once. It has many
common features found in other clients, as well as many unique
features.

Pidgin can be extended by plugins written in multiple programming
languages and controlled through DBus or purple-remote.

OPTIONS

The following options are provided by Pidgin using the standard GNU
command line syntax:

-c, --config=DIR
Use DIR as the directory for config files instead of
~/.purple.

-d, --debug
Print debugging messages to stdout. These are the same
debugging messages that are displayed in the Debug Window.

-f, --force-online
Try to be online even if the network is reported (by Windows,
or NetworkManager on Linux) to be unavailable.

-h, --help
Print a summary of command line options and exit.

-m, --multiple
Allow multiple instances of Pidgin to run.

-n, --nologin
Don't automatically login when Pidgin starts. Sets the global
status to Offline.

-l, --login[=NAME,NAME,...]
Enable the comma-separated list of accounts provided,
disabling all other accounts. If the user does not specify
such a comma-separated list, the first account in accounts.xml
will be enabled.

-v, --version
Print the current version and exit.

TERMS

Pidgin uses a few terms differently from other applications. For
convenience they are defined here:

Buddy List
The list of other users who the user wants to see status
information for and have quick access to for messaging.

Buddy A user who has been added to the Buddy List.

Contact
A grouping of more than one buddy who are all the same person.
A contact may contain buddies from any protocol and may
contain as many buddies as the user desires. Contact
arrangements are stored locally only.

Alias A private "nickname" that may be set for Buddies or the user
himself. On some protocols, aliases are saved on the server
but not visible to other users. On other protocols, aliases
are saved only locally.

Protocol
A messaging service. XMPP, Zephyr, etc. are protocols.
Others may call these "service types," "account types,"
"services," and so on.

BUDDY LIST

The Buddy List window is Pidgin's main interface window. Using this
window a user can see which of his/her buddies is online, away, idle,
etc. The user can also add buddies to and remove buddies from the
buddy list.

The Buddy List window contains a list of the user's buddies who are
online and have allowed the user to be notified of their presence.
The icon to the left of each buddy indicates the buddy's current
status. Double clicking a buddy will open a new Conversation window.
Right clicking will pop up a menu:

Get Info
Retrieves and displays information about the buddy. This
information is also known as a Profile.

IM Opens a new Conversation window to the selected buddy.

Send File
Sends a file to the selected buddy (only available on
protocols that support file transfer).

Add Buddy Pounce
A Buddy Pounce is a configurable automated action to be
performed when the buddy's state changes. This will open the
Buddy Pounce dialog, which will be discussed later.

View Log
Pidgin is capable of automatically logging messages. These
logs are either plain text files (with a .txt extension) or
html files (with a .html extension) located under the
~/.purple/logs directory. This menu command will display
Pidgin's log viewer with logs loaded for that buddy or chat.

Alias Create an alias for this buddy. This will show an editable
text field where the buddy's name was displayed. In this
field one can give this buddy an alternate, more friendly name
to appear on the buddy list and in conversations.

For example, if a buddy's name was jsmith1281xx and his real
name was 'John Q. Smith,' one could create an alias as to
identify the buddy by his common name.

The remainder of the menu will consist of protocol specific commands.
These commands vary depending on the protocol.

Status Selector
At the bottom of the Buddy List is a status selector which
allows one to change his/her status. This will be discussed
further in the STATUS MESSAGES section below.

ACCOUNT EDITOR

The account editor consists of a list of accounts and information
about them. It can be accessed by selecting Manage from the Accounts
menu. Clicking Delete will delete the currently selected account.
Clicking Add or Modify will invoke a Modify Account window. Here,
the user can add or alter account information. When creating a new
account, the user will submit a username and password. The user will
also choose the protocol for the account.

If Remember Password is chosen, the password will be saved in
Pidgin's ~/.purple/accounts.xml configuration file.

If Enabled is checked in the accounts dialog, this account will
follow the status currently selected in the status selector. If it
is not checked, the account will always be offline.

Each protocol has its own specific options that can be found in the
modify screen.

PREFERENCES

All options take effect immediately.


Interface
Show system tray icon
Specifies when to show a Pidgin icon in the notification area
of the user's panel (commonly referred to as the System Tray).


Hide new IM conversations
Specifies when to hide new IM messages. Messages will queue
under the specified condition until shown. Clicking the
Pidgin icon in the notification area or system tray will
display the queued messages. An icon also appears in the
buddy list's menu bar; this icon may also be used to display
queued messages.


Show IMs and chats in tabbed windows
When checked, this option will cause IM and chat sessions to
appear in windows with multiple tabs. One tab will represent
one conversation or chat. Where tabs are placed will be
dictated by the preferences below.


Show close buttons on tabs
When checked, this option will cause a clickable "U+2715
MULTIPLICATION X" unicode character to appear at the right
edge of each tab. Clicking this will cause the tab to be
closed.


Placement
Specifies where to place tabs in the window. Some tab
orientations may allow some users to fit more tabs into a
single window comfortably.


New conversations
Specifies under which conditions tabs are placed into existing
windows or into new windows. For a single window, select Last
created window here.


Conversations
Enable buddy icon animation
If a buddy's icon happens to be animated, this option will
enable the animation, otherwise only the first frame will be
displayed.


Notify buddies that you are typing to them
Some protocols allow clients to tell their buddies when they
are typing. This option enables this feature for protocols
that supports it.


Default Formatting
Allows specifying the default formatting to apply to all
outgoing messages (only applicable to protocols that support
formatting in messages).


Smiley Themes
Allows the user to choose between different smiley themes. The "none"
theme will disable graphical emoticons - they will be displayed as
text instead. The Add and Remove buttons may be used to install or
uninstall smiley themes. Themes may also be installed by dragging
and dropping them onto the list of themes.


Sounds
Method Lets the user choose between different playback methods. The
user can also manually enter a command to be executed when a
sound is to be played(%s expands to the full path to the file
name).


Sounds when conversation has focus
When checked, sounds will play for events in the active
conversation if the window is focused. When unchecked, sounds
will not play for the active conversation when the window is
focused.


Enable Sounds
Determines when to play sounds.


Sound Events
Lets the user choose when and what sounds are to be played.


Network
STUN server
This allows specifying a server which uses the STUN protocol
to determine a host's public IP address. This can be
particularly useful for some protocols.


Autodetect IP address
When checked, causes Pidign to attempt to determine the public
IP address of the host on which Pidgin is running and disables
the Public IP text field listed below.


Public IP
If Autodetect IP address is disabled, this field allows
manually specifying the public IP address for the host on
which Pidgin is running. This is mainly useful for users with
multiple network interfaces or behind NATs.


Manually specify range of ports to listen on
Specify a range ports to listen on, overriding any defaults.
This is sometimes useful for file transfers and Direct IM.


Proxy Server
The configuration section to enable Pidgin to operate through
a proxy server. Pidgin currently supports SOCKS 4/5 and HTTP
proxies.


Browser
Browser
Allows the user to select Pidgin's default web browser.
Firefox, Galeon, Konqueror, Mozilla, Netscape and Opera are
supported natively. The user can also manually enter a
command to be executed when a link is clicked (%s expands to
the URL). For example, xterm -e lynx "%s" will open the link
with lynx.


Open link in
Allows the user to specify whether to use an existing window,
a new tab, a new window, or to let the browser to decide what
to do when calling the browser to open a link. Which options
are available will depend on which browser is selected.


Logging
Log format
Specifies how to log. Pidgin supports HTML and plain text,
but plugins can provide other logging methods.


Log all instant messages
When enabled, all IM conversations are logged. This can be
overridden on a per-conversation basis in the conversation
window.


Log all chats
When enabled, all chat conversations are logged. This can be
overridden on a per-conversation basis in the conversation
window.


Log all status changes to system log
When enabled, status changes are logged.


Status / Idle
Report idle time
Determines under which conditions to report idle time. Based
on keyboard and mouse use uses keyboard and mouse activity to
determine idle time. From last sent message uses the time at
which the user last sent a message in Pidgin to determine
idle. Never disables idle reporting.


Change status when idle
When enabled, this uses the Minutes before becoming idle and
Change status to preferences described below to set status on
idle.


Minutes before becoming idle
Specifies how many minutes of inactivity are required before
considering the user to be idle.


Change status to
Specifies which "primitive" or "saved" status to use when
setting status on idle.


Use status from last exit at startup
If this is checked, Pidgin will remember what status was
active when the user closed Pidgin and restore it at the next
run. When disabled, Pidgin will always set the status
selected in Status to apply at startup at startup.


Status to apply at startup
When Use status from last exit at startup is disabled, this
specifies which "primitive" or "saved" status to use at
startup.

CONVERSATIONS

When starting a new conversation, the user is presented with the
Conversation window. The conversation appears in the upper text box
and the user types his/her message in the lower text box. Between
the two is a row of options, represented by icons. Some or all
buttons may not be active if the protocol does not support the
specific formatting. From left to right:

Font This menu provides font control options for the current
conversation. Size, style, and face may be configured here.

Insert This menu provides the ability to insert images, horizontal
rules, and links where the protocol supports each of these
features.

Smile! Allows the insertion of graphical smileys via the mouse. This
button shows the user a dialog with the available smileys for
the current conversation.

CHATS

For protocols that allow it, Chats can be entered through the Buddies
menu.

Additional features available in chat, depending on the protocol are:

Whisper
The text will appear in the chat conversation, but it will
only be visible to the sender and the receiver.

Invite Invite other people to join the chat room.

Ignore Ignore anything said by the chosen person

Set Topic
Set the topic of the chat room. This is usually a brief
sentence describing the nature of the chat--an explanation of
the chat room's name.

Private Message (IM)
Send a message to a specific person in the chat. Messages
sent this way will not appear in the chat window, but instead
open a new IM conversation.

STATUS MESSAGES

Most protocols allow for status messages. By using status messages,
a user can leave an informative message for others to see. Status
and status messages are configured via the status selector at the
bottom of the Buddy List window. By default the menu shown here is
divided into sections for "primitive" status types, such as
Available, Away, etc.; a few "popular" statuses (including
"transient" statuses) which have been recently used, and a section
which shows New Status... and Saved Statuses... options for more
advanced status manipulation.


Primitive Statuses
A primitive status is a basic status supported by the
protocol. Examples of primitive statuses would be Available,
Away, Invisible, etc. A primitive status can be used to
create a Transient Status or a Saved Status, both explained
below. Essentially, primitive statuses are building blocks of
more complicated statuses.


Transient Statuses
When one of the statuses from the topmost section of the
status selector's menu is selected, this creates a transient,
or temporary, status. The status will show in the "popular
statuses" section in the menu until it has not been used for a
sufficiently long time. A transient status may also be
created by selecting New Status... from the status selector's
menu, then clicking Use once the user has entered the message.


Saved Statuses
Saved statuses are permanent--once created, they will exist
until deleted. Saved statuses are useful for statuses and
status messages that will be used on a regular basis. They
are also useful for creating complex statuses in which some
accounts should always have a different status from others.
For example, one might wish to create a status called
"Sleeping" that has all accounts set to "Away", then create
another status called "Working" that has three accounts set to
"Away" and another account set to "Available."


New Status Window
When the user selects New Status... from the status selector
menu, Pidgin presents the user with a dialog asking for
status-related information. That information is discussed
below:

Title - The name of the status that will appear in the status
selctor's menu. If the user clicks the Save or Save & Use
button, this name will also be shown in the Saved Status
Window. The title should be a short description of the
status.

Status - The type of status being created, such as Available,
Away, etc.

Message - The content of the status message. This is what is
visible to other users. Some protocols will allow formatting
in some status messages; where formatting is not supported it
will be stripped to the bare text entered.

Use a different status for some accounts - This allows the
creation of complex statuses in which some accounts' status
differs from that of other accounts. To use this, the user
will click the expander to the left of the text, then select
individual accounts which will have a different status and/or
status message. When the user selects an account, Pidgin will
present another status dialog asking for a status and a
message just for the selected account.


Saved Status Window
When the user selects Saved Statuses... from the status
selector's menu, Pidgin presents a dialog that lists all saved
statuses. "Transient" statuses, discussed above, are NOT
shown here. This window provides the ability to manage saved
statuses by allowing the creation, modification, and deletion
of saved statuses. The Use, Modify, and Delete buttons here
allow operation on the status selected from the list; the dd
button allows creation of a new saved status, and the Close
button closes the window.

BUDDY POUNCE

A Buddy Pounce is an automated trigger that occurs when a buddy
returns to a normal state from an away state. The Buddy Pounce
dialog box can be activated by selecting the Buddy Pounce option from
the Tools menu. From this dialog, new pounces can be created with the
Add button and existing pounces can be removed with the Delete
button. A pounce can be set to occur on any combination of the
events listed, and any combination of actions can result. If Pounce
only when my status is not Available is checked, the pounce will
occur only if the user is set to a non-available status, such as
invisible, do not disturb, away, etc. If Recurring is checked, the
pounce will remain until removed by the Delete button.

CUSTOM SMILIES

Pidgin 2.5.0 introduced support for custom smilies on those protocols
for which interested contributors have developed support. The custom
smiley manager can be accessed by selecting Smiley from the Tools
menu. From here, custom smilies may be added, edited, or deleted by
clicking the Add, Edit, or Delete buttons, respectively.

During a conversation with another user, that user's custom smileys
may be added to the user's own custom smiley list directly from the
conversation window by right-clicking the new custom smiley and
selecting Add Custom Smiley...

PLUGINS

Pidgin allows for dynamic loading of plugins to add extra
functionality to Pidgin. See plugins/HOWTO or
http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/CHowTo for information on writing
plugins.

The plugins dialog can be accessed by selecting Plugins from the
Tools menu. Each plugin available appears in this dialog with its
name, version, and a short summary of its functionality. Plugins can
be enabled with the checkbox beside the name and short description.
More information on the currently selected plugin is available by
clicking the expander beside the text Plugin Details. If the
selected plugin has preferences or configuration options, the
Configure Plugin button will present the plugin's preferences dialog.

PERL

Pidgin allows for plugins to be written in the perl scripting
language. See Perl Scripting HOWTO in the Pidgin documentation for
more information about perl scripting.

TCL

Pidgin allows for plugins to be written in the Tcl scripting
language. See plugins/tcl/TCL-HOWTO for more information about Tcl
scripting.


D-Bus
Pidgin allows for interaction via D-Bus. Currently very little
documentation about this interaction exists.

FILES

/usr/bin/pidgin: Pidgin's location.
~/.purple/blist.xml: the buddy list.
~/.purple/accounts.xml: information about the user's accounts.
~/.purple/pounces.xml: stores the user's buddy pounces.
~/.purple/prefs.xml: Pidgin's configuration file.
~/.purple/status.xml: stores the user's away messages.
~/.purple/logs/PROTOCOL/ACCOUNT/BUDDYNAME/DATE.{html,txt}:
conversation logs.

DIRECTORIES

/usr/lib/pidgin/: Pidgin's plugins directory.
/usr/lib/purple-2/: libpurple's plugins directory.
~/.purple: users' local settings
~/.purple/plugins/: users' local plugins

BUGS

The bug tracker can be reached by visiting
http://developer.pidgin.im/query

Before sending a bug report, please verify that you have the latest
version of Pidgin. Many bugs (major and minor) are fixed at each
release, and if yours is out of date, the problem may already have
been solved.

PATCHES

If you fix a bug in Pidgin (or otherwise enhance it), please submit a
patch (using mtn diff > my.diff against the latest version from the
Monotone repository) at http://developer.pidgin.im/simpleticket

You are also encouraged to drop by at #pidgin on irc.libera.chat to
discuss development.

SEE ALSO

http://pidgin.im/
http://developer.pidgin.im/
purple-remote(1)
finch(1)

LICENSE

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
02111-1301 USA

AUTHORS

Pidgin's active developers are:
Daniel 'datallah' Atallah (developer)
Paul 'darkrain42' Aurich (developer)
John 'rekkanoryo' Bailey (developer and bugmaster)
Ethan 'Paco-Paco' Blanton (developer)
Thomas Butter (developer)
Ka-Hing Cheung (developer)
Sadrul Habib Chowdhury (developer)
Mark 'KingAnt' Doliner (developer)
<thekingant@users.sourceforge.net>
Sean Egan (developer) <seanegan@gmail.com>
Casey Harkins (developer)
Ivan Komarov
Gary 'grim' Kramlich (developer)
Richard 'rlaager' Laager (developer) <rlaager@pidgin.im>
Sulabh 'sulabh_m' Mahajan (developer)
Richard 'wabz' Nelson (developer)
Christopher 'siege' O'Brien (developer)
Bartosz Oler (developer)
Etan 'deryni' Reisner (developer)
Tim 'marv' Ringenbach (developer) <marv_sf@users.sf.net>
Michael 'Maiku' Ruprecht (developer, voice and video)
Elliott 'QuLogic' Sales de Andrade (developer)
Luke 'LSchiere' Schierer (support)
Megan 'Cae' Schneider (support/QA)
Evan Schoenberg (developer)
Kevin 'SimGuy' Stange (developer and webmaster)
Will 'resiak' Thompson (developer)
Stu 'nosnilmot' Tomlinson (developer)
Nathan 'faceprint' Walp (developer)


Our crazy patch writers include:
Marcus 'malu' Lundblad
Dennis 'EvilDennisR' Ristuccia
Peter 'fmoo' Ruibal
Gabriel 'Nix' Schulhof
Jorge 'Masca' Villase~nor


Our artists are:
Hylke Bons <h.bons@student.rug.nl>


Our retired developers are:
Herman Bloggs (win32 port) <herman@bluedigits.com>
Jim Duchek <jim@linuxpimps.com> (maintainer)
Rob Flynn <gaim@robflynn.com> (maintainer)
Adam Fritzler (libfaim maintainer)
Christian 'ChipX86' Hammond (developer & webmaster)
<chipx86@chipx86.com>
Syd Logan (hacker and designated driver [lazy bum])
Jim Seymour (XMPP developer)
Mark Spencer (original author) <markster@marko.net>
Eric Warmenhoven (former lead developer) <eric@warmenhoven.org>


Our retired crazy patch writers include:
Felipe 'shx' Contreras
Decklin Foster
Peter 'Bleeter' Lawler
Robert 'Robot101' McQueen
Benjamin Miller


This manpage was originally written by Dennis Ristuccia
<dennis@dennisr.net>. It has been updated and largely rewritten by
Sean Egan <seanegan@gmail.com>, Ben Tegarden
<tegarden@uclink.berkeley.edu>, and John Bailey
<rekkanoryo@pidgin.im>.

Pidgin v2.14.14 pidgin(1)