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BitlBee help system

Type help quickstart for a quick introduction to the Bee. You can get help information for any command, just type help <command>. To get a list of commands, type help commands.

BitlBee is written by Wilmer van der Gaast together with Sjoerd Hemminga, Jelmer Vernooij and others. Bug reports and other kinds of feedback can be sent by e-mail to wilmer@gaast.net. (There is no BitlBee mailing list)
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?commands
BitlBee commands:
  help     - BitlBee help system
  register - Register yourself
  identify - Identify yourself with your password
  login    - Log into an IM-service
  logout   - Log out from an IM-service
  slist    - List all the active IM-service connections
  blist    - List all the buddies in your contact list
  add      - Add a buddy to your contact list
  info     - Request user information
  rename   - Rename (renick) a buddy
  remove   - Remove a buddy from your contact list
  block    - Block someone
  allow    - Unblock someone
  save     - Save your account data
  set      - Miscellaneous settings
  yes      - Accept a request
  no       - Deny a request
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?quickstart
Welcome to BitlBee, your IRC gateway to ICQ, MSN and other IM systems.

Center of BitlBee is the control channel, #bitlbee. Two users will always be there, you (you can't leave the channel) and the system user, root. (That's me and I'm not going to leave you alone.. ;-)

Because all your IM-settings (passwords, contacts, etc) are saved on the server it's important that you pick a good password before continuing. Register this password using the register command. This is quite simple. Just type register <password> (without the brackets!).

When finished, type help quickstart2 to continue.
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?quickstart2
So BitlBee knows your password now. Remember this password, next time you connect to the Bee just type identify <password> and you'll be recognized and logged in to all the IM-services automatically!

Now it's time to speak to some people. Let's suppose you got a jabber account itsme@jabber.com with password secret. You can connect to the Jabber server using the login command:

<itsme> login jabber itsme@jabber.com secret
<root> JABBER - Logging in: Connecting

Your turn now. Try to log in. Other available IM names are msn, oscar and yahoo. Oscar is the protocol used by ICQ and AIM. For oscar, you need to specify the IM-server as a third argument. For AOL Instant Messenger, the server name is login.oscar.aol.com. For ICQ, the server name is login.icq.com.

Of course it's possible to be logged into multiple IM-services at the same time.

When finished, type help quickstart3 to continue.
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?quickstart3
So you're logged in to your favourite IM-server now. If the server supports on-server contact lists the Bee should download the contact list automatically and all the on-line users should appear in the control channel. Suppose there's some funny person in the list with the ID itsme@therealme.homelinux.org. BitlBee give him/her the nickname itsme_ (after all you're itsme already!).

Such a nick doesn't really look nice, does it? Try the rename command. A name like you might be better for persons like this. Try it:

<itsme> rename itsme_ you
* itsme_ is now known as you

Now it's time to give all the people on your contact list useful names. Have fun! :-)

When finished, type help quickstart4 to continue.
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?quickstart4
Time to add some more contacts. That's what the add command's for. It needs two arguments: a connection number (each IM-connection gets a number, you can get it with the slist command) and the user's handle.

<itsme> add 0 grijpmonster@jabber.com
* grijpmonster has joined #bitlbee

Looks like grijpmonster's online, since he/she joins the channel immediately! (If you don't like the nick, of course you can use the rename command to change it.) Now you can talk to him/her. If you're in luck, you might even get something back.. ;-)

<itsme> grijpmonster: Hi, how are you?
<grijpmonster> itsme: I'm fine, and you?

Of course, if you're that kind of person who wants to have five or more conversations at once, you can talk to someone outside the channel as well. Just use the /msg or /query command like you always do on IRC.

This is the end of the QuickStart. For more information about other commands you can type help commands. Good luck and have fun!
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?help
Syntax: help [<command>]

Gives usage information about a command
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?login
Syntax: login <protocol> <username> <password> [<server>]

Logs in to the given server with the specified protocol, username and password. Specifying the server is optional and principally only necessary when using oscar.
The following protocols are supported at the moment: jabber, msn, yahoo and oscar (For AIM/ICQ. For AIM use server login.oscar.aol.com, for ICQ use server login.icq.com.)

Example:

22:49 @   wilmer| login oscar 72696705 blaataap login.icq.com
22:49 @     root| ICQ - Logging in: Signon: 72696705
22:49 @     root| ICQ - Logging in: Connection established, cookie sent
22:49 @     root| ICQ - Logged in
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?slist
Syntax: slist

Gives a list of all active connections to servers

Example:

00:09 < ctrlsoft> slist
00:09 < root>  0. MSN, jelmervernooij@hotmail.com
00:09 < root>  1. OSCAR, 30761007 on login.icq.com
00:09 < root>  2. OSCAR, JelmerVernooij on login.oscar.aol.com
00:09 < root>  3. JABBER, ctrlsoft@jabber.org
00:09 < root> End of connection list
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?logout
Syntax: logout <connection number>

Log out of the specified connection number's network. The correct connection number can be retrieved by running the slist command.

Example:

00:11 < ctrlsoft> logout 3
00:11 -!- gryp [gryp@jabber.jabber.org] has quit [Leaving...]
00:11 < root> JABBER - Logged out
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?add
Syntax: add <connection> <handle>

Adds the given buddy at the specified connection to your buddy list. The connection number can be retrieved with the slist command.

Example:

00:15 < ctrlsoft> add 3 gryp@jabber.org
00:15 -!- gryp (gryp@jabber.org) has joined #bitlbee
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?info
Syntax: info <connection> <handle>

Requests IM-network-specific information about the specified user. At the moment only the Oscar/ICQ plugin supports this command.

Example:
00:20 < ctrlsoft> info 0 72696705
00:20 < root> User info - UIN: 72696705   Nick: Lintux   First/Last name: Wilmer van der Gaast   E-mail: lintux@lintux.cx
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?remove
Syntax: remove <nick>

Removes the specified nick from your buddy list. 

Example:

00:14 < ctrlsoft> remove gryp
00:14 -!- gryp [gryp@jabber.jabber.org] has quit [Leaving...]
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?block
Syntax: block <nick>
        block <connection> <handle>

Puts the specified user on your ignore list. Either specify the users' nick when you have him/her in your contact list or a connection number and a user handle. The connection number can be retrieved with the slist command.
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?allow
Syntax: allow <nick>
        allow <connection> <handle>

Reverse of block. Unignores the specified user or user handle on specified connection. Connection number can be retrieved using the slist command.
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?set
Syntax: set [<variable>] [<value>]

Without any arguments, this command lists all the set variables. You can also specify a single argument, a variable name, to get that variable's value. To change this value, specify the new value as the second argument.

To get more help information about a setting, try:

00:25 < ctrlsoft> help "set private"

Please don't forget the quotes.
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?save
Syntax: save

This command saves all your nicks and accounts immediately. Handy if you have the autosave functionality disabled, or if you don't trust the program's stability... ;-)
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?set private
Type: boolean
Default: False

If value is true, messages from users will appear in seperate query windows. If false, messages from users will appear in #bitlbee.

This setting is remembered (during one session) per-user, this setting only changes the default state. This option takes effect as soon as you reconnect.
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?set save_on_quit
Type: boolean
Default: True

If enabled causes BitlBee to save all current settings and account details when user disconnects. This is enabled by default, but at the moment it's handy to have this disabled if your IM services frequently disconnect.
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?set html
Type: string
Default: nostrip

Determines what bitlbee should do with HTML in messages. If set to nostrip, HTML in messages will not be touched. If set to strip, all html will be stripped from messages.
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?set debug
Type: boolean
Default: False

Some debugging messages can be sent to the control channel if you wish. They're probably not really useful for you, unless you're doing some development on BitlBee.
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?set to_char
Type: string (max 2 chars)
Default: ': '

It's usual that messages meant for one specific person on an IRC channel are prepended by his/her alias followed by a colon ':'. BitlBee does this by default. If you prefer a different character, you can set it using set to_char.
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?set typing_notice
Type: boolean
Default: False

Sends you a /notice when a user starts typing a message (if the protocol supports it, MSN for example). This is a bug, not a feature. (But please don't report it.. ;-) You don't want to use it. Really. In fact the typing-notification is just one of the least useful 'innovations' ever. It's just there because some guy will probably ask me about it anyway. ;-)
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?set ops
Type: String
Default: both

Some people prefer themself and root to have operator status in #bitlbee, other people don't. You can change these states using this setting.

The value "both" means both user and root get ops. "root" means, well, just root. "user" means just the user. "none" means nobody will get operator status.
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?rename
Syntax: rename [<oldnick>] [<newnick>]

Renick a user in your buddy list. Very useful, in fact just very important, if you got a lot of people with stupid account names (or hard ICQ numbers).

<itsme> rename itsme_ you
* itsme_ is now known as you
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?yes
Syntax: yes

Sometimes an IM-module might want to ask you a question. (Accept this user as your buddy or not?) To accept a question, use the yes command.
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?no
Syntax: no

Sometimes an IM-module might want to ask you a question. (Accept this user as your buddy or not?) To reject a question, use the no command.
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?register
Syntax: register <password>

BitlBee can save your settings so you won't have to enter all your IM passwords every time you log in. If you want the Bee to save your settings, use the register command.

Please do pick a secure password, don't just use your nick as your password. Please note that IRC is not an encrypted protocol, so the passwords still go over the network in plaintext. Evil people with evil sniffers will read it all. (So don't use your root password.. ;-)

To identify yourself in later sessions, you can use the identify command.
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?identify
Syntax: identify <password>

BitlBee saves all your settings (contacts, accounts, passwords) on-server. To prevent other users from just logging in as you and getting this information, you'll have to identify yourself with your password. You can register this password using the register command.
Once you're registered, you can change your password using set password <password> (as always, without the brackets..).
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?blist
Syntax: blist [all]

You can get a better readable buddy list using the blist command. If you want a complete list (including the offline users) you can use the all argument.
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