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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. For a list of all available help topics, try help index.

BitlBee is written by Wilmer van der Gaast together with Sjoerd Hemminga, Maurits Dijkstra 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)
Or just join #BitlBee on OFTC (irc.oftc.net) (OFTC, *not* FreeNode! Some people accidentally joined #BitlBee on FreeNode already, which is just an empty channel) and flame us right in the face. :-)
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?index
These are the available help subjects:

  quickstart - A short introduction into BitlBee
  commands   - All available commands and settings
  away       - About setting away states
  smileys    - A summary of some non-standard smileys you might find and fail to understand
  groupchats - How to work with groupchats on BitlBee

You can read more about them with help <subject>
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?commands
BitlBee commands:
  help     - BitlBee help system
  register - Register yourself
  identify - Identify yourself with your password
  account  - IM-account list maintenance
  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
  nick     - Change friendly name, nick
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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. Suppose you got an ICQ account with UIN 72696705 with password QuickStart. Add this account to the account list using the account add command:

<itsme> account add oscar 72696705 QuickStart login.icq.com
<root> Account successfully added

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

See help account add for more information about the syntax. When finished, use the account on command to enable all your accounts and type help quickstart3 to continue.
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?quickstart3
So you're logged in to your favourite IM-server now. For most protocols (currently MSN, Jabber, Yahoo and AIM) the Bee can download the contact list automatically from the server 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-account gets a number, you can get it with the account list 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.

Okay, you know the basics now. If you want to get to know more about the Bee, please type help quickstart5.
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?quickstart5
So you want more than just chatting? Or maybe you're just looking for a feature? That's cool.

It happens quite often that people ask us about features which exist for ages already. For example, if you're having problems with charsets or HTML, we know about your problem and BitlBee can solve it already. Just type help set to learn more about the possible BitlBee user settings.

For more subjects (like groupchats and away states), please type help index.

We hope that you know enough now. If you're still looking for something, please visit us in #bitlbee on the OFTC network (irc.bitlbee.org, for example), or mail us your problem/suggestion. Good luck and enjoy the Bee!
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?help
Syntax: help [<command>]

Gives usage information about a command
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?account
Syntax: account <action> [<arguments>]

Available actions: add, del, list, on, off

See help account <action> for more information
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?account add
Syntax: account add <protocol> <username> <password> [<server>]

Adds an account on the given server with the specified protocol, username and password to the account list. 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. For the other protocols you don't have to specify a server.)

Example:

<wilmer> account add oscar 72696705 hobbelmeeuw login.icq.com
<root> Account successfully added
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?account del
Syntax: account del <number>

This commands deletes an account from your account list. You should signoff the account before deleting it.

Try account list if you don't know what account number you want.
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?account on
Syntax: account on [<number>]

This command will try to log into the specified account.

Try account list if you don't know what account number you want. Without any account number, BitlBee will just try to restore any lost connection.
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?account off
Syntax: account off <number>

This command disconnects the connection for the specified account.

Try account list if you don't know what account number you want.
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?account list
Syntax: account list

This command gives you a list of all the accounts known by BitlBee, including the numbers you'll need for most account commands.
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?add
Syntax: add <connection> <handle> [<nick>]

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

If you want, you can also tell BitlBee what nick to give the new contact. Of course you can also use the rename command for that, but sometimes this might be more convenient.

Example:

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

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 user's 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 account list 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 account list 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
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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 charset
Type: string
Default: none
Possible values: you can get a list of all possible values by doing 'iconv -l' in a shell

The charset setting enables you to use different character sets in BitlBee. These get converted to UTF-8 before sending and from UTF-8 when receiving. For now, this only works for Jabber and MSN.
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?set private
Type: boolean
Default: False

If value is true, messages from users will appear in separate 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, and these days there's not really a reason to have it disabled anymore.
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?set html
Type: string
Default: nostrip
Possible values: strip, 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. Unfortunately this sometimes strips too much.
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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 customary 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
Possible values: both, root, user, none

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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?set away_devoice
Type: boolean
Default: true

With this option enabled, the root user devoices people when they go away (just away, not offline) and gives the voice back when they come back. You might dislike the voice-floods you'll get if your contact list is huge, so this option can be disabled.
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?set handle_unknown
Type: string
Default: root
Possible values: root, add, add_private, add_channel, ignore

Messages from unknown users are echoed like this by default:

<root> Unknown message from handle 3137137:
<root> j0000! 1 4m l33t h4x0r! kill me!

If you want this lame user to be added automatically, you can set this setting to "add". If you prefer to ignore messages from people you don't know, you can set this one to "ignore". "add_private" and "add_channel" are like add, but you can use them to make messages from unknown buddies appear in the channel instead of a query window.
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?set auto_connect
Type: boolean
Default: true

With this option enabled, when you identify BitlBee will automaticly connect to your accounts, with this disabled it will not do this.
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?set auto_reconnect
Type: boolean
Default: false

If an IM-connections breaks, you're supposed to bring it back up yourself. Having BitlBee do this automatically might not always be a good idea, for several reasons. If you want the connections to be restored automatically, you can enable this setting.

See also the reconnect_delay setting.
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?set reconnect_delay
Type: integer (seconds)
Default: 300

Tell BitlBee after how many seconds it should attempt to bring an IM-connection back up after a crash. It's not a good idea to set this value very low, it will cause too much useless traffic when an IM-server is down for a few hours.

See also the auto_reconnect setting.
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?set password
Type: string

Use this setting to change your nickserv password.
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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 [<number>]

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.

By default, this answers the first unanswered question. You can also specify a different question as an argument. You can use the qlist command for a list of questions.
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?no
Syntax: no [<number>]

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.

By default, this answers the first unanswered question. You can also specify a different question as an argument. You can use the qlist command for a list of questions.
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?qlist
Syntax: qlist

This gives you a list of all the unanswered questions from root.
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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|online|offline|away]

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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?nick
Syntax: nick <connection> [<new nick>]

This command allows to set the friendly name of an im account. If no new name is specified the command will report the current name.
When the name contains spaces, don't forget to quote the whole nick in double quotes. Currently this command is only supported by the MSN protocol.

<wouter> nick 1 "Wouter Paesen"
<root> Setting your name on connection 1 to `Wouter Paesen'
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?smileys
All MSN smileys (except one) are case insensitive and work without the nose too.

(Y) : Thumbs up
(N) : Thumbs down
(B) : Beer mug
(D) : Martini glass
(X) : Girl
(Z) : Boy
(6) : Devil smiley
:-[ : Vampire bat
(}) : Right hug
({) : Left hug
(M) : MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger icon (think a BitlBee logo here ;)
:-S : Crooked smiley (Confused smiley)
:-$ : Embarrassed smiley
(H) : Smiley with sunglasses
:-@ : Angry smiley
(A) : Angel smiley
(L) : Red heart (Love)
(U) : Broken heart
(K) : Red lips (Kiss)
(G) : Gift with bow
(F) : Red rose
(W) : Wilted rose
(P) : Camera
(~) : Film strip
(T) : Telephone receiver
(@) : Cat face
(&) : Dog's head
(C) : Coffee cup
(I) : Light bulb
(S) : Half-moon (Case sensitive!)
(*) : Star
(8) : Musical eighth note
(E) : Envelope
(^) : Birthday cake
(O) : Clock

This list was extracted from http://help.msn.com/!data/en_us/data/messengerv50.its51/$content$/EMOTICONS.HTM?H_APP=
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?groupchats
Since version 0.80, BitlBee supports the groupchats some people on the MSN network use. (Supporting groupchats on other networks should not really be too hard, but AFAIK they are hardly used anyway.)

As soon as someone invites you into a groupchat, you will just be force-joined into a new virtual channel with all the people in there. You can leave the channel at any time, just like you would close the window in regular MSN clients. Please note that root-commands don't work in those channels, they only work in the control channel (or to root directly).

You can also create your own groupchats, if you really think they work better than regular IRC channels... Read more about this with help groupchats2.
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?groupchats2
If you want to start a groupchat with the person jim_msn in it, just join the channel #jim_msn. BitlBee will refuse to join you to the channel with that name, but it will create a new virtual channel with root, you and jim_msn in it.

Now you'll think "Dude, this is just a channel with two people in it, that's not what I want!". Yes, I know. But just try to invite some other people to the channel. (I guess you already know about your client's /invite command?) Please do keep in mind that all the people have to be on the same network and contact list!

This is all you'll probably need to know. If you have any problems, please read help groupchats3.
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?groupchats3
About the virtual channel names (#chat_xxx): Please just learn to live with them. Channels don't have names on MSN, so I just had to find an algorithm which generates 'unique' names. You can't rename them, and I think that'd not be too useful anyway...

If BitlBee fails to create the channel (root should tell you about it), there might not be an available 'switchbox' to the person you chose. Just send the person an ordinary message then, and the switchbox will be created. You can retry the join then.

Have fun! Please keep in mind that this is 'fresh' funtionality, so things might go wrong. Please warn me if anything weird happens.
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?away
As you might've expected, you can just use the /away command in your IRC client to set an away-state. BitlBee supports most away-states supported by the protocols.

Not all away states are supported by all protocols, and some protocols have different names for them. BitlBee will try to pick the best available alias from this list for every connection:

- Away from computer, Away, Extended away
- NA, N/A, Not available
- Busy, Do not disturb, DND, Occupied
- Be right back, BRB
- On the phone, Phone, On phone
- Out to lunch, Lunch, Food

So /away Food will set your state to "Out to lunch" on your MSN connection, and for most other connections the default, "Away" or "Away from computer" will be chosen.

You can also add more information to your away message. Setting it to "Busy - Fixing BitlBee bugs" will set your IM-away-states to Busy, but your away message will be more descriptive for people on IRC. Protocols like Yahoo! and Jabber will also show this complete away message to your buddies.
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