gaim(1)gaim(1)NAME
Gaim v0.64444 - Instant Messaging client
SYNOPSISgaim [options]
DESCRIPTIONgaim is a GTK2-based Instant Messaging (IM) client
designed primarily for use with AOL Instant Messenger
(AIM). However, it supports most other popular IM proto-
cols including Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN Messenger,
Napster, Yahoo!, and Zephyr.
OPTIONS
The following options are provided by gaim using the stan-
dard GNU command line syntax:
-a, --acct
Launch the Account Editor rather than the Login
window on start.
-d, --debug
Print debugging messages to stdout. These are the
same debugging messages that are displayed in the
Debug window.
-f, --file=FILE
Use FILE as the configuration file instead of
~/.gaimrc.
-h, --help
Print this help and exit.
-l, --login[=NAME]
Automatically login on start using the default
account or the account specified by the NAME param-
eter.
-n, --loginwin
Don't automatically login when gaim starts. Show
the Login window instead.
-u, --user=NAME
Use account NAME as default.
-v, --version
Display the version information window.
-w, --away[=MESG]
Automatically go away on signon. You may option-
ally use the MESG parameter to set the away mes-
sage.
BUDDY LIST
The Buddy List window is gaim's main interface window.
The focus of this window is the Buddy List itself, shown
in the Online pane. Buddy list organization and editing
is handled in the Edit Buddies pane.
Buddy Lists can be imported by using the Import Buddy List
command in the File menu.
Online Pane
The Online pane contains a list of your buddies who are
online and have allowed you to be notified of their pres-
ence. The icon to the left of each buddy (if enabled in
gaim's Preferences) indicates the buddy's current state.
Double clicking a buddy will open a new Conversation win-
dow. Right clicking will pop up a menu:
IM Opens a new Conversation window to the selected
buddy.
Alias Create an alias for this buddy. This will open up
a new dialog in which one can give this buddy an
alternate name to appear on the buddy list and in
conversataions.
For example, if a buddy's name screen 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.
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 to be dis-
cussed later.
View Log
gaim is capable of automatically log its activi-
ties. These logs are html files (with a .log
extenstion) located in the ~/.gaim/logs directory.
This menu command will attempt to view this file
with gaim's internal log viewer.
The remainder of the menu will consist of protocol spe-
cific commands. These commands vary depending on the pro-
tocol; below are the commands available when using OSCAR,
the more popular and developer-recommended AIM protocol:
Get Info
Retrieves and displays information about the buddy.
This information is also known as a Profile.
Get Away Msg
If this buddy is in an Away state, this will
retrieve and display the buddy's Away Message.
Get Capabilities
Retrieves and displays the client capabilities of
your buddy.
At the bottom of the pane are several buttons (if enabled
in Preferences):
IM Opens a new Conversation window to to the selected
buddy, or brings up the New Message dialog box if
no buddy is selected.
Info Retrieves and display information about the
selected buddy, or brings up the Get User Info dia-
log box if no buddy is selected.
Chat Brings up the Join Chat dialog box, prompting the
user to select which username to use and what chat
group to join.
Away Brings up a menu of all available Away Messages.
If an item is selected, all online accounts will
use this item as their away message.
Edit Buddies Pane
Clicking the Edit Buddies tab on the Buddy List Window
will invoke the main interface to edit and organize buddy
lists. Buddies already in your buddy list can be moved to
different groups or reordered in the same group by click-
ing and dragging with the mouse. One can also add,
rename, alias, or delete buddies here, as well as access
some of the functions available in the Buddy List Dialog.
At the bottom of the pane are several buttons:
Add This brings up the Add Buddy Dialog, where you can
add a buddy to your buddy list.
Group This brings up the Add Group Dialog, where you can
add a group to the current connection (the connec-
tion with an item selected, otherwise the top-most
connection).
Remove This removes the currently selected buddy or group.
If no buddy or group is selected, no action is
taken.
ACCOUNT EDITOR
The account editor consists of a list of accounts and
information about them. Clicking Delete will delete the
currently selected account. Clicking Add or Modify will
invoke a Modify Account window. Here, you can add or
alter account information. When creating a new account,
you will submit your screen name and password. You will
also choose your protocol. The AIM protocol, OSCAR, is
always loaded, but other protocols can be dynamically
loaded and unloaded using Protocols Plugins (PRPLS).
If Remember Password is chosen, the password will be saved
in gaim's configuration file.
If Auto-Login is chosen, this account will automatically
login upon starting gaim.
Each protocol has it's own specific options that can be
found in the protocol-specific tab on the modify screen.
PREFERENCES
All options take effect immediately.
Interface
Show debug window: Makes visable gaim's debugging window,
which displays more verbose operating information. A must
for bug-tracking.
Display remote nicknames if no alias is set: Toggles
whether server nickname data should be used if no local
alias exists.
Themes Allows the user to choose between different emoti-
con themes.
Fonts Lets the user pick a default font style/face/color
for all accounts (only available in protocols that
accept HTML messages).
Message Text
Show graphical smileys: Enables the replacement of
text emoticons with their graphical equivalents.
Show timestamp on messages: Toggles the timestamp
behavior for conversations. Per-conversation
behavior can be changed by pressing F2 in the Con-
versation window.
Show URLs as links: Enables the translation of URLs
(such as http://gaim.sourceforge.net) into click-
able links.
Ignore colors/font faces/font sizes: Tells gaim to
disregard buddies' color/font/size information in
displaying IMs or Chats.
Shortcuts
Allows the user to determine which keyboard short-
cuts are available.
Buddy List
Hide IM/Info/Chat buttons: Disables the display of
these buttons on the Buddy List's Online pane.
Show pictures on buttons: Toggles between picture-
only and text-only views of the buttons on the
Buddy List.
Save window size/position: If enabled, gaim will
place the Buddy List at its last screen position at
start-up.
Raise window on events: Tells gaim to bring the
Buddy List window to the top when buddies sign in
or out.
Hide groups with no online buddies: Groups in which
no buddies are currently logged in will not be
shown in the Online pane.
Show numbers in groups: The number of buddies from
each group currently logged in will be shown along
with the total number of buddies in the group.
Show buddy type icons: The icons showing which pro-
tocol each buddy uses and whether or not the buddy
is away will not be shown.
Show warning levels: Each buddy's warning level
will be displayed next to the screen name. As a
buddy's warning level increases, outgoing messages
are more and more severely rate-limited.
Show idle times: The amount of time each buddy has
been idle will be displayed next to the screen name
(if the buddy has opted to have their client report
this information).
Grey idle buddies: If enabled, idle buddies will be
displayed in grey text instead of black text.
IM Window
Show buttons as...: The selected item will deter-
mine whether picture-only, text-only, or combined
picture/text buttons will be used for Conversation
windows.
New window width/height...: The values here deter-
mine how large Conversation windows are by default.
However, each window can be independently resized.
Entry widget height...: This value controls the
size of the entry widget (the part of the Conversa-
tion window where you type). It should not be made
greater than the New window height.
Raise windows on events: If enabled, Conversation
windows will be brought to the top when new mes-
sages are received.
Hide window on send: If enabled, Conversation win-
dows will be iconified after each message is sent.
Hide buddy icons: For protocols that support it,
buddy icons allow buddies to send small pictures to
be displayed during the course of a conversation.
This option hides those pictures.
Disable buddy icon animation: If these pictures
happen to be animated, this option will disable the
animation, displaying only the first frame.
Show logins in window: If currently conversing with
a buddy who signs off or on, this information will
be shown in the Conversation window.
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.
Chat Window
Window: The options in this section behave identi-
cally to the options of the same name in the IM
Window preferences.
Tab Completion: In a chat room with many partici-
pants, it can be tedious to keep typing the screen
name of the user to whom you wish to direct a com-
ment. These options allow Tab to expand the cur-
rent text into a valid nickname. Show people join-
ing/leaving in window: When chat room participants
enter or exit the room, the information will be
displayed in the Buddy Chat window.
Colorize screennames: Color code the screen names
of users in chat rooms.
Tabs Tabbed chatting allows one to have multiple conver-
sations without multiple windows. Tabs show which
conversations have unanswered messages, and can
identify a user either by screen name or by alias.
Proxy
The configuration section to enable gaim to operate
through a proxy server. gaim currently supports SOCKS 4/5
and HTTP proxies.
Browser
Allows the user to select gaim's default web browser.
Galeon, Konqueror, Mozilla, Netscape, and Opera are sup-
ported natively. The user can also manually enter a com-
mand 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 new window by default makes the
browser use a new window instead of using the current win-
dow (or spawning a new tab).
Logging
Message Logs lets the user choose whether Conversations
and/or Buddy Chats will be logged as well as whether logs
will be in HTML or plain text format. System Logs
describes the types of events to be logged.
Sounds
No sounds when you log in: Makes the log-in process
silent.
Sounds while away: Determines whether sounds are played
when an away message is up.
Sound Method lets the user choose between different play-
back 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).
Sound Events
Lets the user choose when and what sounds are to be
played.
Away / Idle
Sending messages removes away status: If enabled, sending
a message will change the sending account's status to
Available. If disabled, any account may send messages
without affecting their away status.
Queue new messages when away: Messages received since
going Away will not be shown until away status is removed.
Ignore new conversations when away: Messages from current
conversations will be accepted, but new conversations will
not be shown until away status is removed.
Seconds before resending: Auto-response information is
resent to all buddies in current conversations every once
in a while. This option decides just how often.
Don't send auto-response: If someone messages you while
away, your auto-response will not be sent.
Only send auto-response when idle: If someone messages you
while away, your auto-response will only be sent if gaim
decides that the connection is idle.
Don't send auto-response in active conversations: If you
continue a conversation while away, this option will dis-
able the sending of the auto-response for the duration of
the conversation.
Idle time reporting: If None is selected, account idle
time will not be reported. Gaim usage infers your idle
time from your usage of gaim. X usage infers your idle
time from X (this option may not be universally avail-
able).
Auto-away: Determines if and under what conditions gaim
will automatically turn on the Away status.
Away Messages
Lets the user add/edit/remove available Away Mes-
sages.
Plugins
Allows the user to enable add-on plugins for gaim. Sev-
eral of these come with gaim, while others must be down-
loaded separately. The Description field gives the plugin
author's description of the plugin, while the Details
field gives the plugin's authorship, URL, and file
name/location information.
Some plugins can be configured. If you load such a plu-
gin, its configuration preferences will appear as a sub-
menu to Plugins, with the submenu title determined by the
plugin's name.
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 settings,
represented by icons. From left to right:
Bold adds <b></b> to your message
Italics
adds <i></i> to your message
Underline
adds <u></u> to your message
Decrease font size
adds <font size="1"></font> to your message
Default font size
adds <font size="3"></font> to your message
Increase font size
adds <font size="5"></font> to your message
Select a foreground color
adds an appropriate font tag to your message.
Select a background color
adds an appropriate body tag to your message.
Add image
inserts an appropriate img tag (not available in
all protocols).
Add hyperlink
adds an appropriate a href tag to your message.
Add smiley
adds an ASCII smiley to your message. This will
become a graphic smiley in the upper text box if
the option for graphical smileys is set.
Beneath the lower text box is a row of buttons that
execute commands:
Warn This issues a warning to the other person in the
conversation (not available in all protocols).
Block This adds the other person to your deny list (not
available in all protocols).
Add This adds this user to your buddy list. This
option is not available if the user is already on
your list.
Remove This removes this user from your buddy list. This
option is not available if the user is not on your
list.
Info This gets information (a profile) about the other
person in the conversation (not available in all
protocols).
Send This sends what's currently in the lower text box
BUDDY CHATS
For protocols that allow it, Buddy Chats can be entered
through the File menu or the Chat button at the bottom of
the Buddy List's Online tab.
Additional commands 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.
AWAY MESSAGES
Most protocols allow for away messages. When a user is
Away, he can leave an informative message for others to
see. The Away submenu of the Tools menu is used to add
and remove away messages.
New Away Message provides space for one to enter an away
message and a title for that message. If Save or Save &
Use are chosen, this message will be saved. It can later
be referred to by the title given to it.
Remove Away Message is a submenu containing the titles of
saved away messages. Clicking on one of these titles will
remove the away message associated with it.
The rest of the away menu provides the user with a way to
assign different away messages to different connections.
Choosing Set All Away will set away all the connections
capable of the away state.
BUDDY POUNCE
A Buddy Pounce is an automated trigger that occurs when a
buddy returns to a normal state from an away state. The
New Buddy Pounce dialog box can be activated by selecting
the Buddy Pounce submenu from the Tools menu. A pounce can
be set to occur on any combination of the events listed,
and any combination of actions can result. If Save this
pounce after activation is checked, the trigger will
remain until it is removed from the Remove Buddy Pounce
menu.
PLUGINS
Gaim allows for dynamic loading of plugins to add extra
functionality to gaim. Plugins can be enabled and config-
ured from the Preferences window. See plugins/HOWTO for
more information on writing plugins.
PERL
Gaim allows for perl scripting. See plugins/PERL-HOWTO
for more information about perl scripting.
FILES
/usr/local/bin/gaim: gaim's default location.
/usr/local/lib/gaim/: gaim's plugins directory.
~/.gaimrc: gaim's configuration file.
~/.gaim/logs/SCREENNAME.log: a log of all conversation
with SCREENNAME.
~/.gaim/blist.xml: the buddy list.
BUGS
Known bugs are listed at http://source-
forge.net/tracker/?group_id=235&atid=100235.
PATCHES
If you fix a bug in gaim (or otherwise enhance it), please
submit a patch (using cvs diff -u > my.diff against the
latest CVS version) at http://source-
forge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=235&atid=300235.
Before sending a bug report, please verify that you have
the latest version of gaim. Many bugs (major and minor)
are fixed at each release, and if yours is out of date,
the problem may already have been solved.
SEE ALSO
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/gaim/
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., 59 Temple PLace, Suite 330,
Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
AUTHORS
Gaim's active developers are:
Rob Flynn (maintainer) <rob@marko.net>
Sean Egan (coder) <bj91704@binghamton.edu>
The retired developers of gaim are:
Jim Duchek
Eric Warmenhoven <warmenhoven@yahoo.com>
Mark Spencer (original author) <markster@marko.net>
This manpage was originally written by Dennis Ristuccia
<dennis@dennisr.net>. It has been updated and largely
rewritten by Sean Egan <bj91704@binghamton.edu> and Ben
Tegarden <tegarden@uclink.berkeley.edu>.
gaim(1)
