Provided by: pidgin_2.14.8-1ubuntu2.1_amd64 bug

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' VillaseƱor

       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>.