source: doc/user-guide/misc.xml @ 180ab31

Last change on this file since 180ab31 was 180ab31, checked in by Wilmer van der Gaast <wilmer@…>, at 2010-08-21T19:34:17Z

Added some neat whatsnew code that keeps track of the newest version of
BitlBee used by a user, and if it looks like s/he hasn't used this one
before, show a list of new features that may be interesting.

Since I don't think im.bitlbee.org users will read any changelogs ever,
this is probably not a bad idea. If you hate it, the following command
should get rid of it forever: set last_version 9999999

  • Property mode set to 100644
File size: 12.6 KB
Line 
1<chapter id="misc">
2<title>Misc Stuff</title>
3
4<sect1 id="smileys">
5<title>Smileys</title>
6
7<para>
8All MSN smileys (except one) are case insensitive and work without the nose too.
9</para>
10
11<variablelist>
12        <varlistentry><term>(Y)</term><listitem><para>Thumbs up</para></listitem></varlistentry>
13        <varlistentry><term>(N)</term><listitem><para>Thumbs down</para></listitem></varlistentry>
14        <varlistentry><term>(B)</term><listitem><para>Beer mug</para></listitem></varlistentry>
15        <varlistentry><term>(D)</term><listitem><para>Martini glass</para></listitem></varlistentry>
16        <varlistentry><term>(X)</term><listitem><para>Girl</para></listitem></varlistentry>
17        <varlistentry><term>(Z)</term><listitem><para>Boy</para></listitem></varlistentry>
18        <varlistentry><term>(6)</term><listitem><para>Devil smiley</para></listitem></varlistentry>
19        <varlistentry><term>:-[</term><listitem><para>Vampire bat</para></listitem></varlistentry>
20        <varlistentry><term>(})</term><listitem><para>Right hug</para></listitem></varlistentry>
21        <varlistentry><term>({)</term><listitem><para>Left hug</para></listitem></varlistentry>
22        <varlistentry><term>(M)</term><listitem><para>MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger icon (think a BitlBee logo here ;)</para></listitem></varlistentry>
23        <varlistentry><term>:-S</term><listitem><para>Crooked smiley (Confused smiley)</para></listitem></varlistentry>
24        <varlistentry><term>:-$</term><listitem><para>Embarrassed smiley</para></listitem></varlistentry>
25        <varlistentry><term>(H)</term><listitem><para>Smiley with sunglasses</para></listitem></varlistentry>
26        <varlistentry><term>:-@</term><listitem><para>Angry smiley</para></listitem></varlistentry>
27        <varlistentry><term>(A)</term><listitem><para>Angel smiley</para></listitem></varlistentry>
28        <varlistentry><term>(L)</term><listitem><para>Red heart (Love)</para></listitem></varlistentry>
29        <varlistentry><term>(U)</term><listitem><para>Broken heart</para></listitem></varlistentry>
30        <varlistentry><term>(K)</term><listitem><para>Red lips (Kiss)</para></listitem></varlistentry>
31        <varlistentry><term>(G)</term><listitem><para>Gift with bow</para></listitem></varlistentry>
32        <varlistentry><term>(F)</term><listitem><para>Red rose</para></listitem></varlistentry>
33        <varlistentry><term>(W)</term><listitem><para>Wilted rose</para></listitem></varlistentry>
34        <varlistentry><term>(P)</term><listitem><para>Camera</para></listitem></varlistentry>
35        <varlistentry><term>(~)</term><listitem><para>Film strip</para></listitem></varlistentry>
36        <varlistentry><term>(T)</term><listitem><para>Telephone receiver</para></listitem></varlistentry>
37        <varlistentry><term>(@)</term><listitem><para>Cat face</para></listitem></varlistentry>
38        <varlistentry><term>(&amp;)</term><listitem><para>Dog's head</para></listitem></varlistentry>
39        <varlistentry><term>(C)</term><listitem><para>Coffee cup</para></listitem></varlistentry>
40        <varlistentry><term>(I)</term><listitem><para>Light bulb</para></listitem></varlistentry>
41        <varlistentry><term>(S)</term><listitem><para>Half-moon (Case sensitive!)</para></listitem></varlistentry>
42        <varlistentry><term>(*)</term><listitem><para>Star</para></listitem></varlistentry>
43        <varlistentry><term>(8)</term><listitem><para>Musical eighth note</para></listitem></varlistentry>
44        <varlistentry><term>(E)</term><listitem><para>Envelope</para></listitem></varlistentry>
45        <varlistentry><term>(^)</term><listitem><para>Birthday cake</para></listitem></varlistentry>
46        <varlistentry><term>(O)</term><listitem><para>Clock</para></listitem></varlistentry>
47</variablelist>
48
49</sect1>
50
51<sect1 id="groupchats">
52<title>Groupchats</title>
53<para>
54BitlBee now supports groupchats on all IM networks. This text will try to explain you how they work.
55</para>
56
57<para>
58As soon as someone invites you into a groupchat, you will be force-joined or invited (depending on the protocol) 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 IM clients. Please note that root-commands don't work in groupchat channels, they only work in the control channel (or to root directly).
59</para>
60
61<para>
62Of course you can also create your own groupchats. Type <emphasis>help groupchats2</emphasis> to see how.
63</para>
64
65</sect1>
66
67<sect1 id="groupchats2">
68<title>Creating groupchats</title>
69
70<para>
71To open a groupchat, use the <emphasis>chat with</emphasis> command. For example,  to start a groupchat with the person <emphasis>lisa_msn</emphasis> in it, just type <emphasis>chat with lisa_msn</emphasis>. BitlBee will create a new virtual channel with root, you and lisa_msn in it.
72</para>
73
74<para>
75Then, just use the ordinary IRC <emphasis>/invite</emphasis> command to invite more people. Please do keep in mind that all the people have to be on the same network and contact list! You can't invite Yahoo! buddies into an MSN groupchat.
76</para>
77
78<para>
79Some protocols (like Jabber) also support named groupchats. BitlBee now supports these too. You can use the <emphasis>chat add</emphasis> command to join them. See <emphasis>help chat add</emphasis> for more information.
80</para>
81
82</sect1>
83
84<sect1 id="away">
85<title>Away states</title>
86
87<para>
88To mark yourself as away, you can just use the <emphasis>/away</emphasis> command in your IRC client. BitlBee supports most away-states supported by the protocols.
89</para>
90
91<para>
92Away states have different names accross different protocols. BitlBee will try to pick the best available option for every connection:
93</para>
94
95<simplelist>
96        <member>Away</member>
97        <member>NA</member>
98        <member>Busy, DND</member>
99        <member>BRB</member>
100        <member>Phone</member>
101        <member>Lunch, Food</member>
102        <member>Invisible, Hidden</member>
103</simplelist>
104
105<para>
106So <emphasis>/away Food</emphasis> will set your state to "Out to lunch" on your MSN connection, and for most other connections the default, "Away" will be chosen.
107</para>
108
109<para>
110You 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. Most IM-protocols can also show this additional information to your buddies.
111</para>
112
113<para>
114If you want to set an away state for only one of your connections, you can use the per-account <emphasis>away</emphasis> setting. See <emphasis>help set away</emphasis>.
115</para>
116
117</sect1>
118
119<sect1 id="nick_changes">
120<title>Changing your nickname</title>
121
122<para>
123BitlBee now allows you to change your nickname. So far this was not possible because it made managing saved accounts more complicated.
124</para>
125
126<para>
127The restriction no longer exists now though. When you change your nick (just using the <emphasis>/nick</emphasis> command), your logged-in status will be reset, which means any changes made to your settings/accounts will not be saved.
128</para>
129
130<para>
131To restore your logged-in status, you need to either use the <emphasis>register</emphasis> command to create an account under the new nickname, or use <emphasis>identify -noload</emphasis> to re-identify yourself under the new nickname. The <emphasis>-noload</emphasis> flag tells the command to verify your password and log you in, but not load any new settings. See <emphasis>help identify</emphasis> for more information.
132</para>
133
134</sect1>
135
136<sect1 id="channels">
137<title>Dealing with channels</title>
138
139<para>
140You can have as many channels in BitlBee as you want. You maintain your channel list using the <emphasis>channel</emphasis> command. You can create new channels by just joining them, like on regular IRC networks.
141</para>
142
143<para>
144You can create two kinds of channels. Control channels, and groupchat channels. By default, BitlBee will set up new channels as control channels if their name starts with an &amp;, and as chat channels if it starts with a #.
145</para>
146
147<para>
148Control channels are where you see your contacts. By default, you will have one control channel called &amp;bitlbee, containing all your contacts. But you can create more, if you want, and divide your contact list accross several channels.
149</para>
150
151<para>
152For example, you can have one channel with all contacts from your MSN Messenger account in it. Or all contacts from the group called "Work".
153</para>
154
155<para>
156Type <emphasis>help channels2</emphasis> to read more.
157</para>
158
159</sect1>
160
161<sect1 id="channels2">
162<title>Creating a channel</title>
163
164<para>
165When you create a new channel, BitlBee will try to guess from its name which contacts to fill it with. For example, if the channel name (excluding the &amp;) matches the name of a group in which you have one or more contacts, the channel will contain all those contacts.
166</para>
167
168<para>
169Any valid account ID (so a number, protocol name or part of screenname, as long as it's unique) can also be used as a channel name. So if you just join &amp;msn, it will contain all your MSN contacts. And if you have a Facebook account set up, you can see its contacts by just joining &amp;facebook.
170</para>
171
172<para>
173To start a simple group chat, you simply join a channel which a name starting with #, and invite people into it. All people you invite have to be on the same IM network and contact list.
174</para>
175
176<para>
177If you want to configure your own channels, you can use the <emphasis>channel set</emphasis>.
178</para>
179
180</sect1>
181
182<sect1 id="nick_format">
183<title>Nickname formatting</title>
184
185<para>
186The <emphasis>nick_format</emphasis> setting can be set globally using
187the <emphasis>set</emphasis> command, or per account using <emphasis>account
188set</emphasis> (so that you can set a per-account suffix/prefix or have
189nicknames generated from full names for certain accounts).
190</para>
191
192<para>
193The setting is basically some kind of format string. It can contain normal
194text that will be copied to the nick, combined with several variables:
195</para>
196
197<variablelist>
198        <varlistentry><term>%nick</term><listitem><para>Nickname suggested for this contact by the IM protocol, or just the handle if no nickname was suggested.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
199        <varlistentry><term>%handle</term><listitem><para>The handle/screenname of the contact.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
200        <varlistentry><term>%full_name</term><listitem><para>The full name of the contact.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
201        <varlistentry><term>%first_name</term><listitem><para>The first name of the contact (the full name up to the first space).</para></listitem></varlistentry>
202        <varlistentry><term>%group</term><listitem><para>The name of the group this contact is a member of</para></listitem></varlistentry>
203        <varlistentry><term>%account</term><listitem><para>Account tag of the contact</para></listitem></varlistentry>
204</variablelist>
205
206<para>
207Invalid characters (like spaces) will always be stripped. Depending on your
208locale settings, characters with accents will be converted to ASCII.
209</para>
210
211<para>
212See <emphasis>set nick_format2</emphasis> for some more information.
213</para>
214
215</sect1>
216
217<sect1 id="nick_format2">
218<title>Nickname formatting - modifiers</title>
219
220<para>
221Two modifiers are currently available: You can include only the first few
222characters of a variable by putting a number right after the %. For
223example, <emphasis>[%3group]%-@nick</emphasis> will include only the first
224three characters of the group name in the nick.
225</para>
226
227<para>
228Also, you can truncate variables from a certain character using
229the <emphasis>-</emphasis> modifier. For example, you may want to leave out
230everything after the @. <emphasis>%-@handle</emphasis> will expand to
231everything in the handle up to the first @.
232</para>
233
234</sect1>
235
236<sect1 id="news1.3">
237<title>New stuff in BitlBee 1.3dev</title>
238
239<para>
240Most of the core of BitlBee was rewritten since the last release. This entry
241should sum up the majority of the changes.
242</para>
243
244<para>
245First of all, you can now have as many control channels as you want. Or you
246can have none, it's finally possible to leave &amp;bitlbee and still talk to
247all your contacts. Or you can have a &amp;work with all your work-related
248contacts, or a &amp;msn with all your MSN Messenger contacts. See <emphasis>help
249channels</emphasis> for more information about this.
250</para>
251
252<para>
253Also, you can change how nicknames are generated for your contacts. Like
254automatically adding a [fb] tag to the nicks of all your Facebook contacts.
255See <emphasis>help nick_format</emphasis>.
256</para>
257
258<para>
259When you're already connected to a BitlBee server and you connect from
260elsewhere, you can take over the old session.
261</para>
262
263<para>
264Instead of account numbers, accounts now also get tags. These are
265automatically generated but can be changed (<emphasis>help set
266tag</emphasis>). You can now use them instead of accounts numbers.
267(Example: <emphasis>acc gtalk on</emphasis>)
268</para>
269
270<para>
271Last of all: You can finally change your nickname and
272shorten root commands (try <emphasis>acc li</emphasis> instead
273of <emphasis>account list</emphasis>).
274</para>
275
276</sect1>
277
278</chapter>
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