source: doc/user-guide/quickstart.xml @ 1999fe5

<chapter id="quickstart">
<title>Quickstart</title>

<para>
Welcome to BitlBee, your IRC gateway to other instant messaging protocols.
</para>

<para>
The center of BitlBee is the control channel, <emphasis>&amp;bitlbee</emphasis>. Two users will always be there, <emphasis>you</emphasis> (where "you" is the nickname you are using) and the system user, <emphasis>root</emphasis>.
</para>

<para>
You need to register so that all your IM settings (passwords, contacts, etc) can be saved on the BitlBee server. It's important that you pick a good password so no one else can access your account. Register with this password using the <emphasis>register</emphasis> command: <emphasis>register &lt;password&gt;</emphasis> (without the brackets!).
</para>

<para>
Be sure to remember your password. The next time you connect to the BitlBee server you will need to <emphasis>identify &lt;password&gt;</emphasis> so that you will be recognised and logged in to all the IM services automatically.
</para>

<para>
When finished, type <emphasis>help quickstart2</emphasis> to continue.
</para>

<sect1 id="quickstart2">
<title>Add and Connect To your IM Account(s)</title>
<!-- quickstart2 -->
<para>
<emphasis>Step Two: Add and Connect To your IM Account(s).</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
To add an account to the account list you will need to use the <emphasis>account add</emphasis> command: <emphasis>account add &lt;protocol&gt; &lt;username&gt; &lt;password&gt; [&lt;server&gt;]</emphasis>.
</para>

<para>
For instance, suppose you have a Jabber account at jabber.org with handle <emphasis>bitlbee@jabber.org</emphasis> with password <emphasis>QuickStart</emphasis>, you would:
</para>

<ircexample>
        <ircline nick="you">account add jabber bitlbee@jabber.org QuickStart</ircline>
        <ircline nick="root">Account successfully added</ircline>
</ircexample>

<para>
Other built-in IM protocols include msn, oscar and twitter. OSCAR is the protocol used by ICQ and AOL. Some protocols may be available as plugins that you can install, such as facebook, steam, discord and omegle. And you can get even more protocols by using the libpurple variant of BitlBee.
</para>

<para>
For a list of currently supported protocols, use the <emphasis>plugins</emphasis> command. For more information about the <emphasis>account add</emphasis> command, see <emphasis>help account add</emphasis>.
</para>

<para>
When you are finished adding your account(s) use the <emphasis>account on</emphasis> command to enable all your accounts, type <emphasis>help quickstart3</emphasis> to continue.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="quickstart3">
<title>Step Four: Managing Contact Lists: Add, Remove and Rename</title>

<para>
Now you might want to add some contacts, to do this we will use the <emphasis>add</emphasis> command. It needs two arguments: a connection ID (which can be a number (try <emphasis>account list</emphasis>), protocol name or (part of) the screenname) and the user's handle. It is used in the following way: <emphasis>add &lt;connection&gt; &lt;handle&gt;</emphasis>
</para>

<ircexample>
        <ircline nick="you">add 0 r2d2@example.com</ircline>
        <ircaction nick="r2d2"> has joined <emphasis>&amp;bitlbee</emphasis></ircaction>
</ircexample>

<para>
In this case r2d2 is online, since he/she joins the channel immediately. If the user is not online you will not see them join until they log on.
</para>

<para>
Lets say you accidentally added r2d3@example.com rather than r2d2@example.com, or maybe you just want to remove a user from your list because you never talk to them. To remove a name you will want to use the <emphasis>remove</emphasis> command: <emphasis>remove r2d3</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
Finally, if you have multiple users with similar names you may use the <emphasis>rename</emphasis> command to make it easier to remember: <emphasis>rename r2d2_ r2d2_aim</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
When finished, type <emphasis>help quickstart4</emphasis> to continue.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="quickstart4">
<title>Chatting</title>

<para>
<emphasis>Step Five: Chatting.</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
First of all, a person must be on your contact list for you to chat with them (unless it's a group chat, <emphasis>help groupchats</emphasis> for more). If someone not on your contact list sends you a message, simply add them to the proper account with the <emphasis>add</emphasis> command. Once they are on your list and online, you can chat with them in &amp;bitlbee:
</para>

<ircexample>
        <ircline nick="you">tux: hey, how's the weather down there?</ircline>
        <ircline nick="tux">you: a bit chilly!</ircline>
</ircexample>

<para>
Note that, although all contacts are in the &amp;bitlbee channel, only tux will actually receive this message. The &amp;bitlbee channel shouldn't be confused with a real IRC channel.
</para>

<para>
If you prefer chatting in a separate window, use the <emphasis>/msg</emphasis> or <emphasis>/query</emphasis> command, just like on real IRC. BitlBee will remember how you talk to someone and show his/her responses the same way. If you want to change the default behaviour (for people you haven't talked to yet), see <emphasis>help set private</emphasis>.
</para>

<para>
You know the basics. If you want to know about some of the neat features BitlBee offers, please type <emphasis>help quickstart5</emphasis>.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="quickstart5">
<title>Further Resources</title>

<para>
<emphasis>So you want more than just chatting? Or maybe you're just looking for more features?</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
With multiple channel support you can have contacts for specific protocols in their own channels, for instance, if you <emphasis>/join &amp;msn</emphasis> you will join a channel that only contains your MSN contacts.
</para>

<para>
Account tagging allows you to use the given account name rather than a number when referencing your account. If you wish to turn off your gtalk account, you may <emphasis>account gtalk off</emphasis> rather than <emphasis>account 3 off</emphasis> where "3" is the account number.
</para>

<para>
You can type <emphasis>help set</emphasis> to learn more about the possible BitlBee user settings. Among these user settings you will find options for common issues, such as changing the charset, HTML stripping and automatic connecting (simply type <emphasis>set</emphasis> to see current user settings).
</para>

<para>
For more subjects (like groupchats and away states), please type <emphasis>help index</emphasis>.
</para>

<para>
If you're still looking for something, please visit us in #bitlbee on the OFTC network (irc.oftc.net). Good luck and enjoy the Bee!
</para>

</sect1>

</chapter>