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A few translations...
oldstatus
2005-05-09, Gary Kramlich
531d407bec0a
A few translations...
Gaim
:
The
Pimpin
' Penguin IM Clone Thats Good For The Soul
1. Compiling and Installing
1.1. What does "Gaim" stand for?
1.2. Why can'
t
I
compile
Gaim
?
1.3
.
I
'm trying to install Gaim, but it complains that I don'
t
have
libgtkspell
.
so
.
0
,
from
where
can
I
get
this
?
1.4
.
What
do
I
need
to
use
the
SILC
protocol
?
1.5
.
Is
there
some
way
I
can
compile
just
Gaim
,
without
all
of
these
protocols
?
1.6
.
I
installed
a
new
version
of
Gaim
,
but
the
about
window
says
I
'm
still using the old version.
1.7. Are the packages signed? If so, by who, and how can I get the
key?
1.8. Can I use Gaim for GTK+1.2?
1.9. Can I run Gaim on IRIX?
1.10. Can I run gaim on MacOSX?
1.11. How do I apply the patch "something.diff"?
1.12. Why is gaim crashing when I start it?
1.13. Gaim <non-current version> is buggy. Gaim CVS is buggy. Why?
1.14. Why do you always say not to use CVS?
2. Using Gaim
2.1. How do I register for a new account?
2.2. How do I use AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber, ICQ, or any other
protocol?
2.3. How do I change the font Gaim uses?
2.4. How do I make gaim use emacs-like keybindings?
2.5. How do I use smiley themes?
2.6. Why are the status icons so big?
2.7. Why do the emblems move around the status icon?
2.8. How do I get sound to work correctly?
2.9. How do I make Gaim use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds? What does
the "Automatic" option do?
Why does Gaim use the same WM_CLASS for every window? It makes
2.10. it impossible to control window size and placement for the buddy
list separately from the conversations.
2.11. I blocked someone accidentally, how can I unblock them?
2.12. What is a "Buddy Pounce"?
2.13. Where does gaim store its logs?
2.14. How can I see my own status with Gaim?
2.15. Can I use Gaim for e-mail, blogging, an RSS feed, or something
else that isn'
t
IM
-
related
?
3
.
Features
3.1
.
Does
Gaim
support
file
transfer
?
3.2
.
Is
there
a
Gaim
tray
icon
,
or
docklet
,
or
gnome
applet
,
or
panel
icon
,
or
something
?
3.3
.
What
do
those
colors
in
the
conversation
tab
mean
?
3.4
.
Will
Gaim
save
my
buddy
list
to
the
server
?
3.5
.
Can
I
import
or
export
my
buddy
list
?
3.6
.
Does
Gaim
support
animated
smileys
?
3.7
.
Can
I
make
Gaim
group
screen
names
by
the
person
that
owns
them
?
You
know
,
like
Trillian
's Meta Contacts?
3.8. How do I get the old logging back?
3.9. How can I convert my old logs to the new format?
4. ICQ Protocol
4.1. How do I use ICQ?
4.2. Can I send SMS messages?
5. TOC Protocol
5.1. What is the TOC protocol?
6. AIM/ICQ (OSCAR) Protocol
6.1. Can I set my profile?
6.2. Can I set a buddy icon?
6.3. Some of my buddies are not showing up as online, why is that?
6.4. Can I use AIM URI'
s
such
as
"aim:goim?screenname=robflynn"
?
6.5
.
I
just
changed
my
buddy
icon
,
and
I
can
't see the new one.
6.6. Does Gaim support DirectIM and IM Image?
6.7. Can I send SMS messages?
6.8. Can I add SMS numbers to my buddy list?
6.9. I heard AOL is combining ICQ and AIM, does that mean I can send
a message from an AIM account to an ICQ account and vice-versa?
6.10. Why can'
t
I
connect
via
either
Oscar
or
TOC
?
English
is
not
my
native
language
,
and
some
of
my
friends
have
6.11
.
trouble
seeing
my
IMs
/
I
have
trouble
seeing
my
friends
' IMs. How
do I use a native language character set with ICQ?
7. IRC Protocol
7.1. How do I join a channel with the IRC plugin?
7.2. Is there a way to make Gaim automatically identify me and/or join
IRC chats on login?
8. Jabber Protocol
8.1. How do I choose which Jabber server to use?
8.2. How do I change my Jabber resource to be other than the default
of "/Gaim"?
8.3. How do I register a new Jabber account?
8.4. How do I use invisibility?
I'
ve
a
buddy
that
I
keep
removing
from
my
buddy
list
but
the
8.5
.
entry
keeps
coming
back
every
time
I
log
in
again
!
How
can
I
stop
this
?
8.6
.
Can
I
remove
a
buddy
from
my
Jabber
roster
entirely
?
8.7
.
What
does
"Cancel Presence Notification"
do
?
9
.
Y
!
M
(
Yahoo
)
Protocol
9.1
.
I
cannot
connect
to
Yahoo
!
and
get
"Invalid Password"
errors
,
or
I
'm using a version of Gaim older than 0.79!
9.2. I cannot connect to Yahoo! and I'
m
behind
a
firewall
or
NAT
.
Why
doesn
't Gaim have Yahoo'
s
"Firewall with no proxy"
option
?
9.3
.
I
blocked
someone
,
but
it
doesn
't seem to have worked.
9.4. Can I get a list of Yahoo! Chat rooms? What about non-US lists?
9.5. What protocol does Gaim use to connect to Yahoo!?
10. MSN Protocol
10.1. Why are my file transfers so slow?
10.2. I'
m
getting
lots
of
"Already in Opposite list"
errors
on
MSN
,
why
?
10.3
.
Is
there
a
way
to
invite
more
than
one
person
to
an
MSN
chat
?
10.4
.
Is
MSNP9
(
MSN6
)
going
to
be
supported
?
Will
I
be
able
to
use
Gaim
for
MSN
after
October
15
th
2003
?
10.5
.
(
The
day
they
're preventing third party clients from
connecting)
10.6. I just upgraded Gaim and the MSN plugin will not load. Why?
10.7. The MSN plugin won'
t
load
,
but
I
have
Mozilla
NSS
!
10.8
.
What
does
"MSN: S: 911 3"
in
the
debug
window
mean
when
I
cannot
connect
to
MSN
?
10.9
.
How
do
I
set
an
MSN
avatar
?
10.10
.
What
does
"Has you"
in
the
buddy
tooltip
mean
?
10.11
.
How
do
I
set
my
MSN
Friendly
Name
(
the
name
other
users
see
)?
10.12
.
What
does
"Error reading from switchboard server"
mean
?
11
.
Gadu
-
Gadu
Protocol
11.1
.
What
is
Gadu
-
Gadu
?
11.2
.
Why
doesn
't it work right?
12. Zephyr Protocol
12.1. What is Zephyr?
12.2. Other Zephyr clients (zwgc,owl,tzc) work, but Gaim dies with
"Couldn'
t
initialize
zephyr
".
12.3. Gaim isn't working, but I never got any other Zephyr client
working on this machine.
12.4. How do I use Zephyr from behind my firewall, or without
recompiling with kerberos support if needed?
13. SILC Protocol
13.1. What is SILC?
14. Novell Protocol
14.1. Are there any public servers for Novell?
14.2. I can't seem to get it to work.
15. Scripts and Plugins
15.1. How do I use perl scripts with Gaim?
15.2. How do I compile a plugin for Gaim?
15.3. I have a plugin or perl script for Gaim that used to work, but
does not with the current version.
15.4. Where can I find documentation on writing plugins and Perl
scripts?
16. Development
16.1. Can I help?
16.2. Gaim never leaves a core file.
16.3. Where should I report bugs?
16.4. Where should I submit patches?
16.5. Did you guys reverse engineer it?
17. Misc. Questions
17.1. Can I IM you guys?
17.2. Hello?
Can I give you money/hardware/other expensive things that can be
17.3. hocked for cash what with you all being students/
full-time-workers and helping to produce this wonderful software
instead of studying/sleeping?
17.4. Does Gaim support secure instant messaging (encrypted IMs)?
17.5. Why are the passwords in accounts.xml not encrypted?
17.6. What is gaim-remote?
17.7. When will the next version of Gaim be released?
17.8. What will the next version be?
17.9. So, can I look forward to mega-sexy super functionality with
Gaim?
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1. Compiling and Installing
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 What does "
Gaim
" stand for?
For freedom! No, seriously, it doesn't stand for anything. It's our name and
we're sticking to it. The two acceptable forms of capitalization are "
Gaim
"
and "
gaim
" (and not "
GAIM
").
1.2 Why can't I compile Gaim?
Make sure you have relatively recent versions of automake, autoconf, and
gettext. HOWEVER, generally speaking, having the absolute newest of them is
not as good as having one version short of newest since we might not have
found work-arounds for the latest set of changes. Also, some versions of
automake require certain ranges of gettext versions, and we are utterly
unable to keep track of what versions will work with what other versions.
If you have Slackware < 9.1, you need to get non-slack packages for autoconf,
automake, gettext, and libtool. You also have to copy the contents of /usr/
local/share/aclocal to /usr/share/aclocal. This is due to bugs in Slackware
and the auto* packages.
*BSD users may also have problems with libtool and will also have to remove
the --no-verify from the configure script.
Having problems getting SSL and MSN working? See http://gaim.sf.net/
faq-ssl.php for distribution specific hints.
1.3 I'm trying to install Gaim, but it complains that I don't have
libgtkspell.so.0, from where can I get this?
libtgtkspell.so.0 is provided by gtkspell. This library is used by Gaim to
provide the "
Highlight
misspelled
words
" feature. You can find an RPM of
gtkspell at freshrpms.net. You can find the source and a non-Red Hat specific
RPM at gtkspell.sourceforge.net.
1.4 What do I need to use the SILC protocol?
You need to install the SILC toolkit (http://silcnet.org/software/download/
toolkit/) and the Gaim SILC plugin. This plugin is generally provided as a
separate package (such as a gaim-silc RPM). If you're compiling yourself, see
the ./configure --help for specifying the SILC includes and libs. If you're
compiling an SRPM, use --with silc to build the gaim-silc RPM.
In Windows, the SILC toolkit is installed with Gaim.
Some distributions provide the SILC toolkit and include Gaim's SILC plugin in
their Gaim package.
1.5 Is there some way I can compile just Gaim, without all of these protocols?
Yeah. There are actually three ways to do it.
1. Use the --with-static-prpls option to ./configure along with
--disable-plugins. This will let you choose which protocols are compiled
in with Gaim, but you will not be able to use any other protocols or
plugins.
You'll need to compile any protocols that you specified in
--with-static-prpls. Oscar and TOC are defaults.
2. Use the --with-dynamic-prpls option to ./configure
3. Change to the directories for the protocols you want to compile (e.g. src
/protocols/jabber), and run make from there. Then after you've compiled
all of them, change back to src/ and run make gaim.
1.6 I installed a new version of Gaim, but the about window says I'm still
using the old version.
If you compiled yourself, and you previously had an RPM or a Debian package
installed, you need to remove that first. rpm -e gaim or dpkg -p gaim should
work.
Likewise, if you want to use an RPM or deb and you have previously compiled
Gaim from source, you need to make uninstall to remove all Gaim files from /
usr/local.
1.7 Are the packages signed? If so, by who, and how can I get the key?
Yes, all packages are signed. The signature for the tarball and bzip2 archive
are provided by separate downloads. The RPMs we provide are signed by either
Ethan Blanton, Mark Doliner, or Christian Hammond. Usually the Mandrake and
Fedora Core 1 RPMs are signed by Mark Doliner and the Red Hat 8 and 9 RPMs
are signed by Ethan Blanton. The keys can be obtained from any key server.
http://pgp.mit.edu/ is popular.
1.8 Can I use Gaim for GTK+1.2?
As of version 0.60, Gaim has been completely converted to using GTK+2.0. We
really really really recommend using the most current version of Gaim and not
a GTK+1.2 version of Gaim. However, if you are living in the '90s, or you're
afraid GTK+2.0 will insult your mother, you can use Gaim 0.59.9, which is the
last version of Gaim that used GTK+1.2. We should warn you though, this
version of Gaim hasn't had any new features since the middle of 2002, and
some protocols likely do not work. Also, the 0.59.x releases aren't
breathtakingly beautiful.
1.9 Can I run Gaim on IRIX?
It has been done before. Please see http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?
thread_id=725839&forum_id=665 at our SourceForge Forum.
1.10 Can I run gaim on MacOSX?
Yes you can, but we do not provide a package for it. The reason being is that
to use gaim on MacOSX, you need to install an X server and gtk, which we are
not prepared to support. You can either compile gaim (and its dependencies)
yourself, or you can use the fink installer available from http://fink.sf.net
. If you would like a native aqua interface or a user-friendly installer, we
suggest trying Adium (http://www.adiumx.com/).
1.11 How do I apply the patch "
something
.
diff
"?
Type patch -p0 < something.diff from inside the gaim directory. If that
doesn't work, try patch -p1 < something.diff.
1.12 Why is gaim crashing when I start it?
First of all make sure you are using the most recent version of Gaim. If you
still have problems, try the following:
• Make sure only one version of Gaim is installed. "
whereis
gaim
" can
sometimes be useful for determining this.
• "
export
GDK_USE_XFT
=
0
" in a terminal and then run Gaim from the same
terminal.
• If gaim is not crashing, but is just sitting there not displaying
anything, try turning off anything else that might be using the sound
device (ie xmms) and then starting gaim. If this fixes the problem, it is
a libao issue, not a gaim issue, and can be worked around by the use of
esd or arts.
• Try disabling or deleting any 3rd party plugins, especially anything
related to encryption.
• If you use 0.75 or higher on win32, try deleting tcl.dll.
• If you have ever installed 0.65, edit your ~/.gaimrc, changing your auto
away preference from -1 to 0.
1.13 Gaim <non-current version> is buggy. Gaim CVS is buggy. Why?
Non-current versions have old bugs which may be fixed in the current
version--that's why we make new releases. CVS is frequently unusable because
of changes in the code. Bugs are introduced during the development process
and are hopefully fixed before a release is made.
1.14 Why do you always say not to use CVS?
That's a long story. For starters, see the previous question. It is often the
case that Gaim CVS exhibits bad behavior due to features and bugfixes which
are in a transitory state or which are not yet well understood. These bad
behaviors range from the harmless (maybe a graphical glitch in a dialog box)
to the irritating (a particular protocol may not work), to the downright
damaging (recently a bug in CVS destroyed the user's buddy lists). While
behaviors like this are acceptable to some users (particularly developers,
who are used to such things), they tend to cause many Gaim CVS users to
contact Gaim developers and report the same (usually egregious) bug over and
over - using time which could be better spent fixing the bugs.
A second major point involves public resources - a CVS checkout is not a
cheap operation. As many Sourceforge users are aware, at various points in
the recent past Sourceforge CVS has been less than pleasant to work with.
This is, of course, because Sourceforge hosts dozens and dozens of useful and
active projects which use CVS as a primary method of source code
collaboration. Unfortunately, when too many users are poking around in that
CVS just for the sake of poking around, it prevents other users who are
trying to do work to improve those very same projects from accomplishing
their tasks. It is better for the community if an enterprising individual
wishing to fix a particular bug she has seen can get to the code and create a
patch, even if this means that some users have to wait a few weeks for the
next release to see what new features it might hold.
The third point is not a problem which has yet come up, but it is in the back
of the mind of the developers who bring you Gaim. As a third-party IM client,
Gaim is not a priority (and indeed may be an irritant) for the IM service
providers. We do our best to keep Gaim playing nice and being friendly on the
IM networks it uses; however, at times there are bugs in the protocol
support. If a few dozen people are using this buggy client, the IM providers
are not likely to go out of their way to do anything about it. However, if
hundreds of people are pointing an ill-behaved client at an IM server, the
server administrators may be forced to take action. (This is particularly
likely if the buggy behavior is damaging in some way.) Gaim releases
represent code which the gaim developers feel is relatively well-behaved and
stable. This includes not only the interface seen by Gaim users, but the
traffic seen by IM service providers. Gaim CVS bears no such guarantees.
In short, there are a lot of good reasons to not use Gaim CVS if one does not
wish to develop Gaim, Gaim plugins, or a codebase which interacts with Gaim
in some intimate way. There are, however, only a few reasons to use Gaim CVS
outside of the above. Please weigh these things carefully and decide whether
you wish to use Gaim CVS for a good reason which furthers the community, or
for selfish reasons which are not entirely important.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2. Using Gaim
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 How do I register for a new account?
This depends on the protocol.
AIM: Go to http://my.screenname.aol.com/_cqr/login/login.psp?siteId=
snshomepage&authLev=1&mcState=initialized&createSn=1.
MSN (including Hotmail email): Go to http://registernet.passport.com/.
MSN (using your own email address): Go to http://register.passport.net/.
Yahoo: Go to http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_register.
Jabber: See the question How do I register a new Jabber account? below.
ICQ: Go to http://web.icq.com/register.
Gadu-Gadu: Use the official client to create an account.
Novell: See your Novell server administrator.
2.2 How do I use AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Jabber, ICQ, or any other protocol?
Use the Account Editor (Tools->Accounts, or the Accounts button on the start
screen) to add the account of the appropriate messaging service. Use the
checkbox in the account editor to sign online.
2.3 How do I change the font Gaim uses?
The font preference in Gaim is used only for the formatting of outgoing
messages. The display fonts used by the rest of Gaim are those specified by
GTK. To change this font you need to edit your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file. If you need
help you can see our example .gtkrc-2.0 (http://gaim.sf.net/gtkrc-2.0) file.
On Windows, this file is located at C:\Documents and Settings\username
\.themes\Default\gtk-2.0\gtkrc.
You can also just switch to a different GTK theme. You can find GTK themes
(and information on using them) by visiting themes.freshmeat.net,
art.gnome.org, or searching on Google.
If you're having a problem with the font size used by a specific person, you
can try turning on the Ignore Font Sizes preference in Preferences->Message
Text.
2.4 How do I make gaim use emacs-like keybindings?
You need to edit your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 to contain the keybindings line from http:
//gaim.sf.net/gtkrc-2.0.
2.5 How do I use smiley themes?
To select a theme, open Gaim's preferences to the "
Smiley
Themes
" page and
click on whichever theme you want to use. To install a theme, simply drag it
into the theme selector. You can find themes on the Gaim Smiley Themes (http:
//gaim.sf.net/themes.php) page.
You can also install themes manually by uncompressing them to their own
directory in ~/.gaim/smileys/
2.6 Why are the status icons so big?
We believe that, by adding a second line of text to each buddy list entry,
we're able to show more information about each buddy on the buddy list. The
'Big List,' as we call it, shows status text, idle time, and warning level
concisely and attractively. It shows more than one status "
emblem
" for each
buddy, indicating at the same time a mobile user who is away. Most
importantly, it puts the buddy icon in the list, making it far easier to
locate buddies within a large list where names are harder to pick out than
images. Due to the increased usability of this interface, we have made it the
default.
We are aware that some people feel more comfortable using an interface more
similar to IM clients they may have used in the past. The 'Big List' can be
disabled by un-checking "
Show
buddy
icons
" in the Buddy List preferences.
2.7 Why do the emblems move around the status icon?
The four corners of the icon have different precedence. The lower-right is
the highest, lower-left is second-highest, etc. The most important emblem is
in the lower-right, always. When an AOL buddy is not away, the fact that [s]
he's an AOL user is the most important information shown in the icon. The
consistency is that the user can always look in the same place on the icon to
find out what he needs to know. Also, importantly, the lower-right corner
emblem is the only emblem that shows up when "
Small
list
" is on, as only one
emblem would fit.
2.8 How do I get sound to work correctly?
Gaim uses libao to play sounds. Playing sounds directly through esound or
arts is no longer supported.
`Libao is a cross-platform library that allows programs to output PCM audio
data to the native audio devices on a wide variety of platforms. It currently
supports OSS (Open Sound System), ESD (ESounD), ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound
Architecture), Sun audio system (used in Solaris, OpenBSD, and NetBSD), aRts
(Analog Realtime Synthesizer). '
To compile Gaim with support for libao you need libao-devel and
audiofile-devel. To use libao you need libao and audiofile. If you do not
wish to install these packages you can also just change your sound playing
method in preferences to Command and use esdplay %s or artsplay %s.
2.9 How do I make Gaim use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds? What does the
"
Automatic
" option do?
If you choose "
Automatic
", "
ESD
", or "
Arts
", Gaim uses libao to play sounds.
Choosing "
ESD
" or "
Arts
" forces libao to play sounds using that method, while
choosing "
Automatic
" lets it decide for itself.
If you choose "
Automatic
", you can create a file, either /etc/libao.conf or ~
/.libao, and put one of the following lines in it:
default_driver=alsa
default_driver=oss
Other drivers, like alsa09, arts, esd, irix, macosx, and sun might also be
supported, depending on your platform and how libao was compiled. See also
man 5 libao.conf.
2.10 Why does Gaim use the same WM_CLASS for every window? It makes it
impossible to control window size and placement for the buddy list
separately from the conversations.
Both strings in the WM_CLASS property are supposed to be the same for all
windows in the same instance of an application. ICCCM states that one is
meant to be the same for all instances of the application, the other is meant
to be unique to that instance of the application. ICCCM also states "
If
a
client
has
multiple
windows
with
identical
WM_CLASS
and
WM_NAME
properties
,
then
it
should
provide
a
WM_WINDOW_ROLE
property
.
"
Gtk+ sets these WM_CLASS values for us so that they are unique for Gaim
instances, and the documentation for the gtk_window_set_wmclass function says
explicitly not to use it for anything else. Gaim uses the WM_WINDOW_ROLE hint
to differentiate windows. If your window manager is having problems
differentiating between Gaim windows, please ensure that it uses the
WM_WINDOW_ROLE hint per the ICCCM.
2.11 I blocked someone accidentally, how can I unblock them?
See the "
Privacy
" option under the "
Tools
" menu of the Buddy List.
2.12 What is a "
Buddy
Pounce
"?
Gaim introduced buddy pounces a few releases before AOL came out with "
Buddy
Alerts
.
" Despite this though, you could think of a buddy pounce as an Alert
and get an idea of the most minimal uses of a buddy pounce. In reality, a
buddy pounce is much like a macro, or a recorded action. When you set a
pounce on someone, you choose from a number of events, such as sign on or
someone going away, and then you choose from a number of actions. These
actions include everything from playing a sound (like an Alert would do) to
sending a message to the person, to executing a command. This action will
occur the next time gaim detects the event, ie the next time the person in
your buddy list who you have pounced signs on.
2.13 Where does gaim store its logs?
On unix, they are in ~/.gaim/logs, on win32 they are in the $drive\Documents
and Settings\user\Application Data\.gaim\logs directory. In either case, new
logs (new as of 0.73) are in subdirectories that correspond to protocol/
yourscreenname/theirscreenname.
2.14 How can I see my own status with Gaim?
Currently the only supported method to see your own status is to add yourself
to your buddy list. This works with Aim, ICQ, Y!M, IRC, and some of the
others, and is mimiced by gaim for MSN and Jabber.
2.15 Can I use Gaim for e-mail, blogging, an RSS feed, or something else that
isn't IM-related?
No, you can't. We get requests for this often, but Gaim is indeed a messaging
client. Aside from the capabilities each protocol may support, the Gaim
developers have no intention to turn Gaim into a multi-feature Internet
client capable of doing everything under the sun. We also won't be helping to
develop plugins to turn it into that. There are many Internet applications
available for Linux, Windows, or whatever operating system you use that would
undoubtedly do a better job.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3. Features
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1 Does Gaim support file transfer?
Somewhat, yeah. As of 0.79 the following is supported:
• Sending and receiving files on AIM (although it might be a bit buggy)
• Sending and receiving files on IRC
• Sending and receiving files on Jabber
• Sending and receiving files on MSN
• Sending and receiving files on SILC
• Sending and receiving files on Yahoo (sending is limited to 1Mb)
Most of the protocols themselves support file transfer, but Gaim has not been
written to support it yet. If you would like file transfer to work better or
be more complete, get CVS and submit a patch using the generic file transfer
API.
3.2 Is there a Gaim tray icon, or docklet, or gnome applet, or panel icon, or
something?
Yeah, Gaim supports what is called a system tray icon that conforms to the
standards at www.freedesktop.org. This tray icon is supported by Windows, KDE
3.1, Gnome 2.2, and Red Hat Gnome 2.0. All you have to do is load the "
System
Tray
Icon
" plugin by going to Preferences and then Plugins.
If you're using Gnome you need to make sure that your panel has a
Notification Area on it. To add one, right click on the panel, select Add To
Panel->Utility->Notification Area. Gaim will insert the tray icon in any
System Tray implementation that conforms to these standards, so feel free to
write one for your window manager of choice.
Due to a flaw in these specs, KDE users may experience trouble with the
background color of the docklet. There is unfortunately nothing we can do
about this.
3.3 What do those colors in the conversation tab mean?
• Red - A message is waiting for you
• Blue - Someone sent a message containing your name
• Green - The buddy is typing
• Yellow - The buddy began typing, and then stopped
• Gray - There has been a join or a part in that chat, or the buddy has
signed off
3.4 Will Gaim save my buddy list to the server?
Yes, Gaim saves your buddy list to the server for AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN,
Novell and Yahoo!.
3.5 Can I import or export my buddy list?
Sorry, no. Old versions of Gaim supported this, but new versions do not. All
the code for saving and loading buddy lists was rewritten, and support for
importing and exporting buddy lists was never re-added. However, with all
major protocols storing their buddy lists on the server, this feature is less
useful today than in the past.
3.6 Does Gaim support animated smileys?
Yes, as of version 0.70 Gaim supports animated smileys.
3.7 Can I make Gaim group screen names by the person that owns them? You know,
like Trillian's Meta Contacts?
Sure! Right click a buddy on your list and at the bottom of the menu click
"
Expand
". Then just drag other screen names to the same person below it. When
you're done, click on the arrow to collapse them. When the contact is
collapsed, Gaim will select a buddy to display based on the status of the
buddies in the contact, and their order.
You may need to turn off the preference option to automatically expand
Contacts in order to be able to edit an existing Contact.
3.8 How do I get the old logging back?
The old logging was removed because it was deficient in many ways. There is
no way in Gaim itself to revert to the old logging, but the new logging is so
good you could implement something similar to the old logging as a plugin.
3.9 How can I convert my old logs to the new format?
It's not possible to perfectly convert from the old format to the new format
because the old format is missing some information necessary to do that (eg.
which account the messages were sent from).
It shouldn't be too difficult to do a rough conversion using a small script,
or using the old_logger_* functions in gaim itself.
Peter Johnson has written a python script to do just this, it is available on
his website (at the bottom).
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 4. ICQ Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1 How do I use ICQ?
ICQ support is part of the OSCAR protocol, labeled AIM/ICQ in Gaim. To use
it, simply put your account number in the "
Screen
Name
" box and your password
in the "
Password
" box. Leave the server settings set to the default
(login.oscar.aol.com and port 5190).
4.2 Can I send SMS messages?
Kind of. See our answer to this for the AIM/ICQ Protocol.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 5. TOC Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.1 What is the TOC protocol?
It's an AIM protocol used by Quick Buddy and AIM Express. It's recommended
that you don't use it. You should use Gaim's OSCAR (AIM/ICQ) protocol
instead. We keep TOC around in case OSCAR ever stops working. However, we are
not actively supporting this code, and no longer distribute it in binaries.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 6. AIM/ICQ (OSCAR) Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.1 Can I set my profile?
Yes you can. Go to Tools->Account Actions
6.2 Can I set a buddy icon?
Yes. Go to the Account Editor (Tools->Accounts from the buddy list), and
click to "
Modify
" the AIM/ICQ account you wish to have an icon. Enter the
full path to the image you wish to use in the box labeled "
Buddy
Icon
File
.
"
The file must be below 4KB. It can have any dimensions, and can be in any
format. However, if you wish Windows users to see it, it must be in a format
Windows understands, such as .bmp, .gif, and .jpg.
6.3 Some of my buddies are not showing up as online, why is that?
AOL has set a limit for the maximum number of people you can have in your
buddy list. This number is currently 200. If you don't think you are anywhere
near that limit, it is possible that your server-stored buddy list is
corrupt.
If you think this might be the case, you can try signing on with an official
AIM program from AOL. This will usually correct any problems with the list.
6.4 Can I use AIM URI's such as "
aim
:
goim
?
screenname
=
robflynn
"?
Yes, with Gaim 0.60 and higher, but it can be difficult to set up. You need
to pass the entire URI to the gaim-remote program (included with gaim). To do
this with Gnome 2, run gnome-file-types-properties or "
File
Types
and
Programs
" from the preferences menu. Add a service with protocol "
aim
" and
set the program to gaim-remote uri "
%
s
". This will make AIM URIs work in
Galeon 2. Also, not all types of AIM URI's are supported. The ones that are
supported are goim, addbuddy, and gochat.
You'll need the "
Remote
Control
" plugin loaded for this to work.
If you use wingaim, this will not work as gaim-remote has not yet been ported
over.
6.5 I just changed my buddy icon, and I can't see the new one.
First, try IMing yourself a few times. Buddy icons are checked when you IM
people, so depending on the protocol, that may work. If it still doesn't
update, check the file size (buddy icons must be smaller than 4kb) and the
image size (it should be 48x48 or 50x50 in most cases). Also, check the file
type. GIF or JPEG images are best supported; most other formats do not work
at all. If all of that checks out and it still doesn't work, and you're sure
the protocol supports it, try restarting Gaim.
6.6 Does Gaim support DirectIM and IM Image?
Yeah, kind of. This tends to be one of the buggier areas of Gaim. If it's not
working for you, make sure that at least one person is not behind a firewall.
6.7 Can I send SMS messages?
Yep, just send an IM to the person's phone number. For example, if the phone
number is (919) 555-1234, you would IM the screen name +19195551234 We think
this should work for countries with a country code of 1 (the United States
and Canada).
Sending SMS messages using "
the
ICQ
method
" is not yet supported.
6.8 Can I add SMS numbers to my buddy list?
Not currently. This functionality has been broken since around September
2003. There is no ETA for when it will be fixed.
6.9 I heard AOL is combining ICQ and AIM, does that mean I can send a message
from an AIM account to an ICQ account and vice-versa?
Yes, AOL is slowly letting the two messaging networks interoperate with each
other. Messaging between the two protocols works as long as the receiver of
the message supports it. Gaim 0.60 supports sending and receiving messages
between AIM and ICQ, but the person receiving the message must support this.
Gaim, of course, supports this for both ICQ and AIM accounts. Windows AIM
version 5.2.3139 supports receiving messages from ICQ users. It is unknown if
earlier versions of Windows AIM support this. Windows ICQ build 3800 does not
support receiving messages from AIM users. Windows ICQ Lite builds 1150 and
later support receiving messages from AIM users and sending messages to AIM
users. MacAIM versions 4.6 beta, build 1.1131 and newer support sending and
receiving messages to and from ICQ users.
The same clients that support receiving messages from the alternate messaging
network will also show up in buddy lists of people using the alternate
network. This means that if you can message an ICQ user from an AIM account,
then the ICQ user will also show up in your AIM buddy list. So an AIM user
using Windows AIM version 5.2.3139 will show up in an ICQ buddy list.
6.10 Why can't I connect via either Oscar or TOC?
If you are using Linux, your kernel may be using a network option called
"
ECN
". It seems that the AOL servers are currently dropping packets marked as
"
ECN
-
capable
". In order to turn this off, run the command
echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn
as root, or (if your distribution supports it) put the line
net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0
in the file /etc/sysctl.conf.
6.11 English is not my native language, and some of my friends have trouble
seeing my IMs/I have trouble seeing my friends' IMs. How do I use a
native language character set with ICQ?
Gaim 0.82 and higher allow you to specify a character encoding to use when
conversing with ICQ users. Use the account editor to set this encoding.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 7. IRC Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1 How do I join a channel with the IRC plugin?
First create the account, then sign on. After you have signed on, you can use
File->Join A Chat on the buddy list to join a channel. In any window, either
a conversation or a chat, in which your IRC user is the sender, you can also
use /join to connect to a new channel.
7.2 Is there a way to make Gaim automatically identify me and/or join IRC
chats on login?
Yes. Add NickServ to your buddy list and place buddy pounces on him/her/it.
Do not include "
/
msg
nickserv
" as part of the message to send.
In version 0.64 or higher, you can add a chat to your buddy list, right click
it, and tell Gaim to auto-join it.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 8. Jabber Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.1 How do I choose which Jabber server to use?
The Jabber server name is part of your Jabber I.D., such as
somebody@server.name. So when entering your Jabber "
screen
name
", the server
is specified as part of your JID.
8.2 How do I change my Jabber resource to be other than the default of "
/
Gaim
"?
When you create your account in Gaim, simply append the desired resource
identifier to your Jabber I.D. For example: somebody@server.name/resource
8.3 How do I register a new Jabber account?
As of version 0.52 and up:
1. Click "
Tools
->
Accounts
->
Add
"
2. Select "
Jabber
" for the protocol.
3. Fill in screen name and password as you normally would. THIS IS A
REQUIRED STEP
4. Check the "
Register
with
server
" check-box
5. Click "
OK
".
Note: You are strongly recommended to check the "
Remember
password
" check-box
as well, as Gaim presently does no password verification. So if you don't
type in what you thought you did, you're hosed.
8.4 How do I use invisibility?
Jabber invisibility support is available in Gaim version 0.60 and later.
There are two ways to use Jabber invisibility: on a per-buddy and on a
per-server basis.
To use per-buddy invisibility: right-click on the buddy on the Online buddy
list and select "
Temporarily
Hide
From
.
" You will appear to that buddy to be
off-line. To make yourself seen by that buddy again: right-click on the buddy
and select "
Un
-
hide
From
.
" Note that the menu changes based on whether you're
currently invisible to that buddy or not.
The "
Temporarily
" part is a dead give-away. Your invisibility to that
buddy will last only until the next time you log on or until you set
server invisibility (discussed next) on and off.
To use per-server invisibility: click "
Tools
->
Away
,
" select the Jabber
server login for the server upon which you wish to become invisible (if
necessary) and select "
Invisible
.
" To become visible again: select anything
else from that same menu (such as "
Online
"), or set your away status or log
off the server and back on again.
You can set yourself invisible per-server and subsequently make yourself
visible to selected buddies only.
Gaim currently does not retain invisibility settings between logins, just as
it doesn't currently retain "
away
" status.
8.5 I've a buddy that I keep removing from my buddy list but the entry keeps
coming back every time I log in again! How can I stop this?
With Gaim 0.60 or later, it might be continuing to import the old buddy
lists. Remove ~/.gaim/*.blist - these are no longer used, the buddy list is
now stored in ~/.gaim/blist.xml
8.6 Can I remove a buddy from my Jabber roster entirely?
With Gaim 0.60 or later, the deletion code will do this. Gaim currently does
not retain invisibility settings between logins, just as it doesn't currently
retain "
away
" status.
8.7 What does "
Cancel
Presence
Notification
" do?
This selection, available in Gaim version 0.60 and later, and found by
right-clicking on a buddy entry in the buddy list, prevents that Jabber I.D.
from receiving future presence notifications when you log on to the server.
After you do this, that buddy will have to re-request a subscription to your
presence (and you will have to approve it) for them to again see you on-line.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 9. Y!M (Yahoo) Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.1 I cannot connect to Yahoo! and get "
Invalid
Password
" errors, or I'm using
a version of Gaim older than 0.79!
Make sure you have at least 0.79.
9.2 I cannot connect to Yahoo! and I'm behind a firewall or NAT. Why doesn't
Gaim have Yahoo's "
Firewall
with
no
proxy
" option?
Yahoo!'s firewall with no proxy option connects to Yahoo! by wrapping the
YMSG protocol inside HTTP. Gaim currently doesn't support doing this.
Gaim does support changing the port it connects to. Try changing the
Pager Port in the Account editor under "
Show
more
options
". Ports known to
work are: 20, 23, 25, 80, 119, 5050, 8001, and 8002. While this doesn't work
for as many people as actually tunneling through the HTTP protocol would, it
helps many users.
9.3 I blocked someone, but it doesn't seem to have worked.
As of 0.81, this is a known bug in our Yahoo code. We're not sure what
exactly is wrong, but it seems to fail most often when automatically removing
the buddy from your buddy list at the same time it blocks them. It also
always seems to fail if Gaim already thinks the buddy is blocked, and you try
to block them again.
We suggest manually removing Yahoo! buddies before attempting to block them.
For buddies which Gaim reports are blocked but which are not, unblocking them
and reblocking them from the Tools->Privacy dialog will often get things
working.
9.4 Can I get a list of Yahoo! Chat rooms? What about non-US lists?
Tools->Room List will let you list available Yahoo! Chat rooms. Yahoo! does
support hidden and invite-only rooms. If you know the name of the room you
wish to join, and it's not invite only, you can join it via Buddies->Join a
Chat. You can also create a chat room this way, although we don't support
setting the hidden or invite-only type settings.
To get a non-US room list, you'll need to change the Chat Room List Url in
the account editor, under "
Show
more
options
". By default this field contains
"
http
://
insider
.
msg
.
yahoo
.
com
/ycontent/
". You can add a country code prefix
to the url to fetch the list for another country. For example, for the German
list, you would use "
http
://
de
.
insider
.
msg
.
yahoo
.
com
/ycontent/
".
The list of known country codes for this url is:
• aa => Asia
• ar => Argentina
• au => Australia
• br => Brazil
• ca => Canada
• cf => Central African Republic
• cn => China
• de => Germany
• dk => Denmark
• es => Spain
• fr => France
• hk => Hong Kong
• in => India
• it => Italy
• kr => Korea, Republic of
• mx => Mexico
• no => Norway
• se => Sweden
• sg => Singapore
• tw => Taiwan
• uk => United Kingdom
9.5 What protocol does Gaim use to connect to Yahoo!?
Normally Gaim uses the YMSG protocol, which is the same protocol that the
official Yahoo! clients use. If an attempt to login returns the "
Invalid
Password
" error code, Gaim automatically tries to log in using the "
Web
Messenger
" method. This method still uses the YMSG protocol, but
authenticates differently, and connects to a different server.
While in Web Messenger mode, several things work differently or not at all.
Adding, moving, and removing buddies doesn't work, and the only available
statuses are "
Available
" and "
Invisible
". In addition, the Yahoo! server
seems to ignore all Yahoo! Chat related packets. For this reason, we use the
YCHT protocol to join Yahoo! Chat rooms while connected using the Web
Messenger method.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 10. MSN Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.1 Why are my file transfers so slow?
Gaim only supports tranferring files over MSN via the MSN servers. This means
all your data is sent to an MSN server and then forwarded to the person at
the other end of the transfer. It is unknown whether we will support true
peer to peer file transfer over MSN.
10.2 I'm getting lots of "
Already
in
Opposite
list
" errors on MSN, why?
The reason this happens is because you have a screen name in both your permit
list and your deny list. There are two ways to fix this: the correct way and
the quick way. The correct way is to go to Tools->Privacy, and manually scan
the list and remove the duplicate entries. The quick way is to remove the
blist.xml file from the ~/.gaim directory. Be aware that this contains your
buddy list for all accounts, and also stores the "
Contact
" grouping of
Buddies.
10.3 Is there a way to invite more than one person to an MSN chat?
Yes. Right click a buddy on your list and choose "
Initiate
Chat
". In the
conversation window that appears, choose "
Invite
" from the "
Conversation
"
menu to invite another user. When the conversation framework gets another
rewrite, it is possible that this will be simplified.
10.4 Is MSNP9 (MSN6) going to be supported?
MSNP9 support has existed in Gaim since 0.69. However, at this point,
features such as custom smileys aren't yet implemented.
10.5 Will I be able to use Gaim for MSN after October 15th 2003? (The day
they're preventing third party clients from connecting)
Yes. We use MSNP9, which is available in 0.69 and up, and MSNP9 is supported
after October 15th 2003.
10.6 I just upgraded Gaim and the MSN plugin will not load. Why?
You did not compile with SSL support, or the SSL plugin failed to load. As of
protocol version 9, the MSN protocol requires the use of SSL, which Gaim
provides by either GnuTLS or the combination of NSS and NSPR from the Mozilla
project. Install one or both of these and recompile Gaim, and see the next
question.
10.7 The MSN plugin won't load, but I have Mozilla NSS!
Some distributions, including Slackware, install Mozilla NSS to a
non-standard directory. The fix is simple. Edit /etc/ld.so.conf and add /usr/
lib/mozilla-1.4 (or whatever version you're using, but it's usually 1.4) to
the file, and run ldconfig as root. Then re-run configure and recompile Gaim.
You may also need to specify where the include file are for NSS and NSPR, see
./configure --help for the options.
Mozilla 1.5 has a broken .pc file and does not install the necessary .h
files, and so will not be detected.
See http://gaim.sf.net/faq-ssl.php on getting SSL to work with Gaim.
10.8 What does "
MSN
:
S
:
911
3
" in the debug window mean when I cannot connect
to MSN?
See http://gaim.sf.net/911.txt.
10.9 How do I set an MSN avatar?
Gaim calls these Buddy Icons. Go to Tools->Accounts and click to Modify your
MSN account. You can drag and drop a file to the resulting dialog, or use the
Open button.
10.10 What does "
Has
you
" in the buddy tooltip mean?
It shows you if that MSN user has added you to his/her buddy list. "
Has
you
:
No
" does not mean you can't talk to that person.
10.11 How do I set my MSN Friendly Name (the name other users see)?
In the Buddy List window, go to Tools->Account Actions->account->Set Friendly
Name.
10.12 What does "
Error
reading
from
switchboard
server
" mean?
We haven't fully figured that out yet, but even Microsoft's client seems to
get similar errors, although with less frequency than we do. See Bug 1060205
for further information.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 11. Gadu-Gadu Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.1 What is Gadu-Gadu?
Gadu-Gadu is an IM protocol popular in Poland. You can find more about it at
www.gadu-gadu.pl (website in Polish).
11.2 Why doesn't it work right?
We have not had a Gadu-Gadu maintainer in some time and are currently
struggling to keep this protocol functional. If you have any problems, you
will need to submit a patch for them, as we are unlikely to have much luck
fixing it. If things get too bad, we will be forced to remove this protocol
from the default builds.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 12. Zephyr Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.1 What is Zephyr?
Zephyr is an IM protocol developed at MIT for use with Project Athena. Its
features include Kerberos IV authentication, multi-level chats (aka
"
subscriptions
"). You're probably using this because your college/employer/
organization uses it as a local IM/chat system. If not, you probably don't
have a server to connect to.
12.2 Other Zephyr clients (zwgc,owl,tzc) work, but Gaim dies with "
Couldn
't
initialize zephyr".
Your site might require the use of Kerberos 4 for authentication, though few
prepackaged Gaim binaries use Kerberos. One solution is to compile Gaim with
the --with-krb4 flag to point to the location of your Kerberos 4 devel files,
usually one of /usr, /usr/local, or /usr/athena, e.g. ./configure --with-krb4
=/path/to/kerberosIV
12.3 Gaim isn'
t
working
,
but
I
never
got
any
other
Zephyr
client
working
on
this
machine
.
You
need
to
have
zhm
(
which
comes
with
the
standard
Zephyr
distribution
)
installed
,
and
running
,
and
pointed
at
your
Zephyr
servers
.
e
.
g
.
zhm
z1
.
example
.
com
z2
.
example
.
com
z3
.
example
.
com
Alternatively
,
there
might
be
a
firewall
or
a
NAT
between
you
and
the
Zephyr
servers
.
Zephyr
generally
doesn
't work in an environment where incoming
connections cannot be made to arbitrary UDP ports.
12.4 How do I use Zephyr from behind my firewall, or without recompiling with
kerberos support if needed?
You can use tzc, "Trivial Zephyr Client" and ssh to run Zephyr from a machine
that is behind a firewall or NAT. First, make sure that tzc is installed and
working on the remote machine. The best version of tzc to use can be found
http://www.club.cc.cmu.edu/debian/dists/testing/contrib/source/
tzc-cclub_001-3.tar.gz. Second, make sure that you can make a passwordless
ssh connection to the remote machine and get kerberos 4 tickets. Then, click
on "Show more options", enable "Use tzc", and set the tzc command to
/path/to/ssh username@hostname /path/to/tzc -e "%s"
Alternately, if you have tzc working on your machine, you can enable "Use
tzc", and set the tzc command to
/path/to/tzc -e "%s"
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 13. SILC Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13.1 What is SILC?
SILC is an open protocol designed from the ground up with security in mind.
It is, or should be, the protocol of choice for the paranoid. See http://
www.silcnet.org for more details.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 14. Novell Protocol
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14.1 Are there any public servers for Novell?
Not really. This protocol is designed to connect to a Novell GroupWise server
running on a corporate LAN.
14.2 I can'
t
seem
to
get
it
to
work
.
Novell
tells
us
that
this
protocol
plugin
will
only
work
with
either
the
GroupWise
Messenger
for
Linux
server
or
the
GroupWise
Messenger
SP2
(
or
higher
)
server
for
NetWare
and
Windows
.
In
addition
,
the
server
must
be
secure
(
SSL
enabled
).
If
you
have
any
trouble
,
see
the
FAQ
question
about
submitting
bugs
,
and
they
will
be
forwarded
to
Novell
,
who
have
been
kind
enough
to
continue
active
maintenance
to
the
protocol
plugin
code
they
provided
us
.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
15
.
Scripts
and
Plugins
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15.1
How
do
I
use
perl
scripts
with
Gaim
?
Save
the
perl
script
to
~/.
gaim
/plugins/ or $prefix/lib/gaim/
,
restart
Gaim
,
and
load
the
perl
script
by
checking
the
check
box
next
to
its
name
on
the
Plugins
page
in
preferences
.
15.2
How
do
I
compile
a
plugin
for
Gaim
?
To
compile
a
plugin
for
Gaim
,
you
must
have
Gaim
's source code. To download
Gaim'
s
source
code
,
get
the
most
recent
tarball
from
http
://
gaim
.
sourceforge
.
net
/downloads.php (http://gaim.sf.net/
downloads
.
php
)
and
untar
it
with
the
command
:
tar
zxvf
filename
where
filename
is
the
file
you
downloaded
.
After
you
have
a
Gaim
source
code
tree
:
1
.
Change
to
the
resulting
directory
and
run
the
command
:
./
configure
This
will
create
the
necessary
make
files
.
2
.
Move
the
plugin
you
wish
to
compile
into
the
plugins
/
directory
in
the
Gaim
source
code
tree
.
3
.
Change
to
the
plugins
/
directory
.
4
.
On
Unix
/
Linux
Type
:
make
name
.
so
where
the
name
of
the
file
you
wish
to
compile
is
name
.
c
.
On
Win32
Type
:
make
-
f
Makefile
.
mingw
name
.
dll
where
the
name
of
the
file
you
wish
to
compile
is
name
.
c
.
Note
well
the
difference
in
the
extensions
.
If
you
type
make
name
.
c
instead
of
name
.
so
,
it
won
't work.
5. After make finishes, you can move the plugin to a place that is more
convenient. $prefix/lib/gaim is suggested. If you installed Gaim by
compiling it yourself, $prefix is /usr/local by default. Otherwise,
$prefix is /usr.
15.3 I have a plugin or perl script for Gaim that used to work, but does not
with the current version.
The plugin and perl script API has changed several times, which means plugins
and perl scripts must be modified in order to work. The plugin or perl script
must be located in $prefix/lib/gaim/ or in ~/.gaim/plugins/, and must
implement the new API, as documented by the make docs command from the root
of the Gaim source code tree. This will generated html documentation in the
doc/html directory. Also note that plugins and perl scripts are now
controlled from preferences.
15.4 Where can I find documentation on writing plugins and Perl scripts?
If you look in the plugins/ directory in the Gaim source, you should see a
HOWTO file with some details for C plugins. Also be sure to check out our
online documentation (http://gaim.sf.net/api/index.html). Be especially sure
to look at the Related Pages, which lists all of Gaim'
s
signals
,
as
well
as
a
nice
perl
script
HOWTO
.
This
documentation
can
be
generated
directly
from
the
Gaim
source
by
running
make
docs
.
You
will
need
doxygen
and
graphviz
dot
installed
for
this
to
work
.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
16
.
Development
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.1
Can
I
help
?
But
of
course
.
Just
find
something
that
's bugging you and fix it. There are a
slew of a bug reports in Gaim'
s
bug
report
tracker
-
you
could
pick
one
and
try
to
tackle
it
and
submit
a
patch
.
You
could
also
help
with
general
bug
triage
by
going
through
the
bug
reports
and
leaving
comments
such
as
"this
has been fixed"
or
"this is a duplicate of bug #12345."
As
always
,
make
sure
you
follow
the
same
coding
style
used
in
Gaim
,
and
make
sure
you
don
't break
the core/UI split.
16.2 Gaim never leaves a core file.
On most installs core files are limited in size to 0 bytes, and are therefore
not created. To rectify this situation, add ulimit -c unlimited to your
startup scripts (~/.bash_profile is a good place) or run it manually in a
terminal before starting Gaim from that terminal. You can also run Gaim
directly in gdb with gdb gaim.
16.3 Where should I report bugs?
http://gaim.sf.net/bug.php.
16.4 Where should I submit patches?
http://gaim.sf.net/patches.php.
16.5 Did you guys reverse engineer it?
TOC, Jabber, MSN, Napster, and IRC are published protocols, so we didn'
t
have
to
reverse
engineer
those
.
Oscar
,
ICQ
,
and
Yahoo
are
not
published
,
and
were
reverse
engineered
by
other
people
.
Novell
was
provided
by
Novell
,
and
SILC
was
written
by
one
of
the
protocol
's developers.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 17. Misc. Questions
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17.1 Can I IM you guys?
Sure! Look at the Contact Information (http://gaim.sf.net/contactinfo.php)
page!
17.2 Hello?
We don'
t
know
how
to
answer
this
question
.
Stop
asking
it
.
17.3
Can
I
give
you
money
/hardware/
other
expensive
things
that
can
be
hocked
for
cash
what
with
you
all
being
students
/
full
-
time
-
workers
and
helping
to
produce
this
wonderful
software
instead
of
studying
/
sleeping
?
No
.
We
're completely fool-hardy and won'
t
accept
any
gratuities
with
no
strings
attached
for
just
being
good
guys
.
That
and
we
'd have to share with
everyone who has submitted patches. ;-)
17.4 Does Gaim support secure instant messaging (encrypted IMs)?
Short answer: Yes, use the SILC protocol.
Long Answer(for other protocols): Not natively. Doing secure instant
messaging right is a big deal and requires, among other things, an
authentication scheme. Simply encrypting your data stream without verifying
the party with whom you are chatting is not secure in any way; some other
clients offer options like this, but we feel that such measures instill a
false sense of security that is more harmful than helpful.
There are a number of 3rd party plugin developers working on developing a
secure IM framework, the better ones using the GnuPG and the OpenPGP trust
model for authentication. If you are serious about secure instant messaging,
read the documentation on the "web of trust" model available at www.gnupg.org
and try out one of these.
17.5 Why are the passwords in accounts.xml not encrypted?
This is a case of a really long answer to a short question. Read our
explanation at http://gaim.sf.net/plaintextpasswords.php.
17.6 What is gaim-remote?
gaim-remote is a second executable included with Gaim starting with 0.60. It
allows you to perform some actions to control/manipulate an existing Gaim
process from the command line. Run gaim-remote --help to get an idea of what
we currently envision it doing.
17.7 When will the next version of Gaim be released?
The schedule for releases is every third Thursday. However, a new version
will only be released if it meets a certain standard of quality (i.e., it
will not be released if it still has a large number of serious bugs).
Therefore, some releases will take longer than others. Major rewrites means
lots of new bugs to work out. The new version will be released as soon as it
is possible to do so.
17.8 What will the next version be?
Starting with version 1.0.0, Gaim version numbers have 3 parts to them. The
format is major.minor.micro. If we change something internally in Gaim such
that some plugins won'
t
work
with
the
newer
version
,
we
will
increment
the
major
version
number
.
If
we
don
't increment the major version number, and
we'
ve
added
things
to
the
Gaim
API
that
won
'
t
break
any
older
stuff
,
we
will
increment
the
minor
version
number
.
In
any
other
cases
,
we
will
increment
the
micro
version
number
.
Even
and
odd
numbers
have
nothing
to
do
with
stability
,
and
you
should
always
be
running
the
latest
release
of
Gaim
to
get
new
features
and
bug
fixes
.
17.9
So
,
can
I
look
forward
to
mega
-
sexy
super
functionality
with
Gaim
?
Yes
,
that
is
the
intended
idea
.
In
fact
,
there
have
been
quite
a
number
of
unpopular
geeks
who
have
made
the
switch
to
gaim
.
In
a
matter
of
days
,
the
number
of
dates
and
awesomeness
points
received
by
the
geek
increased
ten
fold
!
You
,
too
,
can
have
an
exciting
life
with
Gaim
.
Get
Gaim
.
Get
the
babes
.
Get
uhh
...
hmm
.