gaim/gaim
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Disable ICQ "webaware" in the old status branch--the Ubunutu guy
oldstatus
2006-04-06, Mark Doliner
df0c35760f40
Disable ICQ "webaware" in the old status branch--the Ubunutu guy
asked about included a patch to disable this.
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?
6.12. Can I set myself invisible?
6.13. I am having trouble with file transfer. What'
s
up
?
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
?
7.3
.
Is
it
possible
to
change
the
user
name
that
appears
in
username
@
hostname
?
7.4
.
How
can
I
set
/
change
my
real
name
?
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
.
Will
Gaim
support
MSN
video
chat
?
10.2
.
Why
are
my
file
transfers
so
slow
?
10.3
.
I
'm getting lots of "Already in Opposite list" errors on MSN,
why?
10.4. Is there a way to invite more than one person to an MSN chat?
10.5. Is MSNP9 (MSN6) going to be supported?
Will I be able to use Gaim for MSN after October 15th 2003?
10.6. (The day they'
re
preventing
third
party
clients
from
connecting
)
10.7
.
I
just
upgraded
Gaim
and
the
MSN
plugin
will
not
load
.
Why
?
10.8
.
The
MSN
plugin
won
't load, but I have Mozilla NSS!
10.9. What does "MSN: S: 911 3" in the debug window mean when I
cannot connect to MSN?
10.10. How do I set an MSN avatar?
10.11. What does "Has you" in the buddy tooltip mean?
10.12. How do I set my MSN Friendly Name (the name other users see)?
10.13. 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
.
Will
you
support
features
such
as
voice
chat
,
internet
phones
,
or
video
chat
?
16.4
.
Where
should
I
report
bugs
?
16.5
.
Where
should
I
submit
patches
?
16.6
.
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
.
If
the
file
does
not
exist
,
create
it
.
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
1.2
.
1
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
when
not
using
an
HTTP
proxy
(
sending
is
limited
to
an
unknown
file
size
)
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?
In AIM, yes, you can. Go to Tools->Account Actions
In ICQ, this is not yet supported. Patches are welcome.
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 250 for AIM, 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?
Yes. You should be able to add phone numbers to your buddy list using the
same format as above. This recently started working again--we'
re
not
sure
why
.
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
.
6.12
Can
I
set
myself
invisible
?
Yes
.
Go
to
Tools
->
Away
->
account
->
Invisible
.
6.13
I
am
having
trouble
with
file
transfer
.
What
's up?
AIM file transfer is only partially implemented. Notably, it will fail when
the *sender* is behind a NAT device, and sometimes when the sender is behind
a firewall even if not behind a NAT. ICQ file transfer is not implemented as
yet. Patches for both of these are welcome.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 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.
7.3 Is it possible to change the user name that appears in username@hostname?
Yes. Go to Tools->Accounts. Select your IRC account and click Modify. Expand
the Show more options section. Enter a name in the Username field.
7.4 How can I set/change my real name?
Go to Tools->Accounts. Select your IRC account and click modify. Expand the
Show more options section. Enter a name in the Real name field.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 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, if present, else click
"Register" instead of "OK" below.
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/".
This has recently stopped working, we are investigating alternatives.
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
Will
Gaim
support
MSN
video
chat
?
See
#
vv
.
10.2
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
.
10.3
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.
10.4 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.
10.5 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
.
10.6
Will
I
be
able
to
use
Gaim
for
MSN
after
October
15
th
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.
10.7 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.
10.8 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
.
10.9
What
does
"MSN: S: 911 3"
in
the
debug
window
mean
when
I
cannot
connect
to
MSN
?
See
http
://
gaim
.
sf
.
net
/
911
.
txt
.
10.10
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
.
10.11
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.
10.12 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.
10.13 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/g
aim
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
generate
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/i
ndex
.
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
Will
you
support
features
such
as
voice
chat
,
internet
phones
,
or
video
chat
?
In
the
short
term
we
have
no
plans
to
work
on
or
attempt
to
integrate
patches
in
these
areas
.
However
,
one
of
our
developers
has
created
gaim
-
vv
(
http
://
gaim
-
vv
.
sf
.
net
),
a
"fork"
of
Gaim
,
which
will
be
merged
into
gaim
when
a
decent
subset
of
voice
and
video
functionality
is
implemented
and
stable
.
Having
a
separate
sourceforge
project
allows
people
interested
in
such
features
greater
access
to
development
while
not
clogging
the
main
thrust
of
gaim
towards
text
instant
messages
.
16.4
Where
should
I
report
bugs
?
http
://
gaim
.
sf
.
net
/
bug
.
php
.
16.5
Where
should
I
submit
patches
?
http
://
gaim
.
sf
.
net
/
patches
.
php
.
16.6
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
3
rd
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
.