!SECTION Compiling and Installing
Q: Why can't I compile Gaim?
A: Make sure you have gettext <= 0.10.40 or gettext >= 0.11.3,
autoconf 2.11 or >= 2.53, and automake >= 1.4p<i>x</i> (tested up to
automake 1.6.3). If you are still having problems, make sure that your
gettext package includes the program <code>gettextize</code> (for gettext
<= 0.10.40) or <code>autopoint</code> (for gettext >= 0.11.3). If it
does not, look for another package.
We don't support gettext 0.11.0 through 0.11.2 or 0.12.1. It may work for
you, but we make no promises.
If you are using autoconf 2.50+, do not use a version of gettext lower
than 0.11.3. You will get errors in the <code>po/</code> directory.
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.
See also <a href="faq-ssl.php">these notes</a> for distribution specific
Q: I'm trying to install Gaim, but it complains that I don't have
libgtkspell.so.0, from where can I get this?
A: 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 <a href="http://freshrpms.net/">freshrpms.net</a>. You
can find the source and a non-Red Hat specific RPM at <a
href="http://gtkspell.sourceforge.net/">gtkspell.sourceforge.net</a>.
Q: Is there some way I can compile just Gaim, without all of these protocols?
A: Yeah. There are actually three ways to do it.
Use the --with-dynamic-prpls option to ./configure
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.
Change to the directories for the protocols you
want to compile (e.g. <code>src/protocols/jabber</code>), and
run <code>make</code> from there. Then after you've compiled all of
them, change back to <code>src/</code> and run <code>make gaim</code>.
<p>The static prpls option is broke in 0.64 and higher.</p>
Q: I compiled Gaim, but when I restart, it did not update.
A: If you previously had an rpm or a Debian package installed, you need to
remove that first. <code>rpm -e gaim</code> or <code>dpkg -p gaim</code>
should work. If you are using 0.59.x or lower, you will receive some
errors about your plugins when you restart Gaim. This is normal. Simply go
into the Plugins dialog (Tools->Preferences->Plugins) and reload them. These
errors will only happen once.
Likewise, if you want to use an RPM or deb and you have previously
compiled Gaim from source, you need to <code>make uninstall</code> to
remove all Gaim files from <code>/usr/local</code>.
Q: I have a question about GTK1.2.
A: Our GTK2 port is now complete, the 0.59.x release series uses only
GTK1.2, and it is also entirely devoid of new features. 0.60 is the first
release with GTK2 support. 0.60 and all future Gaim versions will no
longer support GTK1.2. With the release of 0.60, the gtk1-stable tree that
the 0.59.x releases were from has been discontinued. If you want anything new
in that tree, you will have to maintain it yourself.
Q: I'd like to use Gaim on IRIX.
A: Please see <a href="http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=725839&forum_id=665">this thread</a> at our SourceForge Forum.
Q: How do I apply the xxxx patch (name.diff)?
A: Type <code>patch -p0 < name.diff</code> from inside the gaim
directory. If that doesn't work, try <code>patch -p1 < name.diff</code>.
Q: How do I register for a new account?
A: This depends on the protocol.
<p><b>AIM:</b> Go to <a href="http://my.screenname.aol.com/_cqr/login/login.psp?siteId=snshomepage&authLev=1&mcState=initialized&createSn=1">this website</a>.</p>
<p><b>ICQ:</b> Go to <a href="http://web.icq.com/register">http://web.icq.com/register</a>.</p>
<p><b>Yahoo:</b> Go to <a href="http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_register">http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_register</a>.</p>
<p><b>MSN:</b> Go to <a href="http://registernet.passport.com/">http://registernet.passport.com</a>.</p>
<p><b>Gadu-Gadu:</b> Use the official client to create an account.</p>
<p><b>Jabber:</b> See the question <a href="#jabber-register">How do I register a new Jabber account?</a> below.</p>
Q: How do I use MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Gadu-Gadu(GG), Napster, or Zephyr?
A: In Gaim 0.60 and higher, use the Account Editor (Tools->Accounts, or
the Accounts button on the start screen) to add the account. The
appropriate protocol plugin is loaded automatically.
In Gaim 0.59 and lower, you must first load the protocol plugin for the
protocol that you want to use. These plugins come with Gaim, so just go
to the Plugins dialog (Tools->Plugins, or the Plugins button on the
start screen). The list of plugins on this screen is a listing of plugins
you have already loaded and does not included unloaded but available
plugins. To load a new plugin, click "Load." The protocol plugins are
named <code>lib<i>protocol</i>.so</code>, so MSN for instance is provided
by <code>libmsn.so</code>, and Gadu-Gadu is provided by
<code>libgg.so</code>. Now you can use the Account Editor to add an
account with the desired protocol.
Q: How do I make gaim use emacs-like keybindings?
A: You need to edit your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 to contain the keybindings line from
<a href="./gtkrc-2.0">this example file</a>.
Q: How do I change the font Gaim uses?
A: The font preference in Gaim is used only for the formatting of outgoing
messages, and that only on the few protocols we support outgoing format on.
The display fonts used by the rest of Gaim are those specified by GTK. To
change this font you need to edit your ~/.gktrc (Gaim 0.59.9 and lower) or
~/.gtkrc-2.0 (Gaim 0.60 and newer). An example ~/.gtkrc-2.0 is available
<a href="./gtkrc-2.0">here</a>.
Q: How do I use smiley themes?
A: Gaim 0.60 and higher support themable smileys. 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 <a
href="http://gaim.sourceforge.net/themes.php">Gaim Smiley Themes</a> page.
You can also install themes manually by uncompressing them to their own
directory in ~/.gaim/smileys/
Q: Why are the status icons so big?
A: 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 UI, we have made
We are aware that some people feel more comfortable using an interface
more similar to IM clients they may have used in the past. 'Big List' can
be disabled by un-checking "Show buddy icons in list" in the Buddy List
Q: How do I get sound to work correctly?
A: Gaim 0.60 and higher support playing sounds via libao. 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 <code>Command</code> and use "esdplay %s"
Q: How do I make Gaim use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds? What does the
A: 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 Automatc, you can create a file, either
/etc/libao.conf or ~/.libao, and put <B>one</B> of the following lines
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'.
Q: Why is Gaim crashing when somebody sends me an IM?
A: If you're using a version older than 0.55 (or Ximian or Debian's 0.54
package), you can be crashed remotely through an IM using one of two
strings. The solution is to upgrade to the latest version, where both
If you use Yahoo with Gaim 0.59.8 or lower, you need to upgrade. Yahoo
changed the protocol in a way that broke Gaim, Trillian, Everybuddy, and
If you use Gaim 0.59.5 and Gaim segfaults as soon as it signs on, you do
not have a valid ~/.gtkrc file. This is fixed in debian's 0.59.5-2
package, and is fixed in 0.59.6 for the rest of the world.
If you are using a version newer than 0.59.6 and Gaim still crashes,
If you use the Highlight Misspelled words option, try disabling it.
Q: Why is gaim crashing when I start it?
A: With 0.60 and higher, try running gaim with GDK_USE_XFT=0 set. If this
does not fix the problem, please submit a bug report. 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.
If you use MSN, and have a version 0.64, downgrade to 0.63 or upgrade to 0.65.
If you have ever installed 0.65, edit your ~/.gaimrc, changing your auto away
If you use 0.67 and do not have yourself on your buddy list, upgrade.
If you use 0.70 or lower, make sure only one version of Gaim is installed.
If you use the gaim-encryption plugin, or any other 3rd party plugin,
try move it out of the way.
If you use 0.75 on win32, try deleting tcl.dll.
Q: I just changed my buddy icon, and I can't see the new one.
A: First, try IMing yourself. 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.
Q: Why is everything at such small/large font sizes?
A: You need to edit your .gtkrc-2.0 in your home directory. This is almost
certainly a gtk theme thing. You can find more gtk themes by visiting
<a href="http://themes.freshmeat.net/">themes.freshmeat.net</a>,
<a href="http://art.gnome.org/">art.gnome.org</a>, or searching on Google.
If it is a particular message window, you can also try ignoring font sizes
(Tools->Preferences->Message Text), though that will only have
limited effects. See <a href="http://gaim.sf.net/gtkrc-2.0">an example .gktrc-2.0 here</a>.
Q: 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
A: 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. Before we released
Gaim 0.60, we replaced all calls to this function with calls to
gtk_window_set_role(), which sets the WM_WINDOW_ROLE hint instead. If
your window manager is having problems differentiating between Gaim
windows, please ensure that your window managers uses the
WM_WINDOW_ROLE hint per the ICCCM.
Q: Gaim CVS is buggy. Gaim <non-current version> is buggy.
A: Yes, it is! CVS is often unsupported by Gaim, as are non-current
versions. This is because non-current versions have old bugs which may be
fixed in the current version, and CVS is frequently unusable because of the
changes in the code (and it has new bugs). If you are using either and have
a problem, upgrade/install the current version of Gaim before posting a bug
or asking for help in Gaim's IRC channel. If the bug does not exist in the
current version, then please do not ask for help.
Q: Why is the toggle to disable tabs not working?
A: You have told gaim (or have neglected to change the default) to place
tabs in the "Last Created Window" instead of in a "New Window." Change this
tab placement option and you will be all set.
Q: What is a "Buddy Pounce"?
A: 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 signon 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 messsage 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.
Q: How do I get rid of the buddy icons in the taskbar?
A: As of 0.71, you do not.
A: TOC can, in a limited way, and OSCAR can send files over AIM in 0.60
and higher. Yahoo can send files in 0.75 or higher. Most protocols are
capable of it, but Gaim hasn't implemented anything yet. Support is
being worked on and may partially work for MSN and Jabber.
Q: When will file transfer be supported? Is it being worked on?
A: Gaim 0.60 includes preliminary file transfer support. It likely
contains a few bugs that will be fixed in time. Currently, Gaim supports
sending and receiving files via AIM (IF you have a public ip address),
receiving files via Jabber, and both sending and recieving via yahoo.
File transfer receive code exists for MSN, but it is very flakey, and files
are often corrupt. If you would like it to work better or be more complete,
get CVS and submit a patch using the generic file transfer API.
Q: File Transfer for xxxx doesn't seem to be working.
A: File transfer for all protocols is still buggy. This is being worked
on, but has no set date for completion. If you really want it to work soon,
Q: Is there a Gaim tray icon, or docklet, or gnome applet, or panel icon,
A: In 0.59.x and below, Gaim only has support for Gnome's panel. Gaim 0.60
and higher have replaced the gnome-applet with a tray icon that conforms to
href="http://www.freedesktop.org/">www.freedesktop.org</a>. This tray icon
is supported in KDE 3.1, Gnome 2.2, and Red Hat Gnome 2.0. 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. For Gnome, you must have a Notification Area in your Gnome panel.
After obtaining a System Tray, you will need to load the appropriate plugin
This docklet is the only supported way of putting Gaim in a Gnome2 panel.
The panel applet (the gaim-applet rpm, the gaim-gnome deb package and
compiling with the --enable-panel flag) is only supported with Gaim 0.59.x
and Gnome 1.x, the GTK1.2 versions of Gnome.
Q: What do those colors in the conversation tab mean?
A: A red tab means a message is waiting for you; green means the buddy is
typing; yellow means the buddy began typing, and then stopped. Gray means that there has been a join or a part in that chat.
Q: Will Gaim save my buddy list to the server?
A: Yes, as of 0.60 Gaim saves your buddy list to the server for AIM, ICQ,
MSN, Yahoo, TOC and Jabber. Gaim 0.59.x supports this for AIM, MSN, Yahoo,
Q: How come there's no Export Buddy List?
A: In 0.59 and earlier you can use <code>cp</code> to copy your buddy
list. It is stored in the <code>$HOME/.gaim</code> directory. The file
name is your screen name, in all capital letters. Gaim 0.60 does not
support exporting your buddy list.
Import and export code will hopefully be reintroduced for one of the 0.6x
releases, due to the introduction of the unified xml buddy list in 0.60.
Q: Can Gaim import my buddy list?
A: Unfortunately, no, you cannot import your buddy list with Gaim 0.60 and
later. However, as Gaim will read the server copy of the buddy list, this is
most likely not necessary unless you use a 3rd party client that is broken (aka
With Gaim 0.59 and earlier, this depends on the format of the buddy list.
Gaim has mixed success importing Windows AIM buddy lists. If you want to
try, click File->Import. This is accessible after you sign on. If you
want to import an <a href="http://licq.org/">Licq</a> contact list, you
can try using the <code>licq2gaim.pl</code> perl script, which comes with
the Gaim source code, but we do not support this.
Q: Does Gaim support animated smileys?
A: Yes, as of version 0.70 Gaim supports animated smileys.
Q: Can I make Gaim group screen names by the person that owns them?
A: 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.
A: ICQ support is part of the OSCAR protocol, labeled AIM/ICQ in Gaim (see
the question <a href="#icq-no-worky">ICQ doesn't work</a> for why). To use
it, simply put your account number in the Screenname box and your password
in the Password box. Leave the server settings set to the default
(login.oscar.aol.com and port 5190).
A: Use AIM/ICQ for ICQ. AOL stopped supporting the older versions of the
ICQ protocol. The newer versions are extensions of Oscar, which is labeled
AIM/ICQ in Gaim. Currently, Oscar supports as much of ICQ as the ICQ plugin
used to. To use Oscar for ICQ, put your UIN in the Screenname box, and
leave the server information alone.
Q: Gaim 0.60 pops up a bunch of authorization request Dialogs.
A: This is a side effect of enabling support for the server side lists.
Yes, you must re-request authorization, we can't find a way around this
Q: What is the TOC protocol?
A: It's an AIM protocol used by quickbuddy and aimexpress. It's not
particularly recommended that you use it unless you know what it is. :) The
only time it would be useful in Gaim is if Gaim's OSCAR (AIM/ICQ) protocol
stopped working for some reason, such as being blocked.
!SECTION AIM/ICQ (Oscar) Protocol
A: Yes you can. Go to Tools->protocol actions
Q: Can I set a buddy icon?
A: 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.
Q: Some of my buddies are not showing up as online, why is that?
A: AOL has set a limit for the maximum number of people you can have in
your buddy list. This number is currently 200. Gaim 0.58 and newer give
you a warning if you are over the limit, but if you are using something
prior to 0.58, make sure you are not over the limit (and upgrade to
The other possibility is that your server-stored buddy list is corrupt.
Unfortunately, Gaim 0.53 had a bug that caused it to corrupt some entries,
especially group names. While this corruption doesn't show in Gaim unless
you remove the <code>SCREENNAME.0.blist</code> file from
<code>~/.gaim</code>, it does affect how long the server thinks your list
is. The best way to fix this, is to:
<pre>mv ~/.gaim/SCREENNAME.0.blist ~/</pre>
where SCREENNAME is your screenname, without spaces and in all caps. Then
signon, delete all groups, signoff, and signon again to verify that your
list is empty. Once it is empty, signoff, mv your
<code>SCREENNAME.0.blist</code> file back into <code>~/.gaim</code>, then
sign on again. This should not be necessary in Gaim 0.60 and higher.
If you have 0.60 or higher, move ~/.gaim/blist.xml instead.
Q: Can I use AIM URI's such as "aim:goim?screenname=robflynn"?
A: 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 <code>gaim-remote uri "%s"</code>. This will
make AIM URIs work in Galeon 2. Also, not all types of aim URI's are
supported. The ones that <i>are</i> supported are goim, addbuddy, and
If you use wingaim, this will not work as gaim-remote has not yet been ported
Q: IM Image doesn't work, why?
A: IM Image is very sensitive, even from windows. Gaim currently only
supports sending IM Images if the sender is not behind a firewall or NAT
device. Given that the windows version of AIM also has trouble in this
situation, we are not sure this is entirely fixable. A work around that is
sometimes effective is to have the receiver, not being behind a firewall,
request a direct connection, then send the image.
In cvs, the html widget is being re-written. it currently does not support
many features of the old widget we used with GTK1.2, including images.
Q: I sent an IM Image, but only a blank line shows up, why?
A: For Gaim 0.59.x and lower, You need to have gdk-pixbuf installed to
view IM Images. If the receiver is also using Gaim, [s]he also needs to
Q: Can I add SMS numbers to my buddy list?
A: Not currently. This functionality has been broken since around
September 2003. There is no ETA for when it will be fixed.
Yes, with Gaim 0.60 and higher you can add SMS numbers to your buddy
list the same way you can add screen names. Use "+19195151234" as the
screen name, where 1 is the country code, 919 is the area code, and
515-1234 is the phone number. This is currently only supported for US
phones. This works for both AIM and ICQ accounts.
Q: 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?
A: 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 <b>the person receiving the
message must support this</b>. 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
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
Q: Why can't I connect via either Oscar or TOC?
A: 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 "<code>echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_ecn</code>" as
root, or (if your distribution supports it) put the line
"<code>net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0</code>" in the file
<code>/etc/sysctl.conf</code>.
Q: Why am I getting disconnected when I try to connect to IRC?
A: You will be disconnected if the nickname you chose is already in use on
that IRC server. Try again with a different nickname. In 0.60 or later,
Gaim will prompt you to change your screenname in this situation.
Q: How do I join a channel with the IRC plugin?
A: 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 <code>/join</code> to connect to a new channel.
Q: Is there a way to make Gaim automatically identify me and/or join IRC
A: Yes. Add NickServ to your buddy list and place buddy pounces on
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.
Q: How do I choose which Jabber server to use?
A: The Jabber server name is part of your Jabber I.D., such as
<code>somebody@server.name</code>. So when entering your Jabber "screen
name", the server is specified as part of your JID.
Q: How do I change my Jabber resource to be other than the default of "/GAIM"?
A: When you create your account in Gaim, simply append the desired
resource identifier to your Jabber I.D. For example:
<code>somebody@server.name/resource</code>
Q: How do I register a new Jabber account?
A: As of version 0.52 and up:
<li>Click "Tools->Accounts->Add"</li>
<li>Select "Jabber" for the protocol.</li>
<li>Fill in screen name and password as you normally would. <b>THIS IS A REQUIRED STEP</b></li>
<li>Check the "Register with server" check-box</li>
<b>Note:</b> 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.
Q: How do I use invisibility?
A: 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
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
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.
Q: 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?
A: As of Gaim version 0.59 and later: Select the Edit Buddies tab,
right-click on the offending entry, and select "Remove From Roster.
Q: Can I remove a buddy from my Jabber roster entirely?
A: As of Gaim version 0.59 and later: yes. In the Edit Buddies
tab, right-click on a buddy and Select "Remove From Roster.
The buddy will disappear from your buddy list and also will no longer
receive presence notifications from you.
In 0.60, the deletion code will do this.
Gaim currently does not retain invisibility settings between logins,
just as it doesn't currently retain "away" status.
Q: What does "Cancel Presence Notification" do?
A: This selection, available in Gaim version 0.60 and later, and found by
right-clicking on a buddy entry in the Edit Buddies tab, prevents that
Jabber I.D. from receiving future presence notifications when you log on to
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
!SECTION Y!M (yahoo) Protocol
Q: I cannot connect to yahoo!
A: Make sure you have at least 0.70. If you still cannot connect, change the
host you connect to from scs.yahoo.com to scs.msg.yahoo.com
Q: I'm getting lots of "Already in Opposite list" errors on msn, why?
A: The reason this happens is because you have a screenname 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->preferences
(tools->privacy in 0.60 or later), and manually scan the list and
remove the duplicate entries. The quick way is to remove the msn .blist
file from the ~/.gaim directory. This will have a side effect: the msn
server stores the screennames of your contacts, but does not store what
group they are in, so you will have to re-sort your msn contacts into the
Q: I'm getting an "Invalid User" popop whenever I sign on. How can I make
A: Delete your buddy list. On unix, this will be at ~/.gaim/blist.xml (or
~/.gaim/USERNAME.0.blist pre-v0.60). Note that you will lose buddy groups
and aliases when you do this. Alternatively, since this will delete ALL
buddy lists, not just the msn one, you can hand edit the ~/.gaimrc to
remove the msn account. Start gaim up, which will remove the entries from
the account that no longer exists, and re-add your account. For most users,
this will be the better temporary solution.
Q: Is there a way to invite more than one person to an MSN chat?
A: Not at this time. When the conversation framework gets another rewrite,
it is possible that it will be worked on. Until that time, sorry. :)
Q: Is MSNP9 (MSN6) going to be supported?
A: MSNP9 support has existed in Gaim since 0.69. However, at this point,
features such as custom smileys and buddy icons aren't yet implemented.
Q: Will I be able to use Gaim for MSN after October 15th? (The day they're preventing third party clients from connecting)
A: Yes. We use MSNP9, which is available in 0.69 and up, and MSNP9 is
supported after October 15th.
Q: I just upgraded Gaim and the MSN plugin will not load. Why?
A: 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.
Q: The MSN plugin won't load, but I have Mozilla NSS!
A: 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 <a href="./faq-ssl.php">these notes</a> on getting ssl to work with gaim.
!SECTION Gadu-Gadu Protocol
A: Gadu-Gadu is an IM protocol popular in Poland. You can find more about
it at <a href="http://www.gadu-gadu.pl">http://www.gadu-gadu.pl</a>
Q: I heard Trepia was going to be in 0.65. Where is it?
A: Support for the Trepia protocol was removed right before 0.65's
release. It may make it into a future version, but we're not sure yet.
Q: Trepia is showing people in Japan, England, etc. on my buddy list. I
thought this was supposed to show people in my area?
A: We believe this to be the fault of protocol, not Gaim. As Trepia
continues to update and refine their protocol, it will become more
accurate. If we find out otherwise, we will attempt to incorporate
the changes necessary to act like the official client.
!SECTION Scripts and Plugins
Q: How do I use perl scripts with Gaim?
A: Save the perl script to ~/.gaim/plugins/ or $prefix/lib/gaim/,
restart Gaim, and load the perl script by checking the check box
next to its name on the Plugins page in preferences.
Q: How do I compile a plugin for Gaim?
A: To compile a plugin for Gaim, you must have Gaim's source code.
To download Gaim's source code, get the most recent tarball from
<a href="http://gaim.sourceforge.net/downloads.php">http://gaim.sourceforge.net/downloads.php</a>
and untar it with the command: <pre>tar zxvf <i>filename</i></pre> where
<i>filename</i> is the file you downloaded.
After you have a Gaim source code tree:
Change to the resulting directory and run the command:
<pre>./configure</pre> This will create the necessary make files.
Move the plugin you wish to compile into the <code>plugins/</code>
directory in the Gaim source code tree.
Change to the <code>plugins/</code> directory.
<pre>make <i>name</i>.so</pre>
where the name of the file you wish to compile is <i>name</i>.c.
Note well the difference in the extensions. If you type <code>make
<i>name</i>.c</code> instead of <code><i>name</i>.so</code>, it won't work.
After <code>make</code> finishes, you can move the plugin to a place that is
more convenient. <code>$prefix/lib/gaim</code> is suggested. If you
installed Gaim by compiling it yourself, <code>$prefix</code> is
<code>/usr/local</code> by default. Otherwise, <code>$prefix</code> is
Q: I have a plugin or perl script for Gaim that does not work with 0.60 or
A: The plugin and perl script API has changed in 0.60, 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 in the HOWTO file in the plugins
directory. Plugins and perl scripts are now controled from preferences.
Q: Where can I find documentation on writing plugins and Perl scripts?
A: If you look in the <code>plugins/</code> directory in the Gaim source,
you should see a HOWTO file with some details for C plugins. Also be sure
<a href="http://gaim.sourceforge.net/api/index.html">online documentation</a>.
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 <code>make docs</code>. You will need doxygen and graphviz
dot installed for this to work.
A: But of course. Just find something that's bugging you and fix it.
There is 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.
Q: Gaim never leaves a core file.
A: On most installs core files are limited in size to 0 bytes, and are
therefore not created. To rectify this situation, add
<code>ulimit -c unlimited</code> 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
Q: Where should I report bugs?
A: <a href="bug.php">Here</a>.
Q: Where should I submit patches?
A: <a href="patches.php">Here</a>.
Q: Did you guys reverse engineer it?
A: 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.
A: Sure! Look at the <a href="/contactinfo.php">Contact Information</a> page!
A: We don't know how to answer this question. Stop asking it.
Q: 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?
A: 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. ;-)
Q: Does Gaim support secure instant messaging (encrypted IMs)?
A: 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. <p>The gaim-e project
(http://gaim-e.sourceforge.net/) is working on developing a secure IM
framework that uses 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
http://www.gnupg.org/ and try out gaim-e.</p>
!ANCHOR plaintext-passwords
Q: Why are the passwords in accounts.xml not encrypted?
A: This is a case of a really long answer to a short question. <a
href="plaintextpasswords.txt">Read our explanation here</a>.
A: 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.
Q: When will the next version of Gaim be released?
A: The schedule for releases is every other 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.
!COMMENT vim: syntax=gaimfaq tw=75
