BitlBee mini-howto

This document includes quotes of the BitlBee User guide available here:
https://www.bitlbee.org/user-guide.html

BitlBee is an IRC instant messaging gateway licensed under the terms of
the GPL.  It communicates with the end user via the IRC protocol whilst
interacting with popular chat networks such as AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo,
and Jabber. The user's buddies appear as normal IRC users in a channel,
and conversations use the private message facility of IRC.

Slint is built with libpurple, which adds support for protocols also
handled by pidgin like telegram, cf.:  https://wiki.bitlbee.org/

To have bitlbee started on boot-up, add the following code to
/etc/rc.d/rc.local:

  if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.bitlbee ]; then
    /etc/rc.d/rc.bitlbee start
  fi

Make sure rc.local be executable typing as root:

  chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.local

Alternatively, you can star BitlBee on demand typing as root:

  service start bitlbee

1. Connecting to the server

Since BitlBee acts just like any other irc daemon, you can connect to it
with your favorite irc client. Launch it and connect to: localhost
port 6667 (or whatever host/port you are running bitlbee on).

Gow-to connect to BitlBee depend on the IRC client used. We  will give
two examples below: using hexchat-text or irssi, both shipped in Slint.
irssi is the most popular.

1a: Connect to the BitlBee server using hexchat-text or epic5:

Insure that BitlBee be started
type hexchat-text or epic5 then  type:
/server localhost
The display will change as BitlBee takes it over.
Further commands will be sent to and answered by BitlBee.

1b: Connect to the BitlBee server using irssi

Insure that BitlBee be started then, start irssi then type:
/connect 127.0.0.1
The connection will occur in another screen of irssi, that you reach
pressing Alt+2 (Alt+Shift+2 with some keyboard layouts).

2. Getting started

Once you are connected to the BitlBee server, you are automatically
joined to &bitlbee on that server. This channel acts like the 'buddy
list' you have on the various other chat networks.

The user 'root' always hangs around in &bitlbee and acts as your
interface to the bitlbee server. All commands you give on &bitlbee are
'answered' by root. This is not the root user on your system.

To know what you can do with bitlebee just type:
help

And to know how to configure bitlbee so that it gives you access to all
your IM accounts, just type:
help quickstart

and follow the tutorial

3. Talking to people

You can talk to by starting a query with them. In most irc clients, this
can be done with either /msg <nick> <text> or /query <nick>.

To keep the number of open query windows limited, you can also talk to
people in the control channel, like <nick>: <text>.

4. Configuration

At the system level, check /etc/bitlbee/bitlbee.conf

See also: /etc/bitlbee/motd.txt

5. To know more

When you are connected to BitlBee just type this command:
help

Didier Spaier
Last updated Sunday 22 September 2019