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Updated: Wednesday, July 27, 2022
 
 

finch (1)

Name

finch - saging client.

Synopsis

finch [options]

Description

finch(1)                    General Commands Manual                   finch(1)



NAME
       Finch  -  A Pimpin' Penguin console frontend to libpurple. Instant Mes-
       saging client.

SYNOPSIS
       finch [options]


DESCRIPTION
       finch is a console-based modular messaging client  based  on  libpurple
       which  is  capable  of  connecting to AIM, XMPP, ICQ, IRC, SILC, Novell
       GroupWise, Lotus Sametime, Zephyr, Gadu-Gadu, and QQ all  at  once.  It
       has many common features found in other clients, as well as many unique
       features.  Finch is not endorsed by or affiliated with America  Online,
       ICQ, or Microsoft.


OPTIONS
       The following options are provided by finch using the standard GNU com-
       mand line syntax:

       -c, --config=DIR
              Use DIR as the directory for config files instead of ~/.purple.

       -d, --debug
              Print debugging messages to stderr and start with the Debug win-
              dow.  The messages shown in the Debug window are the same as the
              ones printed in stderr.

       -h, --help
              Print this help and exit.

       -n, --nologin
              Don't automatically login when finch starts.  Sets all  accounts
              to Offline.

       -v, --version
              Display the version information window.


GNT Shortcuts
       You  can  use the following shortcuts (see the "Widget Actions" section
       for a more complete list):

       Alt + a
              Bring up a list of available actions. You can use this  list  to
              access  the  accounts  window, plugins window, preference window
              etc.

       Alt + n
              Go to the next window.

       Alt + p
              Go to the previous window.

       Alt + w
              Show the list of windows. You can select and jump to any  window
              from the list.

       Alt + c
              Close the current window.

       Alt + q
              Quit.

       Alt + m
              Start moving a window. Press the cursor keys to move the window.
              When you are done, press Enter or Escape.

       Alt + r
              Start resizing a window. Press the cursor  keys  to  resize  the
              window. When you are done, press Enter or Escape.

       Alt + D
              Dump the contents of the screen in HTML format.

       Alt + .
              Move  the  position of the current window in the window list one
              place to the right.

       Alt + ,
              Move the position of the current window in the window  list  one
              place to the left.

       Alt + l
              Refresh  the windows. This is useful after resizing the terminal
              window.

       Alt + 1 2 ... 0
              Jump to the 1st, 2nd ... 10th window.

       Alt + Tab
              Jump to the next URGENT (highlighted) window.

       Alt + Shift + Tab
              Jump to the previous URGENT (highlighted) window.

       Ctrl + o  or  F10
              Bring up the menu (if there is one) for a window.

       F11  or  Ctrl + x
              Popup the context menu (if there is one) for the  selected  wid-
              get.

       Alt + /
              Show  a list of available key-bindings for the current widget in
              focus.

       Alt + >
              Switch to the next workspace

       Alt + <
              Switch to the previous workspace

       Alt + t
              Tag (or untag) the current window

       Alt + T
              Attached all the tagged windows to the current workspace

       Alt + s
              Show the workspace list

       F9     Create a new workspace and switch to it


FILES
       ~/.gntrc: configuration file for gnt applications.

       A sample file looks like:
              [Finch]
              color-available = green; black
              color-away = blue; black
              color-idle = gray; black
              color-offline = red; black
              color-message-sent = cyan; default
              color-message-received = red; default
              color-message-highlight = black; green
              color-message-action = yellow; default
              color-timestamp = blue; default
              #See below for details on color

              [general]
              shadow = 0
              # There is experimental mouse support
              mouse = 1
              # To use some custom window-manager
              wm = /usr/local/lib/gnt/s.so
              # There's also a custom window manager called irssi.so
              # Remember window-positions based on the titles (on by default)
              remember_position = 1
              # Use borderless one-line high buttons
              small-button = true

              # Workspaces are created simply by adding Workspace-X groups  as
              follows:
              [Workspace-1]
              name = blist
              # window-names specifies that windows with these semi-colon sep-
              arated names are placed into this workspace
              window-names = buddylist;debug-window

              [Workspace-2]
              name = IM
              window-names = conversation-window
              # window-titles specifies that  windows  with  these  semi-colon
              separated  titles  are  placed  into  this  workspace. These are
              matched as substrings. Window titles take precedence over names.
              window-titles = Preferences;Pounce

              [colors]
              # The RGB values range in [0, 1000]
              black = 0; 0; 0
              red = 1000; 0; 0
              green = 0; 1000; 0
              blue = 250; 250; 700
              white = 1000; 1000; 1000
              gray = 700; 700; 700
              darkgray = 256; 256; 256

              [colorpairs]
              normal = white; black
              highlight = white; blue
              highlightd = black; gray
              shadow = black; darkgray
              title = white; blue
              titled = white; gray
              text = white; blue
              disabled = gray; black
              urgent = green; black

              # Remap some keys for GntEntry
              [GntEntry::remap]
              # Remap the up-arrow to the left-arrow
              ^[[A = ^[[D
              # Remap the down-arrow to the right-arrow
              ^[[B = ^[[C
              # Remap 'a' to 'bcd'
              a = bcd
              # Completely ignore the key 'q'
              q =
              # But the following will NOT work
              #abc = bcd

              # Hitting 'space' will activate a button
              [GntButton::remap]
              \  = \r


Widget Actions
       You can specifiy  key-bindings  for  specific  widgets.  The  following
       entries  in  ~/.gntrc  correspond  to  the  default keybindings for the
       actions:

       [GntBox::binding]
       tab = focus-next
       right = focus-next
       left = focus-prev

       [GntComboBox::binding]
       down = dropdown
       up = dropdown

       [GntEntry::binding]
       c-a = cursor-home
       home = cursor-home
       c-e = cursor-end
       end = cursor-end
       backspace = delete-prev
       del = delete-next
       c-d = delete-next
       c-u = delete-start
       c-k = delete-end
       c-b = cursor-prev
       left = cursor-prev
       c-f = cursor-next
       right = cursor-next
       tab = suggest-show
       down = suggest-next
       up = suggest-prev
       page-down = suggest-next-page
       page-up = suggest-prev-page
       c-w = delete-prev-word
       a-b = cursor-prev-word
       a-f = cursor-next-word
       a-d = delete-next-word
       c-v = clipboard-paste
       c-p = history-prev
       c-n = history-next
       c-r = history-search
       c-up = history-prev
       c-down = history-next

       [GntTree::binding]
       up = move-up
       down = move-down
       c-n = move-down
       c-p = move-up
       pageup = page-up
       pagedown = page-down
       backspace = move-parent
       home = move-first
       end = move-last
       # Following is the default binding for the context-menu
       menu = context-menu
       # The following will let you open the  context-menu  in  the  buddylist
       with c-b
       # c-b = context-menu

       [GntWidget::binding]
       f11 = context-menu
       c-x = context-menu

       [GntWindow::binding]
       c-o = show-menu
       f10 = show-menu

       The  c-  corresponds to the Control key. You can also use ctrl- or ctr-
       or ctl- to indicate a combination. For alt-keys, you can use one of a-,
       alt-, m- or meta-. You can also use home, end, left, right etc. keys.

       To  unbind a key which has a default binding, you simply bind it to the
       empty string.  For example, to unbind Alt + q from the  Quit  function,
       you would use:

       [GntWM::binding]
       a-q =


Menus
       You can also specify key-bindings to trigger specific menuitems in win-
       dows. For example, the following entry in ~/.gntrc will bind Ctrl  +  t
       to the 'Send IM...' item in the buddylist:

       [buddylist::menu]
       c-t = send-im

       The  following  is the list of IDs of the current menuitems in the bud-
       dylist:

       send-im
       join-chat
       show-empty-groups
       show-offline-buddies
       sort-status
       sort-alpha
       sort-log
       add-buddy
       add-chat
       add-group


Mouse Support
       There is experimental mouse support. You can  focus  windows,  activate
       buttons,  select  rows  in  a  list, scroll using the wheel-scroll etc.
       Selecting text in a text-view copies it to  the  gnt  clipboard.  Mouse
       support  is  disabled  by default, so you need to enable it in ~/.gntrc
       (see the sample above).


Window Management
       The default window management is very limited. But it  is  possible  to
       write custom window managers to suit your needs. There is a sample win-
       dow-manager included (named s.so) which adds  a  little  'close-button'
       for the windows, removes the borders from the buddylist and pops up new
       windows in the middle of the  screen,  instead  of  at  the  upper-left
       corder.  It  is  provided  as a sample simple manager, but it should be
       possible to write more complex managers, and it's  very  possible  that
       the  window-manager  API  will  need to be enhanced. Look at the sample
       ~/.gntrc file above to see how to select a window-manager.

       It is also possible to rebind the window-manager actions  in  ~/.gntrc,
       eg:

       [GntWM::binding]
       a-n = window-next
       a-p = window-prev
       a-c = window-close
       a-w = window-list
       a-d = dump-screen
       a-, = shift-left
       a-. = shift-right
       a-a = action-list
       a-m = start-move
       a-r = start-resize
       a-q = wm-quit
       a-l = refresh-screen
       a-s = workspace-list
       a-t = window-tag
       a-T = place-tagged
       a-C = toggle-clipboard
       a-/ = help-for-widget
       a-c-j = window-scroll-down
       a-c-k = window-scroll-up
       #  The following action is still incomplete, and doesn't have a default
       binding
       # switch-window-n
       # Other actions: window-next-urgent, window-prev-urgent

       # For the sample custom window manager
       [GntS::binding]
       a-b = toggle-buddylist

       # For the irssi window manager
       [Irssi::binding]
       a-L = move-right
       a-H = move-left
       a-J = move-down
       a-K = move-up


Conversation Commands
       There are a few helpful commands in addition to the  regular  commands.
       You can use these from any conversation to access other windows.


       accounts
              for the accounts window.


       buddylist
              for the buddylist.


       debugwin
              for the debug window.


       plugins
              for the plugins window.


       prefs  for the preferences window.


       status for the status window.


FAQ
       FAQ for finch is located at
       http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/Using%20Finch


BUGS
       Known bugs are listed at
       http://developer.pidgin.im/query?status=new&status=assigned&sta-
       tus=reopened&component=finch+%28gnt%2Fncurses%29&order=priority

       Before sending a bug report, please verify that  you  have  the  latest
       version  of finch and libpurple.  Many bugs (major and minor) are fixed
       at each release, and if yours is out of date, the problem  may  already
       have been solved.


PATCHES
       If  you  fix  a bug in finch (or otherwise enhance it), please submit a
       patch (using mtn diff > my.diff against the  latest  version  from  the
       Monotone repository) at http://developer.pidgin.im/simpleticket

       You  are  also  encouraged to drop by at #pidgin on irc.freenode.net to
       discuss development.



ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:


       +---------------+-------------------------+
       |ATTRIBUTE TYPE |    ATTRIBUTE VALUE      |
       +---------------+-------------------------+
       |Availability   | communication/im/pidgin |
       +---------------+-------------------------+
       |Stability      | Uncommitted             |
       +---------------+-------------------------+

SEE ALSO
       http://pidgin.im/
       http://developer.pidgin.im/
       purple-remote(1)
       pidgin(1)


LICENSE
       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under  the  terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at  your
       option) any later version.

       This  program  is  distributed  in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY  WARRANTY;  without  even  the  implied  warranty  of  MER-
       CHANTABILITY  or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General
       Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02111-1301  USA


AUTHORS
       Sadrul Habib Chowdhury <sadrul@users.sourceforge.net>

       This    manpage    was    written    by    Sadrul    Habib    Chowdhury
       <sadrul@users.sourceforge.net>   and   Dennis   Ristuccia  <dennis@den-
       nisr.net>.




NOTES
       Source code for open source software components in Oracle  Solaris  can
       be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
       code-downloads.html.

       This    software    was    built    from    source     available     at
       https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland.    The  original  community
       source  was  downloaded  from    https://downloads.sourceforge.net/pid-
       gin/pidgin-2.13.0.tar.bz2.

       Further information about this software can be found on the open source
       community website at https://www.pidgin.im.



                                                                      finch(1)