BitlBee - IRC gateway to IM chat networks

bitlbee [-I] [-c configuration file] [-d configuration directory]

bitlbee -D [-i address] [-p port number] [-n] [-v] [-c configuration file] [-d configuration directory]

bitlbee -h

BitlBee is an IRC daemon that can talk to instant messaging networks and acts as a gateway. Users can connect to the server with any normal IRC client and see their 'buddy list' in &bitlbee. BitlBee's protocol support is based on the gaim protocol plugins. BitlBee currently supports Oscar (aim and icq), MSN, Jabber and Yahoo.

bitlbee should be called by inetd(8). (Or bitlbeed, if you can't run and/or configure inetd.) There is an experimental daemon mode too, in which BitlBee will serve all clients in one process (and does not require inetd), but this mode is still experimental. There are still some bugs left in BitlBee, and if they cause a crash, that would terminate the BitlBee connection for all clients.

-I

Run in inetd(8) mode. This is the default setting, you usually don't have to specify this option.

-D

Run in daemon mode. In this mode, BitlBee forks to the background and waits for new connections. All clients will be served from one process. This is still experimental. See the note above for more information.

-i address

Only useful when running in daemon mode, to specify the network interface (identified by IP address) to which the daemon should attach. Use this if you don't want BitlBee to listen on every interface (which is the default behaviour).

-p port number

Only useful when running in daemon mode, to specify the port number on which BitlBee should listen for connections. 6667 is the default value.

-n

Only useful when running in daemon mode. This option prevents BitlBee from forking into the background.

-v

Be more verbose. This only works together with the -n flag.

-c path to other configuration file

Use a different configuration file.

-d path to user settings directory

BitlBee normally saves every user's settings in /var/lib/bitlbee/. If you want the settings to be stored somewhere else (for example, if you don't have write permissions in the default location), use this option.

-h

Show help information.

To get a complete list of commands, please use the help commands command in the &bitlbee channel.

ircd(8), inetd(8), inetd.conf(5), gaim(1).

http://www.bitlbee.org/

For more information on using BitlBee, once connected, you should use the on-line help system.

Of course there are bugs. If you find some, please report them at http://bugs.bitlbee.org/.

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 MERCHANTABILITY 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., 59 Temple PLace, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

Wilmer van der Gaast <lintux@lintux.cx> Jelmer Vernooij <jelmer@vernstok.nl> Maurits Dijkstra <mauritsd@xs4all.nl>