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Frequently Asked Questions

IRC clients

In general case, perhaps some clients don't support some IRC commands needed to use Minbif. You may create aliases, or use the /quote command.

irssi

Minbif is mainly tested with irssi and this is probably the most supported IRC client.

  • Add an alias for the SVSNICK command: /alias svsnick quote svsnick

weechat

  • Add an alias for the MAP command: /alias map /quote map

ircII

This is a crappy old IRC client, do not use it.

Accounts

How to change an account ID?

Use the /MAP edit command. For example:

/MAP edit msn0 accid msn

Note: to work, this IM account needs to be disconnected.

How to change my nickname or my mood message?

The /MAP cmd command can run a specific command on an account. Firstly, run it without any argument to display all available commands:

/MAP cmd jabber0
16:36:58 !public.minbif.im  Commands available for jabber0:
16:36:58 !public.minbif.im    SetUserInfo
16:36:58 !public.minbif.im    ChangePassword
16:36:58 !public.minbif.im    SearchforUsers
16:36:58 !public.minbif.im    SetMood
16:36:58 !public.minbif.im    SetNickname

Then, for example, run the SetMood command:

/MAP cmd jabber0 SetMood

The request pseudo-user will ask you what new mood message you want to set:

16:37:09  request> Request closed.
16:37:11  request> New request: Set User Nickname
16:37:11  request> Please specify a new nickname for you.
16:37:11  request> Default value is: 
16:37:11  request> Type answer:
16:37:14  > romain
16:37:14  request> Request closed.

Note: this feature is introduced into Minbif 1.0.1

Away

Why do my accounts are shown as away when I don't speak for a while?

This is a libpurple setting which turn you away (Idle) if you don't send any message for five minutes.

To disable this setting, use:

/ADMIN away_idle false

Protocols specifics

MSN

Minbif crashes when I try to add a MSN buddy

This is a race condition in some libpurple versions. There isn't any work around available for minbif which does not disable the aliases feature.

To get more information about this, read the #140 ticket, or the libpurple opened ticket. You can also apply the libpurple patch.

How to join a MSN group chat?

As conversation channels does not exist on MSN, you need to initiate a group chat with a buddy. Just create one with this command:

/JOIN #NICKNAME:ACCID

Then you can invite people with the /INVITE command.

Why file transfers are slow on MSN?

The libpurple's msn plugin does not support peer-to-peer file transfers. Files are sent through the MSN server.

XMPP (Jabber, GMail, Facebook)

I can't join a conference room because my nickname is already in use

How do I change my handle on a conference room?

You need to give the handle parameter to the /JOIN command. For example, use:

/JOIN #linuxfr.org@conference.linux.fr:jabber0 handle=romain_

How using Facebook?

You can now use the Facebook Chat from Minbif without any third-party plugin, and without all the bugs, since Facebook now provides XMPP access.

To set it up, it is very simple: get your username and password from here (click on "Pidgin"), and provide Minbif with:

/map add jabber USERNAME@chat.facebook.com PASSWORD &fb -!require_tls

The connection won't be encrypted, but if you use Facebook you already don't care much about privacy, don't you ? ;-)

prpltwtr

Minbif crashes when I add a prpltwtr account

That's probably because you compiled prpltwtr with IS_PIDGIN. You need to disable it. Edit global.mak and add this line on top of the file:

IS_PIDGIN=0

I can't join the "Home Timeline" group chat

Minbif currently doesn't support IRC channel names containing spaces. You have two solution:

  • Edit twitter.c and change the name from "Home timeline" to "Timeline" at line 138. Then, join channel with /join #Timeline:twitter0
  • Compile prpltwtr with the _HAZE_ parameter

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