gaim(1)                                                            User Commands                                                           gaim(1)

NAME

       gaim - Instant Messaging client

SYNOPSIS

       gaim [--acct] [--away [=message]] [--debug] [--file=file] [--help] [--login [=name]] [--loginwin] [-user=name] [--version]

DESCRIPTION

       The  GAIM  application  is a GTK2-based Instant Messaging (IM) client designed primarily for use with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). However,
       GAIM also supports most other popular IM protocols including ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo!.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       --acct          Launch the Account Editor, rather than the Login window, when GAIM starts. You can also use -a to specify this option.

       --away [=messageAutomatically sets your status to away when you sign on. You can optionally use the mesg parameter to set the away message.
                       You can also use -w to specify this option.

       --debug         Prints  debug messages to stdout. The same debug messages are displayed in the Debug window. You can also use -d to specify
                       this option.

       --file=file     Uses file, instead of ~/.gaimrc, as the configuration file. You can also use -f to specify this option.

       --help          Displays help text, then exits. You can also use -h to specify this option.

       --login [=name] Uses the default account, or the account specified by the name parameter, to automatically log in when GAIM starts. You can
                       also use -l to specify this option.

       --loginwin      Does  not  automatically  log  in  when  GAIM  starts. Shows the Login window instead.  You can also use -n to specify this
                       option.

       -user=name      Uses account name as the default.  You can also use -u to specify this option.

       --version       Displays the version information window. You can also use -v to specify this option.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

   Buddy List
       The Buddy List window is the main interface window. The buddy list is shown in the Online tab. To manage and edit the buddy list,  use  the
       Edit Buddies tab. To import a buddy list, choose File --> Import Buddy List.

   Online Tab
       The Online tab contains a list of your buddies who are online and allow you to be notified of their presence. If you select the appropriate
       preference, the icon to the left of each buddy name indicates the current state of the buddy. Double-click on a buddy name to  open  a  new
       Conversation window. Right-click on a buddy name to display a popup menu that contains the following items:

       IM                      Opens a new Conversation window to the selected buddy.

       Alias                   Creates  an  alias  for  this buddy. Choose this menu item to display a new dialog where you can give this buddy an
                               alternate name. The alternate name appears on the buddy list and in conversations.

                               For example, if the buddy screen name is jsmith1281xx and the real name is John Q. Smith, you can create  an  alias
                               to identify the buddy by the real name.

       Add Buddy Pounce        A  Buddy Pounce is a configurable automated action to be performed when the buddy's state changes. Choose this menu
                               item to display the Buddy Pounce dialog.

       View Log                GAIM can automatically log all activities. The GAIM logs are HTML files with a .log filename extension, located  in
                               the ~/.gaim/logs directory.  Choose this menu item to view the log file with the GAIM internal log viewer.

       The  menu  also contains protocol-specific commands. The following commands are available when you use OSCAR, a popular AIM protocol recom-
       mended by developers:

       Get Info                Retrieves and displays information about the buddy. This information is also known as a Profile.

       Get Away Msg            If the status of the buddy is Away, retrieves and displays the buddy's Away Message.

       Get Capabilities        Retrieves and displays the client capabilities of the buddy.

       If the appropriate preferences are selected, the Online tab contains the following buttons:

       IM                      Opens a new Conversation window to the selected buddy. If no buddy is selected, displays the New Message dialog.

       Info                    Retrieves and displays information about the selected buddy. If no buddy is selected, displays the  Get  User  Info
                               dialog.

       Chat                    Displays the Join Chat dialog, which prompts you to select which username to use and what chat group to join.

       Away                    Displays a menu of all available Away Messages. If you select an item, all online accounts use the selected item as
                               the away message.

   Edit Buddies Tab
       Click on the Edit Buddies tab on the Buddy List window to display the main interface to edit and organize buddy lists. Click  and  drag  to
       move  buddies already in your buddy list to different groups, or to reorder buddies in the same group. You can add, rename, create an alias
       for, or delete buddies. You can also access some of the functions available in the Buddy List dialog.

       The Edit Buddies tab contains the following buttons:

       Add                     Displays the Add Buddy dialog, where you can add a buddy to your buddy list.

       Group                   Displays the Add Group dialog, where you can add a group to the current connection. The current connection  is  the
                               connection with an item selected, or the topmost connection.

       Remove                  Removes the currently selected buddy or group. If no buddy or group is selected, no action is taken.

   Account Editor
       The  Account  Editor  consists  of  a  list  of  accounts and information about the accounts. Click Delete to delete the currently selected
       account.  Click Add or Modify to display a Modify Account window, where you can add or alter account information. When  you  create  a  new
       account, you submit your screen name and password. You also choose your protocol. The AIM protocol, OSCAR, is always loaded, but other pro-
       tocols can be dynamically loaded and unloaded using Protocols Plugins (PRPLS).

       If you select the Remember Password option, the password is saved in the GAIM configuration file.

       If you select the Auto-Login option, the account automatically logs in when GAIM starts.

       Each protocol has specific options that can be found in the protocol-specific tab on the Modify Account window.

   Preferences
       All preferences take effect immediately.

       GAIM provides the following preferences:

       Interface               Select this category to display several interface options. These include options for themes, fonts,  message  text,
                               shortcuts, and the buddy list.

       Conversations           Select  this category to display several conversation options. These include options for tabs, IM windows, and chat
                               windows.

       Proxy                   Select this category to display options that specify the proxy type and the proxy server configuration.

       Browser                 Select this category to display options that specify the browser type.

       Logging                 Select this category to display message-log options and system-log options.

       Sounds                  Select this category to display several sound options. These include options for sound methods and sound events.

       Away/Idle               Select this category to display several away or idle options. These include options for auto-response and away mes-
                               sages.

       Plugins                 Select this category to display a list of plugins.

   Conversations
       When you start a new conversation, a Conversation window is displayed.  The conversation appears in the  upper text box. You type your mes-
       sage in the lower text box.

   Buddy Chats
       If supported by your protocol, you can have Buddy Chats. To start a Buddy Chat, choose the appropriate File menu item, or click on the Chat
       button at the bottom of the Buddy List Online tab. Depending on your protocol, the following additional  commands are available in chat:

       Whisper                 The text appears in the chat conversation, but is only visible to the sender and the receiver.

       Invite                  Invite other people to join the chat room.

       Ignore                  Ignore anything said by the specified person.

       Set Topic               Set  the topic of the chat room. This is usually a brief sentence describing the nature of the chat, an explanation
                               of the name of the chat room.

   Away Messages
       Most protocols support away messages. You can set an informative message for others to see when you are away. Use the Tools -->  Away  sub-
       menu to add and remove away messages.

         o  Choose  New  Away Message to create an away message and a title for that message.  Choose Save or  Save & Use to save the message. You
            can later refer to the message by the message title.

         o  The Remove Away Message submenu contains the titles  of saved away messages. Click on a message title to remove the away message asso-
            ciated with that title.

         o  The remaining away menu items enable you to assign different away messages to different connections.

         o  Choose Set All Away to set away all of the connections capable of the away state.

   Buddy Pounce
       A Buddy Pounce is an automated trigger that occurs when a buddy returns to a normal state from an away state. Choose Tools --> Buddy Pounce
       to display the New Buddy Pounce dialog. You can set a pounce to occur on any combination of the  events  listed,  and  any  combination  of
       actions  can  result.   If you select the Save this pounce after activation option, the trigger remains until removed from the Remove Buddy
       Pounce menu.

EXAMPLES

       Example 1: Launching GAIM

       example% gaim

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0        Application exited successfully

       >0       Application exited with failure

FILES

       The following files are used by this application:

       /usr/bin/gaim           Executable for GAIM

       /usr/lib/gaim           Location of GAIM plugins

       ~/.gaimrc               GAIM configuration file

       ~/.gaim/logs/screenname.Log of all conversations with screenname

       ~/.gaim/blist.xml       Buddy list

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         |      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability                 |                             |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface stability          |                             |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       GAIM Manual

NOTES

       This man page was originally written by Dennis Ristuccia (dennis@dennisr.net).

       Updated by Sean Egan (bj91704@binghamton.edu) and Ben Tegarden (tegarden@uclink.berkeley.edu).

       Updated by Stephen Browne, Sun Microsystems Inc, 2003.

SunOS 5.10                                                          7 Oct 2003                                                             gaim(1)