bitlbee(8)						      System Manager's Manual							bitlbee(8)

NAME

       BitlBee - IRC gateway to IM chat networks

SYNOPSIS

       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

DESCRIPTION

       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. It currently supports Oscar (AIM and ICQ), MSN, Jabber, Yahoo! and Twitter.

       bitlbee should be called by inetd(8), or you can run it as a stand-alone daemon.

OPTIONS

       -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.

       -F     Run  in ForkDaemon mode. This is similar to ordinary daemon mode, but every client gets its own process. Easier to set up than inetd
	      mode, and without the possible stability issues.

       -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  exam-
	      ple, if you don't have write permissions in the default location), use this option.

       -h     Show help information.

COMMANDS

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

SEE ALSO

       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.

BUGS

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

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

AUTHORS

	Wilmer van der Gaast <wilmer@gaast.net>
	Jelmer Vernooij <jelmer@vernstok.nl>
	Maurits Dijkstra <mauritsd@xs4all.nl>

								   07 March 2004							bitlbee(8)